Have you ever wondered how long it has been since you installed Windows on your computer? Or, have you ever needed to know the exact date when you installed Windows?
Though not often, there might be situations where you need to find when Windows was installed on your computer. There are any number of reasons why you might want to find out the date of Windows installation, like to determine if the system needs to be updated, to calculate the age of your computer, or you are simply curious.
No matter the reason, finding out the installation date of Windows is relatively simple and can be done in a few steps. In this quick and easy guide, I will show four ways. You can use any method of your choice to determine the Windows installation date.
Table of contents:
- Use the settings app to find when Windows was installed
- Find the Windows installation date from File Explorer
- Command to find Windows installation date
- PowerShell command to find Windows installation date
- Conclusion
1. Use the Settings App To Find When Windows Was Installed
You can find out the date of Windows installation from the Settings app. Follow the below steps.
First, open the Settings application on your Windows computer. You can use the Windows key + I keyboard shortcut or search for it in the Start menu. Once the Settings app opens, click on the System option on the sidebar, scroll down in the right panel, and then click on About.
You will see the Windows installation date next to ‘Installed on’ under the ‘Windows specification’ section.
2. Find the Windows Installation Date From File Explorer
When you first install or upgrade Windows OS, it creates a new folder called Windows in the C drive. Looking at the folder’s creation date tells you when Windows is installed on your computer. Follow the below steps.
Launch File Explorer using the Windows key + E keyboard shortcut. You can also click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar or search for it in the Start menu. After opening the File Explorer, go to the C:\ drive.
Here, right-click on the Windows folder and select the Properties option. Next, take a look at the ‘Created’ field. The date you see here is when Windows is installed or upgraded.
Important note: If you upgraded Windows from an older version, like Windows 11 v22H1 to v22H2, the folder’s creation date would also change accordingly. To put it simply, the creation date of the Windows folder will reflect the date when you upgraded the Windows OS.
3. Command To Find Windows Installation Date
As with most things, Windows has a simple command to quickly find when Windows was installed. Specifically, the command calls on the System Info application and displays the information we need. Here’s how.
First, launch the Command Prompt window. You can search for it in the Start menu and open it from there. Alternatively, open Windows Terminal (Win + X -> Terminal) and then open the Command Prompt tab in it.
In the Command Prompt window, run the below command. It will immediately show the Windows installation date.
systeminfo | find "Install Date"
Once you have the necessary information, you can close the Command Prompt/Terminal window.
4. PowerShell Command To Find Windows Installation Date
PowerShell has several commands that can show the installation date of your Windows OS. I will show three commands. Use the one you like.
First, search for PowerShell in the Start menu and click on the result to open PowerShell on Windows. Alternatively, launch Windows Terminal by right-clicking on the Start icon and selecting the Terminal option. The terminal opens with the PowerShell tab by default.
In the terminal window, run the below command. It will immediately show the installation date of your Windows OS.
systeminfo | find "Install Date"
Alternate PowerShell command:
([WMI]'').ConvertToDateTime((Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).InstallDate)
If you’ve upgraded your OS from an older version, like Windows 10 to 11, and want to find the installation dates of all the previous versions, then run the below commands one after another.
$OS=@(Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\System\Setup\Source* | ForEach-Object {Get-ItemProperty -Path Registry::$_}; Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion')
and
$OS | Select-Object ProductName, ReleaseID, CurrentBuild, @{Name='InstallDate'; Expression={[timezone]::CurrentTimeZone.ToLocalTime(([datetime]'1/1/1970').AddSeconds($_.InstallDate))}} | Sort-Object "InstallDate"
As soon as you run the command, PowerShell displays the installation dates of all previous versions in a readable format.
Finding the Date When Windows Was Installed — Conclusion
As you can see, there are several ways to determine when Windows was installed on your computer. The best way is to use the Settings app. It provides a simple yet effective way to find the installation date. Alternatively, you can also use Command Prompt or PowerShell method. If you want to see the installation dates of all the previous versions, use the third PowerShell command shown above.
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That is all. It is that simple to find out the date when Windows was installed on your computer.
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, email me, and I will try to help as much as possible.
