Do you need or just want to know when Windows was installed on your computer or device? Maybe you need this information for your work? Is it because you want to brag about how stable your operating system is after all these years of abuse? Or perhaps you just don’t want your Windows to run for more than six months without reinstalling it. Whatever the reason, here’s how to check the Windows installation date:

Things to be aware of when looking for the original Windows install date

First of all, you should know that this guide works for all modern Windows versions, including Windows 10, Windows 7, and Windows 11. Secondly, all the methods we share are tested and confirmed to work in all three versions.

However, there are a couple of situations in which you can find yourself, depending on what Windows you installed and how you installed it:

• You did a clean Windows install (from scratch). In this case, all the methods in this tutorial work and deliver good results.
• You’ve upgraded your old version of Windows to a newer one, like installing Windows 10 as an update to your old Windows 7. In this case, the first four methods show you the installation date of your current Windows version. For example, if you upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 10, they show you the installation date of Windows 10, not that of Windows 7. If you want to find the original installation date of the first Windows you had, as well as when you upgraded Windows, follow the last method of this tutorial.
• You use Windows 10 or Windows 11, and it is the only operating system you had on your PC. However, since you first got your PC or when you first installed Windows, the operating system received one or more major updates. For example, although you originally had Windows 10 Creators Update installed (version 1703), the operating system has received many updates since then, and right now, you’re running Windows 10 May 2021 Update (version 21H1). In this case, the first four methods show you the installation date of the last version or major update. If you want to know how to find the original install date (when you first installed Windows 10), check the last method of this guide. It also shows you the installation dates of all the Windows 10 upgrades.

1. How to find the Windows install date using the systeminfo command in Command Prompt or PowerShell

The first method involves using the Command Prompt or PowerShell. Open CMD or start PowerShell, depending on what you prefer. You do not have to open it with administrator rights. Type the following command and press Enter on your keyboard:

systeminfo | find "Install Date"

To fin the Windows installation date, use cmd to run systeminfo | find "Install Date"

In a second or two, you see the Original Install Date displayed.

2. How to check the Windows install date from File Explorer or Windows Explorer

If you use Windows 10 or Windows 11, open File Explorer. If you use Windows 7, open Windows Explorer. Then, navigate to the C: drive where Windows is installed, right-click the Windows folder, and choose Properties.

Locate the Windows folder and open its Properties

In the Windows Properties window, look for the Created field in the General tab. It shows when the Windows folder was created on your computer or device. This folder was created when you installed Windows.

Find out the when Windows was installed in the Windows Properties

You can follow the same procedure using other system folders like Program Files.

3. How to check the OS installation date in Windows 10’s Settings

If you are using Windows 10, open the Settings app. Then, go to System, and choose About. On the right side of the Settings window, look for the Windows specifications section. There, you have the installation date in the “Installed on” field highlighted below.

How to check the Windows 10 install date in Settings

4. How to find the Windows install date with PowerShell, using wmi and registry commands

In PowerShell, you can run other, more complex commands that return the result you want. Open PowerShell, run the command:

([WMI]'').ConvertToDateTime((Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).InstallDate)

See the Windows installation date in PowerShell

After a few seconds, you see the installation date in a readable format.

Another command (that you can use in PowerShell) reads the value of a registry key that stores the installation date. The command is the following:

[timezone]::CurrentTimeZone.ToLocalTime(([datetime]'1/1/1970').AddSeconds($(get-itemproperty 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion').InstallDate))

Get the Windows install date from PowerShell

It then displays the installation date in a readable format. The only issue is that it’s an extended command. Luckily, you can copy it from this tutorial and paste it into your PowerShell window.

5. What is the original install date? How do I find out when Windows 10 was installed? (& upgraded)

This last method uses PowerShell to extract information from the Windows Registry and convert it to a readable format. It’s also the only method we know that can tell you the original installation date of Windows.

The original Windows install date might be very difficult to find out if you’ve upgraded from an older version of Windows (like from Windows 7 to Windows 10), or if your Windows 10 has received one or more major updates as time passed by. Here’s how it works:

Open PowerShell and run the following two commands (you can copy/paste them):

[email protected](Get-ChildItem -Path HKLM:\System\Setup\Source* | ForEach-Object {Get-ItemProperty -Path Registry::$_}; Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion')

$OS | Select-Object ProductName, ReleaseID, CurrentBuild, @{Name='InstallDate'; Expression={[timezone]::CurrentTimeZone.ToLocalTime(([datetime]'1/1/1970').AddSeconds($_.InstallDate))}} | Sort-Object "InstallDate"

Press Enter and watch PowerShell show you the list of Windows installation dates identified:

Find out what is the original install date of Windows and following upgrades using advanced PowerShell commands

As you can see, on our test Windows 10 computer, we’ve had Windows 7 Ultimate originally installed on August 4, 2021. However, after that, we’ve upgraded to Windows 10 and also installed two other major updates afterward. Using the previous methods in our tutorial would only deliver the latest Windows 10 installation date, version 2009. This method shows you all the Windows installation history available in the Windows Registry, which is better, don’t you think?

Do you know other methods for checking when Windows was installed?

There might be other methods for getting the Windows installation date and time. Still, they might also require you to convert the data they give, so that you can understand it. If you know other methods that give you the Windows installation date, share them in a comment below. We promise to update this tutorial as soon as possible to help other readers.