Most Helpful Commands for Windows Systems
Most Helpful Commands for Windows Systems
This guide includes some of the most helpful commands I have used when working on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server machines.
Check the battery health level
Manufacturer utilities like Dell SupportAssist can check the battery health, but only check the current output. To check the actual battery health level in terms of maximum battery capacity, run this command and view the report.
powercfg /batteryreport
Find MAC address for a wireless AP
This command lets you find the MAC address of the Wi-Fi access point that your Windows computer is currently connected to.
netsh wlan show interfaces
Flushing DNS and renew IP address
Flushing the DNS cache is a good first step when a computer is unable to reach a website or internal server. The three commands below will flush the DNS cache and renew the IP address.
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
Retrieve unknown BitLocker keys
It seems like a slight security risk that you can recover the BitLocker keys simply by running a command. Still, this command is very helpful for automating the process of gathering BitLocker keys.
manage-bde -protectors C: -get
Get Wi-Fi connection report
This command will generate a report of the Wi-Fi connection status and health.
netsh wlan show wlanreport
Troubleshooting system performance
These commands are helpful on a computer that is slow, experiencing errors, or stuck on the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The set of commands checks for system file corruption, OS image corruption, and disk errors.
sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
chkdsk /f /r
Get a device serial number
Since most RMM systems rely on serial numbers for identification, it’s helpful to know how to get the serial number without being able to read the computer’s label. This command outputs the device serial number.
wmic bios get serialnumber
Recover a lost Wi-Fi password
Find the Wi-Fi password on a device that is currently connected to it. Make sure to replace the WIFI_NETWORK placeholder with the actual wireless network name.
netsh wlan show profile name=“WIFI_NETWORK” key=clear
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