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Chapter 1-1: System Information and Configuration

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Chapter 1-1: System Information and Configuration

Understanding your system’s configuration is the first step in diagnostics, optimization, and automation. Whether you’re on Windows or Linux, the ability to quickly retrieve information about your OS version, kernel, architecture, or uptime is essential.

This page compares three common CLI tasks between Windows and Linux, complete with command syntax, sample output, and explanations to help you recognize what’s “normal” vs. potentially problematic.

1. Check System Information

🎯 Purpose

To display detailed information about the system, including the OS, processor, build, architecture, and more.

💻 Windows

systeminfo

🧾 Sample Output

Host Name:                 DESKTOP-1234ABC
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
OS Version:                10.0.19042 N/A Build 19042
System Boot Time:          4/3/2025, 9:00:00 AM
System Manufacturer:       Dell Inc.
System Model:              XPS 15 9500
Processor(s):              1 x Intel Core i7

🐧 Linux

uname -a

🧾 Sample Output

Linux mymachine 5.15.0-84-generic #93-Ubuntu SMP Fri Mar 22 14:52:18 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
💡 Tip:
For a more human-readable output in Linux, use:
hostnamectl
📝 Note:
The uname -a output is kernel-focused, while hostnamectl provides hostname, OS name, kernel, and architecture in a cleaner format.

2. Check OS Version

🎯 Purpose

To verify the installed OS version. This is especially useful when debugging compatibility issues or preparing system updates.

💻 Windows

winver

🧾 Sample Output

A GUI dialog will appear, showing:

Windows 10
Version 21H2 (OS Build 19044.2846)

📝 Note:
There’s no CLI-only output from winver; it's a GUI utility. For scripts, use:
systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"

🐧 Linux

lsb_release -a

🧾 Sample Output

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
Release:        22.04
Codename:       jammy
💡 Tip:
If lsb_release is not available, try:
cat /etc/os-release

3. Check System Uptime

🎯 Purpose

To see how long the system has been running since the last boot—useful for diagnostics or verifying reboots.

💻 Windows

systeminfo | find "System Boot Time"

🧾 Sample Output

System Boot Time:          4/3/2025, 9:00:00 AM

🐧 Linux

uptime

🧾 Sample Output

 15:21:36 up 3 days,  5:12,  2 users,  load average: 0.13, 0.10, 0.08
📝 Note:
uptime gives more than boot time—it includes current load average and logged-in users.
⚠️ Alert:
If uptime is suspiciously short and you didn’t reboot recently, it could indicate an unplanned crash or kernel panic.

✅ Coming Up Next

We’ll explore Part 2: Hardware and Disk Management, looking at how Linux compares with Windows for managing storage devices, partitions, and disk performance stats—all from the command line.

Stay tuned.