How to check Windows Server Uptime

Quickly Check Windows Server Uptime

A system is only useful as long as it is up and running. Server administrators use a utility called "Windows Uptime" as a measurement to troubleshoot day-to-day issues that can arise in the Windows environment. A computer with a high downtime has lower efficiency than a computer with high uptime. Hence, "computer uptime" can be defined as the total duration of how long a system has been up and running without shutting down or restarting. Server uptime helps system admins in various ways, such as troubleshooting, scripting, and checking the previous boot time if there is a power outage. As servers are responsible for what information is transmitted, they play an integral role in the operation of retrieving the uptime and downtime information. This integral role is what grabs the attention of the IT infrastructure teams and redirects them to focus on quickly determining the health and performance of their interconnected systems. The IT infrastructure teams carry this process out by performing daily or weekly dedicated tasks to monitor server performance and its availability via different metrics.

 

Nothing is as valuable as time. Therefore, to ensure the efficient operation of a company, the duration of diagnostics should be reduced in order to work on and apply the fixes quicker. This saves a tonne of wasted time.

RELEVANCE OF UPTIME 

Higher uptime rates lead to an increase in a system's availability and reliability. A higher uptime also provides the customers with uninterrupted services. Grasping the reason behind a system's downtime can assist with optimal decision-making, budgeting, and capacity planning.

Decision Making 

In order to manage organizational operations, the server administrators need to know which systems need an upgrade or troubleshooting. Being aware of and recognizing the required upgrades or problems allows administrators to suggest the next steps in implementing or fixing them, respectively.

Budgeting and Capacity Planning 

Depending on Windows uptime, the amount of resources allotted can be increased, and weaker machines can be replaced by robust ones to match the growing demands of an organization. However, the addition of extra resources and the replacement of the machines in turn depends on the budget and the manageable capacity of an organizational team.
 

HOW TO CHECK UPTIME ON WINDOWS SERVER 

To view the status and application of their servers, admins use 'Server Uptime Reports.' An immediate drawback of this report is that it can be extremely time-consuming to create the server uptime reports manually (e.g., using PowerShell for scripting to generate an uptime report). A solution to this problem is "automation." Automation can save time and hassle for IT teams by automatically measuring and showing server uptime metrics.
 

There are a couple of methods, each with more than one Windows uptime command.

 

Checking Windows Server Uptime Using Task Manager

 

This method is one of the easiest, quickest, and most common ways to check Windows uptime. The following steps answer the question of how to check uptime on a Windows server using Task Manager:

 

  1. Login to the Windows system.

  2. Navigate to the Task Bar, right-click on it, and then left-click on Task Manager to launch it.

  3. If the Task Manager launches in compact view, click on More Details for a comprehensive set of running processes and services.

  4. Navigate to the Performance Tab in the Task Manager.

  5. Look for the CPU Section in the Performance Tab and click on it to check server uptime.

 Checking Windows Server Uptime Using Command Prompt

 

As mentioned earlier, there are multiple methods to check the uptime of a server, each with more than one Windows server uptime command.

 

  1. Using the WMIC Command

 

The Windows Management Interface Command (WMIC) is a utility command line (server uptime command) which provides the user with information about the system. The last boot-up time can also be revealed using the command mentioned below. 

 

wmic path Win32_OperatingSystem get LastBootUpTime

 

  1. Using the Systeminfo Command

 

This command for server uptime reveals a set of details which include the operating system, computer software, and hardware elements of the system. The below-mentioned command is also capable of displaying the last boot-up or "System Boot Time" for the user to check the uptime of their Windows server.

 

systeminfo | find "System Boot Time"

 

  1. Using the Net Statistics Utility

 

This is yet another command to check the last boot-up time. Running this command will reveal a list of statistics such as transmitted and received bytes, and network errors. The system boot-time is the first statistic to show up in the list when the following command is entered:

 

net statistics workstation

 

To check the uptime of a Windows server, the command has a slight change:

 

net statistics server

 

Checking Windows Server Uptime Using PowerShell

 

PowerShell is a cross-platform program developed by Microsoft that operates on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It is comprised of three components that provide substantive solutions across the board, a command-line shell, a scripting language, and a framework for configuration management.

 

PowerShell gives a direct answer using a similar string of command prompt. Like the Windows default command prompt (cmd), PowerShell can also be used to find all kinds of information related to the user's system. For example, the command to find your system's last boot time is mentioned below.

 

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem | Select LastBootUpTime

 

Apart from the last boot-up time, this program reveals the uptime of a system by calculating and displaying the total number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds. To know the uptime of a server, the user needs to enter the below-mentioned command in the PowerShell command prompt in order to retrieve the net statistics.

 

(Get-Date) - (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime

 

It is important to note that in Windows 10, WindowsFast Setup is enabled by default. This means that Windows will not reset the value of 'LastBootUpTime' and, as a result, it will not give the exact server uptime to the user.

 

CHECKING WINDOWS UPTIME USING 'UPTIME MONITORING TOOLS'

Uptime monitoring tools are functionally known as "server uptime and downtime tools" that enable automation of uptime and downtime display. An advantage of using reporting tools is that they allow levels of uptime and downtime in context with the server performance metrics. This advantage causes faster troubleshooting and quicker attempts to ensure high performance.

 

It is necessary to ensure that the uptime monitoring tools used provide a holistic view in order to check and keep an eye wide open for possible downtime due to certain server components.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

It is difficult to decide which method is more informative in comparison to others. Some may prove to be quicker in comparison to others, but may not offer other details regarding uptime or last boot-up. There are multiple Windows uptime command-lines and the user gets to decide which method is most optimal for them depending on what they are looking for. Each method and command for server uptime offers additional and related information.

 

To sum it up, the availability and reliability of a system are measured by uptime. High uptime can only be achieved if there is high efficiency. There are many ways to check the uptime efficiency, and different tools for them have been explained above, and most of the commands for them are also functional in Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and Windows Server 2022. 

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