How-To

How to Find Your Windows 11 PC Uptime

By Brian Burgess

Published November 21, 2022

If you never reboot or shut down your computer, you might want to know its uptime. Here’s how to find your Windows 11 PC Uptime.

One of the bits of information you might need for troubleshooting or general interest is your computer’s uptime. If you have a computer that you rarely reboot, knowing how long it has been up and running can be helpful.

Sometimes you may need that information when troubleshooting the operating system or an individual component. For example, a reboot would be in order if you keep getting a BSOD error, for example, and there are months of uptime.

If you’re unsure how to find your Windows 11 PC uptime, follow this guide.

Checking Your PC Uptime on Windows

Now, learning how long your PC has been up and running isn’t something you can use all the time. However, it’s essential information to have when troubleshooting a problem with the OS, an app, or a specific piece of hardware.

Another way it can be beneficial is if you think your PC is restarting automatically, even though you don’t want it to. If it isn’t supposed to restart, find your Windows 11 PC uptime; the info will help you deduce what’s happening.

The good news is that Windows 11 provides five different ways to find uptime via Task Manager, Settings, Control Panel, and the command line.

How to Find a Windows 11 PC Uptime with Task Manager

The most straightforward method to find your PC uptime is by using Task Manager. It just takes a couple of steps if you know where to look.

To find PC uptime with Task Manager on Windows 11:

1. Right-click the Start button and select Task Manager from the power user menu.
   Note: You can also open Task Manager using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut.
2. When Task Manager opens, click the Performance tab on the left column.
3. Click CPU, and you’ll find your Windows 11 PC’s uptime in the bottom column.

How to Use Control Panel to Find a Windows 11 PC Uptime

Another way to find your computer’s uptime is via the classic Control Panel. While Microsoft is slowly phasing out Control Panel, you can still use many aspects of it.

To use Control Panel to find your Windows 11 PC uptime:

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard to open the Start menu and search for control panel.
2. Click the first result.
3. Click on Network and Internet from the available options.
4. Select the Network and Sharing Center option from the top.
5. Click the Change adapter setting option in the left column.
6. Double-click the network adapter you’re using to connect to the internet.
7. When the network status screen opens, find the Duration option to note the uptime.

It’s important to note that this option starts when your device boots up and provides an excellent estimate of uptime. However, this method only works if you don’t reset the network connection during the system’s uptime.

How to Use Windows 11 Settings to Find System Uptime

As we mentioned, Microsoft is moving more system features from the Control Panel to the Settings app. One of them is using it to find your Windows 11 PC uptime via network settings.

To use Settings to find your PC uptime on Windows 11:

1. Press the Windows key and open the Settings
2. When Settings opens, click the Network & Internet option on the left and Advanced network settings from the list on the right.
3. Expand your network adapter section and confirm the Duration

This option is like using Control Panel to find PC uptime based on network duration. The time starts when your PC boots up. The uptime won’t be as accurate if you have reset your network connection.

If you think there is a discrepancy, use the Task Manager method shown above for determining uptime. The Task Manager method doesn’t account for network resets.

How to Find Windows 11 PC Uptime via Command Prompt

If you prefer to use and run commands to find system info, you can use the Command Prompt to find uptime.

To find PC uptime via the Command Prompt on Windows 11:

1. Press the Windows key to open the Start menu, search for CMD, and click the Run as Administrator option.
2. Now, run the following command:

   systeminfo | find "System Boot Time"

   

3. After running the command, it will display when the PC was booted up and became operational.

Of course, you’ll need to do a bit of math here. Subtract the info – days, hours, and minutes since the PC has been running with the current time and date.

How to Use PowerShell Terminal to Find PC Uptime on Windows 11

The command prompt is a little old school, but you can use the Windows PowerShell (or the newer Windows Terminal) to find your Windows 11 PC uptime value.

To use PowerShell to find PC uptime on Windows 11:

1. Press the Windows key, search for powershell, and click Run as Administrator.
2. Type the following command into the terminal and hit Enter.

   (get-date) - (gcim Win32_OperatingSystem).LastBootUpTime

   

The command will present the days, hours, minutes, seconds, and even milliseconds since the device has been up and running.

Finding Your PC Uptime on Windows

If you’re experiencing problems with your Windows 11 PC, learning its uptime is valuable for troubleshooting data. Whether it’s hardware, software, or other issues, use one of the options above to find your PC uptime. Sometimes you’ll be surprised how long your PC has been up and running. Especially if you rarely shut it down or restart it.

Windows 11 includes more ways to find troubleshooting information, like checking your graphics card data or generating a Wi-Fi report for connectivity problems. And you might be interested in how to find your printer data on Windows 11.