With the help of the free utility application BgInfo, you do not need to remember all your Windows 11 system information as this information will always be available on your desktop.
In fact, it is difficult to remember specific hardware and software information related to your personal computer, especially if the PC is several years old. CPU, network adapter or exact version of Windows 11 we are using is not information that most of us remember and readily reread when asked. However, this is just the type of information that is often important to identify your system and troubleshoot.
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The task of identifying the system as well as the hardware and software currently in use can be accomplished simply and easily with an application called BgInfo, which is part of the available Sysinternals suite of utility applications. free from Microsoft. By running BgInfo and making some decisions about what information you want to display, you can overlay the appropriate system information on your Windows 11 desktop wallpaper so it can be viewed at any time.
How to display updated Windows 11 system information with BgInfo
Picture A shows you part of the standard Windows 11 desktop. Note that the current version is empty and has no system information.
Picture A
Download BgInfo from the Sysinternals website and extract the contents of the ZIP file to the C:\Windows\System32 folder. You should have two new files in that folder, as shown in Figure BUG.
Figure BUG
When you run BgInfo, you will see a configuration screen that you can use to change the default settings, as shown in SIZE. In most cases, the default settings will be fine, but you can adjust to suit your needs.
SIZE
When you are satisfied with your configuration settings, click the OK button. Now, when you look at the Windows 11 desktop, you will see your system information incorporated into the Windows 11 desktop wallpaper, as shown in Visualization.
Visualization
As an alternative to downloading BgInfo, you can run the application directly from Sysinternals Live website. Navigate to the BgInfo page and scroll down to the link shown in Figure E. When you click on it, you will run BgInfo remotely.
Figure E
BgInfo can also be run from the command prompt with various parameters and switches applied. Switches allow you to save system information to a configuration file, a pop-up overlay, or to the Windows 11 taskbar as user-accessible icons. Available configuration parameters include:
- <đường dẫn>: Specify the name of the configuration file to use for the current session.
- /timer: Specify the timeout value for the countdown timer, in seconds. Specifying zero will update the display without showing the configuration dialog. Specifying 300 seconds or so will completely turn off the timer.
- /popup: Causes BGInfo to generate a pop-up containing the configured information without updating the desktop.
- /silent: Eliminate error messages.
- / task bar: Causes BGInfo to place an icon in the status area of the taskbar without updating the desktop. Clicking the icon causes the configured information to appear in a pop-up.
- /all of: Specifies that BGInfo will change the background image for any and all users currently logged on to the system.
- /log: Causes BGInfo to write errors to the specified log file instead of generating a warning dialog.
- /rtf: Causes BGInfo to write its output text to an RTF file. All formatting and color information is included.
By default, BgInfo replaces your current Windows 11 desktop background with a new one. However, by changing the default configuration settings, you can tell BgInfo to use the current wallpaper and replace it with an updated version with your system information. The original image will remain on your system if you want to change it back.
Putting a shortcut to BgInfo in your Startup folder will update the Windows 11 system information every time the system is started, so it will always show the latest information. System information that is always available and up to date on your desktop can be useful when you are trying to troubleshoot.
