TechTips - Server Uptime: Two Ways to Find Out How Long It's Been Since Your Last Reboot or Shutdown

It's important to know how long your server/workstation has been on since its last reboot or shutdown. There are two very simple ways to find this information, one displays the time more easily and the other gives you loads of other useful information. You can choose which you think is the best for you.

The first is a simple command line command that can be used on any Windows machine. Simply go to Start>>Run type CMD and click OK. Now in the command line type net stat srv or net statistics server, and hit enter, either command will give the same results. It will display something like this:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\>net stats srv

Server Statistics for \\ComputerName

Statistics since 2/27/2009 5:47 AM (This is your uptime)

Sessions accepted 1

Sessions timed-out 1

Sessions errored-out 10

Kilobytes sent 1719919

Kilobytes received 375113

System errors 0

Permission violations 9

Password violations 5

Files accessed 7782

Communication devices accessed 0

The command completed successfully.

The only problem with this command is the server uptime is a little hard to get since it tells you the day your computer/server last started up and you have to do the math to see how long your machine/server has been up.

The next tool gives you far less information but it gives you more exact info when it comes to server uptime. First you will need to download a simple tool here called uptime.exe. Once you download the tool make sure you put it in your C:\ directory. Now to use the uptime.exe all you have to do is go Start>>Run type CMD and hit OK. Now type uptime.exe and it should display something like this:

C:\>uptime.exe

\\ComputerName has been up for: 3 day(s), 2 hour(s), 46 minute(s), 49 second(s)

C:\>

This tells you specifically how long your machine/server has been up and that is all. Either command can be used but the uptime.exe is easier if want to find out specifically how long your machine has been on since the last reboot/shutdown.

Hope this helps you with finding your systems uptime.