Author Topic: Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it! (Read 103503 times)

Ralf Maximus · « **on:** October 26, 2007, 11:26 AM »

Ever wonder when your copy of Windows was installed? Me neither.

But, today I was poking around in the registry and stumbled across this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\InstallDate

Which is a dword value holding the number of seconds since that fateful day you reinstalled windows last.
(Actually, an offset from 12 midnight, 1/1/1970.)

So naturally I had to write a little applet to pull the value and display it in an easy-to-read format. As a bonus, you get a real-time update, for those of us with compulsive disorders.

Please download your copy today, and report back the oldest living Windows installation. The winner will get a hearty thumbs-up and a stern reminder to knock-on-wood.

Thanks,
Ralf

PS... Is there a forum better suited for posting goofy self-written goodies like this? If so, feel free to move it, forum gods.

UPDATE #1: Edited the reg key for accuracy. D'oh!
UPDATE #2: Edited description of what the dword stores. Feh.
UPDATE #3: New 1.1 version has Windows uptime display.

jgpaiva · « **Reply #1 on:** October 26, 2007, 11:35 AM »

Fun idea, Ralf!!!
That gave me an idea: Let's see who has the older instalation of XP!

Mine has 6 months, 27 days and 6 hours

nudone · « **Reply #2 on:** October 26, 2007, 11:42 AM »

alive for 2 years, 10 months, 16 days, 24h 5m 48s. which must the longest i've ever gone without reinstalling or resorting to a ghost image.

i imagine 2 years 10 months is going to be miniscule compared to some forum members i can think of...

PhilB66 · « **Reply #3 on:** October 26, 2007, 11:54 AM »

Cool. 2/17/2006 9:34:43 AM... now you do the math.

wolf.b · « **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2007, 01:05 PM »

No, not really ...

mouser · « **Reply #5 on:** October 26, 2007, 01:37 PM »

fun

cranioscopical · « **Reply #6 on:** October 26, 2007, 01:39 PM »

Neat toy, Ralf!

On the machine I'm at right now, 2 years, 7 months etc.

nite_monkey · « **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2007, 02:31 PM »

if you want to get the install date and the current running time, then open a command prompt, and type in systeminfo

Ralf Maximus · « **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2007, 02:40 PM »

Actually, systeminfo|find /i "install date" is nicer.

And in my original post above, I incorrectly described what's stored in the InstallDate key. It's actually an offset (in seconds) from midnight on 1/1/1970. My app reports the value correctly; I just described it wrong.

And I have a terrifyingly old Windows machine here (my mailserver) that I've run the thingie on... I'll post its results after awhile and see how many people believe it. :-)

nudone · « **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2007, 02:51 PM »

could it be modified to include how long the machine has been running?

i.e. without being rebooted.

Ralf Maximus · « **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2007, 02:59 PM »

could it be modified to include how long the machine has been running?

i.e. without being rebooted.
-nudone (October 26, 2007, 02:51 PM)

Bing! Your request has been granted.

nudone · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2007, 03:31 PM »

excellent

Armando · « **Reply #12 on:** October 27, 2007, 02:15 AM »

fun little program.

1 year 4 months 13 days, 2h26m. (almost since I bought my laptop, basically)

f0dder · « **Reply #13 on:** October 27, 2007, 03:46 AM »

9 months and 24 days... this install is getting old

Btw, what do you use to get running time? GetTickCount() or performance counters? GetTickCount() isn't reliable

nosh · « **Reply #14 on:** October 27, 2007, 06:28 AM »

All thanks to drive imaging.

nudone · « **Reply #15 on:** October 27, 2007, 07:47 AM »

cheat! cheat!

nosh · « **Reply #16 on:** October 27, 2007, 08:38 AM »

No, really! Cross my heart and all that...

My Windows installs would probably average less than 6 months before I started using imaging software. The current image has been built on + backed up + restored over 20 times since the initial install

Darwin · « **Reply #17 on:** October 27, 2007, 09:34 AM »

Ever wonder when your copy of Windows was installed? Me neither.

Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

Darwin · « **Reply #18 on:** October 27, 2007, 09:36 AM »

PS I also credit drive imaging to my windows installation's longevity (compared to Win 9x installs, anyway).

Armando · « **Reply #19 on:** October 27, 2007, 10:22 AM »

PS I also credit drive imaging to my windows installation's longevity (compared to Win 9x installs, anyway).
-Darwin (October 27, 2007, 09:36 AM)

Who wouldn't... Is it really possible to mess with windows without relying on some kind of safety net?

nite_monkey · « **Reply #20 on:** October 27, 2007, 03:14 PM »

so where exactly is this program getting its information? I installed my windows os this year, and it said I installed it in 2005

Ralf Maximus · « **Reply #21 on:** October 27, 2007, 03:20 PM »

so where exactly is this program getting its information? I installed my windows os this year, and it said I installed it in 2005
-nite_monkey (October 27, 2007, 03:14 PM)

Check the original post -- the registry key holding the data is described there.

Dunno why yours is reporting something different. What OS are you running? Vista?

If you want, fire up rededit.exe and look at the InstallDate key. What's it say?

brett · « **Reply #22 on:** October 27, 2007, 05:45 PM »

This is my work PC, I try to take care of this machine.

Windows Install Date Thingie: I made it!

Which by my standard is impressive, because my home machine gets trashed regularly.

Ralf Maximus · « **Reply #23 on:** October 27, 2007, 06:02 PM »

Holy mother of dog! That's impressive. Beats my mail server (see attached).

And what on earth were you doing installing Windows at 6 in the morning? Unless you were up all night trashing it, that's just unnatural...

f0dder · « **Reply #24 on:** October 27, 2007, 06:21 PM »

Ralf, how are you retrieving uptime?