MS DOS Command: MSD.EXE

Reference from Microsoft MS-DOS cmd help

Description

Provides detailed technical information about your computer.

Syntax

To use MSD to create a report, use the following syntax:

MSD [/I] [/F[drive:][path]filename] [/P[drive:][path]filename] [/S[drive:][path][filename]]

To run the MSD program and examine technical information through its interface, use the following syntax:

MSD [/B] [/I]

Parameters

[drive:][path]filename

Specifies the drive, directory, and filename to which you want to write the report.

Switches

/I	Specifies that MSD not initially detect hardware. Use the /I switch if you are having problems starting MSD or if MSD is not running properly.
/F[drive:][path]filename	Prompts you for name, company, address, country, phone number, and comments, then writes a complete MSD report to the file you specify.
/P[drive:][path]filename	Writes a complete MSD report to the file you specify, without prompting you for information.
/S[drive:][path][filename]	Writes a summary MSD report to the file you specify, without prompting you for information. If you do not specify any of the parameters, MSD writes the report to the screen.
/B	Runs MSD in black and white instead of color. Use the /B switch when you have a monitor that does not correctly display MSD in color.

Remarks

Information provided by MSD

Whether you examine the information through MSD's interface or through a report, the MSD program can provide detailed technical information about your computer's:

• Model and processor
• Memory
• Video adapter
• Version of MS-DOS
• Mouse
• Other adapters
• Disk drives
• LPT ports
• COM ports
• IRQ status
• Terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) programs
• Device drivers

MSD Button Options

The following is a brief description of the buttons that appear on MSD main screen:

Computer	Displays computer manufacturer, processor type, and bus type; ROM BIOS manufacturer, version and date; keyboard type; DMA controller configuration; and math coprocessor status.
Memory	Displays a map of the upper memory area (UMA) -- the memory region from 640K to 1024K.
Video	Shows your video card manufacturer, model, and type; video BIOS version and date; and current video mode.
Network	Displays network-specific configuration information.
Operating System	Displays the operating system version, location of MS-DOS in memory, the drive the computer was started from, the current environment settings and the path from which MSD was run.
Mouse	Shows the MS-DOS mouse driver version, mouse type, mouse interrupt request line (IRQ) number, and other information specific to the configuration of the mouse.
Other Adapters	Displays the game card status for up to two game devices or joysticks.
Disk Drives	Displays the size and number of bytes free on local and remote drives.
LPT Ports	Displays the port addresses of all installed parallel ports, and dynamically displays the status of each port.
COM Ports	Displays the port addresses and current communications parameters of all installed serial ports, and displays the status of each port.
IRQ Status	Displays the configuration of the hardware IRQs.
TSR Programs	Displays the name, location in memory, and size of each program loaded in memory at the time MSD was run.
Device Drivers	Displays the names of all device drivers installed at the time MSD was run.

Examples

Starting the MSD program

If you wanted to examine some of the technical information about your computer before calling Microsoft Product Support Services, you would start the MSD program by typing the following at the command prompt:

msd

The MSD program has an interface that makes it easy for you to access detailed technical information about your computer.

Creating a report

Before calling Microsoft Product Support Services, you could create a file called COMPUTER.TXT that contains a detailed technical report about your computer. To do this, you could type the following at the command prompt:

msd /p computer.txt

The COMPUTER.TXT file would contain the information about your computer.

If you want MSD to create a detailed report about your computer and you wanted the report to include such information as your name, company, address, and phone number, you would type the following at the command prompt:

msd /f computer.txt

The MSD program will prompt you for the information.