MSINFO32.exe System Information not working [Fix]

If MSINFO32.exe or System Information is not working on your Windows 11/10 PC, read this post to learn how to fix it. System Information Tool (or the MSINFO32.exe tool) is a Windows utility that tells you almost everything about your computer. This includes the system summary and detailed information about your computer’s hardware, software, and internal state. A few users have reported that the System Information tool is not working on their Windows 11/10 PC and generating a “Can’t collect information” error message.

The complete error message says:

Can’t Collect Information.

Cannot access the Windows Management Instrumentation software. Windows Management files may be moved or missing.

If you’re also stuck with the same error, we will show you how to resolve it.

MSINFO32.exe or System Information is not working

Restart your Windows PC and then try using the MSINFO32.exe tool. This will kill all extra processes and reset any corrupt files or temporary settings that may be preventing the tool from running properly. If that doesn’t fix the issue, check the Windows Update section on your PC. If it shows any pending updates, install them to ensure all the components of the System Information tool are up to date.

If you still face the same issue, use these solutions to fix the MSINFO32.exe (System Information Tool) not working and can’t collect information on Windows 11/10 PC:

1. Start the WMI Service.
2. Reset the WMI Repository.
3. Re-register the WMI Components.
4. Restore missing files with SFC/DISM tool.

Let us see these in detail.

1] Start the WMI Service

The MSINFO32.exe tool is an OS interface to the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service. It is a Windows service that provides device information about a local or remote computer. The primary cause of the error is either the WMI service is not running or something (such as a corrupt WMI repository) may be preventing it from collecting device information.

To check if the WMI service is running, press Win+R and type services.msc in the Run dialogue box that appears. Hit Enter and scroll down to ‘Windows Management Instrumentation‘ in the Services window.

The status column should say ‘Running’. If not, double-click on the service name. In the service properties window that appears, set Startup type to Automatic and press the Start button.

2] Reset the WMI Repository

If the WMI service couldn’t start, the WMI repository may have got corrupted on your Windows PC. WMI repository is a database that stores schema and static data (definitions and meta-information) for the WMI classes.

To repair or rebuild the WMI repository, open the Command Prompt with administrator privileges, type the following command, and press the Enter key:

net stop winmgmt

The above command will stop the WMI service. Now type the following command and press the Enter key:

winmgmt /resetrepository

The above command will reset the WMI repository to its default state. To start the WMI service again, type the following command in the same Command Prompt window and press the Enter key:

net start winmgmt

Exit Command Prompt and see if the issue is gone.

Please note that the above command will stop other services dependent on the WMI service. These services won’t restart automatically; you need to start them as explained above, manually.

Read: WMI Repository reset failed, Error 0x80070005, 0x8007041B, 0x80041003.

3] Re-register the WMI Components

If you still face the issue, re-register WMI Components and see if it helps. WMI components are the .DLL and .EXE files used by WMI. These files can be found at %windir%\system32\wbem on a 32-bit system, or at  %windir%\sysWOW64\wbem on a 64-bit system.

To re-register the WMI components, run the following commands in an elevated Command Prompt:

cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem

for %i in (*.dll) do RegSvr32 -s %i

for %i in (*.exe) do %i /RegServer

Exit the command prompt and see if the issue is gone.

4] Restore missing files with SFC and DISM tool

If the issue persists, run the following SFC command in an elevated Command Prompt to repair missing or corrupted system files:

sfc /scannow

Now try using the MSINFO32.exe tool. If it still can’t get the data, run the following DISM commands in the Command Prompt window:

dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth

dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Now reboot your PC and try accessing system information via the MSINFO32.exe tool.

The above solutions should hopefully fix the issue.

If nothing helps, if you’ve created a system restore point before the error, restoring your PC to a previous state may undo any changes that may have caused the issue.

I hope this helps.

What is msinfo32 System Information?

MSINFO32.exe System Information is a Windows utility software that provides extensive information about your system’s hardware, software, and device drivers. It comes bundled with the Windows OS. The information provided by the MSINFO32.exe tool can be used for diagnostic and troubleshooting purposes.

Read: Fix Windows Management Instrumentation error 1083.

How do I fix System Information not showing?

Make sure the WMI service is running on your Windows PC. Press Win+R, type services.msc in the Run dialogue box, and press Enter. In the Services window, navigate to Windows Management Instrumentation and double-click on it. Click on the Start button to run the service. If the issue persists, reset the WMI repository and re-register WMI components following the instructions given in this post.

Read next: 5 System Information Tools in Windows 11.