{"id":336,"date":"2008-06-17T14:43:09","date_gmt":"2008-06-17T09:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=336"},"modified":"2024-01-19T13:26:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T07:56:01","slug":"fix-for-msinfo32exe-error-cant-collect-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-for-msinfo32exe-error-cant-collect-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Fix for Msinfo32.exe Error Can&#8217;t Collect Information"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The System Information Tool (Msinfo32.exe) generates the error <b>Can&#8217;t Collect Information<\/b> if the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service is not started.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70305\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/msinfo32-cant-collect-info-1.png\" alt=\"msinfo32 cannot collect information\" width=\"582\" height=\"312\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Cause<\/h2>\n<p>The above error occurs if the Windows Management Instrumentation service is not running.<\/p>\n<h2>Resolution<\/h2>\n<p>Follow the steps below to resolve the issue. If Step 1 resolves the issue, no need to follow Step 2 and Step 3.<\/p>\n<h3>Step 1) Start the WMI Service<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Right-click Start, and click Run.<\/li>\n<li>Type <strong>Services.msc<\/strong> and click OK.<\/li>\n<li>Double-click <strong>Windows Management Instrumentation<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Set its Startup type to <strong>Automatic<\/strong><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-70304\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/winmgmt-service-msinfo32-cant-collect-info-2.png\" alt=\"winmgmt set to automatic\" width=\"406\" height=\"468\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Apply.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Start<\/strong> to start the service.<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If the above steps do not work, try Step 2, and <strong>if necessary<\/strong>, Step 3 to re-register the WMI components.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Step 2) Reset the WMI Repository<\/h3>\n<p>Open an admin Command Prompt, and run the following commands.<\/p>\n<pre>\nwinmgmt \/backup c:\\wmi_repository.bak\nwinmgmt \/resetrepository\n<\/pre>\n<p>Restart Windows. If the problem persists, proceed to Step 3 below.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Step 3) Rebuild the WMI repository Completely<\/h3>\n<p>Open an admin Command Prompt, and run the following commands.<\/p>\n<pre>sc config winmgmt start= disabled\n\nnet stop winmgmt<\/pre>\n<p><em>(the blank space after <strong>start=<\/strong> is intentional)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(Note: Stopping WMI will also stop the other services that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-11-default-services-configuration\/\">depend<\/a> upon WMI. Please attempt the procedure via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/start-windows-11-or-10-safe-mode\/\">Safe mode<\/a> if the WMI service can\u2019t be stopped. Antimalware service(s) that depend upon WMI may not stop and thus prevent WMI from stopping. In that case, the Safe mode should help.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Run the following commands to rebuild the repository:<\/p>\n<pre>CD \/D %WINDIR%\\System32\\Wbem\\Repository\nDEL \/F \/Q \/S %WINDIR%\\System32\\Wbem\\Repository\\*.*\nCD \/D %WINDIR%\\System32\\Wbem\nfor \/f %s in ('dir \/b *.dll') do regsvr32 \/s %s\nwmiprvse \/regserver\nsc config winmgmt start= auto\nnet start winmgmt\nfor \/f %s in ('dir \/b *.mof') do mofcomp %s\nfor \/f %s in ('dir \/b *.mfl') do mofcomp %s\ndism \/online \/cleanup-image \/restorehealth\nsfc \/scannow\n<\/pre>\n<p>Launch <strong>wmimgmt.msc<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Right-click &#8220;WMI Control (Local)&#8221; and click Properties.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-30091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/wmimgmt-rebuild.png\" alt=\"wmi repository rebuild wmimgmt\" width=\"550\" height=\"310\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The above step recreates the repository, which might take a minute or so.<\/p>\n<p>Restart Windows.<\/p>\n<p>The WMI components should be re-registered now. See if you can launch msinfo32.exe now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The System Information Tool (Msinfo32.exe) generates the error Can&#8217;t Collect Information if the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service is not started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[191,950],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-error-messages","tag-msinfo32"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":78326,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/processor-ram-unavailable-system-properties\/","url_meta":{"origin":336,"position":0},"title":"Processor and RAM info not shown in System properties","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"When you open Control Panel \u2192 System and Security \u2192 System, the processor and RAM fields may say \"Not available\". 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