Sometimes, you may need to create a list of applications installed on your computer in order to install them on another PC or so that they can be reinstalled more easily after the system has been reset.
I have a habit of taking screenshots of my Control Panel or my Start menu for this purpose. But there is an easier way to do this job using built-in Windows functionality.
By following these steps, you will be able to generate a text file that contains all the programs installed on your Windows machine. For this task, we will be using the WMI console. WMI is a protocol that allows you to administer and control Windows using simple commands.
How to get the read of programs from your computer?
- Open the command prompt (in Windows 8 and Seven, open it as administrator by right-clicking). To do this, go to All Programs> Accessories and right click on Command Prompt and select "Run as administrator".
- In the command prompt, type WMIC and press Enter.
- After a few seconds, a new "wmic: rootcli>" prompt will appear. Enter the command:
/output:C:\ListApps.htm product get name, version
and validate with [Enter]
The command then generates at the root of disk C: a text file containing the list of all the installed applications.
You can also change the output file name and drive letter if you want to change the output location.
I tested this trick in Windows 7 (32-bit) and it works great, but it should also work on Windows 8 and XP without any issues.
However, there is a freeware called Belarc Advisor to do the same job. It creates a detailed list of the applications installed in your system, and displays the results in your web browser.