Is the server physical or virtual?

by Mitch Tulloch [Published on 7 Oct. 2015 / Last Updated on 7 Oct. 2015]

A tip on how you can use PowerShell to determine whether a Windows server is a physical system or a virtual machine.

You can also use PowerShell to query the win32_computersystem WMI class to determine whether your server is a physical server or is running in a virtual machine on a Hyper-V host. Here are a couple of examples I just tried using different servers:

PS C:\> (get-wmiobject win32_computersystem).model
Virtual Machine

PS C:\> (get-wmiobject win32_computersystem).model
PowerEdge T300

The above tip was previously published in an issue of WServerNews, a weekly newsletter from TechGenix that focuses on the administration, management and security of the Windows Server platform in particular and cloud solutions in general. Subscribe to WServerNews today by going to http://www.wservernews.com/subscribe.htm and join almost 100,000 other IT professionals around the world who read our newsletter!

Mitch Tulloch is an eleven-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award and a widely recognized expert on Windows Server and cloud computing technologies.  Mitch is also Senior Editor of WServerNews. For more information about him see http://www.mtit.com.

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The Author — Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch is a well-known expert on Windows Server administration and cloud computing technologies. He has published over a thousand articles on information technology topics and has written, contributed to or been series editor for over 50 books.

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