How do I get total physical memory size using PowerShell without WMI?

powershell memory byte wmi

142,635

Solution 1

If you don't want to use WMI, I can suggest systeminfo.exe. But, there may be a better way to do that.

(systeminfo | Select-String 'Total Physical Memory:').ToString().Split(':')[1].Trim()

Solution 2

Let's not over complicate things...:

(Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemory | Measure-Object -Property capacity -Sum).sum /1gb

Solution 3

I'd like to make a note of this for people referencing in the future.

I wanted to avoid WMI because it uses a DCOM protocol, requiring the remote computer to have the necessary permissions, which could only be setup manually on that remote computer.

So, I wanted to avoid using WMI, but using get-counter often times didn't have the performance counter I wanted.

The solution I used was the Common Information Model (CIM). Unlike WMI, CIM doesn't use DCOM by default. Instead of returning WMI objects, CIM cmdlets return PowerShell objects.

CIM uses the Ws-MAN protocol by default, but it only works with computers that have access to Ws-Man 3.0 or later. So, earlier versions of PowerShell wouldn't be able to issue CIM cmdlets.

The cmdlet I ended up using to get total physical memory size was:

get-ciminstance -class "cim_physicalmemory" | % {$_.Capacity}

Solution 4

Id like to say that instead of going with the systeminfo this would help over to get the total physical memory in GB's the machine

Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemory | Measure-Object -Property capacity -Sum | Foreach {"{0:N2}" -f ([math]::round(($_.Sum / 1GB),2))}

you can pass this value to the variable and get the gross output for the total physical memory in the machine

   $totalmemory = Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemory | Measure-Object -Property capacity -Sum | Foreach {"{0:N2}" -f ([math]::round(($_.Sum / 1GB),2))}
   $totalmemory

Solution 5

For those coming here from a later day and age and one a working solution:

(Get-WmiObject -class "cim_physicalmemory" | Measure-Object -Property Capacity -Sum).Sum

this will give the total sum of bytes.

$bytes = (Get-WmiObject -class "cim_physicalmemory" | Measure-Object -Property Capacity -Sum).Sum

$kb = $bytes / 1024
$mb = $bytes / 1024 / 1024
$gb = $bytes / 1024 / 1024 / 1024

I tested this up to windows server 2008 (winver 6.0) even there this command seems to work

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142,635

eltaco431

I like steak.

Updated on September 23, 2021

Comments

eltaco431 almost 3 years
I'm trying to get the physical memory size using PowerShell, but without using get-wmiobject.

I have been using the following PS cmdlet to get the physical memory size, but the value changes with each new poll.
```
(get-counter -counter "\Memory\Available Bytes").CounterSamples[0].CookedValue + 
(get-counter -counter "\Memory\Committed Bytes").CounterSamples[0].CookedValue
```
In general, this gives me a value around: 8605425664 bytes

I'm also testing the value I get from adding these counters with the returned value from
```
(get-wmiobject -class "win32_physicalmemory" -namespace "root\CIMV2").Capacity
```
This gives me the value: 8589934592 bytes

So, not only is the total physical memory calculated from counters changing, but it's value differs from the WMI value by a couple megabytes. Anyone have any ideas as to how to get the physical memory size without using WMI?
- ravikanth almost 11 years
  
  what do you want? Physical Disk or Physical memory? Your example shows physical memory and your question is about physical disk.
- eltaco431 almost 11 years
  
  Sorry. I got them confused. I want physical memory size. I'll edit my question. Thanks!
- Keith Hill almost 11 years
  
  Just out of curiosity, why do you want to avoid WMI?
- eltaco431 almost 11 years
  
  I'm avoiding WMI because it requires DCOM permissions, so a user without permissions wouldn't be able to get this information.
Keith Hill almost 11 years

Interesting, on my system which has 8GB installed (or exactly 8192MB), system info reports that I have a total of 8155MB. I suspect that not all of the 8GB is usable by the system which could account for the difference.
ravikanth almost 11 years

Yes. Your BIOS may be mapping certain amount of memory for BIOS shadowing functions.
Keith Hill almost 11 years

So the question is - what is the OP actually after? Installed memory or total memory available for use by the computer?
ravikanth almost 11 years

I guess installed memory. Using systeminfo.exe, you cannot actually get the accurate value but that is the only option without WMI, AFAIK.
eltaco431 almost 11 years

Yes. I'm looking for installed memory. Thank you ravikanth.
JensG over 8 years

+1 Slight caveat: does not work on non-english OS, because the output is localized. But that's easy to fix, alternatively (systeminfo | Select-String ' MB')[0] did the trick for me.
Dark Daskin almost 8 years

If the machine has multiple RAM banks installed, your command will return a list. The following one will show a total: (Get-CimInstance -ClassName 'Cim_PhysicalMemory' | Measure-Object -Property Capacity -Sum).Sum
Kellen Stuart about 7 years

I replaced Get-CimInstance with Get-WmiObject for good measure
Cody Barnes over 5 years

I prefer to use the built in size constants to convert bytes to MB, KB and GB. $kb = $bytes / 1KB $mb = $bytes / 1MB $gb = $bytes / 1GB docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/…
John C about 5 years

The KISS principal at is finest!
Ricc Babbitt over 4 years

Another Way using syteminfo with the format CSV option and converting to a structured powershell object to get the value systeminfo /FO CSV | ConvertFrom-CSV | select "Total Physical Memory"
Piney about 3 years

Great solution TYVM