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I got me a nice new laptop and I want to know a bit more about the hardware.

How can I see how many CPUs my computer has in Windows 7?

(Note: Clicking on Start → right clicking on Computer → selecting properties shows me the processor type, but it does not say anything about the core count.)

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    If you have the processor model from that properties dialog, you could just Google it and find the specs. David's answer is right though (although if you want to distinguish Hyper-Threaded core count from physical core count the easiest thing to do is, again, just look up the processor model.) – Shinrai Dec 28 '10 at 17:29
  • The answers below work only if you know you're not logged in on a virtualised system. On this account, I could have a 16 CPUs laptop (this is actually a quadcore - each core having 2 threads - running a virtual win8 server with the maximum number of virtual cores). – Alain Pannetier Dec 18 '12 at 5:59
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Use CPU-Z

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html alt text

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    Beware, this installs a BUNCH of extra crap along with it. I learned the hard way. Had to go back and uninstall 4 programs. – ErocM Jul 24 '15 at 10:52
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    No it does not if you use the link I posted and download the proper program. – Moab Jul 24 '15 at 11:27
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You don't need other programs. Just run this in the command prompt:

WMIC CPU Get DeviceID,NumberOfCores,NumberOfLogicalProcessors

and you will get a list of Cores/Logical Processors for each CPU on your machine

Or if you're lazy, just type

WMIC CPU Get /Format:List

and look for entries with the names NumberOfCores and NumberOfLogicalProcessors.

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    +1. This is a great answer, but now people have to remember a long command or bookmark this page. It would be difficult to remember this every time you needed it, since you probably won't need it that often. Another option would be to create a batch file with this, then have a pause at the end so it stays up. Great answer! – David Dec 18 '12 at 22:19
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    you can also just type "system information" into the run/search box to see this in the GUI. – Supercereal Jan 10 '13 at 23:22
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    This answer comes in handy when you don't have a GUI, such as a server core or HyperV installation. – Tanner Faulkner Jan 31 '13 at 18:53
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    Excellent answer, short and sweet. Open a command prompt, copy-and-paste it in, done. – Kyralessa Nov 6 '14 at 16:35
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    @user3437460: Haha thanks, I appreciate it! :) – user541686 Nov 27 '15 at 11:10
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Do a Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This will open the Windows Task Manager. Once you are here, go to Performance. Now you should see many boxes in the CPU Usage History section which will identify how many cores you have. This will include hyper threaded cores also.

-Hope this helps.

Screenshot of Windows Task Manager showing location of core identification

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    Any way to distinguish from hyper threaded cores? – Vaccano Dec 28 '10 at 17:38
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    @Vaccano - Open Start Menu > Right Click Computer > Select Properties. Look though the system information for the make and model of the processor then research it. – SgtOJ Dec 28 '10 at 17:50
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    I would have to agree with @BrianOjeda on that one. You need to just do come research to find out how many cored are hyper threaded. – David Dec 28 '10 at 18:15
  • I am wondering how does this look like if you have, in a near future, 64 cores with hyperthreading? ;-) – FooF May 10 '18 at 5:46
  • @FooF, I assume there will be many more boxes to represent the many cores. :-D – David May 14 '18 at 13:20
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Check your Task Manager. You can look under the performance tab and count the number of cores. If your processor has HyperThreadingTechnology (HTT) then half of the cores are logical and not physical.

Enter image description here

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    So, in this example, there are actually only four physical CPU cores, right? – Scott Jan 2 '14 at 20:55
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    That is correct. Because the CPU has Hyper Threading enabled, it is seen and will function as 8 cores despite having 4 physical cores. – kobaltz Jan 2 '14 at 21:56
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    The OP specified Windows 7 in the question. The task manager shown is from Windows 8 or newer, which displays the number of (Physical) Cores (4) above. With Windows 7 the number of physical cores is not displayed. If you don't know whether your computer is using hyperthreading, then I would suggest (under windows 7 at least) to use something like Merhdad's answer. – helios456 Dec 23 '15 at 15:11
  • Also the Cores: and Logical processors: labels. – msanford May 20 '16 at 19:33
  • Right Click on chart area -> Change graph to -> Logical processors – Ivan Chau Nov 17 '16 at 2:17
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Or you can just do this:

Windows + R then type: msinfo32 and hit Enter.

example screenshot

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  • This will be useful when we purchase new computers. +1 – user3437460 Nov 27 '15 at 11:14
  • This answer will be far more awesome if accompanied with a snip or screenshot of the related part of msinfo32. – aff May 20 '16 at 9:29
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On a shell type:

echo %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%
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    If hyper threading is enables, this will give the number of logical processors. – Roman Luštrik Aug 24 '15 at 13:17
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Not necessarily as advanced on the others, but the all CPU meter is one of the few useful things I've used in terms of widgets on Windows 7.

It's a pretty good tool for keeping track of how much CPU power is being used. It will also display how many cores your computer has and is fairly unobtrusive.

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You can also tell by going to Device Manager, and then going to the processor section. It'll display a little thingamajig (I forgot what they're called :/) for each core, but I'm not sure if it can tell the difference between cores and virtual cores.

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  • No, it doesn't tell you. But it does give the model of the processor so you can google how many real and logical cores it has. – Peon Nov 20 '16 at 16:30

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