Microsoft Diagnostics

Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD) was a software tool developed by Microsoft to assist in the diagnostics of 1990s-era computers. Users primarily deployed this tool to provide detailed technical information about the user's software and hardware and to print the gathered information, usually for use by support technicians in troubleshooting and resolving problems. The assumptions made by the program were valid until the late 1990s: it does not handle plug-and-play USB or other new technologies that appeared around 2000.

In PC DOS 6.1 and above,  provides similar functionality. Commercial alternatives include Manifest  from Quarterdeck's QEMM.

History
first shipped with Microsoft Word for Windows, and was later included in Windows 3, MS-DOS 6,  and on the Windows 9x CD-ROMs. Because OS/2 and Windows NT contain code forked from DOS at the DOS 5 level, the versions of  included here correspond to that of that era (i.e. version 2.0).

Windows NT 3 and NT 4 have, a program with similar features. However, the DOS/Windows specific functions were replaced by similar Windows NT concerns. , included in the resource kits, provides the print functionality of  for. Since NT 5 (Windows 2000),  has been a loader for.

Usage
Users generally started the program from the DOS Command Prompt using the command. Starting the program under a DOS window in either Windows or OS/2 shows only the DOS details allocated for that DOS session, not for the machine in general.

Scope
Aspects of the system for which  provided technical information:


 * 1) computer brand and processor information
 * 2) memory (total, EMS, and XMS)
 * 3) video (type such as VGA and manufacturer)
 * 4) network
 * 5) operating-system versions
 * 6) type of mouse (if installed)
 * 7) disk drives (and partitions), excluding CD-ROM drives etc.
 * 8) LPT ports
 * 9) COM ports
 * 10) IRQ status
 * 11) Terminate-and-stay-resident programs
 * 12) device drivers
 * 13) other adapters

Successor software
Microsoft replaced  with. This has similar features, but targets more recent machines. It first appeared in MS-Word, and later was distributed with Plus! for Windows 95 and Windows 98. under Windows XP stores system history from WMI in the XML files in. In the interest of backward compatibility,  became a loader for.