What Is WinSAT? A Guide for IT Pros

The Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) is a benchmarking tool built into Microsoft Windows, not that you would know it if you went searching for it! The underlying WinSAT commands originally powered the Windows Experience Index (WEI), popular in Windows Vista, and removed with Windows 7.

Nevertheless, this powerful disk assessment, memory assessment and CPU assessment tool remains accessible via both the elevated command prompt and Windows PowerShell. In this article, I’ll outline how to access your benchmarks using the WinSAT command. 

What is WinSAT

WinSAT evaluates various system components, including the CPU, RAM, storage drives (HDDs and SSDs), and graphics performance. The results are stored in an XML file within the Datastore folder, which can be reviewed to get your scores.

Running WinSAT from the Command Line

As WinSAT is present on your Windows computer as a command line tool, rather than via the Control Panel, you need to open Terminal to get started. As the tool evaluates a various system components, it’s important to run Windows Terminal as Administrator. 

• Open an Elevated Terminal (or command prompt):
  • Press Win + S, type cmd, and select Run as administrator.
• Run a Formal Assessment:
  • Run the following command to perform a full system benchmark:
    winsat formal

The formal assessment evaluates the entire system, generating an XML file in C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore

Open the XML file to see the system scores generated by WinSAT:

How to run specific assessments

Here are the commands you need to run specific performance assessments using WinSAT:

CPU performance test

winsat cpu

This measures CPU assessment performance, including encryption and compression scenarios.

Memory assessment (RAM speed)

winsat mem

Runs memory tests to analyze RAM bandwidth.

Disk assessment (HDD/SSD speed test)

winsat mem

Runs memory tests to analyze RAM bandwidth.

Graphics Performance Test (desktop and gaming graphics)

winsat dwm
winsat d3d

The Desktop Windows Manager assessment (DWM) checks Aero performance, while Direct3D (D3D) tests gaming capabilities.

Is WinSAT still useful in Windows 11?

Microsoft seems to think that WinSAT has served it’s time, and excluded it from the main Windows UI. Even though WinSAT’s GUI was removed, I think it remains a valuable tool for assessing PC performance for a few reasons:

1. Benchmarking without third-party tools:
   WinSAT provides built-in benchmarking for hardware without requiring third-party software. If you need to benchmark your hardware, the ability to do this without downloading freeware from the Internet is a good thing! All too often we see malware being injected into popular freeware software, doing more harm than good.
   
2. Diagnosing performance bottlenecks:
   Results stored in the XML file help identify issues with CPU, RAM, disk, or graphics performance. This is great for advanced users to review, but also excellent as a way of providing information to someone else who is trying to help support on an issue.
   
3. Testing SSD vs. HDD performance:
   The disk assessment can compare the impact of switching from an HDD to an SSD. Whilst the numbers on the spec-sheet can give an insight, it’s important to to verify disk performance when troubleshooting general performance issues.

Although newer benchmarking APIs and third-party tools like Cinebench and CrystalDiskMark offer more detailed analytics, WinSAT remains a practical and easy-to-use option for Windows users. Whether testing for performance bugs, verifying signature changes in the system, or evaluating system behaviors, WinSAT still serves as a reliable Windows system assessment tool.