In enterprise environments, keeping track of the operating system versions deployed across domain-joined machines is a fundamental IT hygiene and security requirement. Whether you are preparing for patch management, compliance auditing, hardware refresh planning, or end-of-life remediation, knowing exactly how many machines run each Windows version is essential.

This lab tutorial walks you through multiple methods to generate a Windows OS Version Count Inventory Report using your Windows Server 2022 domain controller — from built-in PowerShell cmdlets to Active Directory queries and CSV exports.

Prerequisites

1. Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)

Your Windows Server 2022 must be configured as an Active Directory Domain Controller with computers joined to the vmorecloud.com domain.

2. PowerShell Active Directory Module

The Active Directory PowerShell module must be installed. It is part of the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). Verify with the command below:

# Check if AD module is available
Get-Module -Name ActiveDirectory -ListAvailable

If not installed, run the following on Windows Server 2022:

# Install RSAT Active Directory Tools
Install-WindowsFeature -Name RSAT-AD-PowerShell

Permissions Required

• Domain Admin or equivalent account
• Read access to Active Directory computer objects
• PowerShell running as Administrator

Note All commands in this tutorial should be executed on the Domain Controller (server.vmorecloud.com) or a machine with the AD PowerShell module and appropriate permissions.

Method 1: Quick Count with Get-ADComputer

The fastest way to get an OS version count is to query Active Directory directly using Get-ADComputer and group the results by OperatingSystem.

Step 1 — Open PowerShell as Administrator

On your domain controller server.vmorecloud.com, right-click the Start Menu and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) or Terminal (Admin).

Step 2 — Import the Active Directory Module

Import-Module ActiveDirectory

Step 3 — Run the Basic OS Count Query

# Get all domain computers and group by OS
Get-ADComputer -Filter * `
    -Properties OperatingSystem, OperatingSystemVersion `
    | Group-Object -Property OperatingSystem `
    | Select-Object Count, Name `
    | Sort-Object Count -Descending

Expected Output

Count Name
----- ----
    2 Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Evaluation
    1 Windows 11 Enterprise Evaluation

Tip — Spot Outdated OS Versions Any Windows 7, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2008 machines appearing in this output should be flagged for immediate remediation as they are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates.

Method 2: Detailed Inventory with Version Numbers

This method gives you granular detail including the exact build number alongside the OS name, which is critical for patch compliance.

# Detailed OS inventory including build version
Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties `
    Name,
    OperatingSystem,
    OperatingSystemVersion,
    OperatingSystemServicePack,LastLogonDate,
    IPv4Address `
| Select-Object `
    Name,
    OperatingSystem,
    OperatingSystemVersion,
    LastLogonDate,
    IPv4Address `
| Sort-Object OperatingSystem, OperatingSystemVersion `
| Format-Table -AutoSize

Count Name
----- ----
    2 Windows Server 2025 Datacenter Evaluation
    1 Windows 11 Enterprise Evaluation

Method 3: Export to CSV for Reporting

Exporting to CSV allows you to open the data in Excel or import it into reporting tools for management dashboards.

Export Full Inventory to CSV

# Export Windows OS inventory to CSV

$OutputPath = ‘C:\Reports\OS_Inventory_Report.csv’

# Create Reports directory if it doesn’t exist

if (-not (Test-Path ‘C:\Reports’)) {

    New-Item -Path ‘C:\Reports’ -ItemType Directory | Out-Null

}

Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties `

    OperatingSystem, OperatingSystemVersion, `

    LastLogonDate, IPv4Address, Description `

| Select-Object `

    @{N=’ComputerName’;E={$_.Name}}, `

    @{N=’OS’;E={$_.OperatingSystem}}, `

    @{N=’Version’;E={$_.OperatingSystemVersion}}, `

    @{N=’LastLogon’;E={$_.LastLogonDate}}, `

    @{N=’IPAddress’;E={$_.IPv4Address}}, `

    @{N=’Description’;E={$_.Description}} `

| Sort-Object OS, ComputerName `

| Export-Csv -Path $OutputPath -NoTypeInformation

Write-Host “Report exported to: $OutputPath” -ForegroundColor Green

Export Summary Count Table

# Export just the OS count summary
$SummaryPath = 'C:\Reports\OS_Count_Summary.csv'

Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Properties OperatingSystem `
| Group-Object -Property OperatingSystem `
| Select-Object `
    @{N='OperatingSystem';E={$_.Name}}, `
    @{N='ComputerCount';E={$_.Count}} `
| Sort-Object ComputerCount -Descending `
| Export-Csv -Path $SummaryPath -NoTypeInformation

Write-Host "Summary exported to: $SummaryPath" -ForegroundColor Green
    @{N='Description';E={$_.Description}} |
    Sort-Object OperatingSystem, ComputerName |
    Export-Csv -Path $CsvFile -NoTypeInformation
Write-Host "CSV Exported: $CsvFile" -ForegroundColor Green

# === HTML REPORT ===
$TableRows = $Summary | ForEach-Object {
    "<tr><td>$($_.OS)</td><td>$($_.Count)</td><td>$($_.Percent)</td></tr>"
} | Out-String

$Html = @"
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head>
<title>OS Inventory - vmorecloud.com</title>
<style>body{font-family:Arial;} table{border-collapse:collapse;width:100%}
th{background:#1F3864;color:#fff;padding:8px;}td{padding:8px;border:1px solid #ccc;}</style>
</head><body>
<h1>Windows OS Inventory - vmorecloud.com</h1>
<p>Generated: $(Get-Date) | Total Computers: $Total</p>
<table><tr><th>Operating System</th><th>Count</th><th>Percentage</th></tr>
$TableRows</table></body></html>
"@
$Html | Out-File -FilePath $HtmlFile -Encoding UTF8
Write-Host "HTML Report: $HtmlFile" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "`nDone! Reports saved to $ReportPath" -ForegroundColor Cyan
 

How to Run the Script

Execute the script:

Save the script to C:\Scripts\Get-OSInventory.ps1 on your server

Open PowerShell as Administrator

# Basic run (active computers only)
.\Get-OSInventory.ps1

# Include disabled computers
.\Get-OSInventory.ps1 -IncludeDisabled

# Custom output path
.\Get-OSInventory.ps1 -ReportPath 'D:\IT-Reports'
 

Method 5: Using Active Directory Users & Computers (GUI)

For administrators who prefer a GUI approach, Active Directory Users and Computers provides a basic view, though PowerShell is recommended for accurate counts.

Steps

Open Server Manager on server.vmorecloud.com

Click Tools → Active Directory Users and Computers

In the left pane, navigate to your domain vmorecloud.com

Select the Computers container or relevant OU

Right-click any column header in the right pane → select OperatingSystem

You can now see the OS column — click the column header to sort by OS

To get counts, use Find/Filter:

Right-click on Computers → Find

In the Find box, select Computers and use the Advanced tab

Enter OperatingSystem as the field and filter as needed

Method 6: Remote Query Using Invoke-Command

If you want to retrieve live OS data directly from each computer (rather than from AD attributes which may be stale), use PowerShell remoting.

Prerequisites for Remoting

• WinRM must be enabled on target computers
• Firewall must allow PowerShell remoting (port 5985)
• Domain Admin credentials required

Enable WinRM via Group Policy (Recommended)

# Run on Domain Controller to enable WinRM domain-wide via GPO
# (Or use Group Policy: Computer Config > Windows Settings >
#  Security Settings > Windows Firewall > Allow WinRM)

# Enable WinRM locally first
Enable-PSRemoting -Force

Remote Live OS Query

# Get live OS info from all domain computers
$Computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter 'Enabled -eq $true' |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty Name

$Results = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Computers `
    -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue `
    -ScriptBlock {
        $OS = Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem
        [PSCustomObject]@{
            ComputerName = $env:COMPUTERNAME
            OS           = $OS.Caption
            Build        = $OS.BuildNumber
            Architecture = $OS.OSArchitecture
            LastBoot     = $OS.LastBootUpTime
        }
    }

# Show count summary
$Results | Group-Object OS |
    Select-Object @{N='OS';E={$_.Name}}, Count |
    Sort-Object Count -Descending |
    Format-Table -AutoSize

Windows OS Build Number Reference

Use this reference table to decode the OperatingSystemVersion field returned by Active Directory queries.

Scheduling Automated Reports

Run the inventory script on a schedule using Windows Task Scheduler so your reports stay current without manual intervention.

Create a Scheduled Task via PowerShell

# Schedule weekly OS inventory report
$Action = New-ScheduledTaskAction `
    -Execute 'powershell.exe' `
    -Argument '-NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\Scripts\Get-OSInventory.ps1'

$Trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger `
    -Weekly -DaysOfWeek Monday -At '06:00AM'

$Settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet `
    -ExecutionTimeLimit (New-TimeSpan -Hours 1) `
    -MultipleInstances IgnoreNew

Register-ScheduledTask `
    -TaskName 'Weekly-OS-Inventory' `
    -Action $Action `
    -Trigger $Trigger `
    -Settings $Settings `
    -RunLevel Highest `
    -User 'vmorecloud\Administrator' `
    -Description 'Weekly Windows OS Inventory for vmorecloud.com'

Write-Host 'Scheduled task created successfully.' -ForegroundColor Green