# Get Computer Status

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [11 June 2019 03:56 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059 "2019-06-11T03:56:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![evilandrex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e56c9b/32.png) [@evilandrex](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/evilandrex)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 03:56 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/1 "2019-06-11T03:56:05Z")

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I'm looking to get information on whether or not I'm active on my computer. Particularly, I'd like to be able to query whether or not the computer is on, off, or inactive (on but no keyboard/mouse movement). This is not the computer that is running node-red.

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 06:12 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/2 "2019-06-11T06:12:26Z")

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You could use the ping node to determine whether it is on our not, assuming it is accessible from the node red machine. To tell whether it is active or not is much more difficult, you would need to have some s/w running on that machine I suspect. I suggest running node red on that machine too.

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**Author:** ![evilandrex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e56c9b/32.png) [@evilandrex](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/evilandrex)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 08:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/3 "2019-06-11T08:30:14Z")

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I wouldn't mind an extra piece of software on that machine. I tried looking for one but couldn't find what I was looking for, suggestions are welcomed on that front.

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**Author:** ![Colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/colin/32/17040_2.png) [@Colin](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Colin)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 10:14 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/4 "2019-06-11T10:14:54Z")

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That will rather depend on what operating system you are running.

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**Author:** ![baqwas](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/baqwas/32/106_2.png) [@baqwas](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/baqwas)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 14:41 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/5 "2019-06-11T14:41:02Z")

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SNMP not for the faint hearted? 😀 I struggled with MIBs (especially the custom ones) until Nagios (CORE) came to rescue for my farm in another way. Unfortunately, I cannot plug its dashboard to the preferred Node-RED dashboard.

Kind regards.

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**Author:** ![evilandrex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e56c9b/32.png) [@evilandrex](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/evilandrex)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 15:16 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/6 "2019-06-11T15:16:58Z")

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I'm using Windows.

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**Author:** ![TotallyInformation](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/totallyinformation/32/31_2.png) [@TotallyInformation](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/TotallyInformation)\
**Post date:** [11 June 2019 16:03 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/get-computer-status/12059/7 "2019-06-11T16:03:28Z")

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WMI is what you need to look at - Windows Management Instrumentation. If there is data to be had, you can get it through the WMI APIs.