How to Analyze Windows Battery Health

Determine your laptop battery health on Windows 10 and 11 using the built-in PowerCfg command to generate detailed energy reports.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator. Click the Start button and type cmd. Right-click the Command Prompt icon in the search results and select Run as administrator. Confirm the User Account Control prompt by clicking Yes.
2. Execute the battery report command. In the command window, type powercfg /batteryreport and press Enter. The system will process the data and generate an HTML file stored in your user profile folder, typically located at C:\Windows\System32\battery-report.html.
3. Locate and open the report. Navigate to the file path specified in the terminal output using File Explorer. Double-click the battery-report.html file to open it in your default web browser.
4. Review Design Capacity versus Full Charge Capacity. Scroll down to the Installed Batteries section. Compare the Design Capacity (the capacity the battery held when new) with the Full Charge Capacity (the current maximum capacity). A significant discrepancy between these two values indicates chemical aging of the battery cells.
5. Evaluate the battery life history. Review the Battery Life Estimates table at the bottom of the report. This section tracks how long the system has historically lasted on a full charge compared to its original specifications. Consistent downward trends in these figures confirm battery degradation.