Windows Experience Index (WEI), one of the hundreds of features introduced with Windows Vista, is designed to help you better understand your computer’s capabilities. It scans your computer hardware and assigns it a score after running a number of tests. These ratings help users in purchasing software and games.
For instance, a base score of 5.2 means that the PC will run an application or a game if the WEI score of the game or application is less than, or equal to 5.2.
Windows Experience Index in Windows 8.1
In Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, Windows Experience Index could be accessed by right-clicking on the Computer icon and then clicking Properties. However, in Windows 8.1 Microsoft has partially dropped this feature and it doesn’t appear in Computer Properties.
Even though most users don’t refer to the base score of WEI before installing software and hence will not miss this feature in Windows 8.1, some users who refer to WEI score might want to know how to get back the feature or at least how to check Windows Experience Index ratings in Windows 8.1.
As we mentioned already, there is no perfect workaround to add WEI to Computer Properties. However, since Microsoft hasn’t completely removed this feature from Windows 8.1, there is a way to check WEI score.
UPDATE: We recommend you check out our 3 free tools to get Windows Experience Index in Windows 8.1 guide to know all three free tools out there to get the missing feature in Windows 8.1.
Update: If you’re on Windows 10, please check out how to get Windows Experience Index in Windows 10 guide.
Method 1:
Step 1: Head over to this page and download ChrisPC Win Experience Index software. It’s free!
Step 2: Install the program and run the same to view the Windows Experience Index score for your PC.
Method 2:
Follow the given below instructions to check the WEI score in Windows 8.1 without the help of third-party tools:
Step 1: Sign-in to your account and navigate to the following folder:
C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore
(Where “C” is your Windows 8.1 installed drive)
Step 2: Locate the file titled Formal.Assessment (Initial).WinSAT and double-click on the file (if you have multiple files, please open the latest one) to open up the XML file in your default web browser.
Step 3: Once the file is opened in the web browser, you can view the date on which the file was generated, and also the score for your hardware, such as system score (base score), memory score (RAM score), CPU score, graphics score, disk score, and gaming score (gaming graphics).
And if Formal.Assessment file isn’t present in DataStore folder, you need to follow the below-mentioned instructions to generate the file and view it:
Step 1: Open Power Shell or Command Prompt as administrator. To do this, you can either type CMD on the Start screen followed by Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys, or you can right-click on the Start button and then click Power Shell (admin). If you want to get Command Prompt (admin) to Start button right-click menu, follow our how to add Command Prompt option to Win+X Menu in Windows 8.1 guide.
Step 2: In the elevated prompt, type the following command and press enter key:
Winsat formal
Your system might take a few minutes to complete generating the report.
Or you can use the following command to update the score (useful for users who would like to update the score after changing a hardware or updating drivers):
Winsat format -restart
Your system may take a couple of minutes to re-run all assessments.
Step 3: Next, navigate to the following folder:
C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore
(“C” is your Windows installed drive)
Step 4: Double-click on the file titled date.time.Formal.Assessment.XML to open it with the default web browser.
Step 5: Once the file is opened in the web browser, you can view the system score (base score), memory score (RAM score), CPU score, graphics score, disk score and gaming score (gaming graphics). That’s it!
Let us know if you are having any difficulties in following the above guide by leaving a comment.
Thanks to Faikee for the tip.
Update: A free tool called Windows Experience Index is now available to easily view WEI scores in Windows 8.1. Read our Windows Experience Index for Windows 8.1 for more info and download the software.
marty says
method 2 worked fine for my dell venue 8 pro 5830.
Thank you!
Robert says
DataStore folder is EMPTY.
Windows 7 Ultimate x64, ASRock Z170 Extreme 4, Intel 6th Generation i5-6500 Skylake LGA 1151
When installing Intel 530 graphics Driver a window says automatically run WinSat and enable Windows Aero.
Aero is working.
Has this newest LGA 1151, Skylake, Z170 platform done away with WEI?
Thanks, Robert
ezsturbo says
Chris PC Windows Experience installs adware.
Jerry says
None of what Tyran posted works for my 8.1. Ram & CPU is there inherently, but no WEI is shown.
‘C:\WINDOWS\system32>winsat formal’ shows lots of output, but the only thing in it that resembles
a WEI like number is in the last 3 lines…
> Video Memory Throughput 3416.99 MB/s
> Dshow Video Encode Time 2.53239 s
> Media Foundation Decode Time 0.10644 s
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 480.45 MB/s 8.1
> Disk Random 16.0 Read 227.45 MB/s 7.9
> Total Run Time 00:02:15.77
Does this mean my WEI is 8.1 or 7.9 or neither? Did I miss something?
tyran says
in windows 8 and 8.1 you can open file explorer and right click on computer then properties then you should be able to get into the windows experience index
or put this into file explorer
////// Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Performance Information and Tools //////
another way is go to control panel (ensure the control panel is in category view)
go to system and security
then under system you will see, view amount of ram and processor speed, click it
then in the same panel as your processor information just above where it states what your processor is it will say windows experience index in blue writing click that and welcome to the (WEI) scores
Ivan says
Thanks!
admin says
Restart your PC and then executing those commands again.
alamo says
i deleted all the “formal assessment xml” file unknowingly
now it says error “could not build a topology to decode the inbuilt file”
i tried both “winsat formal” and “winsat formal -restart” but now xml files are no longer generated
please help
Denis says
There is a new version of ChrisPC WEI wich now has support for Windows Technical preview.
George Caldwell says
I don’t get it man. I always get a score of 5.9 because of my hard drive always getting 5.9 , My GPU a R9 270 gets 8.4 and the old i5 750 quad cpu gets 7.4, and the 8GB Ripjaw 1600 DDR3 gets 7.7 , But yet my HDD gets. I don’t understand anyway why the speed of a HDD makes any difference in gaming. A old sata 7200 RPM is more than sufficient for any game with any gaming rig. Even the older 5400 RPM HDD is fine for gaming. So wtx?? I understand the windows experience score is pointless anyway. But still who rates a computers gaming performance on the type of hard drive? That’s ridiculous.
kentt says
awesome, but have a question, i notice it cant detect my second graphics card GTX 870M , which is im pretty much sure should score more than 7.6… but instead it only rates my onboard GPU intel with 5.6.. any ideas how to make the gtx 870m detectable. i turned it on in my nvidia ctrl panel btw..
seth says
it sucks…
Nick Paling says
“Winsat format -restart” should probably be
“Winsat formal -restart”
Otherwise great page.
admin says
Will publish about it soon.
Pieter says
Thanks for the work around. I am upgrading my hardware and wanted a simple tool to tell me what strengths, if any, I have gained. Nice work.
admin says
@ Kodl,
Re-run the assessment by following the steps mentioned towards the end of the post.
admin says
@ Thank, Mike. I have posted about the new software.
intowindows.com/windows-experience-index-wei-for-windows-8-1/
Mike says
I found a soft that you can easily use to rate the computer and view all WEI score. It’s called ChrisPC Win Experience Index.
kodl says
My “DataStore” folder is completely EMPTY. Cannot do nothing. Any idea what is going on?
Robb Ferster says
worked as explained, thank you!
n to the person who said we don’t need it or its crap, well sorry to contradict its a worth while tool when advising customers on what type of computer / laptop they want to fill their needs!
anon says
wow dude. google.. got me exactly what i was cooking for and it took me to u with not only the bad news that this feature was gone.. i know who cares we don’t need it but this guy worked around it.. thanks bud for the work 8)
anon says
lol who cares windows experience index is rubbish anyways.
Barker says
Thanks, worked for me
BKize says
Thanks for this article. I didn’t find any other coverage of this Windows 8.1 topic.
Please note that there’s a typo above: “Winsat format -restart” should be “Winsat formal -restart”
Michael McShane says
Running Winsat on win 8.1 rtm works until it gets to the direct3d tests and then fails with a “A problem caused the program to stop working correctly…”