Troubleshooting
Battery Report Windows 11: Check Battery Health in powercfg
Written by Windows 11 Field Guide Editorial Team · Updated
Laptop batteries lose capacity as they age, and Windows does not show that loss anywhere obvious. The battery report Windows 11 can generate with one command fills the gap: it lists the capacity the battery was designed for, what it can hold now, its charge cycles and a history of how long it has lasted on a charge. This guide shows how to create the report, where to find it, how to read the important numbers, and what to do with them.
The command is the same on Windows 11 version 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2, Home and Pro.
Create the battery report
- Right-click Start and select Terminal (Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt both work).
- Type the command and press Enter:
powercfg /batteryreport- Windows replies with a line such as “Battery life report saved to file path”, followed by the full path.
Microsoft’s powercfg documentation describes the option as generating a report of battery usage characteristics over the lifetime of the system, saved as an HTML file in the current path. The battery report does not need an administrator terminal.
To save it somewhere easier to find, add /output with a full path:
powercfg /batteryreport /output "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\battery-report.html"In PowerShell, use $env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\battery-report.html for the path instead. Microsoft also documents /duration followed by a number of days, to limit how many days the report analyses.
Open the report
Go to the path Windows printed (by default, your user folder such as C:\Users\YourName) and double-click battery-report.html. It opens in your default browser. Nothing is uploaded; it is a local file.
The sections that matter
The report is long. These parts answer most questions:
| Section | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Installed batteries | Manufacturer, chemistry, Design capacity, Full charge capacity, Cycle count |
| Recent usage | Power states over the last few days, on battery or AC |
| Battery usage | A chart and table of battery drain over recent days |
| Usage history | Time spent on battery and plugged in, per period |
| Battery capacity history | Full charge capacity vs design capacity over time |
| Battery life estimates | How long a full charge lasted, at full and at design capacity |
Reading design and full charge capacity
Design capacity is what the battery could hold when new, in milliwatt-hours (mWh). Full charge capacity is what it holds now.
Divide the second by the first. For example, a design capacity of 50,000 mWh and a full charge capacity of 40,000 mWh gives 80 percent: the battery now holds about four-fifths of its original charge, so expect roughly four-fifths of the runtime it had when new under the same workload.
A few points to keep in mind:
- Capacity falls gradually. A slow decline over months in Battery capacity history is normal wear.
- Readings wobble. Full charge capacity is calculated by the battery’s own electronics and can jump up or down a little between reports.
- New batteries can read above design. That is normal too.
- No official threshold. Microsoft does not publish a percentage at which to replace a battery. PC makers set their own warranty and service rules, so check with yours if the figure is low and runtime has become a problem.
Cycle count
The Cycle count is the number of full charge-discharge cycles, where two half-discharges count as one cycle. Battery makers rate their cells for a number of cycles; compare it with the PC maker’s specification if it lists one. Some batteries do not report cycles at all, leaving the field blank.
Battery life estimates
This table at the end compares how long the laptop lasted on a full charge recently with how long it would last at the original design capacity. If the “at design capacity” figure is much higher than the “at full charge” one, the battery has worn. If both are low, your usage pattern, not wear, is draining it: bright screen, heavy apps or background tasks.
Battery usage in Settings
The report is about the battery’s health. For what is using the power today, open Settings > System > Power & battery and expand Battery usage. It shows the battery level over the last 24 hours or 7 days and which apps used the most power in and out of the background. Our Windows 11 battery drain guide explains how to act on it.
Two related reports
powercfg /energy, run from an administrator terminal while the PC is idle, watches the system for 60 seconds by default and writes an energy report listing efficiency problems such as devices that block power saving. Microsoft notes it should be run when the computer is idle with no open programs.powercfg /sleepstudyreports on modern standby over the last three days, which helps when a laptop drains in sleep.
What to do with the result
Battery healthy but runtime poor: work on settings. Turn on Windows 11 energy saver, lower brightness, set a shorter screen timeout and use hibernate for long breaks. Microsoft’s battery saving tips page lists more.
Battery worn: contact the PC maker about a replacement. On many laptops the battery is a service part. Do not buy unbranded replacement batteries from unknown sellers.
Battery not charging or stuck at a percentage: that is a different problem; see Windows 11 battery not charging.
Laptop very hot while charging: heat speeds up battery wear. See Windows 11 laptop overheating.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get a battery report in Windows 11?
Right-click Start, open Terminal and run powercfg /batteryreport. Windows creates battery-report.html in the current folder and shows the path, which you can open in any browser.
Where is the battery report saved?
Microsoft's powercfg documentation says it is generated in the current path, which is usually your user folder when Terminal opens. Use /output with a full path, for example to the Desktop, to choose the location.
What is a good full charge capacity?
There is no single official cut-off. Divide Full charge capacity by Design capacity: the closer to 100 percent, the healthier. Laptop makers publish their own wear and warranty thresholds, so check with yours if the figure is low.
Why is the cycle count blank?
The report shows what the battery's firmware reports. Some batteries do not report a cycle count, so the field is empty. That does not mean anything is wrong.
Does the battery report work on a desktop PC?
It runs, but without a battery there is nothing useful to report. It is meant for laptops and tablets.
Sources
Windows 11 Field Guide Editorial Team
Editorial team
The Windows 11 Field Guide team writes and updates independent Windows 11 guides and checks each step against Microsoft's documentation and the current Settings app.
