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I have a desktop computer. 

Get-wmiobject win32_computersystem | select manufacturer,model

Manufacturer        : Hewlett-Packard
Model               : HP ProDesk 600 G1 SFF

For a while it would give me a icon in the systray stating that my battery was not present. haha good one Windows. I don't have a battery like that.

Some time recently it started reporting a full battery charge

Systray showing battery charge

also

Windows Mobility Center

Why is my Windows 10 reporting a full battery charge when no battery is present?

OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
OS Version:                10.0.10586 N/A Build 10586

My Windows is out of date but I could not find anything relevant to this issue suggesting it was a bug.

Matt
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    Use _Device Manager_ (devmgmt.msc) to find any battery-like devices. – u1686_grawity Jan 09 '18 at 14:20
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    Run this: `wmic path Win32_Battery get Caption,Description,DeviceID,Name` – jdwolf Jan 09 '18 at 14:51
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    @jdwolf Wasnt aware of that class. Yep, one shows up there. ...... and its for the UPS under my desk that I don't think about. – Matt Jan 09 '18 at 15:51
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    @Matt WMIC is one of the main reasons I still have hope in Windows :> – jdwolf Jan 09 '18 at 16:10
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    one note, update your Windows. you use version 1511 which his out of support, only Education and Enterprise editions of 1511 get updates. so update to 1703 or 1709 – magicandre1981 Jan 09 '18 at 16:31
  • prob because it targets mobile as well - so it was easier to just leave it there instead of determining if the hardware is truly mobile or not – NKCampbell Jan 10 '18 at 05:14

4 Answers4

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You can run the following command at the cmd to list devices Windows thinks are batteries:

wmic path Win32_Battery get Caption,Description,DeviceID,Name

You can also go to the Device Manager under Batteries. However, the command will provide you with a description and model number to work with a bit faster.

The battery icon appearing on a desktop is usually caused by a USB-connected UPS battery.

Stevoisiak
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jdwolf
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    Also note, Windows is smart enough to automatically apply sleep, shutdown, or hibernate rules as-if-it-were a laptop with an internal battery, much like bundled UPS software acclaim(ed) to do. If you go into power options you can configure these options. Depending on what your computer is doing at the time, other connected devices, and the remaining capacity on the UPS, you might have a few minutes, or just barely enough time to save your work. Neat! – Julia McGuigan Jan 09 '18 at 22:13
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    @J.T.McGuigan: Definitely a good idea to change the emergency shutdown level from 5% to 50%, depending on how big your UPS is. On mine 5% is literally 10s of remaining life. And you don't want to deep discharge the UPS anyway. – Zan Lynx Jan 09 '18 at 22:56
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    How awful of a UPS (or watt-guzzling of a computer) do you need for 5% to only last 10s?! 5% of mine is something like 20-60 minutes. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Jan 10 '18 at 04:36
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    @R.. Many a UPS is intended to safely shut-down in case of power outage, not to keep working through the day regardless of outage. In that case a maximum capacity of 20 minutes is more than enough. Degradation over time could shorten that considerably (just like with laptop batteries) and the 10s may be somewhat of a hyperbole. –  Jan 10 '18 at 06:36
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    @R..: If your UPS can power your desktop computer for 20 _hours_, are you even using it? – Lightness Races in Orbit Jan 10 '18 at 11:44
  • Jdwolf, an excellent solution! Can you please do us a favor and cite your source for this answer? – Run5k Jan 11 '18 at 13:53
  • @Run5k `wmic /?` – jdwolf Jan 11 '18 at 14:08
  • @R.. The desktop and the monitor consume about 500W if I'm gaming. More, sometimes. It's an overclocked 5960x and a 1080Ti. The UPS is an APC BackUPS 1500 from 2014. Now, according to an APC chart I found, the 1500 at 500W load should last 4 minutes. 4*60*0.05 is 12 seconds. – Zan Lynx Jan 19 '18 at 23:12
  • @Run5k It may have been original – anna328p Feb 04 '18 at 20:22
  • This is fascinating, it was exactly my issue, although I've seen it on desktops not connected to UPS, too - on Dell 7050 micro and HP Elitedesk 800 g4 mini. wmic output: `Internal Battery Internal Battery 3B1026X01880 American Power ConversionBack-UPS RS 1500 LCD FW:839.H10 .D USB FW:H10 Back-UPS RS 1500 LCD FW:839.H10 .D USB FW:H10` – AveryFreeman Jun 16 '23 at 14:13
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This could be because you have a UPS connected.

It does not seem to happen all the time, though. From personal experience, on one desktop, when I installed Windows 10, it seems to have detected it as a laptop. Oddly enough, my other desktop also has a UPS but no battery icon and Windows Mobility Center is not installed.

If you do not want the icon there, I suppose you could try to remove or disable Mobility Center. I just learned to ignore the icon. You could also hide it from the notification area.

Bob
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Tim
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    Hi! Welcome to Super User. Unfortunately, your answer was mistaken as an attempt to ask a related question (we get that occasionally) and temporarily hidden. I've edited it to be a bit less chatty and make the actual answer clearer. We're a bit different from forums you may be familiar with, and it's best if answers obviously address what the question is asking first. – Bob Jan 10 '18 at 09:55
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Do you happen to have a wireless mouse, keyboard, game controller or similar?

It is possible that the drivers for those devices tell Windows "this device has a battery, level XX%". Windows would then duly report that, while missing the fact that it is not powering the whole system, like a UPS or a laptop battery would be.

telcoM
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    It's my UPS that I don't think about. jdwolf's comment got me to find it. https://superuser.com/questions/1283879/why-is-windows-reporting-a-battery-charge-with-my-desktop#comment1898258_1283879 – Matt Jan 09 '18 at 15:52
  • Do you have examples of such devices? Frankly, I don't think this is possible. – Dmitry Grigoryev Jan 10 '18 at 13:09
  • On my Linux desktop, the KDE power management displays the power status of Logitech wireless mice just like it displays the battery status of my work laptop. I think I once saw similar behavior in Windows with some obscure wireless mouse+keyboard combo, but I admit my memory might be inaccurate. But basically, if any driver registers to the OS saying "I'm a battery", then the OS will display it as one. The OS cannot second-guess the information reported by the driver of some hardware device. – telcoM Jan 10 '18 at 13:39
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This was confusing me too. I think my Cyberpower UPS software is doing the wrong thing, because it shows as "internal battery".

wmic path Win32_Battery get Caption,Description,DeviceID,Name

Its output is:

Caption           Description       DeviceID                      Name
Internal Battery  Internal Battery  CXXKW2006133CPSCP1500PFCLCDa  P1500PFCLCDa

That is my UPS.

zx485
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jfrodsham
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