How to Display CPU Temperature on Windows

Quick Tips

• You can make Windows show the temperature of your CPU on the desktop or taskbar using a third-party tool.
• If you don’t want to use a third-party app, you can enter your PC’s BIOS/UEFI menu to check the CPU temperature.

How to Show CPU Temperature on Windows Desktop

Open Hardware Monitor is a free open-source software that makes it easy to monitor a number of hardware statistics for your computer. Here’s how to use it to get a CPU temperature monitor widget on your Windows desktop.

Step 1: Download and install the Open Hardware Monitor on your PC.

Step 2: Launch the Open Hardware Monitor app and locate the Temperatures section under your CPU.

Step 3: Right-click on the entry that you want to see on your desktop and select the Show in Gadget option. You can repeat this step for more entries if you want.

Note: You may see multiple temperature readings for your CPU as each CPU core has its temperature sensor and an independently positioned package sensor. Your motherboard may also have a number of CPU temperature sensors.

Step 4: Click the View menu at the top and select Show Gadget from the resulting menu.

Once you complete the above steps, you should see a small widget on your desktop that will display your PC’s CPU temperature. You can click and drag the widget to move it to your preferred location.

How to Get CPU Temperature Monitor Widget on Taskbar

While a desktop widget that shows CPU temperature is handy, Open Hardware Monitor can also show this information on the Windows taskbar. Here’s how:

Step 1: Launch the Open Hardware Monitor app and locate the Temperatures section under your CPU.

Step 2: Right-click the entry you want to see on the taskbar and select Show in Tray.

Step 3: Right-click on your taskbar and select Taskbar settings.

Step 4: Expand Other system tray icons and enable the toggle for Open Hardware Monitor.

And that’s it. You should now see the temperature of the CPU on the Windows taskbar.

How to Check CPU Temperature Without a Third-Party App

Prefer not to rely on a third-party tool to check the CPU temperature? No worries; you can also check your CPU temperature without these tools. However, it requires you to enter your PC’s BIOS/UEFI menu, which is not as quick as the methods mentioned above.

Step 1: Press the Windows + S keyboard shortcut to open the search menu. Type recovery options in the box and press Enter.

Step 2: Click the Restart now button next to Advanced startup.

Step 3: Click the Restart now button.

Step 4: Wait for your PC to reboot, and a blue screen should appear. Select the Troubleshoot option to continue.

Step 5: Go to Advanced options.

Step 6: Select the UEFI Firmware Settings option and then select Restart in the following menu.

Step 7: Once you’re in BIOS, head to the H/W Monitor section and look for the CPU Temperature entry.

It is important to note that checking the CPU temperature in the BIOS or UEFI menu only shows the temperature when your computer is idle. The actual temperature when you boot up your PC and run applications will be much higher.

FAQs on CPU Temperature on Windows