Getting Windows OS version programmatically

Question

I am trying to fetch Windows version with C# on my Windows 10 machine.

I always get those values (with C#\C++):

Major: 6

Minor: 2

Which is Windows 8 OS, accordingly to MSDN

C# code:

var major = OperatingSystem.Version.Major
var minor  = OperatingSystem.Version.Minor

C++ code

void print_os_info()
{
    //http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1963992/check-windows-version
    OSVERSIONINFOW info;
    ZeroMemory(&info, sizeof(OSVERSIONINFOW));
    info.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(OSVERSIONINFOW);

    LPOSVERSIONINFOW lp_info = &info;
    GetVersionEx(lp_info);

    printf("Windows version: %u.%u\n", info.dwMajorVersion, info.dwMinorVersion);
}

Windows 10 suppose to be with those:

Major: 10

Minor: 0*

• (When I am taking a dump file from running process I can see that the OS version of that file is set to 10.0)

built by: 10.0.10586.0 (th2_release.151029-1700)

What am I missing here?

Answer 1

As the accepted answer is only for C#, here is a solution for C++.

It uses the RtlGetVersion in the ntdll.dll that uses the same structure as GetVersionEx (name is different, but the elements are the same) and gives you the correct version. As this function is normally used for driver development, the function is declared in the DDK and not in the SDK. So I used a dynamic solution to call the function. Please be aware that the ntdll.dll is loaded and released in every call. So if you need the function more often, keep the library loaded.

The structure pOSversion is pointing to must be initialized like for GetVersionEx.

BOOL GetTrueWindowsVersion(OSVERSIONINFOEX* pOSversion)
{
   // Function pointer to driver function
   NTSTATUS (WINAPI *pRtlGetVersion)(
      PRTL_OSVERSIONINFOW lpVersionInformation) = NULL;

   // load the System-DLL
   HINSTANCE hNTdllDll = LoadLibrary("ntdll.dll");

   // successfully loaded?
   if (hNTdllDll != NULL)
   {
      // get the function pointer to RtlGetVersion
      pRtlGetVersion = (NTSTATUS (WINAPI *)(PRTL_OSVERSIONINFOW))
            GetProcAddress (hNTdllDll, "RtlGetVersion");

      // if successfull then read the function
      if (pRtlGetVersion != NULL)
         pRtlGetVersion((PRTL_OSVERSIONINFOW)pOSversion);

      // free the library
      FreeLibrary(hNTdllDll);
   } // if (hNTdllDll != NULL)

   // if function failed, use fallback to old version
   if (pRtlGetVersion == NULL)
      GetVersionEx((OSVERSIONINFO*)pOSversion);

   // always true ...
   return (TRUE);
} // GetTrueWindowsVersion

Answer 2

Registry.GetValue(@"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CurrentBuildNumber", string.Empty).ToString()

same code for all OSes from XP till current 10.16299, over scenarios not properly work from windows 8

The OSVersion property reports the same version number (6.2.0.0) for both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and the same major and minor version number for Windows 10.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/system.environment.osversion.aspx

Answer 3

You can read from regsirty through code and do specific action what you intended.

Say for ex:

Registry key you can find here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion and then look for "ProductName"

You can open registry information by giving regedit.exe in run (windows+r)

var reg              =Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion");

        string productName = (string)reg.GetValue("ProductName");

        if (productName.StartsWith("Windows 10"))
        {
        }
        else
        {
        }

Answer 4

You can do this in C# the same way C++ answer has it

[SecurityCritical]
[DllImport("ntdll.dll", SetLastError = true)]
internal static extern bool RtlGetVersion(ref OSVERSIONINFOEX versionInfo);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
internal struct OSVERSIONINFOEX
{
    // The OSVersionInfoSize field must be set to Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(OSVERSIONINFOEX))
    internal int OSVersionInfoSize;
    internal int MajorVersion;
    internal int MinorVersion;
    internal int BuildNumber;
    internal int PlatformId;
    [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 128)]
    internal string CSDVersion;
    internal ushort ServicePackMajor;
    internal ushort ServicePackMinor;
    internal short SuiteMask;
    internal byte ProductType;
    internal byte Reserved;
}

...

var osVersionInfo = new OSVERSIONINFOEX { OSVersionInfoSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(OSVERSIONINFOEX)) };
if (!RtlGetVersion(ref osVersionInfo))
{
  // TODO: Error handling, call GetVersionEx, etc.
}

Answer 5

In my scenario I needed my application to capture computer info for possible bug-reports and statistics.

I did not find the solutions where an application manifest had to be added satisfactory. Most of the suggestions I found while googling this suggested just that, unfortunately.

Thing is, when using a manifest, each OS version has to be added manually to it in order for that particular OS version to be able to report itself at runtime.

In other words, this becomes a race condition: A user of my app may very well be using a version of my app that pre-dates the OS in use. I would have to upgrade the app immediately when a new OS version was launched by Microsoft. I would also have to force the users to upgrade the app at the same time as they updated the OS.

In other words, not very feasible.

After browsing through the options I found some references (surprisingly few compared to the app manifest) that instead suggested using registry lookups.

My (chopped down) ComputerInfo class with only WinMajorVersion, WinMinorVersion and IsServer properties looks like this:

using Microsoft.Win32;

namespace Inspection
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Static class that adds convenient methods for getting information on the running computers basic hardware and os setup.
    /// </summary>
    public static class ComputerInfo
    {
        /// <summary>
        ///     Returns the Windows major version number for this computer.
        /// </summary>
        public static uint WinMajorVersion
        {
            get
            {
                dynamic major;
                // The 'CurrentMajorVersionNumber' string value in the CurrentVersion key is new for Windows 10, 
                // and will most likely (hopefully) be there for some time before MS decides to change this - again...
                if (TryGetRegistryKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CurrentMajorVersionNumber", out major))
                {
                    return (uint) major;
                }

                // When the 'CurrentMajorVersionNumber' value is not present we fallback to reading the previous key used for this: 'CurrentVersion'
                dynamic version;
                if (!TryGetRegistryKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CurrentVersion", out version))
                    return 0;

                var versionParts = ((string) version).Split('.');
                if (versionParts.Length != 2) return 0;
                uint majorAsUInt;
                return uint.TryParse(versionParts[0], out majorAsUInt) ? majorAsUInt : 0;
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        ///     Returns the Windows minor version number for this computer.
        /// </summary>
        public static uint WinMinorVersion
        {
            get
            {
                dynamic minor;
                // The 'CurrentMinorVersionNumber' string value in the CurrentVersion key is new for Windows 10, 
                // and will most likely (hopefully) be there for some time before MS decides to change this - again...
                if (TryGetRegistryKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CurrentMinorVersionNumber",
                    out minor))
                {
                    return (uint) minor;
                }

                // When the 'CurrentMinorVersionNumber' value is not present we fallback to reading the previous key used for this: 'CurrentVersion'
                dynamic version;
                if (!TryGetRegistryKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CurrentVersion", out version))
                    return 0;

                var versionParts = ((string) version).Split('.');
                if (versionParts.Length != 2) return 0;
                uint minorAsUInt;
                return uint.TryParse(versionParts[1], out minorAsUInt) ? minorAsUInt : 0;
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        ///     Returns whether or not the current computer is a server or not.
        /// </summary>
        public static uint IsServer
        {
            get
            {
                dynamic installationType;
                if (TryGetRegistryKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "InstallationType",
                    out installationType))
                {
                    return (uint) (installationType.Equals("Client") ? 0 : 1);
                }

                return 0;
            }
        }

        private static bool TryGetRegistryKey(string path, string key, out dynamic value)
        {
            value = null;
            try
            {
                using(var rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(path))
                {
                    if (rk == null) return false;
                    value = rk.GetValue(key);
                    return value != null;
                }
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

You'll need to add an app.manifest to your application:

then uncomment the following line:

<!-- Windows 10 -->
<supportedOS Id="{8e0f7a12-bfb3-4fe8-b9a5-48fd50a15a9a}" />