how to tell what version of windows and/or cmd.exe

Question

How can one determine what version of Windows and/or cmd.exe a batch file is running on?

There is no cmd /version that I've been able to find and the results of SET in a command prompt session don't give anything obviously unique (between XP and Win7 anyway).

Answer 1

you can use the "systeminfo" @ cmd.exe

C:\Users\Tagon8>systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"
OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview
OS Version:                6.2.8400 N/A Build 8400

Answer 2

Maybe someone will need the following to determine the SKU (Win7). I'm using some of this script to pick the right OS and XML during sysprep. Hope it helps!

@echo off

set ver=Unknown

systeminfo > C:\sysinfo

findstr /e /c:"Enterprise " C:\sysinfo 1>nul 2>nul    
if %errorlevel% equ 0 set ver=Enterprise

findstr /e /c:"Ultimate " C:\sysinfo 1>nul 2>nul
if %errorlevel% equ 0 set ver=Ultimate

findstr /e /c:"Professional " C:\sysinfo 1>nul 2>nul
if %errorlevel% equ 0 set ver=Professional

findstr /e /c:"Home Premium " C:\sysinfo 1>nul 2>nul
if %errorlevel% equ 0 set ver=Home Premium

findstr /e /c:"Home Basic " C:\sysinfo 1>nul 2>nul
if %errorlevel% equ 0 set ver=Home Basic    

del /f /q C:\SP\sysinfo 1>nul 2>nul
Echo Windows 7 %ver%

pause    
exit

Answer 3

The internal command ver reports windows version number (which could have been learned by typing help at the command prompt).

There is a dynamic variable %CMDEXTVERSION%, but it hasn't progressed in several releases so it's only useful for delineating between Windows NT and Windows 2000 and newer. (Thanks @Joey, here.)

Here's a batch to parse the output of ver for XP and newer, courtesy of Simon Sheppard:

@echo off
Setlocal
:: Get windows Version numbers
For /f "tokens=2 delims=[]" %%G in ('ver') Do (set _version=%%G) 

For /f "tokens=2,3,4 delims=. " %%G in ('echo %_version%') Do (set _major=%%G& set _minor=%%H& set _build=%%I) 

Echo Major version: %_major%  Minor Version: %_minor%.%_build%

if "%_major%"=="5" goto sub5
if "%_major%"=="6" goto sub6

Echo unsupported version
goto:eof

:sub5
::Winxp or 2003
if "%_minor%"=="2" goto sub_2003
Echo Windows XP [%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%]
goto:eof

:sub_2003
Echo Windows 2003 or xp 64 bit [%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%]
goto:eof

:sub6
if "%_minor%"=="1" goto sub7
Echo Windows Vista or Windows 2008 [%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%]
goto:eof

:sub7
Echo Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 [%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%]
goto:eof

And here's my own fairly complete, largely academic, kick at the can which returns the parsed version number as environment variables:

@echo off
setlocal
:: from http://ss64.org/viewtopic.php?pid=3136#p3136
::==================================
::variables
if %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%==x86   set pro_arch=32 Bit (x86)
if %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%==AMD64 set pro_arch=64 Bit (AMD64)
if %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%==IA64 set pro_arch=Itanium 64 Bit (IA64)

:Main
    call :clean
    for /f "tokens=2 delims=[]" %%x in ('ver') do set cmdver=%%x
    set cmdver=%cmdver:Version =%
    call :parse_cmdver
    call :ver%cmdver%
    call :Report
    goto :End


:clean
    :: Ensure we don't inherit values from previous runs
    set _verCmd=
    set _verMajor=
    set _verMinor=
    set _verBuild=
    set _verWin=
    goto :eof

:Parse_cmdver
    :: Turn "5.1.2306" string into actionable variables
    for /f "tokens=1,2,3* delims=." %%g in ("%cmdver%") do (
        set major=%%g
        set minor=%%h
        set build=%%i
        )
    goto :eof

:Report
    echo.
    echo.   CMD version is %cmdver%
    echo.   which probably means %longver% %pro_arch%
    echo.
    goto :eof

:Report2
    echo.   The numbers are stored in the following variables:
    echo.
    set _ver
    goto :eof


::Table of version numbers built from 
:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows#Timeline_of_releases
:ver1.01
    set longver=Windows 1.01
    set shortver=Win101
    goto :eof

:ver2.03
    set longver=Windows 2.03
    set shortver=Win203
    goto :eof

:ver2.10
    set longver=Windows 2.10
    set shortver=Win21
    goto :eof

:ver2.11
    set longver=Windows 2.11
    set shortver=Win211
    goto :eof

:ver3.0
    set longver=Windows 3.0
    set shortver=Win3
    goto :eof

:ver3.1
    set longver=Windows 3.1, Windows For Workgroups 3.1, or Windows NT 3.1
    set shortver=Win31/WFW31/WinNT31
    goto :eof

:ver3.11
    set longver=Windows For Workgroups 3.11
    set shortver=WFW311
    goto :eof

:ver3.2
    set longver=Windows 3.2 (released in Simplified Chinese only)
    set shortver=Win32ch
    goto :eof

:ver3.5
    set longver=Windows NT 3.5
    set shortver=WinNT35
    goto :eof

:ver3.51
    set longver=Windows NT 3.51
    set shortver=WinNT351
    goto :eof

:ver4.0.950
    set longver=Windows 95
    set shortver=Win95
    goto :eof

:ver4.0.1381
    set longver=Windows NT 4.0
    set shortver=WinNT4
    goto :eof

:ver4.90.3000
    set longver=Windows Me
    set shortver=WinMe
    goto :eof

:ver4.10.1998
    set longver=Windows 98
    set shortver=Win98
    goto :eof

:ver4.10.2222
    set longver=Windows 98 SE
    set shortver=Win98SE
    goto :eof

:ver5.0.2195
    set longver=Windows 2000
    set shortver=Win2K
    goto :eof

:ver5.1.2600
    set longver=Windows XP or Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs
    set shortver=WinXP/WinFun
    goto :eof

:ver5.2.3790
    set longver=Windows XP, Windows XP Pro or Windows Server 2003
    set shortver=WinXP/WinXP-Pro/Server2003
    goto :eof

:ver5.2.4500
    set longver=Windows Home Server
    set shortver=WinHomeServer
    goto :eof

:ver6.0.6002
    set longver=Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008
    set shortver=Vista/Server2008
    goto :eof

:ver6.1.7600
    set longver=Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
    set shortver=Win7/Server2008R2
    goto :eof


:End
:: return version to calling shell/script,
:: see http://ss64.com/nt/syntax-functions.html
endlocal & set _verCmd=%cmdver% & set _verMajor=%major% & set _verMinor=%minor% & set _verBuild=%build% & set _verWin=%shortver%
call :Report2 :: comment this line out to suppress extra reporting

Answer 4

The version of cmd.exe should actually be pretty irrelevant, unless you try to use features that didn't exist before (in command.com for example). There is the pseudovariable

%cmdextversion%

which holds the version of the command extensions which has been 2 for ages (at least back to NT 4, iirc).

But, back to the point: Running ver and parsing the version string might be your best bet:

for /f "tokens=2 delims=[]" %%x in ('ver') do set WINVER=%%x
set WINVER=%WINVER:Version =%

Answer 5

To find the windows version using WMIC you can use:

wmic os get version

Answer 6

Type "ver" at a command prompt.

Next time around, since this isn't really programming related but server or user related, you might try serverfault.com or superuser.com.