SUMMARY
This step-by-step article demonstrates how to determine
which operating system is in use on the system where your application is
running. This article differentiates between Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft
Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows Millennium
Edition (Me), Microsoft Windows NT 3.51, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft
Windows 2000, Microsoft
Windows XP,
and Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
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Requirements
- Microsoft Visual Basic .NET or Microsoft Visual Basic 2005
- Intermediate level understanding of Visual Basic
programming
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Obtain the Windows Version Data
To determine the operating system that is running on a system,
you must obtain the following data:
|
| PlatformID | 1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | 2 | 2 |
2 |
| Major Version | 4 | 4 | 4 |
4 | 5 | 5 |
5 |
| Minor Version | 0 | 10 | 90 |
0 | 0 | 1 |
2 |
NOTE: Although the code in this article checks for all 32-bit versions
of Windows, Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51 do not support Microsoft Visual
Studio .NET or the common language runtime.
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Obtain the Operating System Information
The
System namespace contains a class named
OperatingSystem. The properties for the
OperatingSystem class provide the necessary information about the operating
system that is in use. The
OSVersion property of the
System.Environment class returns an
OperatingSystem object.
Private osInfo As OperatingSystem
osInfo = OSVersion
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Determine the Platform
The first step in the logical evaluation of the
OperatingSystem information is to determine which platform is in use. You can use
the
PlatformID property of the
OperatingSystem class to determine which platform is in use.
For
example, the enumerated value of the
Win32Windows property indicates one of the following operating systems:
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
- Windows 98 Second Edition
- Windows Me
Similarly, the
WinNT property indicates one of the following operating systems:
- Windows NT 3.51
- Windows NT 4.0
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows Server 2003
Select Case .Platform
Case .Platform.Win32Windows
'Code to determine specific version of Windows 95, Windows 98,
'Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me.
End Select
Case .Platform.Win32NT
'Code to determine specific version of Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0,
'Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
End Select
End Select
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Determine the Specific Version of Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me
If you determine that the platform is Windows 95, Windows 98,
Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me, you can analyze the major or the
minor version to determine the specific version.
'Platform is Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me.
Case .Platform.Win32Windows
Select Case (.Version.Minor)
Case 0
getVersion = "Windows 95"
Case 10
If .Version.Revision.ToString() = "2222A" Then
getVersion = "Windows 98 Second Edition"
Else
getVersion = "Windows 98"
End If
Case 90
getVersion = "Windows Me"
End Select
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Determine the Specific Version of Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003
If you determine that the platform is Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT
4.0, Windows 2000, Windows
XP, or
Windows Server 2003, you can analyze the major or the
minor version to determine the specific version.
'Platform is Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
Case .Platform.Win32NT
Select Case (.Version.Major)
Case 3
getVersion = "Windows NT 3.51"
Case 4
getVersion = "Windows NT 4.0"
Case 5
Select Case (.Version.Minor)
Case 0
getVersion = "Windows 2000"
Case 1
getVersion = "Windows XP"
Case 2
getVersion = "Windows Server 2003"
End Select
Case Else
getVersion = "Failed"
End Select
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Build the Sample
The following steps build a test scenario that demonstrates this
functionality:
- In Visual Studio .NET or in Visual Studio 2005, open a new Visual Basic console
application. The code window for Module1.vb opens by default.
- Replace all of the code in the Module1.vb code editor
window with the following code:
Option Strict On
Imports System.Environment
Module Module1
Private osInfo As OperatingSystem
Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine(getVersion())
End Sub
Public Function getVersion() As String
osInfo = OSVersion
With osInfo
Select Case .Platform
Case .Platform.Win32Windows
Select Case (.Version.Minor)
Case 0
getVersion = "Windows 95"
Case 10
If .Version.Revision.ToString() = "2222A" Then
getVersion = "Windows 98 Second Edition"
Else
getVersion = "Windows 98"
End If
Case 90
getVersion = "Windows Me"
End Select
Case .Platform.Win32NT
Select Case (.Version.Major)
Case 3
getVersion = "Windows NT 3.51"
Case 4
getVersion = "Windows NT 4.0"
Case 5
Select Case (.Version.Minor)
Case 0
getVersion = "Windows 2000"
Case 1
getVersion = "Windows XP"
Case 2
getVersion = "Windows Server 2003"
End Select
Case Else
getVersion = "Failed"
End Select
End Select
End With
End Function
End Module
- Press the CTRL+F5 key combination to run the application.
Note that the Windows version appears in the console window.
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