How to Detect Windows Mode and Version from a Batch File (85469)

MORE INFORMATION

WINCHECK.COM returns the following error levels:

   Software active                                  Error level
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Windows for Workgroups 3.1 or 3.11 enhanced mode      6
   Windows 3.1 or 3.11 enhanced mode                     6
   Windows 3.1 standard mode                             5
   Windows 3.0 enhanced mode                             4
   Windows 3.0 standard mode                             3
   Windows 3.0 real mode                                 2
   MS-DOS Task Swapper                                   1
   None of the above detected                            0
				

Notes: WINCHECK.COM will not detect MS-DOS 5.0 or 6.0 Shell if Task Swapper is not enabled. It will not detect the MS-DOS 4.0 Shell. If Windows and the task swapper are both enabled, only Windows will be detected. Windows/286 and Windows/386 will likely be detected as Windows 3.0, but this has not been confirmed.

Creating WINCHECK.COM

WINCHECK.COM is created using a DEBUG script file, which contains all the commands you would enter from within DEBUG to create WINCHECK.COM.

To create WINCHECK.COM, follow these steps exactly:

1. Create a text file called C:\WINCHECK.SCR using a text editor (for example, Windows Notepad, EDIT, or EDLIN). This is the DEBUG script file. C:\WINCHECK.SCR should contain exactly the following lines (press the ENTER key after typing each line):

           A 100
           MOV AX,160A
           INT 2F
           OR  AX,AX
           JNZ 0117
           XOR CX,0003
           JNZ 0113
           MOV AL,06
           JMP 0159
           MOV AL,05
           JMP 0159
           MOV AX,1600
           INT 2F
           TEST AL,7F
           JZ  0124
           MOV AL,04
           JMP 0159
           MOV AX,4680
           INT 2F
           OR  AX,AX
           JZ  0131
           MOV AL,00
           JMP 0159
           MOV AX,4B02
           XOR BX,BX
           MOV DI,BX
           MOV ES,BX
           INT 2F
           OR  AX,AX
           JNZ 0144
           MOV AL,01
           JMP 0159
           MOV AX,1605
           INT 2F
           CMP CX,-01
           JNZ 0152
           MOV AL,03
           JMP 0159
           MOV AX,1606
           INT 2F
           MOV AL,02
           MOV AH,4C
           INT 21
   
           RCX
           5D
           N WINCHECK.COM
           W
           Q
   						

   Note: You MUST press the ENTER key twice after the line "INT 21".
2. From the drive C command prompt, enter the following command to create the WINCHECK.COM program:

   >DEBUG < WINCHECK.SCR

   DEBUG will read and follow the instructions in the WINCHECK.SCR file. It is recommended that you not use this command when other programs are running or from within Windows. If WINCHECK.SCR contains an error, DEBUG will likely not be told when to quit and you will have to restart your system to get out. DEBUG might even be instructed to hang your system; if this happens, reboot and examine WINCHECK.SCR for accuracy.
   
   A few screens of information will scroll, ending with

         nnnn:015B INT 21
         nnnn:015D
         -RCX
         CX 0000
         :5D
         -N WINCHECK.COM
         -W
         Writing 0005D bytes
         -Q
   						

   where "nnnn" is a combination of letters and numbers, the exact combination of which will vary. The rest should be the same as above if WINCHECK.SCR is correct.
   
   DEBUG will place the WINCHECK.COM file in the current directory, which in the example above is C:\. It should be 93 bytes in size.

Using WINCHECK.COM

You can now run the WINCHECK.COM program from within a batch file to get information about the current operating environment. Below are three example batch files:

CHKSAFE.BAT

   @ECHO OFF
   REM This batch file runs the MS-DOS CHKDSK /F command if and
   REM only if Windows or the Swapper are not running.
   WINCHECK
   IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO SAFE
   ECHO It is not safe to run CHKDSK /F when Windows or Shell
   ECHO Task Swapper is active because other programs (or Windows
   ECHO itself) may be updating the disk information.
   ECHO
   ECHO Press any key to see the current disk information, or
   PAUSE CTRL+C to break out of the batch process.
   CHKDSK
   :SAFE
   CHKDSK /F
				

SYSVER.BAT

   @ECHO OFF
   REM This batch file informs the user which MS-DOS and (if any)
   REM Windows version is running.
   ECHO You are using:
   VER
   WINCHECK
   IF ERRORLEVEL 5 GOTO WIN31
   IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO WIN30
   IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO SWAPPER
   :WIN31
   ECHO and you're running Windows 3.1.
   GOTO END
   :WIN30
   ECHO and you're running Windows 3.0.
   GOTO END
   :SWAPPER
   ECHO and you've enabled the MS-DOS Shell Task Swapper.
   :END
				

WINMODE.BAT

   @ECHO OFF
   REM This batch file informs the user which Windows version and
   REM mode (if any) is running.
   WINCHECK
   IF ERRORLEVEL 0 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 ECHO Nothing detected.
   IF ERRORLEVEL 1 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 2 ECHO Task swapper enabled.
   IF ERRORLEVEL 2 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 3 ECHO Windows 3.0 real mode.
   IF ERRORLEVEL 3 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 4 ECHO Windows 3.0 standard mode.
   IF ERRORLEVEL 4 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 5 ECHO Windows 3.0 enhanced mode.
   IF ERRORLEVEL 5 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 6 ECHO Windows 3.1 standard mode.
   IF ERRORLEVEL 6 IF NOT ERRORLEVEL 7 ECHO Windows 3.1x enhanced mode.
				

How WINCHECK Works

In determining the Windows version, WINCHECK assumes that either Windows 3.0 or Windows 3.1 is running.

WINCHECK first checks if Windows 3.1 is running using Interrupt 2F, function 160A. If Windows 3.1 is running, then CX will be set equal to 3 (for 386 enhanced mode) or 2 (for 286 standard mode). If 3.1 is not running, WINCHECK looks for the Windows 386 memory manager (WIN386.EXE) using Interrupt 2F function 1600. If WIN386.EXE is not running, WINCHECK looks for WINOLDAP.MOD using Interrupt 2F, function WINOLDAP.MOD runs non-Windows applications in real and standard mode; in addition, Task Swapper pretends to be WINOLDAP.MOD. If WINOLDAP.MOD is not installed, then WINCHECK gives up and returns 0.

If WINOLDAP.MOD appears to be installed, it could be Task Swapper, real mode 3.0, or standard mode 3.0. WINCHECK uses Interrupt 2F, function 4B02, to determine if it is Task Swapper. If it is not, WINCHECK issues Interrupt 2F, function 1605 and checks the response. If CX is -01, standard mode responded (and so must be running); if not, real mode is running.

WINCHECK.COM is derived from an assembly language fragment that determines the mode and version of Windows from an MS-DOS application. It has been adapted for DEBUG and batch file usability. For more information on the procedures used to detect the Windows mode and version, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The MS-DOS Task Swapper application program interface is documented in the "Microsoft MS-DOS Programmer's Reference," published by Microsoft Press (ISBN 1-55615-329-5).