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 (Windows Me), Microsoft Windows NT 3.51, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows XP.
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Requirements
- Microsoft Visual C# .NET
- Microsoft Visual C# 2005
- Intermediate level understanding of Visual C# 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:
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |Windows|Windows|Windows|Windows NT|Windows|Windows|
| | 95 | 98 | Me | 4.0 | 2000 | XP |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|PlatformID | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|Major | | | | | | |
| version | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
|Minor | | | | | | |
| version | 0 | 10 | 90 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
NOTE: Although the code in this article is verified for use with 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.
System.OperatingSystem osInfo = System.Environment.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
switch(osInfo.Platform)
{
case System.PlatformID.Win32Windows:
{
// Code to determine specific version of Windows 95,
// Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me.
}
case System.PlatformID.Win32NT:
{
// Code to determine specific version of Windows NT 3.51,
// Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP.
}
}
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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 System.PlatformID.Win32Windows:
switch (osInfo.Version.Minor)
{
case 0:
Console.WriteLine ("Windows 95");
break;
case 10:
if(osInfo.Version.Revision.ToString()=="2222A")
Console.WriteLine("Windows 98 Second Edition");
else
Console.WriteLine("Windows 98");
break;
case 90:
Console.WriteLine("Windows Me");
break;
}break;
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Determine the Specific Version of Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
If you determine that the platform is Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, 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,
// or Windows XP.
case System.PlatformID.Win32NT:
switch(osInfo.Version.Major)
{
case 3:
Console.WriteLine("Windows NT 3.51");
break;
case 4:
Console.WriteLine("Windows NT 4.0");
break;
case 5:
if (osInfo.Version.Minor==0)
Console.WriteLine("Windows 2000");
else
Console.WriteLine("Windows XP");
break;
}break;
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Build the Sample
The following steps build a test scenario that demonstrates this functionality:
- In Visual Studio .NET, open a new C# console application. The code window for Class1.cs opens by default.
Note In Visual Studio 2005, the default file is Program.cs. You can double-click Program.cs to open the code window. - Replace all of the code in the Class1.cs code editor window with the following sample code:
using System;
namespace determineOS_CS
{
class Class1
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Get OperatingSystem information from the system namespace.
System.OperatingSystem osInfo =System.Environment.OSVersion;
// Determine the platform.
switch(osInfo.Platform)
{
// Platform is Windows 95, Windows 98,
// Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Me.
case System.PlatformID.Win32Windows:
switch (osInfo.Version.Minor)
{
case 0:
Console.WriteLine ("Windows 95");
break;
case 10:
if(osInfo.Version.Revision.ToString()=="2222A")
Console.WriteLine("Windows 98 Second Edition");
else
Console.WriteLine("Windows 98");
break;
case 90:
Console.WriteLine("Windows Me");
break;
}
break;
// Platform is Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000,
// or Windows XP.
case System.PlatformID.Win32NT:
switch(osInfo.Version.Major)
{
case 3:
Console.WriteLine("Windows NT 3.51");
break;
case 4:
Console.WriteLine("Windows NT 4.0");
break;
case 5:
if (osInfo.Version.Minor==0)
Console.WriteLine("Windows 2000");
else
Console.WriteLine("Windows XP");
break;
}break;
}
Console.ReadLine ();
}
}
}
- Press CTRL+F5 to run the application. Note that the Windows version appears in the console window.
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