How to translate MS Windows OS version numbers into product names in .NET?

Question

How to translate MS Windows OS version numbers into product names?

For example, in .NET the following two properties could be used to work out that the product is MS Windows Vista Ultimate Edition :

Environment.OSVersion.Platform returns Win32NT

Environment.OSVersion.Version returns 6.0.6001.65536

Answer 1

howto net os version

VB:

Public Function GetOSVersion() As String
    Select Case Environment.OSVersion.Platform
        Case PlatformID.Win32S
            Return "Win 3.1"
        Case PlatformID.Win32Windows
            Select Case Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor
                Case 0
                    Return "Win95"
                Case 10
                    Return "Win98"
                Case 90
                    Return "WinME"
                Case Else
                    Return "Unknown"
            End Select
        Case PlatformID.Win32NT
            Select Case Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major
                Case 3
                    Return "NT 3.51"
                Case 4
                    Return "NT 4.0"
                Case 5
                    Select Case _
                        Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor
                        Case 0
                            Return "Win2000"
                        Case 1
                            Return "WinXP"
                        Case 2
                            Return "Win2003"
                    End Select
                Case 6
                    Return "Vista/Win2008Server"
                Case Else
                    Return "Unknown"
            End Select
        Case PlatformID.WinCE
            Return "Win CE"
    End Select
End Function

---

C#

 public static string GetMachineOS()
 {
  if (Environment.OSVersion.Platform == PlatformID.Win32NT)
  {
   if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major<=4)
    return String.Format("Windows NT {0}", Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString());
   if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major==5)
   {
    if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor==0)
     return String.Format("Windows 2000 {0}", Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString());
    else
     return String.Format("Windows XP {0}", Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString());
   }
  }

  if (Environment.OSVersion.Platform == PlatformID.Win32Windows)
  {
   if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major>=4)
   {
    if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor==0)
     return String.Format("Windows 95 {0}", Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString());    
    else if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor<90)
     return String.Format("Windows 98 {0}", Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString());
    else
     return String.Format("Windows Millenim Edition {0}", Environment.OSVersion.Version.ToString());
   }
  }

  return Environment.OSVersion.ToString(); //ELSE
 }

Answer 2

There's a C++ example at msdn http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724429(VS.85).aspx, along with a note someone's added about how to wrap it up for use in [VB].net. It looks like the "missing" bit you need is the Win32 function GetProductInfo (PInvoke.net reference for this).

Between this and the answer from Avram, you should be able to assemble the full version string.

Answer 3

You can use WMI to get the friendly product name ("Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise "):

using System.Management;
var name = (from x in new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem").Get().OfType<ManagementObject>()
                      select x.GetPropertyValue("Caption")).First();
return name != null ? name.ToString() : "Unknown";