Check windows version from registry c#

Question

I have a problem, How can I check the windows version from the registry in c#?

(Windows xp to windows 8.1)

*Questions asking for code must demonstrate a minimal understanding of the problem being solved. Include attempted solutions, why they didn't work, and the expected results* — Federico Berasategui, Aug 16 '13 at 18:41
possible duplicate of [How to get the "friendly" OS Version Name?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/577634/how-to-get-the-friendly-os-version-name) — Oliver Gray, Aug 16 '13 at 18:44
My question, Why do you check registry for version? can't you get it from `Environment` class? — Sriram Sakthivel, Aug 16 '13 at 18:45

score 7 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 16 '13 at 18:46

7

Environment.OSVersion can give you that!

Read the MSDN documentation for Environment class to see all of the other things you can get from this class.

edited Aug 16 '13 at 18:46

Karl Anderson

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answered Aug 16 '13 at 18:44

Ehsan

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score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:29

6

Environment.OSVersion as others stated is right way to go.

However, in case someone want to get it through registry, this can be used -

using (Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key = 
       Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine
               .OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion"))
{
    var osVersion = key.GetValue("CurrentVersion");
}

Registry for version is HKLM "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion".

Also, corresponding mapping with actual OS from here -

Operating system        Version number
-----------------       --------------
Windows 8                   6.2
Windows Server 2012         6.2
Windows 7                   6.1
Windows Server 2008 R2      6.1
Windows Server 2008         6.0
Windows Vista               6.0
Windows Server 2003 R2      5.2
Windows Server 2003         5.2
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition   5.2
Windows XP                  5.1
Windows 2000                5.0

edited May 23 '17 at 12:29

Community

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answered Aug 16 '13 at 19:06

Rohit Vats

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Note that, and I've seen this...WindowsNT may actually have a space in it...so the key could be "Windows NT". – Alexandru Oct 01 '14 at 15:43
How to output `osVersion` to a MessageBox ?! – Black Aug 18 '17 at 12:01
I am using windows 10 and get `6.2` – Black Aug 18 '17 at 12:03
@Black - For windows 10 you need to check CurrentMajorVersionNumber and CurrentMinoVersionNumber as well. Refer to this for more details - https://stackoverflow.com/a/31143093/632337 – Rohit Vats Aug 18 '17 at 13:40

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 16 '13 at 18:45

1

You don't need to read the registry; System.Environment.OSVersion gives you this information.

answered Aug 16 '13 at 18:45

Varun K

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In case of Win8.1 the version is 6.3.* – AMIT SHELKE Nov 06 '13 at 07:25

Check windows version from registry c#

3 Answers3

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