What is Operating System? Types of OS, Features and Examples

What is an Operating System?

An Operating System (OS) is a software that acts as an interface between computer hardware components and the user. Every computer system must have at least one operating system to run other programs. Applications like Browsers, MS Office, Notepad Games, etc., need some environment to run and perform its tasks.

The OS helps you to communicate with the computer without knowing how to speak the computer’s language. It is not possible for the user to use any computer or mobile device without having an operating system. Introduction to Operating System

History Of OS

• Operating systems were first developed in the late 1950s to manage tape storage
• The General Motors Research Lab implemented the first OS in the early 1950s for their IBM 701
• In the mid-1960s, operating systems started to use disks
• In the late 1960s, the first version of the Unix OS was developed
• The first OS built by Microsoft was DOS. It was built in 1981 by purchasing the 86-DOS software from a Seattle company
• The present-day popular OS Windows first came to existence in 1985 when a GUI was created and paired with MS-DOS.

Examples of Operating System with Market Share

Following are the examples of Operating System with the latest Market Share

OS Name	Share
Windows	40.34
Android	37.95
iOS	15.44
Mac OS	4.34
Linux	0.95
Chrome OS	0.14
Windows Phone OS	0.06

Types of Operating System (OS)

Following are the popular types of Operating System:

• Batch Operating System
• Multitasking/Time Sharing OS
• Multiprocessing OS
• Real Time OS
• Distributed OS
• Network OS
• Mobile OS

Batch Operating System

Some computer processes are very lengthy and time-consuming. To speed the same process, a job with a similar type of needs are batched together and run as a group.

The user of a batch operating system never directly interacts with the computer. In this type of OS, every user prepares his or her job on an offline device like a punch card and submit it to the computer operator.

Multi-Tasking/Time-sharing Operating systems

Time-sharing operating system enables people located at a different terminal(shell) to use a single computer system at the same time. The processor time (CPU) which is shared among multiple users is termed as time sharing.

Real time OS

A real time operating system time interval to process and respond to inputs is very small. Examples: Military Software Systems, Space Software Systems are the Real time OS example.

Distributed Operating System

Distributed systems use many processors located in different machines to provide very fast computation to its users.

Network Operating System

Network Operating System runs on a server. It provides the capability to serve to manage data, user, groups, security, application, and other networking functions.

Mobile OS

Mobile operating systems are those OS which is especially that are designed to power smartphones, tablets, and wearables devices.

Some most famous mobile operating systems are Android and iOS, but others include BlackBerry, Web, and watchOS.

Functions of Operating System

Below are the main functions of Operating System: Functions of Operating System

In an operating system software performs each of the function:

1. Process management:- Process management helps OS to create and delete processes. It also provides mechanisms for synchronization and communication among processes.

1. Memory management:- Memory management module performs the task of allocation and de-allocation of memory space to programs in need of this resources.

1. File management:- It manages all the file-related activities such as organization storage, retrieval, naming, sharing, and protection of files.

1. Device Management: Device management keeps tracks of all devices. This module also responsible for this task is known as the I/O controller. It also performs the task of allocation and de-allocation of the devices.

1. I/O System Management: One of the main objects of any OS is to hide the peculiarities of that hardware devices from the user.

1. Secondary-Storage Management: Systems have several levels of storage which includes primary storage, secondary storage, and cache storage. Instructions and data must be stored in primary storage or cache so that a running program can reference it.

1. Security:- Security module protects the data and information of a computer system against malware threat and authorized access.

1. Command interpretation: This module is interpreting commands given by the and acting system resources to process that commands.

1. Networking: A distributed system is a group of processors which do not share memory, hardware devices, or a clock. The processors communicate with one another through the network.

1. Job accounting: Keeping track of time & resource used by various job and users.

1. Communication management: Coordination and assignment of compilers, interpreters, and another software resource of the various users of the computer systems.

Features of Operating System (OS)

Here is a list important features of OS:

• Protected and supervisor mode
• Allows disk access and file systems Device drivers Networking Security
• Program Execution
• Memory management Virtual Memory Multitasking
• Handling I/O operations
• Manipulation of the file system
• Error Detection and handling
• Resource allocation
• Information and Resource Protection

Advantage of using Operating System

• Allows you to hide details of hardware by creating an abstraction
• Easy to use with a GUI
• Offers an environment in which a user may execute programs/applications
• The operating system must make sure that the computer system convenient to use
• Operating System acts as an intermediary among applications and the hardware components
• It provides the computer system resources with easy to use format
• Acts as an intermediator between all hardware’s and software’s of the system

Disadvantages of using Operating System

• If any issue occurs in OS, you may lose all the contents which have been stored in your system
• Operating system’s software is quite expensive for small size organization which adds burden on them. Example Windows
• It is never entirely secure as a threat can occur at any time

What is a Kernel?

The kernel is the central component of a computer operating systems. The only job performed by the kernel is to the manage the communication between the software and the hardware. A Kernel is at the nucleus of a computer. It makes the communication between the hardware and software possible. While the Kernel is the innermost part of an operating system, a shell is the outermost one.

Features of Kennel

• Low-level scheduling of processes
• Inter-process communication
• Process synchronization
• Context switching

Types of Kernels

There are many types of kernels that exists, but among them, the two most popular kernels are:

1.Monolithic

A monolithic kernel is a single code or block of the program. It provides all the required services offered by the operating system. It is a simplistic design which creates a distinct communication layer between the hardware and software.

2. Microkernels

Microkernel manages all system resources. In this type of kernel, services are implemented in different address space. The user services are stored in user address space, and kernel services are stored under kernel address space. So, it helps to reduce the size of both the kernel and operating system.

Win32_OperatingSystem class

The Win32_OperatingSystem WMI class represents a Windows-based operating system installed on a computer.

The following syntax is simplified from Managed Object Format (MOF) code and includes all of the inherited properties. Properties and methods are in alphabetic order, not MOF order.

Syntax

Members

The Win32_OperatingSystem class has these types of members:

Methods

The Win32_OperatingSystem class has these methods.

Method	Description
Reboot	Shuts down and then restarts the computer system.
SetDateTime	Allows the computer date and time to be set.
Shutdown	Unloads programs and DLLs to the point where it is safe to turn off the computer.
Win32Shutdown	Provides the full set of shutdown options supported by Windows operating systems.
Win32ShutdownTracker	Provides the same set of shutdown options supported by the Win32Shutdown method in Win32_OperatingSystem, but also allows you to specify comments, a reason for shutdown, or a timeout.

Properties

The Win32_OperatingSystem class has these properties.

BootDevice

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Name of the disk drive from which the Windows operating system starts.

BuildNumber

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Build number of an operating system. It can be used for more precise version information than product release version numbers.

BuildType

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Type of build used for an operating system.

Examples: «»retail build»», «»checked build»»

Caption

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Short description of the object—a one-line string. The string includes the operating system version. For example, «Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise «. This property can be localized.

WindowsВ Vista and WindowsВ 7: This property may contain trailing characters. For example, the string «Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise » (trailing space included) may be necessary to retrieve information using this property.

CodeSet

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Code page value an operating system uses. A code page contains a character table that an operating system uses to translate strings for different languages. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) lists values that represent defined code pages. If an operating system does not use an ANSI code page, this member is set to 0 (zero). The CodeSet string can use a maximum of six characters to define the code page value.

CountryCode

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Code for the country/region that an operating system uses. Values are based on international phone dialing prefixes—also referred to as IBM country/region codes. This property can use a maximum of six characters to define the country/region code value.

Example: «1» (United States)

CreationClassName

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Name of the first concrete class that appears in the inheritance chain used in the creation of an instance. When used with other key properties of the class, this property allows all instances of this class and its subclasses to be identified uniquely.

CSCreationClassName

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Creation class name of the scoping computer system.

CSDVersion

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32API|System Information Structures|OSVERSIONINFOEX|szCSDVersion«)

NULL-terminated string that indicates the latest service pack installed on a computer. If no service pack is installed, the string is NULL.

Example: «Service Pack 3»

CSName

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Name of the scoping computer system.

CurrentTimeZone

Data type: sint16

Access type: Read-only

Number, in minutes, an operating system is offset from Greenwich mean time (GMT). The number is positive, negative, or zero.

DataExecutionPrevention_32BitApplications

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

When the data execution prevention hardware feature is available, this property indicates that the feature is set to work for 32-bit applications if True. On 64-bit computers, the data execution prevention feature is configured in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store and the properties in Win32_OperatingSystem are set accordingly.

DataExecutionPrevention_Available

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

Data execution prevention is a hardware feature to prevent buffer overrun attacks by stopping the execution of code on data-type memory pages. If True, then this feature is available. On 64-bit computers, the data execution prevention feature is configured in the BCD store and the properties in Win32_OperatingSystem are set accordingly.

DataExecutionPrevention_Drivers

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

When the data execution prevention hardware feature is available, this property indicates that the feature is set to work for drivers if True. On 64-bit computers, the data execution prevention feature is configured in the BCD store and the properties in Win32_OperatingSystem are set accordingly.

DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy

Data type: uint8

Access type: Read-only

Indicates which Data Execution Prevention (DEP) setting is applied. The DEP setting specifies the extent to which DEP applies to 32-bit applications on the system. DEP is always applied to the Windows kernel.

Always Off (0)

DEP is turned off for all 32-bit applications on the computer with no exceptions. This setting is not available for the user interface.

Always On (1)

DEP is enabled for all 32-bit applications on the computer. This setting is not available for the user interface.

Opt In (2)

DEP is enabled for a limited number of binaries, the kernel, and all Windows-based services. However, it is off by default for all 32-bit applications. A user or administrator must explicitly choose either the Always On or the Opt Out setting before DEP can be applied to 32-bit applications.

Opt Out (3)

DEP is enabled by default for all 32-bit applications. A user or administrator can explicitly remove support for a 32-bit application by adding the application to an exceptions list.

Debug

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

Operating system is a checked (debug) build. If True, the debugging version is installed. Checked builds provide error checking, argument verification, and system debugging code. Additional code in a checked binary generates a kernel debugger error message and breaks into the debugger. This helps immediately determine the cause and location of the error. Performance may be affected in a checked build due to the additional code that is executed.

Description

Data type: string

Access type: Read/write

Description of the Windows operating system. Some user interfaces for example, those that allow editing of this description, limit its length to 48 characters.

Distributed

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

If True, the operating system is distributed across several computer system nodes. If so, these nodes should be grouped as a cluster.

EncryptionLevel

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Encryption level for secure transactions: 40-bit, 128-bit, or n-bit.

40-bit (0)

128-bit (1)

n-bit (2)

ForegroundApplicationBoost

Data type: uint8

Access type: Read/write

Increase in priority is given to the foreground application. Application boost is implemented by giving an application more execution time slices (quantum lengths).

None (0)

The system boosts the quantum length by 6.

Minimum (1)

The system boosts the quantum length by 12.

Maximum (2)

The system boosts the quantum length by 18.

FreePhysicalMemory

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Number, in kilobytes, of physical memory currently unused and available.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

FreeSpaceInPagingFiles

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Number, in kilobytes, that can be mapped into the operating system paging files without causing any other pages to be swapped out.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

FreeVirtualMemory

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Number, in kilobytes, of virtual memory currently unused and available.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

InstallDate

Data type: datetime

Access type: Read-only

Date object was installed. This property does not require a value to indicate that the object is installed.

LargeSystemCache

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

This property is obsolete and not supported.

Optimize for Applications (0)

Optimize memory for applications.

Optimize for System Performance (1)

Optimize memory for system performance.

LastBootUpTime

Data type: datetime

Access type: Read-only

Date and time the operating system was last restarted.

LocalDateTime

Data type: datetime

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («MIB.IETF|HOST-RESOURCES-MIB.hrSystemDate», «MIF.DMTF|General Information|001.6»)

Operating system version of the local date and time-of-day.

Locale

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32API|National Language Support Functions|GetLocaleInfo|LOCALE_ILANGUAGE»)

Language identifier used by the operating system. A language identifier is a standard international numeric abbreviation for a country/region. Each language has a unique language identifier (LANGID), a 16-bit value that consists of a primary language identifier and a secondary language identifier.

Manufacturer

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Name of the operating system manufacturer. For Windows-based systems, this value is «Microsoft Corporation».

MaxNumberOfProcesses

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Maximum number of process contexts the operating system can support. The default value set by the provider is 4294967295 (0xFFFFFFFF). If there is no fixed maximum, the value should be 0 (zero). On systems that have a fixed maximum, this object can help diagnose failures that occur when the maximum is reached—if unknown, enter 4294967295 (0xFFFFFFFF).

MaxProcessMemorySize

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Maximum number, in kilobytes, of memory that can be allocated to a process. For operating systems with no virtual memory, typically this value is equal to the total amount of physical memory minus the memory used by the BIOS and the operating system. For some operating systems, this value may be infinity, in which case 0 (zero) should be entered. In other cases, this value could be a constant, for example, 2G or 4G.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

MUILanguages

Data type: string array

Access type: Read-only

Multilingual User Interface Pack (MUI Pack ) languages installed on the computer. For example, «en-us». MUI Pack languages are resource files that can be installed on the English version of the operating system. When an MUI Pack is installed, you can can change the user interface language to one of 33 supported languages.

Name

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Operating system instance within a computer system.

NumberOfLicensedUsers

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Number of user licenses for the operating system. If unlimited, enter 0 (zero). If unknown, enter -1.

NumberOfProcesses

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Number of process contexts currently loaded or running on the operating system.

NumberOfUsers

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Number of user sessions for which the operating system is storing state information currently.

OperatingSystemSKU

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) number for the operating system. These values are the same as the PRODUCT_* constants defined in WinNT.h that are used with the GetProductInfo function.

The following list lists possible SKU values.

PRODUCT_UNDEFINED (0)

PRODUCT_ULTIMATE (1)

Ultimate Edition, e.g. WindowsВ Vista Ultimate.

PRODUCT_HOME_BASIC (2)

Home Basic Edition

PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM (3)

Home Premium Edition

PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE (4)

PRODUCT_BUSINESS (6)

PRODUCT_STANDARD_SERVER (7)

Windows Server Standard Edition (Desktop Experience installation)

PRODUCT_DATACENTER_SERVER (8)

Windows Server Datacenter Edition (Desktop Experience installation)

PRODUCT_SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER (9)

Small Business Server Edition

PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER (10)

Enterprise Server Edition

PRODUCT_STARTER (11)

PRODUCT_DATACENTER_SERVER_CORE (12)

Datacenter Server Core Edition

PRODUCT_STANDARD_SERVER_CORE (13)

Standard Server Core Edition

PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE (14)

Enterprise Server Core Edition

PRODUCT_WEB_SERVER (17)

Web Server Edition

PRODUCT_HOME_SERVER (19)

Home Server Edition

PRODUCT_STORAGE_EXPRESS_SERVER (20)

Storage Express Server Edition

PRODUCT_STORAGE_STANDARD_SERVER (21)

Windows Storage Server Standard Edition (Desktop Experience installation)

PRODUCT_STORAGE_WORKGROUP_SERVER (22)

Windows Storage Server Workgroup Edition (Desktop Experience installation)

PRODUCT_STORAGE_ENTERPRISE_SERVER (23)

Storage Enterprise Server Edition

PRODUCT_SERVER_FOR_SMALLBUSINESS (24)

Server For Small Business Edition

PRODUCT_SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER_PREMIUM (25)

Small Business Server Premium Edition

PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_N (27)

Windows Enterprise Edition

PRODUCT_ULTIMATE_N (28)

Windows Ultimate Edition

PRODUCT_WEB_SERVER_CORE (29)

Windows Server Web Server Edition (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_STANDARD_SERVER_V (36)

Windows Server Standard Edition without Hyper-V

PRODUCT_DATACENTER_SERVER_V (37)

Windows Server Datacenter Edition without Hyper-V (full installation)

PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_V (38)

Windows Server Enterprise Edition without Hyper-V (full installation)

PRODUCT_DATACENTER_SERVER_CORE_V (39)

Windows Server Datacenter Edition without Hyper-V (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_STANDARD_SERVER_CORE_V (40)

Windows Server Standard Edition without Hyper-V (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE_V (41)

Windows Server Enterprise Edition without Hyper-V (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_HYPERV (42)

Microsoft Hyper-V Server

PRODUCT_STORAGE_EXPRESS_SERVER_CORE (43)

Storage Server Express Edition (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_STORAGE_STANDARD_SERVER_CORE (44)

Storage Server Standard Edition (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_STORAGE_WORKGROUP_SERVER_CORE (45)

Storage Server Workgroup Edition (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_STORAGE_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE (46)

Storage Server Workgroup Edition (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL (48)

PRODUCT_SB_SOLUTION_SERVER (50)

Windows Server Essentials (Desktop Experience installation)

PRODUCT_SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER_PREMIUM_CORE (63)

Small Business Server Premium (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_CLUSTER_SERVER_V (64)

Windows Compute Cluster Server without Hyper-V

PRODUCT_CORE_ARM (97)

PRODUCT_CORE (101)

PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL_WMC (103)

Windows Professional with Media Center

PRODUCT_MOBILE_CORE (104)

PRODUCT_IOTUAP (123)

Windows IoT (Internet of Things) Core

PRODUCT_DATACENTER_NANO_SERVER (143)

Windows Server Datacenter Edition (Nano Server installation)

PRODUCT_STANDARD_NANO_SERVER (144)

Windows Server Standard Edition (Nano Server installation)

PRODUCT_DATACENTER_WS_SERVER_CORE (147)

Windows Server Datacenter Edition (Server Core installation)

PRODUCT_STANDARD_WS_SERVER_CORE (148)

Windows Server Standard Edition (Server Core installation)

Organization

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Company name for the registered user of the operating system.

Example: «Microsoft Corporation»

OSArchitecture

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Architecture of the operating system, as opposed to the processor. This property can be localized.

OSLanguage

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32Registry|DEFAULT\\Control Panel\\International|Locale»)

Language version of the operating system installed. The following list lists the possible values. Example: 0x0807 (German, Switzerland).

Chinese (Simplified)– China

Arabic – Saudi Arabia

Chinese (Traditional) – Taiwan

German – Germany

English – United States

Spanish – Traditional Sort

French – France

Italian – Italy

Dutch – Netherlands

Norwegian – Bokmal

Portuguese – Brazil

Macedonian (North Macedonia)

Scottish Gaelic (United Kingdom)

Malay – Malaysia

Chinese (Simplified) – PRC

German – Switzerland

English – United Kingdom

Spanish – Mexico

French – Belgium

Italian – Switzerland

Dutch – Belgium

Norwegian – Nynorsk

Portuguese – Portugal

Romanian – Moldova

Russian – Moldova

Serbian – Latin

Swedish – Finland

Arabic – Egypt

Chinese (Traditional) – Hong Kong SAR

German – Austria

English – Australia

Spanish – International Sort

French – Canada

Serbian – Cyrillic

Arabic – Libya

Chinese (Simplified) – Singapore

German – Luxembourg

English – Canada

Spanish – Guatemala

French – Switzerland

Arabic – Algeria

German – Liechtenstein

English – New Zealand

Spanish – Costa Rica

French – Luxembourg

Arabic – Morocco

English – Ireland

Spanish – Panama

Arabic – Tunisia

English – South Africa

Spanish – Dominican Republic

English – Jamaica

Spanish – Venezuela

Arabic – Yemen

Spanish – Colombia

Arabic – Syria

English – Belize

Spanish – Peru

Arabic – Jordan

English – Trinidad

Spanish – Argentina

Arabic – Lebanon

Spanish – Ecuador

Arabic – Kuwait

Spanish – Chile

Spanish – Uruguay

Arabic – Bahrain

Spanish – Paraguay

Arabic – Qatar

Spanish – Bolivia

Spanish – El Salvador

Spanish – Honduras

Spanish – Nicaragua

Spanish – Puerto Rico

OSProductSuite

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32Registry|SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\ProductOptions|ProductSuite»), BitValues («Small Business», «Enterprise», «BackOffice», «Communication Server», «Terminal Server», «Small Business(Restricted)», «Embedded NT», «Data Center»)

Installed and licensed system product additions to the operating system. For example, the value of 146 (0x92) for OSProductSuite indicates Enterprise, Terminal Services, and Data Center (bits one, four, and seven set). The following list lists possible values.

Microsoft Small Business Server was once installed, but may have been upgraded to another version of Windows.

Windows ServerВ 2008 Enterprise is installed.

Windows BackOffice components are installed.

Communication Server is installed.

Terminal Services is installed.

Microsoft Small Business Server is installed with the restrictive client license.

Windows Embedded is installed.

A Datacenter edition is installed.

Terminal Services is installed, but only one interactive session is supported.

Windows Home Edition is installed.

Web Server Edition is installed.

Storage Server Edition is installed.

Compute Cluster Edition is installed.

OSType

Data type: uint16

Access type: Read-only

Type of operating system. The following list identifies the possible values.

Unknown (0)

Other (1)

MACOS (2)

ATTUNIX (3)

DGUX (4)

DECNT (5)

Digital Unix (6)

OpenVMS (7)

HPUX (8)

AIX (9)

MVS (10)

OS400 (11)

OS/2 (12)

JavaVM (13)

MSDOS (14)

WIN3x (15)

WIN95 (16)

WIN98 (17)

WINNT (18)

WINCE (19)

NCR3000 (20)

NetWare (21)

OSF (22)

DC/OS (23)

Reliant UNIX (24)

SCO UnixWare (25)

SCO OpenServer (26)

Sequent (27)

IRIX (28)

Solaris (29)

SunOS (30)

U6000 (31)

ASERIES (32)

TandemNSK (33)

TandemNT (34)

BS2000 (35)

LINUX (36)

Lynx (37)

XENIX (38)

VM/ESA (39)

Interactive UNIX (40)

BSDUNIX (41)

FreeBSD (42)

NetBSD (43)

GNU Hurd (44)

OS9 (45)

MACH Kernel (46)

Inferno (47)

QNX (48)

EPOC (49)

IxWorks (50)

VxWorks (51)

MiNT (52)

BeOS (53)

HP MPE (54)

NextStep (55)

PalmPilot (56)

Rhapsody (57)

Windows 2000 (58)

Dedicated (59)

OS/390 (60)

VSE (61)

TPF (62)

OtherTypeDescription

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Additional description for the current operating system version.

PAEEnabled

Data type: Boolean

Access type: Read-only

If True, the physical address extensions (PAE) are enabled by the operating system running on Intel processors. PAE allows applications to address more than 4 GB of physical memory. When PAE is enabled, the operating system uses three-level linear address translation rather than two-level. Providing more physical memory to an application reduces the need to swap memory to the page file and increases performance. To enable, PAE, use the «/PAE» switch in the Boot.ini file. For more information about the Physical Address Extension feature, see https://Go.Microsoft.Com/FWLink/p/?LinkID=45912.

PlusProductID

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32Registry|Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion|Plus! ProductId»)

PlusVersionNumber

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32Registry|Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion|Plus! VersionNumber»)

PortableOperatingSystem

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

Specifies whether the operating system booted from an external USB device. If true, the operating system has detected it is booting on a supported locally connected storage device.

Windows ServerВ 2008В R2, WindowsВ 7, Windows ServerВ 2008 and WindowsВ Vista: This property is not supported before WindowsВ 8 and Windows ServerВ 2012.

Primary

Data type: boolean

Access type: Read-only

Specifies whether this is the primary operating system.

ProductType

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Additional system information.

Work Station (1)

Domain Controller (2)

Server (3)

QuantumLength

Data type: uint8

Access type: Read/write

**Windows ServerВ 2008 and WindowsВ Vista:В В **

The QuantumLength property defines the number of clock ticks per quantum. A quantum is a unit of execution time that the scheduler is allowed to give to an application before switching to other applications. When a thread runs one quantum, the kernel preempts it and moves it to the end of a queue for applications with equal priorities. The actual length of a thread’s quantum varies across different Windows platforms. For Windows NT/Windows 2000 only.

The possible values are.

Unknown (0)

One tick (1)

Two ticks (2)

QuantumType

Data type: uint8

Access type: Read/write

**Windows ServerВ 2008 and WindowsВ Vista:В В **

The QuantumType property specifies either fixed or variable length quantums. Windows defaults to variable length quantums where the foreground application has a longer quantum than the background applications. Windows Server defaults to fixed-length quantums. A quantum is a unit of execution time that the scheduler is allowed to give to an application before switching to another application. When a thread runs one quantum, the kernel preempts it and moves it to the end of a queue for applications with equal priorities. The actual length of a thread’s quantum varies across different Windows platforms.

The possible values are.

Unknown (0)

Fixed (1)

Variable (2)

RegisteredUser

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32Registry|Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion|RegisteredOwner»)

Name of the registered user of the operating system.

Example: «Ben Smith»

SerialNumber

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32Registry|Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion|ProductId»)

Operating system product serial identification number.

ServicePackMajorVersion

Data type: uint16

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32API|System Information Structures|OSVERSIONINFOEX|wServicePackMajor«)

Major version number of the service pack installed on the computer system. If no service pack has been installed, the value is 0 (zero).

ServicePackMinorVersion

Data type: uint16

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: MappingStrings («Win32API|System Information Structures|OSVERSIONINFOEX|wServicePackMinor«)

Minor version number of the service pack installed on the computer system. If no service pack has been installed, the value is 0 (zero).

SizeStoredInPagingFiles

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Total number of kilobytes that can be stored in the operating system paging files—0 (zero) indicates that there are no paging files. Be aware that this number does not represent the actual physical size of the paging file on disk.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

Status

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Current status of the object. Various operational and nonoperational statuses can be defined. Operational statuses include: «OK», «Degraded», and «Pred Fail» (an element, such as a SMART-enabled hard disk drive may function properly, but predicts a failure in the near future). Nonoperational statuses include: «Error», «Starting», «Stopping», and «Service». The Service status applies to administrative work, such as mirror-resilvering of a disk, reload of a user permissions list, or other administrative work. Not all such work is online, but the managed element is neither «OK» nor in one of the other states.

OK («OK»)

Error («Error»)

Degraded («Degraded»)

Unknown («Unknown»)

Pred Fail («Pred Fail»)

Starting («Starting»)

Stopping («Stopping»)

Service («Service»)

Stressed («Stressed»)

NonRecover («NonRecover»)

No Contact («No Contact»)

Lost Comm («Lost Comm»)

SuiteMask

Data type: uint32

Access type: Read-only

Qualifiers: BitMap («0», «1», «2», «3», «4», «5», «6», «7», «8», «9», «10»), BitValues («Windows Server, Small Business Edition», «Windows Server, Enterprise Edition», «Windows Server, Backoffice Edition», «Windows Server, Communications Edition», «Microsoft Terminal Services», «Windows Server, Small Business Edition Restricted», «Windows Embedded», «Windows Server, Datacenter Edition», «Single User», «Windows Home Edition», «Windows Server, Web Edition»)

Bit flags that identify the product suites available on the system.

For example, to specify both Personal and BackOffice, set SuiteMask to 4 | 512 or 516 .

SmallВ BusinessВ Restricted

Web Server Edition

SystemDevice

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Physical disk partition on which the operating system is installed.

SystemDirectory

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

System directory of the operating system.

SystemDrive

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Letter of the disk drive on which the operating system resides. Example: «C:»

TotalSwapSpaceSize

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Total swap space in kilobytes. This value may be NULL (unspecified) if the swap space is not distinguished from page files. However, some operating systems distinguish these concepts. For example, in UNIX, whole processes can be swapped out when the free page list falls and remains below a specified amount.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

TotalVirtualMemorySize

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Number, in kilobytes, of virtual memory. For example, this may be calculated by adding the amount of total RAM to the amount of paging space, that is, adding the amount of memory in or aggregated by the computer system to the property, SizeStoredInPagingFiles.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

TotalVisibleMemorySize

Data type: uint64

Access type: Read-only

Total amount, in kilobytes, of physical memory available to the operating system. This value does not necessarily indicate the true amount of physical memory, but what is reported to the operating system as available to it.

For more information about using uint64 values in scripts, see Scripting in WMI.

Version

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Version number of the operating system.

WindowsDirectory

Data type: string

Access type: Read-only

Windows directory of the operating system.

Remarks

The Win32_OperatingSystem class is derived from CIM_OperatingSystem.

Any operating system that can be installed on a computer that can run a Windows-based operating system is a descendant or member of this class. Win32_OperatingSystem is a singleton class. To get the single instance, use «@» for the key.

Unlike most of the other WMI classes generated by MgmtClassGen, the OperatingSystem.CreateInstance() method will return a blank OperatingSystem object. Therefore, if you are using C# with MgmtClassGen, you can use the following code:

Examples

You can find a VBScript example that obtains operating system and processor data from Win32_ComputerSystem, Win32_Processor, and Win32_OperatingSystem in the Win32_Processor topic examples.

The Generate Exchange Environment Reports using Powershell PowerShell sample on TechNet Gallery uses a Win32_OperatingSystem class as part of a larger application to generate exchange environment reports.

The Get Server Uptime Using WMI sample in the TechNet Gallery uses the LastBootupTime property to determine how long the server has been active. The sample also uses the timeout option to ensure that the WMI call does not hang.

The WMI Information Retriever VBScript code example on the TechNet Gallery uses the Win32_OperatingSystem class to retrieve OS information from a number of remote computers.

The following script obtains the instances of Win32_OperatingSystem in the default «Root\CIMv2» namespace, and then displays information about the operating system.

The following PowerShell code sample displays all the operating information about the current OS.