Operating System Version

The Version API Helper functions are used to determine the version of the operating system that is currently running. For more information, see Getting the System Version.

The following table summarizes the most recent operating system version numbers.

Operating system	Version number
Windows 10	10.0*
Windows Server 2019	10.0*
Windows Server 2016	10.0*
Windows 8.1	6.3*
Windows Server 2012 R2	6.3*
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

* For applications that have been manifested for Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Applications not manifested for Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 will return the Windows 8 OS version value (6.2). To manifest your applications for Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, refer to Targeting your application for Windows.

Identifying the current operating system is usually not the best way to determine whether a particular operating system feature is present. This is because the operating system may have had new features added in a redistributable DLL. Rather than using the Version API Helper functions to determine the operating system platform or version number, test for the presence of the feature itself.

To determine the best way to test for a feature, refer to the documentation for the feature of interest. The following list discusses some common techniques for feature detection:

• You can test for the presence of the functions associated with a feature. To test for the presence of a function in a system DLL, call the LoadLibrary function to load the DLL. Then call the GetProcAddress function to determine whether the function of interest is present in the DLL. Use the pointer returned by GetProcAddress to call the function. Note that even if the function is present, it may be a stub that just returns an error code such as ERROR_CALL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED.
• You can determine the presence of some features by using the GetSystemMetrics function. For example, you can detect multiple display monitors by calling GetSystemMetrics(SM_CMONITORS).
• There are several versions of the redistributable DLLs that implement shell and common control features. For information about determining which versions are present on the system your application is running on, see the topic Shell and Common Controls Versions.

If you must require a particular operating system, be sure to use it as a minimum supported version, rather than design the test for the one operating system. This way, your detection code will continue to work on future versions of Windows.

Note that a 32-bit application can detect whether it is running under WOW64 by calling the IsWow64Process function. It can obtain additional processor information by calling the GetNativeSystemInfo function.

Windows 10 update history

Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows Server, version 1909

Updates for Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows Server, version 1909

Windows 10 is a service, which means it gets better through periodic software updates.

The great news is you usually don’t have to do anything! If you have enabled automatic updates, new updates will automatically download and install whenever they’re available, so you don’t have to think about it.

On the left side of this page, you’ll find a list of all the updates released for this version of Windows. You can also find more information about releases and any known issues. Installing the most recent update ensures that you also get any previous updates you might have missed, including any important security fixes.

For more information about the update and how to get it, see:

What’s new for Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows 10, version 1903 release notes

Windows 10, versions 1903 and 1909 share a common core operating system and an identical set of system files. As a result, the new features in Windows 10, version 1909 were included in the recent monthly quality update for Windows 10, version 1903 (released October 8, 2019), but are currently in a dormant state. These new features will remain dormant until they are turned on using an enablement package, which is a small, quick-to-install “master switch” that simply activates the Windows 10, version 1909 features.

To reflect this change, the release notes for Windows 10, version 1903 and Windows 10, version 1909 will share an update history page. Each release page will contain a list of addressed issues for both 1903 and 1909 versions. Note that the 1909 version will always contain the fixes for 1903; however, 1903 will not contain the fixes for 1909. This page will provide you with the build numbers for both 1909 and 1903 versions so that it will be easier for support to assist you if you encounter issues.

For more details about the enablement package and how to get the feature update, see the Windows 10, version 1909 delivery options blog.

Current status of Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows Server, version 1909

For the most up-to-date information about Known Issues for Windows and Windows Server, please go to the Windows release health dashboard.

Notes and messages

General

IMPORTANT Release notes are changing! To learn about the new URL, metadata updates, and more, see What’s next for Windows release notes.

IMPORTANT Starting in July 2020, we will resume non-security releases for Windows 10 and Windows Server, version 1809 and later. There is no change to the cumulative monthly security updates (also referred to as the «B» release or Update Tuesday release). For more information, see the blog post Resuming optional Windows 10 and Windows Server non-security monthly updates.

IMPORTANT Starting in July 2020, all Windows Updates will disable the RemoteFX vGPU feature because of a security vulnerability. For more information about the vulnerability, seeCVE-2020-1036 and KB4570006. After you install this update, attempts to start virtual machines (VM) that have RemoteFX vGPU enabled will fail, and messages such as the following will appear:

If you re-enable RemoteFX vGPU, a message similar to the following will appear:

“The virtual machine cannot be started because all the RemoteFX-capable GPUs are disabled in Hyper-V Manager.”

“The virtual machine cannot be started because the server has insufficient GPU resources.”

«We no longer support the RemoteFX 3D video adapter. If you are still using this adapter, you may become vulnerable to security risk. Learn more (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2131976)”

What’s new for Windows 10, version 1909 and Windows 10, version 1903 release notes

Windows 10, versions 1903 and 1909 share a common core operating system and an identical set of system files. As a result, the new features in Windows 10, version 1909 were included in the recent monthly quality update for Windows 10, version 1903 (released October 8, 2019), but are currently in a dormant state. These new features will remain dormant until they are turned on using an enablement package, which is a small, quick-to-install “master switch” that simply activates the Windows 10, version 1909 features.

To reflect this change, the release notes for Windows 10, version 1903 and Windows 10, version 1909 will share an update history page. Each release page will contain a list of addressed issues for both 1903 and 1909 versions. Note that the 1909 version will always contain the fixes for 1903; however, 1903 will not contain the fixes for 1909. This page will provide you with the build numbers for both 1909 and 1903 versions so that it will be easier for support to assist you if you encounter issues.

For more details about the enablement package and how to get the feature update, see the Windows 10, version 1909 delivery options blog.

Troubleshooting

If you have questions or need help activating or troubleshooting Windows, see our help topics below:

For information about how to update, see Update Windows 10.

If you have questions about manually installing or removing an update, see Windows Update: FAQ.

Getting an error message when updating? See Troubleshoot problems updating Windows 10.

If you need to activate Windows, see Activation in Windows 10. If you’re having trouble with activation, see Get help with Windows activation errors.

To get the latest major update to Windows 10, see Get the Windows 10 November 2019 Update.

Find windows OS version from command line

Windows has command line utilities that show us the version of the Windows OS running on the computer, including the service pack number. There are multiple CMD commands that help with finding this, you can pick the one that suits your need. Ver command can show you the OS version whereas Systeminfo command can additionally give you service pack, OS edition and build number etc.

Find OS Version and Service Pack number from CMD

As you can see above, ver command shows only OS version but not the service pack number. We can find service pack number as well with Systeminfo command. Systeminfo dumps lot of other information too, which we can filter out using findstr command.

This command works on XP, Vista and Windows 7 and on Server editions also. Find below example for Win7.

In case of Windows 7 SP1, the output would be slightly different as below.

If you want to print more details, then you can use just ‘OS’ in the findstr search pattern. See example below for Server 2008.

Check Windows version using WMIC command

Run the below WMIC command to get OS version and the service pack number.

Example on Windows 7:

If you want to find just the OS version, you can use ver command. Open command window and execute ver command. But note that this does not show service pack version.

This command does not show version on a Windows 7 system.

VERSIONINFO resource

Defines a version-information resource. The resource contains such information about the file as its version number, its intended operating system, and its original filename. The resource is intended to be used with the Version Information functions.

There are two ways to format a VERSIONINFO statement:

Parameters

Version-information resource identifier. This value must be 1.

Version information, such as the file version and the intended operating system. This parameter consists of the following statements.

Statement	Description
FILEVERSION version	Binary version number for the file. The version consists of two 32-bit integers, defined by four 16-bit integers. For example, «FILEVERSION 3,10,0,61» is translated into two doublewords: 0x0003000a and 0x0000003d, in that order. Therefore, if version is defined by the DWORD values dw1 and dw2, they need to appear in the FILEVERSION statement as follows: HIWORD(dw1) , LOWORD(dw1) , HIWORD(dw2) , LOWORD(dw2) .
PRODUCTVERSION version	Binary version number for the product with which the file is distributed. The version parameter is two 32-bit integers, defined by four 16-bit integers. For more information about version, see the FILEVERSION description.
FILEFLAGSMASK fileflagsmask	Indicates which bits in the FILEFLAGS statement are valid. For 16-bit Windows, this value is 0x3f.
FILEFLAGS fileflags	Attributes of the file.
FILEOS fileos	Operating system for which this file was designed. The fileos parameter can be one of the operating system values given in the Remarks section.
FILETYPE filetype	General type of file. The filetype parameter can be one of the file type values listed in the Remarks section.
FILESUBTYPE subtype	Function of the file. The subtype parameter is zero unless the filetype parameter in the FILETYPE statement is VFT_DRV, VFT_FONT, or VFT_VXD. For a list of file subtype values, see the Remarks section.

Specifies one or more version-information blocks. A block can contain string information or variable information. For more information, see StringFileInfo Block or VarFileInfo Block.

Remarks

To use the constants specified with the VERSIONINFO statement, you must include the Winver.h or Windows.h header file in the resource-definition file.

The following list describes the parameters used in the VERSIONINFO statement:

A combination of the following values.

Value	Description
VS_FF_DEBUG	File contains debugging information or is compiled with debugging features enabled.
VS_FF_PATCHED	File has been modified and is not identical to the original shipping file of the same version number.
VS_FF_PRERELEASE	File is a development version, not a commercially released product.
VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD	File was not built using standard release procedures. If this value is given, the StringFileInfo block must contain a PrivateBuild string.
VS_FF_SPECIALBUILD	File was built by the original company using standard release procedures but is a variation of the standard file of the same version number. If this value is given, the StringFileInfo block block must contain a SpecialBuild string.
VS_FFI_FILEFLAGSMASK	A combination of all the preceding values.

One of the following values.

Value	Description
VOS_UNKNOWN	The operating system for which the file was designed is unknown.
VOS_DOS	File was designed for MS-DOS.
VOS_NT	File was designed for 32-bit Windows.
VOS__WINDOWS16	File was designed for 16-bit Windows.
VOS__WINDOWS32	File was designed for 32-bit Windows.
VOS_DOS_WINDOWS16	File was designed for 16-bit Windows running with MS-DOS.
VOS_DOS_WINDOWS32	File was designed for 32-bit Windows running with MS-DOS.
VOS_NT_WINDOWS32	File was designed for 32-bit Windows.

The values 0x00002L, 0x00003L, 0x20000L and 0x30000L are reserved.

One of the following values.

Value	Description
VFT_UNKNOWN	File type is unknown.
VFT_APP	File contains an application.
VFT_DLL	File contains a dynamic-link library (DLL).
VFT_DRV	File contains a device driver. If filetype is VFT_DRV, subtype contains a more specific description of the driver.
VFT_FONT	File contains a font. If filetype is VFT_FONT, subtype contains a more specific description of the font.
VFT_VXD	File contains a virtual device.
VFT_STATIC_LIB	File contains a static-link library.

All other values are reserved for use by Microsoft.

Additional information about the file type.

If filetype specifies VFT_DRV, this parameter can be one of the following values.

Value	Description
VFT2_UNKNOWN	Driver type is unknown.
VFT2_DRV_COMM	File contains a communications driver.
VFT2_DRV_PRINTER	File contains a printer driver.
VFT2_DRV_KEYBOARD	File contains a keyboard driver.
VFT2_DRV_LANGUAGE	File contains a language driver.
VFT2_DRV_DISPLAY	File contains a display driver.
VFT2_DRV_MOUSE	File contains a mouse driver.
VFT2_DRV_NETWORK	File contains a network driver.
VFT2_DRV_SYSTEM	File contains a system driver.
VFT2_DRV_INSTALLABLE	File contains an installable driver.
VFT2_DRV_SOUND	File contains a sound driver.
VFT2_DRV_VERSIONED_PRINTER	File contains a versioned printer driver.

If filetype specifies VFT_FONT, this parameter can be one of the following values.

Value	Description
VFT2_UNKNOWN	Font type is unknown.
VFT2_FONT_RASTER	File contains a raster font.
VFT2_FONT_VECTOR	File contains a vector font.
VFT2_FONT_TRUETYPE	File contains a TrueType font.

If filetype specifies VFT_VXD, this parameter must be the virtual-device identifier included in the virtual-device control block.

All subtype values not listed here are reserved for use by Microsoft.

One of the following language codes.

Code	Language	Code	Language
0x0401	Arabic	0x0415	Polish
0x0402	Bulgarian	0x0416	Portuguese (Brazil)
0x0403	Catalan	0x0417	Rhaeto-Romanic
0x0404	Traditional Chinese	0x0418	Romanian
0x0405	Czech	0x0419	Russian
0x0406	Danish	0x041A	Croato-Serbian (Latin)
0x0407	German	0x041B	Slovak
0x0408	Greek	0x041C	Albanian
0x0409	U.S. English	0x041D	Swedish
0x040A	Castilian Spanish	0x041E	Thai
0x040B	Finnish	0x041F	Turkish
0x040C	French	0x0420	Urdu
0x040D	Hebrew	0x0421	Bahasa
0x040E	Hungarian	0x0804	Simplified Chinese
0x040F	Icelandic	0x0807	Swiss German
0x0410	Italian	0x0809	U.K. English
0x0411	Japanese	0x080A	Spanish (Mexico)
0x0412	Korean	0x080C	Belgian French
0x0413	Dutch	0x0C0C	Canadian French
0x0414	Norwegian ? Bokmal	0x100C	Swiss French
0x0810	Swiss Italian	0x0816	Portuguese (Portugal)
0x0813	Belgian Dutch	0x081A	Serbo-Croatian (Cyrillic)
0x0814	Norwegian ? Nynorsk

One of the following character-set identifiers.

Decimal	Hexadecimal	Character Set
0	0000	7-bit ASCII
932	03A4	Japan (Shift ? JIS X-0208)
949	03B5	Korea (Shift ? KSC 5601)
950	03B6	Taiwan (Big5)
1200	04B0	Unicode
1250	04E2	Latin-2 (Eastern European)
1251	04E3	Cyrillic
1252	04E4	Multilingual
1253	04E5	Greek
1254	04E6	Turkish
1255	04E7	Hebrew
1256	04E8	Arabic

One of the following predefined names.

Name	Description
Comments	Additional information that should be displayed for diagnostic purposes.
CompanyName	Company that produced the file?for example, «Microsoft Corporation» or «Standard Microsystems Corporation, Inc.» This string is required.
FileDescription	File description to be presented to users. This string may be displayed in a list box when the user is choosing files to install?for example, «Keyboard Driver for AT-Style Keyboards». This string is required.
FileVersion	Version number of the file?for example, «3.10» or «5.00.RC2». This string is required.
InternalName	Internal name of the file, if one exists?for example, a module name if the file is a dynamic-link library. If the file has no internal name, this string should be the original filename, without extension. This string is required.
LegalCopyright	Copyright notices that apply to the file. This should include the full text of all notices, legal symbols, copyright dates, and so on. This string is optional.
LegalTrademarks	Trademarks and registered trademarks that apply to the file. This should include the full text of all notices, legal symbols, trademark numbers, and so on. This string is optional.
OriginalFilename	Original name of the file, not including a path. This information enables an application to determine whether a file has been renamed by a user. The format of the name depends on the file system for which the file was created. This string is required.
PrivateBuild	Information about a private version of the file?for example, «Built by TESTER1 on \TESTBED». This string should be present only if VS_FF_PRIVATEBUILD is specified in the fileflags parameter of the root block.
ProductName	Name of the product with which the file is distributed. This string is required.
ProductVersion	Version of the product with which the file is distributed?for example, «3.10» or «5.00.RC2». This string is required.
SpecialBuild	Text that indicates how this version of the file differs from the standard version?for example, «Private build for TESTER1 solving mouse problems on M250 and M250E computers». This string should be present only if VS_FF_SPECIALBUILD is specified in the fileflags parameter of the root block.

Certain attributes are also supported for backward compatibility. For more information, see Common Resource Attributes.

Examples

The following example defines a VERSIONINFO resource: