Where to find correct version information using in C on Windows

Question

Where to find correct version information using in C on Windows

Thad T 26

I'm looking to programmatically find the correct version information for Windows using the "C" programming language. I've searched online with no luck. Does anyone know where I can find resources to help me achieve this goal?

Jeanine Zhang-MSFT 11,356 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-06-26T06:24:45.29+00:00

Have you got any updates about this issue? Could you please check Castorix31's answer?
Darran Rowe 1,986 Reputation points

2024-07-06T14:23:13.6133333+00:00

There are a couple of notes to remember here.

First, the regular versioning API functions will not report the correct version if your application isn't marked as Windows 10 compatible. You can find information on how to do this in Application manifests, and this is often a one off thing per project. Secondly, if you are trying to do this to know what is available on your current operating system, then version detection is not the best option. There have been plenty of times that the capabilities of a version of Windows has been extended. A very recent example of this is the 23H2 update to Windows 11 22H2. This added a few things to Windows 11 that a raw check for the version number would fail to account for. In general, feature detection is a much better option if you want to know what functionality is available for a version of Windows. This means using LoadLibrary/GetProcAddress to see if the function you are after is available for Windows API functions. In this case a null pointer will indicate that it is unavailable. Directly querying for the interface you require for COM. In this case the HRESULT of E_NOINTERFACE will indicate that it isn't available. You can use the API Query functionality for Windows Runtime objects.

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Jeanine Zhang-MSFT 11,356 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-06-26T06:24:45.29+00:00

Have you got any updates about this issue? Could you please check Castorix31's answer?
Darran Rowe 1,986 Reputation points

2024-07-06T14:23:13.6133333+00:00

There are a couple of notes to remember here.

First, the regular versioning API functions will not report the correct version if your application isn't marked as Windows 10 compatible. You can find information on how to do this in Application manifests, and this is often a one off thing per project. Secondly, if you are trying to do this to know what is available on your current operating system, then version detection is not the best option. There have been plenty of times that the capabilities of a version of Windows has been extended. A very recent example of this is the 23H2 update to Windows 11 22H2. This added a few things to Windows 11 that a raw check for the version number would fail to account for. In general, feature detection is a much better option if you want to know what functionality is available for a version of Windows. This means using LoadLibrary/GetProcAddress to see if the function you are after is available for Windows API functions. In this case a null pointer will indicate that it is unavailable. Directly querying for the interface you require for COM. In this case the HRESULT of E_NOINTERFACE will indicate that it isn't available. You can use the API Query functionality for Windows Runtime objects.

Answer 1

Castorix31 90,681

With RtlGetVersion like in this thread https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/595325/need-to-get-real-os-version

(or APIs from Winbrand.dll on Windows 11, like BrandingFormatString)

Thad T 26 Reputation points

2024-07-08T03:17:21.9266667+00:00

I would of like to have used rtlversion, but I don't have the file(s) required files: ntdll.dll and another dll file; nor do I have the extra money to buy the major programming environmental kits. I have found a hacked version off one of the tech board web sites, and it works quite well. I thought MS api's were generic and well used and up to date, but I found out the contrary. And yes, I've checked quite a few other places to find answers. I've learned a few other things, but this is not the place to say. I was hoping for some truths. I'm currently working under Win10, and I'm in no major rush to update to Win11.
Castorix31 90,681 Reputation points

2024-07-08T07:20:54.7366667+00:00

I don't have the file(s) required files: ntdll.dll and another dll file

???

Ntdll.dll is present on all Windows OS's by default
Darran Rowe 1,986 Reputation points

2024-07-08T20:44:18.42+00:00

Not just present, as the communications channel between kernel mode and user mode, ntdll.dll has to be loaded in all processes. If you look at the callstack for a thead, it should alwasy start at ntdll.dll!RtlUserThreadStart.

RtlGetVersion is properly defined in wdm.h and is something that you can link to using ntdll.lib which is part of the Windows Driver Kit. The WDK, much like Visual Studio Community and the Windows SDK is available for free.
RLWA32 49,541 Reputation points

2024-07-09T01:19:40.49+00:00

The Windows SDK also provides import libraries for ntdll.dll. They don't contain every function exported from ntdll.dll, but they do include RtlGetVersion.
Thad T 26 Reputation points

2024-07-09T03:01:04.8666667+00:00

with what I have, MSVC Enterprise 2019 environment, I'll retry it(rtlversion) again. Any *.h files do I need and that I may not have??
Jeanine Zhang-MSFT 11,356 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-07-09T03:23:15.5666667+00:00

According to your description, whether you couldn't find the ntdll.dll in C:\windows\system32?
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RLWA32 49,541 Reputation points

2024-07-09T13:07:49.9433333+00:00

@Darran Rowe, You may want to repost your comment. It appears that it was deleted by this site's overly aggressive filtering.
Darran Rowe 1,986 Reputation points

2024-07-09T13:23:37.6866667+00:00
For some reason my last attempt at a comment was flagged as a violation of the code of conduct. I'll try this again.

@Thad T

RtlGetVersion is only defined in wdm.h, which is part of the Windows Driver Kit. It is difficult to use the Windows Driver Kit headers in the same translation unit as the Windows SDK headers. It is possible to declare the function yourself since all of the associated definitions are in the Windows SDK headers.

#ifdef __cplusplus extern"C" #endif NTSYSAPI NTSTATUS NTAPI RtlGetVersion(PRTL_OSVERSIONINFOW lpVersionInformation);

This will work as a declaration, since it is the same as the version in wdm.h without the SAL. All you would have to do with this is make a function pointer out of it, or link against ntdll.lib.

Getting the version number for Windows is generally difficult because, surprisingly, obtaining and using the version number was a cause of many problems.

@RLWA32

Thank you for mentioning that.
RLWA32 49,541 Reputation points

2024-07-09T13:50:28.56+00:00

@Darran Rowe, you may want to keep a close eye on your activity when posting to this site. Q&A has recurring problems with timely processing of posted answers and comments as well as improperly deleting posts for non-existent violations of the code of conduct.

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Where to find correct version information using in C on Windows

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