Windows 11
A Microsoft operating system designed for productivity, creativity, and ease of use.
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Today Update same issue
Version 10.0.22000.258
Windows 11 Product Name in registry
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Nageswara Rao Y
26
Reputation points
In HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion there are some things you could try to use to distinguish between Windows 10 and 11 but it seems that the version registry keys looks same as Windows 10 in Beta build of Windows 11 Version 21H2 (OS Build 22000.176).
The registry keys such as "ProductName", "CurrentMajorVersionNumber", "CurrentMinorVersion" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, shows as Windows 10. Please let us know if this will be changed soon? Do we expect these values on Windows 11 future builds or official builds?
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Andrew S. Baker 6 Reputation points2021-11-29T16:31:32.86+00:00 This is by design, primarily for compatibility issues, so that a ton of software doesn't stop installing because it thinks that Windows 11 is an unsupported operating system.
This is not a new issue/concern. You either have to use the Windows Manifest to understand the version info, or if you choose to use the registry, you will have to track the build number to have some assurance of what edition of Windows is running.
I don't expect this situation to change for future releases of Windows 11.
(After all, it still lists the legacy "CurrentVersion" as v6.3)
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Yaakov @ WTG 6 Reputation points2021-11-29T22:41:26.38+00:00 If by "Windows Manifest" you mean the application manifest GUIDs, as far as I am aware there is no new compatibility GUID for Windows 11, so that's a non-starter.
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MikeRoz 6 Reputation points2023-05-31T16:40:00.3033333+00:00 This is just another lamest thing MS makes!
If a s/w needs Windows 10 to function, it needs to know it runs on Win10 and not on Win 8 or 11. If you, as an end user, accept a risk running such a s/w item on Win 11, then there is a compatibility approach. Remember app shortcuts where you could choose between Win 95, 98, XP, etc.?
I see the following Win10 keys unchanged (read: wasted) in Win11:
CurrentMajorVersionNumber REG_DWORD 0xa
CurrentVersion REG_SZ 6.3
ProductName REG_SZ Windows 10 EnterpriseMS makes this easy to use method obsolete, but with the same approach other methods will become unreliable and obsolete, just creating even more mess.
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16 answers
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Andy Tabor 6 Reputation points2021-10-12T22:07:39.837+00:00 Yes, there sure are a lot of outdated entries in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion for a Windows 11 system...
ProductName = Windows 10 Home
Flavor = 64-Bit Operating System
RegisteredOrg = Focused on You
RegisteredOwner = FoY
CurrentVersion = 6.3
CurrentMajorVersion = 10
CurrentMinorVersion = 0
ReleaseId = 2009
DisplayVersion = 21H2
CurrentBuildNumber = 22000
UpdateBuildRevision = 258
BuildLab = 22000.co_release.210604-1628
BuildLabEx = 22000.1.amd64fre.co_release.210604-1628
CSDVersion =
CSDBuildNumber = -
Andy Tabor 6 Reputation points
2021-10-13T05:24:40.313+00:00 Sadly, I have to remotely query industrial systems as old as Windows 2000 or even NT 4.0 and then tailor the actions based on the results. I obviously don't always have access to Powershell so have been dependent on querying the registry entries. It's a shame that the "Windows Team" didn't implement a consistent and predictable OS version scheme back in the beginning. At least they should have realized the need for consistency once the Y2K crisis loomed... Here we are over 20 years later and still apparently need to deal with legacy version tags.
At least I no longer have any Windows 7/8/8.1 systems since they were all upgraded to W10. Still have lots of Vista/XP/W2K systems, though.
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Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko 11,716 Reputation points MVP2021-10-13T12:35:52.83+00:00 Check this out, seems like by design: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/586619/windows-11-build-ver-is-still-10022000194.html
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CodeFlavour01 1 Reputation point2021-11-07T22:20:44.74+00:00 Have same problem here.
That registry method was perfect to get OS version since Windows XP.
Many programs have been using this method through many years.
Shame that Microsoft does not plan to solve this compatibility issue.