RtlGetVersion function (wdm.h)

Article
02/22/2024

The RtlGetVersion routine returns version information about the currently running operating system.

Syntax

NTSYSAPI NTSTATUS RtlGetVersion(
  [out] PRTL_OSVERSIONINFOW lpVersionInformation
);

Parameters

[out] lpVersionInformation

Pointer to either a RTL_OSVERSIONINFOW structure or a RTL_OSVERSIONINFOEXW structure that contains the version information about the currently running operating system. A caller specifies which input structure is used by setting the dwOSVersionInfoSize member of the structure to the size in bytes of the structure that is used.

Return value

RtlGetVersion returns STATUS_SUCCESS.

Remarks

RtlGetVersion is the kernel-mode equivalent of the user-mode GetVersionEx function in the Windows SDK. See the example in the Windows SDK that shows how to get the system version.

When using RtlGetVersion to determine whether a particular version of the operating system is running, a caller should check for version numbers that are greater than or equal to the required version number. This ensures that a version test succeeds for later versions of Windows.

Because operating system features can be added in a redistributable DLL, checking only the major and minor version numbers is not the most reliable way to verify the presence of a specific system feature. A driver should use RtlVerifyVersionInfo to test for the presence of a specific system feature.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Available starting with Windows 2000.
Target Platform	Universal
Header	wdm.h (include Ntddk.h)
Library	NtosKrnl.lib
DLL	NtosKrnl.exe
IRQL	PASSIVE_LEVEL