Applies to: desktop apps only

Retrieves the version number of the current operating system.

Note  This function has been superseded by GetVersionEx. New applications should use GetVersionEx or VerifyVersionInfo.

Syntax

DWORD WINAPI GetVersion(void);

Parameters

This function has no parameters.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value includes the major and minor version numbers of the operating system in the low-order word, and information about the operating system platform in the high-order word.

For all platforms, the low-order word contains the version number of the operating system. The low-order byte of this word specifies the major version number, in hexadecimal notation. The high-order byte specifies the minor version (revision) number, in hexadecimal notation. The high-order bit is zero, the next 7 bits represent the build number, and the low-order byte is 5.

Remarks

The GetVersionEx function was developed because many existing applications err when examining the packed DWORD value returned by GetVersion, transposing the major and minor version numbers. GetVersionEx forces applications to explicitly examine each element of version information. VerifyVersionInfo eliminates further potential for error by comparing the required system version with the current system version for you.

Examples

The following code fragment illustrates how to extract information from the GetVersion return value:

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

void main()
{
    DWORD dwVersion = 0; 
    DWORD dwMajorVersion = 0;
    DWORD dwMinorVersion = 0; 
    DWORD dwBuild = 0;

    dwVersion = GetVersion();
 
    // Get the Windows version.

    dwMajorVersion = (DWORD)(LOBYTE(LOWORD(dwVersion)));
    dwMinorVersion = (DWORD)(HIBYTE(LOWORD(dwVersion)));

    // Get the build number.

    if (dwVersion < 0x80000000)              
        dwBuild = (DWORD)(HIWORD(dwVersion));

    printf("Version is %d.%d (%d)\n", 
                dwMajorVersion,
                dwMinorVersion,
                dwBuild);
}

Requirements

See also

GetVersionEx

Operating System Version

System Information Functions

VerifyVersionInfo

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Build date: 3/6/2012