How to Get Windows Version Number in VB with GetVersion API

ID Number: Q80642

1.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

From a Visual Basic program, you can determine the version of Windows

under which your program is running by calling the API GetVersion

function from the Windows "kernel" module. The GetVersion function can

help your program accommodate any known differences, if any, in the

way API calls operate between different versions of Windows (such as

differences between API parameters or return values).

This information applies to Microsoft Visual Basic programming system

version 1.0 for Windows.

More Information:

The code example below shows how to make the GetVersion function call,

which takes no parameters. The return value is a WORD value, which

means an integer in Visual Basic. The return value specifies the

major and minor version numbers of Windows. The high order byte

specifies the minor version and the low order byte specifies the

major version number.

This information is documented in the Microsoft Windows Software

Development Kit Guide to Programming" version 3.0 manual.

Code Example

------------

1. Create a form with a text box and a command button.

2. Add the following declaration to the General Declarations section:

Declare Function GetVersion Lib "kernel" () As Integer

3. Add following code to the command button Click event:

Sub Command1_Click ()

i% = GetVersion()

' lowbyte is derived by masking off high byte

lowbyte$ = Str$(i% And &HFF)

' highbyte is derived by masking off low byte and shifting

highbyte$ = LTrim$(Str$((i% And &HFF00) / 256))

' assign windows version to text property

text1.text = lowbyte$ + "." + highbyte$

End Sub

Additional reference words: 1.00