[windows] How to find the Windows version from the PowerShell command line

How do I find which Windows version I'm using?

I'm using PowerShell 2.0 and tried:

PS C:\> ver
The term 'ver' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify tha
t the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:4
+ ver <<<< 
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (ver:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

How do I do this?

1. To get the Windows version number, as Jeff notes in his answer, use:

   [Environment]::OSVersion
   

   It is worth noting that the result is of type [System.Version], so it is possible to check for, say, Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 and later with

   [Environment]::OSVersion.Version -ge (new-object 'Version' 6,1)
   

   However this will not tell you if it is client or server Windows, nor the name of the version.

2. Use WMI's Win32_OperatingSystem class (always single instance), for example:

   (Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption
   

   will return something like

   Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Standard

You can use python, to simplify things (works on all Windows versions and all other platforms):

import platform

print(platform.system()) # returns 'Windows', 'Linux' etc.
print(platform.release()) # returns for Windows 10 or Server 2019 '10'

if platform.system() = 'Windows':
    print(platform.win32_ver()) # returns (10, 10.0.17744, SP0, Multiprocessor Free) on windows server 2019

Get-ComputerInfo | select WindowsProductName, WindowsVersion, OsHardwareAbstractionLayer

returns

WindowsProductName    WindowsVersion OsHardwareAbstractionLayer
------------------    -------------- --------------------------
Windows 10 Enterprise 1709           10.0.16299.371 

[solved]

#copy all the code below:
#save file as .ps1 run and see the magic

 Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem | ForEach-Object -MemberName Caption
 (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).version


#-------------comment-------------#
#-----finding windows version-----#

$version= (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).version
$length= $version.Length
$index= $version.IndexOf(".")
[int]$windows= $version.Remove($index,$length-2)  
$windows
#-----------end------------------#
#-----------comment-----------------#

If you are trying to decipher info MS puts on their patching site such as https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspx

you will need a combo such as:

$name=(Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).caption $bit=(Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).OSArchitecture $ver=(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion").ReleaseId Write-Host $name, $bit, $ver

Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit 1703

Use:

Get-WmiObject -class win32_operatingsystem -computer computername | Select-Object Caption

Windows PowerShell 2.0:

$windows = New-Object -Type PSObject |
           Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Caption -Value (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption -PassThru |
           Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Version -Value [Environment]::OSVersion.Version                     -PassThru

Windows PowerShell 3.0:

$windows = [PSCustomObject]@{
    Caption = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption
    Version = [Environment]::OSVersion.Version
}

For display (both versions):

"{0}  ({1})" -f $windows.Caption, $windows.Version 

I took the scripts above and tweaked them a little to come up with this:

$name=(Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).caption
$bit=(Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem).OSArchitecture

$vert = " Version:"
$ver=(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion").ReleaseId

$buildt = " Build:"
$build= (Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion").BuildLabEx -match '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' |  % { $matches.Values }

$installd = Get-ComputerInfo -Property WindowsInstallDateFromRegistry

Write-host $installd
Write-Host $name, $bit, $vert, $ver, `enter code here`$buildt, $build, $installd

To get a result like this:

Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit Version: 1709 Build: 16299.431 @{WindowsInstallDateFromRegistry=18-01-01 2:29:11 AM}

Hint: I'd appreciate a hand stripping the prefix text from the install date so I can replace it with a more readable header.

$OSVersion = [Version](Get-ItemProperty -Path "$($Env:Windir)\System32\hal.dll" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).VersionInfo.FileVersion.Split()[0]

On Windows 10 returns: 10.0.10586.420

You can then use the variable to access properties for granular comparison

$OSVersion.Major equals 10
$OSVersion.Minor equals 0
$OSVersion.Build equals 10586
$OSVersion.Revision equals 420

Additionally, you can compare operating system versions using the following

If ([Version]$OSVersion -ge [Version]"6.1")
   {
       #Do Something
   }

You could also use something like this, by checking the OSVersion.Version.Major:

IF ([System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version.Major -ge 10) {Write-Host "Windows 10 or above"}
IF ([System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version.Major -lt 10) {Write-Host "Windows 8.1 or below"}

To produce identical output to winver.exe in PowerShell v5 on Windows 10 1809:

$Version = Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\'
"Version $($Version.ReleaseId) (OS Build $($Version.CurrentBuildNumber).$($Version.UBR))"

I searched a lot to find out the exact version, because WSUS server shows the wrong version. The best is to get revision from UBR registry KEY.

    $WinVer = New-Object –TypeName PSObject
$WinVer | Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –Name Major –Value $(Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion' CurrentMajorVersionNumber).CurrentMajorVersionNumber
$WinVer | Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –Name Minor –Value $(Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion' CurrentMinorVersionNumber).CurrentMinorVersionNumber
$WinVer | Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –Name Build –Value $(Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion' CurrentBuild).CurrentBuild
$WinVer | Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –Name Revision –Value $(Get-ItemProperty -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion' UBR).UBR
$WinVer

Unfortunately most of the other answers do not provide information specific to Windows 10.

Windows 10 has versions of its own: 1507, 1511, 1607, 1703, etc. This is what winver shows.

Powershell:
(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion").ReleaseId

Command prompt (CMD.EXE):
Reg Query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v ReleaseId

See also related question on superuser.

As for other Windows versions use systeminfo. Powershell wrapper:

PS C:\> systeminfo /fo csv | ConvertFrom-Csv | select OS*, System*, Hotfix* | Format-List


OS Name             : Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
OS Version          : 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
OS Manufacturer     : Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration    : Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type       : Multiprocessor Free
System Type         : x64-based PC
System Locale       : ru;Russian
Hotfix(s)           : 274 Hotfix(s) Installed.,[01]: KB2849697,[02]: KB2849697,[03]:...

Windows 10 output for the same command:

OS Name             : Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise N 2016 LTSB
OS Version          : 10.0.14393 N/A Build 14393
OS Manufacturer     : Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration    : Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type       : Multiprocessor Free
System Type         : x64-based PC
System Directory    : C:\Windows\system32
System Locale       : en-us;English (United States)
Hotfix(s)           : N/A

Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem | ForEach-Object -MemberName Caption

Or golfed

gwmi win32_operatingsystem | % caption

Result

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

If you want to differentiate between Windows 8.1 (6.3.9600) and Windows 8 (6.2.9200) use

(Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).Version 

to get the proper version. [Environment]::OSVersion doesn't work properly in Windows 8.1 (it returns a Windows 8 version).

I am refining one of the answers

I reached this question while trying to match the output from winver.exe:

Version 1607 (OS Build 14393.351)

I was able to extract the build string with:

,((Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" -Name BuildLabEx).BuildLabEx -split '\.') | % {  $_[0..1] -join '.' }  

Result: 14393.351

Updated: Here is a slightly simplified script using regex

(Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion").BuildLabEx -match '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' |  % { $matches.Values }

Using Windows Powershell, it possible to get the data you need in the following way

Caption:

(Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem).Caption

ReleaseId:

(Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" -Name ReleaseId).ReleaseId

version:

(Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).version

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Update\TargetingInfo\Installed\Client.OS.rs2.amd64\Version 'For Win 10 Client'

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Update\TargetingInfo\Installed\Server.OS.amd64\Version 'For Server OS'

This will give you the full version of Windows (including Revision/Build number) unlike all the solutions above:

(Get-ItemProperty -Path c:\windows\system32\hal.dll).VersionInfo.FileVersion

Result:

10.0.10240.16392 (th1_st1.150716-1608)

This is really a long thread, and probably because the answers albeit correct are not resolving the fundamental question. I came across this site: Version & Build Numbers that provided a clear overview of what is what in the Microsoft Windows world.

Since my interest is to know which exact windows OS I am dealing with, I left aside the entire version rainbow and instead focused on the BuildNumber. The build number may be attained either by:

([Environment]::OSVersion.Version).Build

or by:

(Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).buildNumber

the choice is yours which ever way you prefer it. So from there I could do something along the lines of:

    switch ((Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).BuildNumber) 
{
    6001 {$OS = "W2K8"}
    7600 {$OS = "W2K8R2"}
    7601 {$OS = "W2K8R2SP1"}    
    9200 {$OS = "W2K12"}
    9600 {$OS = "W2K12R2"}
    14393 {$OS = "W2K16v1607"}
    16229 {$OS = "W2K16v1709"}
    default { $OS = "Not Listed"}

}
Write-Host "Server system: $OS" -foregroundcolor Green

Note: As you can see I used the above just for server systems, however it could easily be applied to workstations or even cleverly extended to support both... but I'll leave that to you.

Enjoy, & have fun!

Should be easy like this :

Get-ComputerInfo  | select windowsversion

This will give you the full and CORRECT (the same version number that you find when you run winver.exe) version of Windows (including revision/build number) REMOTELY unlike all the other solutions (tested on Windows 10):

Function Get-OSVersion {
Param($ComputerName)
    Invoke-Command -ComputerName $ComputerName -ScriptBlock {
        $all = @()
        (Get-Childitem c:\windows\system32) | ? Length | Foreach {

            $all += (Get-ItemProperty -Path $_.FullName).VersionInfo.Productversion
        }
        $version = [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version
        $osversion = "$($version.major).0.$($version.build)"
        $minor = @()
        $all | ? {$_ -like "$osversion*"} | Foreach {
            $minor += [int]($_ -replace".*\.")
        }
        $minor = $minor | sort | Select -Last 1

        return "$osversion.$minor"
    }
}

(Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" -Name BuildLabEx).BuildLabEx

Since PowerShell 5:

Get-ComputerInfo
Get-ComputerInfo -Property Windows*

I think this command pretty much tries the 1001 different ways so far discovered to collect system information...

As MoonStom says, [Environment]::OSVersion doesn't work properly on an upgraded Windows 8.1 (it returns a Windows 8 version): link.

If you want to differentiate between Windows 8.1 (6.3.9600) and Windows 8 (6.2.9200), you can use (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).Version to get the proper version. However this doesn't work in PowerShell 2. So use this:

$version = $null
try {
    $version = (Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem).Version
}
catch {
    $version = [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version | % {"{0}.{1}.{2}" -f $_.Major,$_.Minor,$_.Build}
}