Get OS Version / Friendly Name in C#

Question

I am currently working on a C# project. I want to collect users statistics to better develop the software. I am using the Environment.OS feature of C# but its only showing the OS name as something like Microsoft Windows NT

What I want to be able to retrieve is the actual known name of the OS like whether it is Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 and etc.

Is this possible?

Answer 1

Add a reference and using statements for System.Management, then:

public static string GetOSFriendlyName() {     string result = string.Empty;     ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT Caption FROM Win32_OperatingSystem");     foreach (ManagementObject os in searcher.Get())     {         result = os["Caption"].ToString();         break;     }     return result; } 

Answer 2

You should really try to avoid WMI for local use. It is very convenient but you pay dearly for it in terms of performance. Think laziness tax!

Kashish's answer about the registry does not work on all systems. Code below should and also includes the service pack:

    public string HKLM_GetString(string path, string key)     {         try         {             RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(path);             if (rk == null) return "";             return (string)rk.GetValue(key);         }         catch { return ""; }     }      public string FriendlyName()     {         string ProductName = HKLM_GetString(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "ProductName");         string CSDVersion = HKLM_GetString(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CSDVersion");         if (ProductName != "")         {             return (ProductName.StartsWith("Microsoft") ? "" : "Microsoft ") + ProductName +                         (CSDVersion != "" ? " " + CSDVersion : "");         }         return "";     }