How to find the operating system details using JavaScript?

Question

How can I find the OS name and OS version using JavaScript?

Answer 1

I started to write a Script to read OS and browser version that can be tested on Fiddle. Feel free to use and extend.
Breaking Change:
Since September 2020 the new Edge gets detected. So 'Microsoft Edge' is the new version based on Chromium and the old Edge is now detected as 'Microsoft Legacy Edge'!

/**
 * JavaScript Client Detection
 * (C) viazenetti GmbH (Christian Ludwig)
 */
(function (window) {
    {
        var unknown = '-';

        // screen
        var screenSize = '';
        if (screen.width) {
            width = (screen.width) ? screen.width : '';
            height = (screen.height) ? screen.height : '';
            screenSize += '' + width + " x " + height;
        }

        // browser
        var nVer = navigator.appVersion;
        var nAgt = navigator.userAgent;
        var browser = navigator.appName;
        var version = '' + parseFloat(navigator.appVersion);
        var majorVersion = parseInt(navigator.appVersion, 10);
        var nameOffset, verOffset, ix;

        // Opera
        if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Opera')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Opera';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 6);
            if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Version')) != -1) {
                version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 8);
            }
        }
        // Opera Next
        if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('OPR')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Opera';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 4);
        }
        // Legacy Edge
        else if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Edge')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Microsoft Legacy Edge';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 5);
        } 
        // Edge (Chromium)
        else if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Edg')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Microsoft Edge';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 4);
        }
        // MSIE
        else if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('MSIE')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Microsoft Internet Explorer';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 5);
        }
        // Chrome
        else if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Chrome')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Chrome';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 7);
        }
        // Safari
        else if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Safari')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Safari';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 7);
            if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Version')) != -1) {
                version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 8);
            }
        }
        // Firefox
        else if ((verOffset = nAgt.indexOf('Firefox')) != -1) {
            browser = 'Firefox';
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 8);
        }
        // MSIE 11+
        else if (nAgt.indexOf('Trident/') != -1) {
            browser = 'Microsoft Internet Explorer';
            version = nAgt.substring(nAgt.indexOf('rv:') + 3);
        }
        // Other browsers
        else if ((nameOffset = nAgt.lastIndexOf(' ') + 1) < (verOffset = nAgt.lastIndexOf('/'))) {
            browser = nAgt.substring(nameOffset, verOffset);
            version = nAgt.substring(verOffset + 1);
            if (browser.toLowerCase() == browser.toUpperCase()) {
                browser = navigator.appName;
            }
        }
        // trim the version string
        if ((ix = version.indexOf(';')) != -1) version = version.substring(0, ix);
        if ((ix = version.indexOf(' ')) != -1) version = version.substring(0, ix);
        if ((ix = version.indexOf(')')) != -1) version = version.substring(0, ix);

        majorVersion = parseInt('' + version, 10);
        if (isNaN(majorVersion)) {
            version = '' + parseFloat(navigator.appVersion);
            majorVersion = parseInt(navigator.appVersion, 10);
        }

        // mobile version
        var mobile = /Mobile|mini|Fennec|Android|iP(ad|od|hone)/.test(nVer);

        // cookie
        var cookieEnabled = (navigator.cookieEnabled) ? true : false;

        if (typeof navigator.cookieEnabled == 'undefined' && !cookieEnabled) {
            document.cookie = 'testcookie';
            cookieEnabled = (document.cookie.indexOf('testcookie') != -1) ? true : false;
        }

        // system
        var os = unknown;
        var clientStrings = [
            {s:'Windows 10', r:/(Windows 10.0|Windows NT 10.0)/},
            {s:'Windows 8.1', r:/(Windows 8.1|Windows NT 6.3)/},
            {s:'Windows 8', r:/(Windows 8|Windows NT 6.2)/},
            {s:'Windows 7', r:/(Windows 7|Windows NT 6.1)/},
            {s:'Windows Vista', r:/Windows NT 6.0/},
            {s:'Windows Server 2003', r:/Windows NT 5.2/},
            {s:'Windows XP', r:/(Windows NT 5.1|Windows XP)/},
            {s:'Windows 2000', r:/(Windows NT 5.0|Windows 2000)/},
            {s:'Windows ME', r:/(Win 9x 4.90|Windows ME)/},
            {s:'Windows 98', r:/(Windows 98|Win98)/},
            {s:'Windows 95', r:/(Windows 95|Win95|Windows_95)/},
            {s:'Windows NT 4.0', r:/(Windows NT 4.0|WinNT4.0|WinNT|Windows NT)/},
            {s:'Windows CE', r:/Windows CE/},
            {s:'Windows 3.11', r:/Win16/},
            {s:'Android', r:/Android/},
            {s:'Open BSD', r:/OpenBSD/},
            {s:'Sun OS', r:/SunOS/},
            {s:'Chrome OS', r:/CrOS/},
            {s:'Linux', r:/(Linux|X11(?!.*CrOS))/},
            {s:'iOS', r:/(iPhone|iPad|iPod)/},
            {s:'Mac OS X', r:/Mac OS X/},
            {s:'Mac OS', r:/(Mac OS|MacPPC|MacIntel|Mac_PowerPC|Macintosh)/},
            {s:'QNX', r:/QNX/},
            {s:'UNIX', r:/UNIX/},
            {s:'BeOS', r:/BeOS/},
            {s:'OS/2', r:/OS\/2/},
            {s:'Search Bot', r:/(nuhk|Googlebot|Yammybot|Openbot|Slurp|MSNBot|Ask Jeeves\/Teoma|ia_archiver)/}
        ];
        for (var id in clientStrings) {
            var cs = clientStrings[id];
            if (cs.r.test(nAgt)) {
                os = cs.s;
                break;
            }
        }

        var osVersion = unknown;

        if (/Windows/.test(os)) {
            osVersion = /Windows (.*)/.exec(os)[1];
            os = 'Windows';
        }

        switch (os) {
            case 'Mac OS':
            case 'Mac OS X':
            case 'Android':
                osVersion = /(?:Android|Mac OS|Mac OS X|MacPPC|MacIntel|Mac_PowerPC|Macintosh) ([\.\_\d]+)/.exec(nAgt)[1];
                break;

            case 'iOS':
                osVersion = /OS (\d+)_(\d+)_?(\d+)?/.exec(nVer);
                osVersion = osVersion[1] + '.' + osVersion[2] + '.' + (osVersion[3] | 0);
                break;
        }
        
        // flash (you'll need to include swfobject)
        /* script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/swfobject/2.2/swfobject.js" */
        var flashVersion = 'no check';
        if (typeof swfobject != 'undefined') {
            var fv = swfobject.getFlashPlayerVersion();
            if (fv.major > 0) {
                flashVersion = fv.major + '.' + fv.minor + ' r' + fv.release;
            }
            else  {
                flashVersion = unknown;
            }
        }
    }

    window.jscd = {
        screen: screenSize,
        browser: browser,
        browserVersion: version,
        browserMajorVersion: majorVersion,
        mobile: mobile,
        os: os,
        osVersion: osVersion,
        cookies: cookieEnabled,
        flashVersion: flashVersion
    };
}(this));

alert(
    'OS: ' + jscd.os +' '+ jscd.osVersion + '\n' +
    'Browser: ' + jscd.browser +' '+ jscd.browserMajorVersion +
      ' (' + jscd.browserVersion + ')\n' + 
    'Mobile: ' + jscd.mobile + '\n' +
    'Flash: ' + jscd.flashVersion + '\n' +
    'Cookies: ' + jscd.cookies + '\n' +
    'Screen Size: ' + jscd.screen + '\n\n' +
    'Full User Agent: ' + navigator.userAgent
);

Answer 2

If you list all of window.navigator's properties using

console.log(navigator);

You'll see something like this

# platform = Win32
# appCodeName = Mozilla
# appName = Netscape
# appVersion = 5.0 (Windows; en-US)
# language = en-US
# mimeTypes = [object MimeTypeArray]
# oscpu = Windows NT 5.1
# vendor = Firefox
# vendorSub = 1.0.7
# product = Gecko
# productSub = 20050915
# plugins = [object PluginArray]
# securityPolicy =
# userAgent = Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7
# cookieEnabled = true
# javaEnabled = function javaEnabled() { [native code] }
# taintEnabled = function taintEnabled() { [native code] }
# preference = function preference() { [native code] }

Note that oscpu attribute gives you the Windows version. Also, you should know that:

'Windows 3.11' => 'Win16',
'Windows 95' => '(Windows 95)|(Win95)|(Windows_95)',
'Windows 98' => '(Windows 98)|(Win98)',
'Windows 2000' => '(Windows NT 5.0)|(Windows 2000)',
'Windows XP' => '(Windows NT 5.1)|(Windows XP)',
'Windows Server 2003' => '(Windows NT 5.2)',
'Windows Vista' => '(Windows NT 6.0)',
'Windows 7' => '(Windows NT 6.1)',
'Windows 8' => '(Windows NT 6.2)|(WOW64)',
'Windows 10' => '(Windows 10.0)|(Windows NT 10.0)',
'Windows NT 4.0' => '(Windows NT 4.0)|(WinNT4.0)|(WinNT)|(Windows NT)',
'Windows ME' => 'Windows ME',
'Open BSD' => 'OpenBSD',
'Sun OS' => 'SunOS',
'Linux' => '(Linux)|(X11)',
'Mac OS' => '(Mac_PowerPC)|(Macintosh)',
'QNX' => 'QNX',
'BeOS' => 'BeOS',
'OS/2' => 'OS/2',
'Search Bot'=>'(nuhk)|(Googlebot)|(Yammybot)|(Openbot)|(Slurp)|(MSNBot)|(Ask Jeeves/Teoma)|(ia_archiver)'

Answer 3

var OSName = "Unknown";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 10.0")!= -1) OSName="Windows 10";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 6.3") != -1) OSName="Windows 8.1";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 6.2") != -1) OSName="Windows 8";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 6.1") != -1) OSName="Windows 7";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 6.0") != -1) OSName="Windows Vista";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 5.1") != -1) OSName="Windows XP";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT 5.0") != -1) OSName="Windows 2000";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Mac")            != -1) OSName="Mac/iOS";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("X11")            != -1) OSName="UNIX";
if (window.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Linux")          != -1) OSName="Linux";

Answer 4

JavaScript have access to the window.navigator.platform - a string representing the platform of the browser: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/NavigatorID/platform

Use it to extract whatever details you need (and can). Note that there are no guarantees that the client actually uses that platform since this can easily be modified in many ways.

Try it:

console.log(window.navigator.platform);