How to get the "friendly" OS Version Name?

I am looking for an elegant way to get the OS version like: "Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1" or "Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition" etc.

Is there an elegant way of doing that?

I am also interested in the processor architecture (like x86 or x64).

You can use WMI to get the product name ("Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise "):

using System.Management;
var name = (from x in new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT Caption FROM Win32_OperatingSystem").Get().Cast<ManagementObject>()
                      select x.GetPropertyValue("Caption")).FirstOrDefault();
return name != null ? name.ToString() : "Unknown";

You should really try to avoid WMI for local use. It is very convenient but you pay dearly for it in terms of performance. This is quick and simple:

    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 "";
    }

Why not use Environment.OSVersion? It will also tell you what operating this is - Windows, Mac OS X, Unix, etc. To find out if you are running in 64bit or 32bit, use IntPtr.Size - this will return 4 bytes for 32bit and 8 bytes for 64bit.

Try:

new ComputerInfo().OSVersion;

Output: >Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise

Note: Add reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices;

Little late, but this is how I did it. Might help someone in the future.

using Microsoft.Win32;

RegistryKey registryKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion");
        string pathName = (string)registryKey.GetValue("productName");

For me below line works which gives me output like: Microsoft Windows 10.0.18362

System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation.OSDescription

It can be used to get information like architecture as well https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.runtime.interopservices.runtimeinformation?view=netframework-4.8

Properties

FrameworkDescription: Returns a string that indicates the name of the .NET installation on which an app is running.

OSArchitecture: Gets the platform architecture on which the current app is running.

OSDescription: Gets a string that describes the operating system on which the app is running.

ProcessArchitecture: Gets the process architecture of the currently running app.

Sample output:

Name = Windows Vista
Edition = Home Premium
Service Pack = Service Pack 1
Version = 6.0.6001.65536
Bits = 64

Sample class:

class Program
{
    static void Main( string[] args )
    {
        Console.WriteLine( "Operation System Information" );
        Console.WriteLine( "----------------------------" );
        Console.WriteLine( "Name = {0}", OSInfo.Name );
        Console.WriteLine( "Edition = {0}", OSInfo.Edition );
        Console.WriteLine( "Service Pack = {0}", OSInfo.ServicePack );
        Console.WriteLine( "Version = {0}", OSInfo.VersionString );
        Console.WriteLine( "Bits = {0}", OSInfo.Bits );
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

Source code for OSInfo class: http://www.csharp411.com/determine-windows-version-and-edition-with-c/ However there is an error in the code, you will need to replace the "case 6" statement (it's just before #endregion NAME) with this:

case 6:
    switch (minorVersion)
    {
        case 0:

            switch (productType)
            {
                case 1:
                    name = "Windows Vista";
                    break;
                case 3:
                    name = "Windows Server 2008";
                    break;
            }
            break;
        case 1:
            switch (productType)
            {
                case 1:
                    name = "Windows 7";
                    break;
                case 3:
                    name = "Windows Server 2008 R2";
                    break;
            }
            break;
    }
    break;

And if you want to go a step further and see if your program is running in 64 or 32 bit:

public static class Wow
{
    public static bool Is64BitProcess
    {
        get { return IntPtr.Size == 8; }
    }

    public static bool Is64BitOperatingSystem
    {
        get
        {
            // Clearly if this is a 64-bit process we must be on a 64-bit OS.
            if (Is64BitProcess)
                return true;
            // Ok, so we are a 32-bit process, but is the OS 64-bit?
            // If we are running under Wow64 than the OS is 64-bit.
            bool isWow64;
            return ModuleContainsFunction("kernel32.dll", "IsWow64Process") && IsWow64Process(GetCurrentProcess(), out isWow64) && isWow64;
        }
    }

    static bool ModuleContainsFunction(string moduleName, string methodName)
    {
        IntPtr hModule = GetModuleHandle(moduleName);
        if (hModule != IntPtr.Zero)
            return GetProcAddress(hModule, methodName) != IntPtr.Zero;
        return false;
    }

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    extern static bool IsWow64Process(IntPtr hProcess, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] out bool isWow64);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    extern static IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    extern static IntPtr GetModuleHandle(string moduleName);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, SetLastError = true)]
    extern static IntPtr GetProcAddress(IntPtr hModule, string methodName);
}

One thing to be careful of is this information is usually localized and will report differently depending on the language of the OS.

You can get a lot of info from WMI look for the Win32_OperatingSystem class

Note that the processor architecture question is complex:

do you mean (higher numers require lower numbers to be true):

1. The CPU is capable for handling 64bit (in the sense that it supports AMD/intel x64 or Itanium)
2. The Operating system is 64bit
   • GPR and pointers are 64bits, i.e. XP 64, Vista 64, a 64 bit server release or a 64bit OS for mono
3. The currently executing process is a 64 bit process (not executing under Wow64 for example)

if you are happy that all 3 must be true then

IntPtr.Size == 8

Indicates that all three are true

You can use Visual Basic Devices to get version information.

Code:

using Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices;

var versionID = new ComputerInfo().OSVersion;//6.1.7601.65536
var versionName = new ComputerInfo().OSFullName;//Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
var verionPlatform = new ComputerInfo().OSPlatform;//WinNT

Console.WriteLine(versionID);
Console.WriteLine(versionName);
Console.WriteLine(verionPlatform);

Output: >6.1.7601.65536 > >Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise > >WinNT

Note: You will need to add a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic;

I know it is no direct answer to the question and it's also a little bit late, but for those who are only looking for a way to determine whether the OS is a Client OS or a server there is a way to use the following: (you need to include the System.Management reference)

        using System;
        using System.Management;

        ManagementClass osClass = new ManagementClass("Win32_OperatingSystem");
        foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in osClass.GetInstances())
        {

            foreach (PropertyData prop in queryObj.Properties)
            {

                if (prop.Name == "ProductType")
                {

                    ProdType = int.Parse(prop.Value.ToString());
                }
            }
        }
    

while the variable ProdType is an integer that was initialized before. It will contain a value between 1 and 3 while 1 stands for Workstation, 2 for Domain Controller and 3 for a server.

This was taken from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15406957/accessing-the-properties-of-win32-operatingsystem and changed a little bit...

Disclosure: After posting this, I realized that I am depending on a Nuget extension method library called Z.ExntensionMethods which contains IndexOf()

using Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices;

string SimpleOSName()
{
    var name = new ComputerInfo().OSFullName;
    var parts = name.Split(' ').ToArray();
    var take = name.Contains("Server")?3:2;
    return string.Join(" ", parts.Skip(parts.IndexOf("Windows")).Take(take));
}

Faster performance using System.Management;

string SimpleOSName()
{
    var name = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT Caption FROM Win32_OperatingSystem")
        .Get().Cast<ManagementObject>()
        .Select(x => x.GetPropertyValue("Caption").ToString())
        .First();
    var parts = name.Split(' ').ToArray();
    var take = name.Contains("Server")?3:2;
    return string.Join(" ", parts.Skip(parts.IndexOf("Windows")).Take(take));
}

output example:

> Windows 7 > > Windows Server 2008