What tells files "THIS IS VISTA"?

[UnknownTBeast]

I know this seems totally absurd but really, what tells files that the OS you
are running is Vista Home Prem. or Ultimate? I know there entries in the
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion in the registry and from
what Carey Frisch [MVP] told me that sysinfo32 gets its info from some weird
file in the
%SystemRoot%System32WbemRepository folder that I can only open in a text
format.

Any ideas, or have I just lost my mind?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Since Windows Server 2008 is also "6" how does it further differentiate?

I know this seems totally absurd but really, what tells files that the
OS you
are running is Vista Home Prem. or Ultimate? I know there entries in
the
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion in the registry and
from
what Carey Frisch [MVP] told me that sysinfo32 gets its info from some
weird
file in the
%SystemRoot%System32WbemRepository folder that I can only open in a
text
format.

Any ideas, or have I just lost my mind?

Most applications call the "GetVersionInfo" or "GetVersionInfoEx"
functions of windows. Generally, if the major version number returned by
those functions is 6, then the application knows you're running on
Vista...


--
Dzomlija

*Peter Alexander Dzomlija*
-Do you hear, huh? The Alpha and The Omega? Death and Rebirth? And as
you die, so shall I be Reborn...-

MOBO: ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP
CPU : AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
MEM : 2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
GPU : ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO, 256MB
CASE: Thermaltake Tai-Chi Water Cooled
OS : Windows Vista Ultimate x64

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[Colin Barnhorst]

Yes. Thanks.

Since Windows Server 2008 is also "6" how does it further differentiate?

Extracted directly from the WINDOWS.PAS (a partial translation of the
Windows C++ SDK) source code file of Delphi 2007:


Code:
--------------------

type
POSVersionInfoA = ^TOSVersionInfoA;
POSVersionInfoW = ^TOSVersionInfoW;
POSVersionInfo = POSVersionInfoA;
_OSVERSIONINFOA = record
dwOSVersionInfoSize: DWORD;
dwMajorVersion: DWORD;
dwMinorVersion: DWORD;
dwBuildNumber: DWORD;
dwPlatformId: DWORD;
szCSDVersion: array[0..127] of AnsiChar; { Maintenance AnsiString for PSS
usage }
end;
{$EXTERNALSYM _OSVERSIONINFOA}
_OSVERSIONINFOW = record
dwOSVersionInfoSize: DWORD;
dwMajorVersion: DWORD;
dwMinorVersion: DWORD;
dwBuildNumber: DWORD;
dwPlatformId: DWORD;
szCSDVersion: array[0..127] of WideChar; { Maintenance WideString for PSS
usage }
end;

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


You can see that version numbers are made up of 4 numbers : Major,
Minor, Build Number and Platform ID.

Since I don't have Windows Server 2008, I can't confirm, but I'd
suspect that the Major and Minor numbers for Vista and Server 2008 are
the same, with the Platform IDs marking the difference between the two.

Is that enough to clear it up for you?


--
Dzomlija

*Peter Alexander Dzomlija*
-Do you hear, huh? The Alpha and The Omega? Death and Rebirth? And as
you die, so shall I be Reborn...-

MOBO: ASUS MB-M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP
CPU : AMD Phenom 9600 Quad
MEM : 2 x A-Data 2GB DDR2-800
GPU : ASUS ATI Radeon HD 2400PRO, 256MB
CASE: Thermaltake Tai-Chi Water Cooled
OS : Windows Vista Ultimate x64

'[image:
http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/banner/333562.png]'
(http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/banner/333562.png)
(\"http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/banner/333562.png\")