Microsoft KB Archive/140484

= ACC: Using Visual Basic to Determine Windows 95 or NT Version =

Article ID: 140484

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Access 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q140484



Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.



SUMMARY
This article describes how you can use the GetVersionEx Windows API function to determine the version number of the operating system (Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95) running on the computer.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of the "Building Applications with Microsoft Access" manual.



MORE INFORMATION
Although the GetVersion function is still supported under Win32, it has been superseded by GetVersionEx, which identifies Windows 95, returns more accurate information about the build of Windows, and no longer returns the version of MS-DOS.

The following example function demonstrates how to use the GetVersionEx Windows API function:   Create a module and type the following code in the Declarations section: '====================================     ' Global Declarations '====================================     Option Explicit

Type OSVERSIONINFO dwOSVersionInfoSize As Long dwMajorVersion As Long dwMinorVersion As Long dwBuildNumber As Long dwPlatformId As Long szCSDVersion As String * 128  ' Maintenance string for PSS usage. End Type

Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32s = 0 Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS = 1 Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT = 2

Declare Function GetVersionEx Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetVersionExA" _ (lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Long   Type the following procedure: Function SysVersions32 Dim v As OSVERSIONINFO, retval As Long Dim WindowsVersion As String, BuildVersion As String Dim PlatformName As String

v.dwOSVersionInfoSize = Len(v) retval = GetVersionEx(v)

WindowsVersion = v.dwMajorVersion & "." & v.dwMinorVersion BuildVersion = v.dwBuildNumber And &HFFFF&

Select Case v.dwPlatformId Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS PlatformName = "Windows 95" Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT PlatformName = "Windows NT" End Select

MsgBox "Platform: " & PlatformName & vbCrLf & _ "Version: " & WindowsVersion & vbCrLf & _ "Build: " & BuildVersion End Function  To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER.

?SysVersions32

Note that the message box displays the operating system's name, version, and build number.

The GetVersionEx function fills the OSVERSIONINFO structure, which contains elements for the operating system platform, version, and build information. Note that the element dwPlatformId could be any of the VER_PLATFORM_ constants listed at the top of the example.

