Microsoft KB Archive/130054

= HOWTO: How to Determine the Japanese OEM Windows Version =

Article ID: 130054

Article Last Modified on 11/18/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit 3.1
 * Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.5
 * Microsoft Win32s 1.2

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This article was previously published under Q130054



SUMMARY
Because of the variety of computer manufacturers (NEC, Fujitsu, IBMJ, and so on) in Japan, sometimes Windows-based applications need to know which OEM (original equipment manufacturer) manufactured the computer that is running the application. This article explains how.



MORE INFORMATION
There is no documented way to detect the manufacturer of the computer that is currently running an application. However, a Windows-based application can detect the type of OEM Windows by using the return value of the GetKeyboardType function.

If an application uses the GetKeyboardType API, it can get OEM ID by specifying "1" (keyboard subtype) as argument of the function. Each OEM ID is listed here:   OEM Windows       OEM ID   -- Microsoft        00H (DOS/V) all AX           01H EPSON            04H Fujitsu          05H IBMJ             07H Matsushita       0AH NEC              0DH Toshiba          12H Application programs can use these OEM IDs to distinguish the type of OEM Windows. Note, however, that this method is not documented, so Microsoft may not support it in the future version of Windows.

As a rule, application developers should write hardware-independent code, especially when making Windows-based applications. If they need to make a hardware-dependent application, they must prepare the separated program file for each different hardware architecture.

Additional query words: 3.10 1.20 3.50 kbinf

Keywords: kbhowto kbdbcs kbintl kbintldev KB130054

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