Infinity Logic

C++ Snippet: Detect Windows Version

Brock Cooper — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:43:20 +0000

Summary

This nicely put together C++ header file that will allow you to detect which version of windows your program is currently running on. Currently it supports these versions of Windows:

Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows Server

I hope to add more support and more functions at a later date

How It Works

Most of the details needed for us to detect the Windows version are in the Windows structure “OSVERSIONINFOEX,” which can be populated with data by calling the “GetVersionEx()” function found in “Windows.h.” However its not as easy as it seams, there is much more work put into detecting the version information, such as:

Service Pack Version
OS Edition( Ultimate, Pro, etc. )
OS Architecture ( x64, x86 )
Build Number

How To Use It

Using this code is extremely easy, just include the “os_detection.h” header file into your C++ project and don’t forget to put “#include “os_detection.h”” in your main.cpp file

Code: os_detection.h

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#ifndef _OS_DETECTION_H_
#define _OS_DETECTION_H_

#include <windows.h>
#include <string>

typedef void (WINAPI *PGNSI)(LPSYSTEM_INFO);
typedef BOOL (WINAPI *PGPI)(DWORD, DWORD, DWORD, DWORD, PDWORD);

#define PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL 0x00000030
#define VER_SUITE_WH_SERVER 0x00008000

struct OSINFO
{
string
OS_Name,
OS_Edition,
OS_Service_Pack,
OS_Architecture,
OS_Info;

int
OS_Build_Number;
};

OSINFO getWindowsVersionInfo()
{
OSINFO osInfo;

OSVERSIONINFOEX osvi;
SYSTEM_INFO si;
BOOL bOsVersionInfoEx;
DWORD dwType;

ZeroMemory(&si, sizeof(SYSTEM_INFO));
ZeroMemory(&osvi, sizeof(OSVERSIONINFOEX));
osvi.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(OSVERSIONINFOEX);

bOsVersionInfoEx = GetVersionEx((OSVERSIONINFO*) &osvi);

if (!bOsVersionInfoEx)
{
}

PGNSI pGNSI = (PGNSI)GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle(TEXT("kernel32.dll")), "GetNativeSystemInfo");

if (pGNSI != NULL)
{
pGNSI(&si);
}

else
{
GetSystemInfo(&si);
}

if (VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT != osvi.dwPlatformId ¦¦ osvi.dwMajorVersion <= 4 )
{
}

osInfo.OS_Info += "Microsoft ";

if( osvi.dwMinorVersion == 0 )
{
if( osvi.wProductType == VER_NT_WORKSTATION )
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Vista ";
osInfo.OS_Name = "Windows Vista";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Server 2008 ";
osInfo.OS_Name = "Windows Server 2008";
}
}

if ( osvi.dwMinorVersion == 1 )
{
if( osvi.wProductType == VER_NT_WORKSTATION )
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows 7 ";
osInfo.OS_Name = "Windows 7";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Server 2008 R2 ";
osInfo.OS_Name = "Windows Server 2008 R2";
}
}

PGPI pGPI = (PGPI) GetProcAddress(GetModuleHandle(TEXT("kernel32.dll")), "GetProductInfo");
pGPI( osvi.dwMajorVersion, osvi.dwMinorVersion, 0, 0, &dwType);

switch( dwType )
{

case PRODUCT_ULTIMATE:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Ultimate Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Ultimate Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_PROFESSIONAL:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Professional ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Professional";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_HOME_PREMIUM:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Home Premium Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Home Premium Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_HOME_BASIC:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Home Basic Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Home Basic Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_BUSINESS:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Business Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Business Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_STARTER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Starter Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Starter Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_CLUSTER_SERVER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Cluster Server Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Cluster Server Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_DATACENTER_SERVER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Datacenter Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Datacenter Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_DATACENTER_SERVER_CORE:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Datacenter Edition (core installation) ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Datacenter Edition (core installation)";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_CORE:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise Edition (core installation) ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise Edition (core installation)";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_ENTERPRISE_SERVER_IA64:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Small Business Server ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Small Business Server";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_SMALLBUSINESS_SERVER_PREMIUM:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Small Business Server Premium Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Small Business Server Premium Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_STANDARD_SERVER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Standard Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Standard Edition";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_STANDARD_SERVER_CORE:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Standard Edition (core installation) ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Standard Edition (core installation)";
break;
}

case PRODUCT_WEB_SERVER:
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Web Server Edition ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Web Server Edition";
break;
}
}

if ( osvi.dwMajorVersion == 5 && osvi.dwMinorVersion == 2 )
{
if (GetSystemMetrics(SM_SERVERR2))
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Server 2003 R2, ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Windows Server 2003 R2";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_STORAGE_SERVER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Storage Server 2003";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Windows Storage Server 2003";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_WH_SERVER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Home Server";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Windows Home Server";
}

else if (osvi.wProductType == VER_NT_WORKSTATION && si.wProcessorArchitecture==PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Professional x64 Edition";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows Server 2003, ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Windows Server 2003";
}

if (osvi.wProductType != VER_NT_WORKSTATION)
{
if (si.wProcessorArchitecture==PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_IA64)
{
if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_DATACENTER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Datacenter Edition for Itanium-based Systems";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Datacenter Edition for Itanium-based Systems";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_ENTERPRISE)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems";
}
}

else if (si.wProcessorArchitecture==PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64)
{
if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_DATACENTER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Datacenter x64 Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Datacenter x64 Edition";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_ENTERPRISE)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise x64 Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise x64 Edition";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Standard x64 Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Standard x64 Edition";
}
}

else
{
if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_COMPUTE_SERVER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Compute Cluster Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Compute Cluster Edition";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_DATACENTER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Datacenter Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Datacenter Edition";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_ENTERPRISE)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Enterprise Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Enterprise Edition";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_BLADE)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Web Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Web Edition";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Standard Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Standard Edition";
}
}
}
}

if (osvi.dwMajorVersion == 5 && osvi.dwMinorVersion == 1)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows XP ";
osInfo.OS_Name = "Windows XP";

if(osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_PERSONAL)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Home Edition";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Home Edition";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Professional";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Professional";
}
}

if (osvi.dwMajorVersion == 5 && osvi.dwMinorVersion == 0)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Windows 2000 ";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Windows 2000";

if (osvi.wProductType == VER_NT_WORKSTATION)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Professional";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Professional";
}

else
{
if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_DATACENTER)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Datacenter Server";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Datacenter Server";
}

else if (osvi.wSuiteMask & VER_SUITE_ENTERPRISE)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Advanced Server";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Advanced Server";
}

else
{
osInfo.OS_Info += "Server";
osInfo.OS_Edition = "Server";
}
}
}

osInfo.OS_Info += osvi.szCSDVersion;
osInfo.OS_Service_Pack += " ";
osInfo.OS_Service_Pack += osvi.szCSDVersion;

osInfo.OS_Info += " (build ";
char strBuild[64];
_itoa(osvi.dwBuildNumber, strBuild, 10);
osInfo.OS_Info += strBuild;
osInfo.OS_Info += ")";
osInfo.OS_Build_Number = osvi.dwBuildNumber;

if (osvi.dwMajorVersion >= 6)
{
if (si.wProcessorArchitecture == PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += ", 64-bit";
osInfo.OS_Architecture = "64-bit";
}

else if (si.wProcessorArchitecture == PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_INTEL)
{
osInfo.OS_Info += ", 32-bit";
osInfo.OS_Architecture = "32-bit";
}
}

return osInfo;
}

#endif

Now, just call the “getWindowsVersionInfo()” function like below:

OSINFO OperatingSystemInfo = getWindowsVersionInfo();

From then on, the version info can be read like such:

string strOSname = OperatingSystemInfo.OS_Name;

For reference, I have put the structure of OSINFO below:

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struct OSINFO
{
string
OS_Name,
OS_Edition,
OS_Service_Pack,
OS_Architecture,
OS_Info;

int
OS_Build_Number;
};

Uses

So what might one use this source code for? Well, perhaps a feature of your application only works with Windows 7, and you don’t want to have multiple versions of the same application for each Windows version. In that case, you could use the header file to detect the Version of windows and run the specific function that works for that version of windows. You can also use it for:

Optimize For Windows Version
Better Application Compatibility
OS Specific Applications

Speed Up Opera With RAMDisk

Brock Cooper — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:47:08 +0000

How It Works?

Normally Opera stores and manages all of its browsing cache on disk, which in most cases is just fine for daily use. Nonetheless, we want to squeeze every last ounce of power we can out of our favorite browser So, rather than opting to read and write to that slow IDE hard drive, or that speedy SATA drive, we chose to relocate where Opera stores its cache. We will be using the utility “RAMDisk” to create a fully functional hard drive complete with a FAT32 partition table all loaded into the computers memory or RAM (Random Access Memory.) This alone allows us to achieve faster read and write times surpassing by far the speed of any IDE or SATA hard drive currently on the market.

NOTE: although speeding up Operas cache will speed up most users browser, it may not speed up you’re browser. This is because this speed tip requires that you have a high speed internet connection; Although RAM is fast the cache speed is bottle necked by your network speed.

RAMDisk by Dataram

To do all of this, we will be using “RAMDisk” which is written by Dataram. You can find the download link here.

Dataram – RAMDisk is Freeware (up to 4GB disk size). It creates a virtual RAM drive, or block of memory, which your computer treats as if it were a disk drive. By storing files and programs into memory, you can speed up internet load times and disk-to-disk activities, accelerate databases and reduce compile times. Save and load features allow RAMDisk to appear as persistent storage, even through reboots.

Uses

The possible uses for this application appear to be seemingly endless. From speeding up Opera’s cache time to decreasing the compile time of your favorite IDE, some even go as far as to install an entire game on the RAMDisk drive… The performance is unbeatable… provided that you have sufficient RAM for the given task.

Using RAMDisk

After downloading and installing the free software from Dataram, open the “RAMDisk Configuration Utility” form the start menu. A slightly annoying ad will appear upon the application starting, however this is a small price to pay for such a lightweight and powerful tool. Perhaps someone or myself will conjure up a quick patch for it one day >:) So, for now we will just close it out and continue on configuring it to work with Opera.

Setting It Up

The setup of this application is fairly simple, as most of the options are just check boxes and file dialogues We don’t mind simplicity do we?

Set the size in megabytes (MB) of RAM to use
Choose “FAT32″ as the partition type
Select “Windows boot sector” as the boot sector type

Now although Opera will run just fine the way we have it configured now, every time you shutdown your computer and close RAMDisk all of your precious web cache is lost, never to be found again in the he void of volatile memory O.o Say what?

Wikipedia – Volatile memory, also known as volatile storage, is computer memory that requires power to maintain the stored information…

Solving the dilemma however is no more than a few clicks here and some keystrokes there. Dataram’s software developers have kindly include the required options to save our memory to file when we don’t need it.

Select and setup both the “Load” and “Save Image Settings”
Choose a location to save to

Starting RAMDisk

Everything should be set at this point, regarding the “RAMDisk Configuration Utility” that is. All that remains is pressing the “Start RAMDisk” button!

Once the utility has installed its drivers we can now see that it has created a new hard drive and is ready for use. Almost there!

Configuring Opera

Now this is the easy part, just either click here or copy this link “opera:config#UserPrefs|CacheDirectory4” and browse to it with Opera.

FACT: You can also do it the hard way and just go to “opera:config” and search for “cache”

Opera Cache Directory Setting

All that’s left to do now is set the “Cache Directory4″ location to the location of the RAMDisk Image and enjoy your now even faster Opera web browser! In our case, RAMDisk happened to mount the drive to “E:\.”

Success!

Now, if you’ve made it this far, I’m gonna assume that you didn’t screw things up too much… Just kidding I’m sure you all did just fine ( You still haven’t sent me hate mail yet. :p or so I hope… ) though we probably should still make sure everything is working properly. If it has, you should see you new RAMDisk drive fill with a few files at first, of course you do have to run Opera first for it to generate some cache.

Performance!

Perhaps you may be left to ponder how much faster RAM is to a standard hard drive… Nah, just kidding, just to see how much faster the read and write speeds were I ran a quick little benchmark test of both my hard drive and RAMDisk drive. And as you may have already expected the RAM is unbelievably fast.

RAMDisk drive:

RAM Benchmark

Hard Drive:

HDD Benchmark