VerifyVersionInfoA function (winbase.h)

Article
02/09/2023

Compares a set of operating system version requirements to the corresponding values for the currently running version of the system.This function is subject to manifest-based behavior. For more information, see the Remarks section.

Note: This function has been deprecated for Windows 10. See targeting your applications for Windows for more information.

Syntax

BOOL VerifyVersionInfoA(
  [in] LPOSVERSIONINFOEXA lpVersionInformation,
  [in] DWORD              dwTypeMask,
  [in] DWORDLONG          dwlConditionMask
);

Parameters

[in] lpVersionInformation

A pointer to an OSVERSIONINFOEX structure containing the operating system version requirements to compare. The dwTypeMask parameter indicates the members of this structure that contain information to compare.

You must set the dwOSVersionInfoSize member of this structure to sizeof(OSVERSIONINFOEX). You must also specify valid data for the members indicated by dwTypeMask. The function ignores structure members for which the corresponding dwTypeMask bit is not set.

[in] dwTypeMask

A mask that indicates the members of the OSVERSIONINFOEX structure to be tested. This parameter can be one or more of the following values.

Value	Meaning
VER_BUILDNUMBER 0x0000004	dwBuildNumber
VER_MAJORVERSION 0x0000002	dwMajorVersion If you are testing the major version, you must also test the minor version and the service pack major and minor versions.
VER_MINORVERSION 0x0000001	dwMinorVersion
VER_PLATFORMID 0x0000008	dwPlatformId
VER_SERVICEPACKMAJOR 0x0000020	wServicePackMajor
VER_SERVICEPACKMINOR 0x0000010	wServicePackMinor
VER_SUITENAME 0x0000040	wSuiteMask
VER_PRODUCT_TYPE 0x0000080	wProductType

[in] dwlConditionMask

The type of comparison to be used for each lpVersionInfo member being compared. To build this value, call the VerSetConditionMask function or the VER_SET_CONDITION macro once for each OSVERSIONINFOEX member being compared.

Return value

If the currently running operating system satisfies the specified requirements, the return value is a nonzero value.

If the current system does not satisfy the requirements, the return value is zero and GetLastError returns ERROR_OLD_WIN_VERSION.

If the function fails, the return value is zero and GetLastError returns an error code other than ERROR_OLD_WIN_VERSION.

Remarks

The VerifyVersionInfo function retrieves version information about the currently running operating system and compares it to the valid members of the lpVersionInfo structure. This enables you to easily determine the presence of a required set of operating system version conditions. It is preferable to use VerifyVersionInfo rather than calling the GetVersionEx function to perform your own comparisons.

Typically, VerifyVersionInfo returns a nonzero value only if all specified tests succeed. However, major, minor, and service pack versions are tested in a hierarchical manner because the operating system version is a combination of these values. If a condition exists for the major version, it supersedes the conditions specified for minor version and service pack version. (You cannot test for major version greater than 5 and minor version less than or equal to 1. If you specify such a test, the function will change the request to test for a minor version greater than 1 because it is performing a greater than operation on the major version.)

The function tests these values in this order: major version, minor version, and service pack version. The function continues testing values while they are equal, and stops when one of the values does not meet the specified condition. For example, if you test for a system greater than or equal to version 5.1 service pack 1, the test succeeds if the current version is 6.0. (The major version is greater than the specified version, so the testing stops.) In the same way, if you test for a system greater than or equal to version 5.1 service pack 1, the test succeeds if the current version is 5.2. (The minor version is greater than the specified versions, so the testing stops.) However, if you test for a system greater than or equal to version 5.1 service pack 1, the test fails if the current version is 5.0 service pack 2. (The minor version is not greater than the specified version, so the testing stops.)

To verify a range of system versions, you must call VerifyVersionInfo twice. For example, to verify that the system version is greater than 5.0 but less than or equal to 5.1, first call VerifyVersionInfo to test that the major version is 5 and the minor version is greater than 0, then call VerifyVersionInfo again to test that the major version is 5 and the minor version is less than or equal to 1.

Identifying the current operating system is usually not the best way to determine whether a particular operating system feature is present. This is because the operating system may have had new features added in a redistributable DLL. Rather than using GetVersionEx to determine the operating system platform or version number, test for the presence of the feature itself. For more information, see Operating System Version.

To verify whether the current operating system is either the Media Center or Tablet PC version of Windows, call GetSystemMetrics.

Windows 10: VerifyVersionInfo returns false when called by applications that do not have a compatibility manifest for Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 if the lpVersionInfo parameter is set so that it specifies Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, even when the current operating system version is Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Specifically, VerifyVersionInfo has the following behavior:

If the application has no manifest, VerifyVersionInfo behaves as if the operation system version is Windows 8 (6.2).
If the application has a manifest that contains the GUID that corresponds to Windows 8.1, VerifyVersionInfo behaves as if the operation system version is Windows 8.1 (6.3).
If the application has a manifest that contains the GUID that corresponds to Windows 10, VerifyVersionInfo behaves as if the operation system version is Windows 10 (10.0).

The Version Helper functions use the VerifyVersionInfo function, so the behavior IsWindows8Point1OrGreater and IsWindows10OrGreater are similarly affected by the presence and content of the manifest.

To manifest your applications for Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, see Targeting your application for Windows.

Examples

For an example, see Verifying the System Version.

Note

The winbase.h header defines VerifyVersionInfo as an alias which automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	winbase.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Kernel32.lib
DLL	Kernel32.dll

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