Getting the Running Operating System in C#

Sep 30, 2024 # C#, .NET, Operating System, Version

Getting the running operating system in C# is not obvious at first. Here is a simple example that will help -

Console.WriteLine("Platform: " + Environment.OSVersion.Platform);
Console.WriteLine("OS Version: " + Environment.OSVersion.VersionString);
Console.WriteLine("OS Description: " + System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation.OSDescription);

if (Environment.OSVersion.Platform == PlatformID.Unix)
{   
    Console.WriteLine("\nMore info:");
    var lines = File.ReadLines("/etc/os-release");
    foreach (var line in lines)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{line}");
    }
}

This will output something like this in Windows -

Platform: Win32NT
OS Version: Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0
OS Description: Microsoft Windows 10.0.19045

Note how the OS Version and OS Description can differ significantly Linux -

Platform: Unix
OS Version: Unix 5.15.146.1
OS Description: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)

More info:
        PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
        NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
        VERSION_ID="12"
        VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
        VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
        ID=debian
        HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
        SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
        BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

C# .NET Operating System Version

Getting the Running Operating System in C#

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