How to find the Windows version from the PowerShell command line

How to find the Windows version from the PowerShell command line

To find the version of Windows that is currently running from the PowerShell command line, you can use the Get-CimInstance cmdlet and specify the Win32_OperatingSystem class.

This class contains information about the operating system, including its version, service pack level, and build number.

Example

Here is an example of how to use the Get-CimInstance cmdlet to get the Windows version:

# Get the operating system information
$os = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem

# Output the Windows version
Write-Output "The Windows version is: $($os.Version)"

In this example, we use the Get-CimInstance cmdlet to get information about the operating system, and then use the $os.Version property to output the Windows version.

The output will be in the format X.Y.Z, where X is the version number.

For example, if you are running Windows 10, the output will be 10.0.Z, where Z is the build number.

The first two digits of the version number indicate the major version of Windows (e.g. 10 for Windows 10, 16 for Windows Server 2016), and the third digit indicates the minor version or update level (e.g. 0 for the initial release, 1 for the first update, etc.).

You can also use the -ComputerName parameter of the Get-CimInstance cmdlet to specify a remote computer, if you want to get the Windows version of a remote machine.

For example:

# Get the operating system information for a remote computer
$os = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName "RemoteComputerName"

# Output the Windows version
Write-Output "The Windows version on the remote computer is: $($os.Version)"

In this example, we use the -ComputerName parameter to specify the name of the remote computer, and then use the $os.Version property to output the Windows version of the remote machine.

Conclusion

The Get-CimInstance cmdlet is a convenient way to get the Windows version from the PowerShell command line, and can be used to get the version of a local or remote machine.