C# - Operating System Information

The .NET Framework class library plays a crucial role in exposing features of the runtime and providing various high-level services for developers. Among the classes within the library, the OperatingSystem class stands out as it offers methods to copy an instance of OperatingSystem and retrieve a string representation of operating system information.

OperatingSystem class

It's important to note that the OperatingSystem class is not intended to be a general-purpose class. You cannot derive a more inclusive type from the OperatingSystem class. If you require a type to encompass additional information about an operating system, it is recommended to create your own custom type. You can include a field of type OperatingSystem within your custom type, along with any other fields, properties, or methods you need.

  1. System.Object
  2. System.OperatingSystem

To access information about the operating system within the .NET Framework, you can utilize the Environment class. This class exposes a property called OSVersion, which returns an object of type OperatingSystem. By accessing this property, you can retrieve information about the operating system on which your application is running. The returned OperatingSystem object provides details such as the version, service pack, and platform of the operating system.

OperatingSystem _os = null; _os = Environment.OSVersion;

By using the Environment class and its OSVersion property, you can access the OperatingSystem object to retrieve operating system information within your C# application. The following C# program retrieves the current operating system information like version and platform identifier with the help of OperatingSystem Class and Environment Class.

Full Source C#
using System; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace WindowsFormsApplication1 { public partial class Form1 : Form { public Form1() { InitializeComponent(); } private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { OperatingSystem _os = null; _os = Environment.OSVersion; MessageBox.Show (_os.VersionString.ToString()); } } }

Conclusion

It is worth mentioning that the .NET Framework class library offers a wide range of classes and functionalities beyond the OperatingSystem class and the Environment class. Exploring the library will provide you with numerous other services and capabilities to enhance your application development process.