Extended ver command

I was a little frustrated in my scripting endeavours with the builtin ver command. This command only provides some limited data on the installed Windows version number and nothing else, so i've come up with some ideas on what a "super" version of this command might be like. Since this hypothetical program would be an extended version of ver, and be complimentary to the setx command, i'll suggest calling it verx.


VERX

/csd [/e]       Returns service pack level
                Ex: Service Pack 1
/build [/e]     Returns build number
                Ex: 7100
/type           Returns build type
                Ex: Multiprocessor Free
/cv             Returns version number in Major.Minor format
                Ex: 6.1
/name           Returns product name
                Ex: Windows Vista (TM) Ultimate
/lang [/e]      Language version number, name & TLA
                Ex: 1033    English - United States    ENU
/lcid [/e] [/ra]    Get Locale ID info
                        Ex: en-ca    0x1009    4105
/format [/e] [/ra]  Get User Locale info
/sku [/e]       Stock Keeping Unit number and name
                Ex: 6    Business Edition
/eid            Returns EditionID data
                Ex: Professional    OEM    0
/office [/apps] [/e]    Returns info on installed Office version
                        Ex: 12    SP2    2007    Enterprise    1033
/dotnet         .Net Framework versions, SP level & lang
                Ex:
                2.0    SP2    1033
                3.0    SP2    1033
                3.5    SP1    1033
/dx [/e]        DirectX version
                Ex: 11    Feb2010
/ie [/csd]      Internet Explorer info
                Ex: 8.0

/dupdesc        Description of the duplicator file used
/all            Creates report
/file [path\]filename    Returns file version
<switch> /e     Sets exitCode as returned value
<switch> /ra    Returns values for Reserved Accounts instead of CU

 
Get version of offline Windows installation:
 
verx /cv /offwindir=<offline windows directory>

Use a for /F loop to get offline version into envar:
 
for /f %i in ('verx /cv /offwindir=d:\windows') do @set offCV=%i

Use this environment variable to determine what operations should be run on offline system:
 
if %offCV% geq 6.0 sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows
 
Could be useful in WinPE.

 
Get LCID string value into envar and use this to copy MUI files from and to appropriate folders:
 
for /F %A in ('verx /lcid /ra') do @set LCIDstr=%A
copy %windir%\System32\certutil.exe D:\WinPE\mount\Windows\System32
copy C:\Windows\System32\%LCIDstr%\certutil.exe.mui D:\WinPE\mount\Windows\System32\%LCIDstr%
 

Save operating system version to master environment for future use:

for /f "tokens=1,2" %i in ('verx /cv /build') do @setx OS_Version %i.%j /m

 
Get file version:
 
verx /file %programfiles%\Microsoft Silverlight\sllauncher.exe
3.0.50106.0

 
Get version info for remote system:
 
verx \\Server /all

 

"DuplicatorDescription specifies a description of the duplication tool used, as well as any other information that an OEM or an administrator might store in the registry."

> verx /dupdesc

> "ImageX - Vista_x86 - ImgVer:1.3.28""

 

 

 

An interesting example of someone having to post to a forum to find out how to determine what version of Windows Embedded a machine is running:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/posready/thread/cd3a07e5-87c0-429e-ac81-4223dbb5e91b/

Edited by Drewfus - 01 March 2011 at 4:05am

Switches for inf files.

 

 

/inf        [path]filename.inf [today|date[,*|#|+.*|#|+.*|#|+.*|#|+]] [/df:inf|iso|cu]

Displays date and version number from Version section of an inf file.

OR

Writes new date or date and version to the Version section of an inf file.

 

today: Resolves to current date in mm/dd/yyyy format

date: Any valid date in format specified by /df switch

/df: Specifies date format (for reading or writing)

                  inf: mm/dd/yyyy  (default)

                  iso: YYYY-MM-DD

                  cu: current users regional setting

                  *  : existing value

                  #  : new value in range 0-9999

                  +  : increment existing value

 

            Ex:  >verx /inf mydriver.inf

     >10/5/2010,6.1.12.3474

 

            Ex:  >verx /inf mydriver.inf 2010-10-06,*.*.*.+ /df:iso

                 >10/6/2010,6.1.12.3475

 

 

This would be similar to the functionality of the Stampinf command, but might avoid date formatting problems. Also adds read function.

 

 

/osdec      [\\Server] [/arch | /maj | /min | /pt | /sm]

            Returns OS decoration (for use in Manufacturer section)

            /arch: nt + hardware platform (one of x86, ia64, or amd64)

            /maj: OSMajorVersion and previous fields

            /min: OSMinorVersion and previous fields

            /pt:  ProductType and previous fields

            /sm:  SuiteMask and previous fields

 

            Ex:  >verx /osdec

     >ntamd64.6.1.0x0000001.0x00000010

 

Ex:  >verx /osdec /min

     >ntamd64.6.1

Edited by Drewfus - 20 February 2011 at 2:22am

Ok, i forgot about Windows Installer.

The WMI class Win32_Product could be used for this purpose, however this method has two significant problems;

 

1. Only applicable to Windows Installer products.

2. Enumeration efficiency is poor. Why Win32_Product is Bad News!

 

Consequently there is no way of getting a comprehensive listing of installed software from the command line!

 

Perhaps querying the Uninstall keys in the registry is not a thorough enough method for determining installed products, and/or perhaps this would return too much "noise". Maybe Verx could have some sort of extensible interface that vendors could exploit to get their products recognised accurately.

 

Assume some vendor libraries like:

 

verMSFT.dll

verAPPL.dll

verGOOG.dll

verJAVA.dll

 

Register these libraries during product installation or at the command prompt via regsvr32.exe.

 

Now corresponding switches - /MSFT, /APPL /, /GOOG, /JAVA - are available.

 

Drivers

Edited by Drewfus - 25 February 2011 at 12:10am