Identify OS and Temp and System Directories

[John Fritch]

Although I’m running VB 6.0, I’ve only installed service pack 2 (service pack 4 is downloading as I speak). I’m also still using Windows 95. Are C:\Windows\Temp and C:\Windows\System the usual Temp and System directories for Windows 98, 2000, and ME? Are C:\WinNT\Temp and C:\WinNT\System32 the usual Temp and System directories for NT? Are the following Windows API calls the best way of getting the operating system, system directory path, and temp directory path?

Declare Function GetSystemDirectory Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetSystemDirectoryA" _ (ByVal lpBuffer As String, ByVal nSize As Long) As Long
Declare Function GetTempPath Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetTempPathA" (ByVal _ nBufferLength As Long, ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long
Declare Function GetVersion Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetVersionExA" (ByRef _ lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Long

lpVersionInformation.dwPlatformId returns 0 for Windows 3.x, 1 for Windows 95, and for NT. The SysInfo control’s .OSPlatform property appears to return the same values. What do they return for Windows 98, 2000, and ME?

Environ(i) returns strings such as "TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP" and "windir=C:\WINDOWS” for various values of i in Windows 95. Is the same true in Windows 98, 2000, and ME? Does it return "windir=C:\WINNT” for NT in most cases?

John Fritch

[parksie]

Always use the API calls, because there's always going to be someone (like me), who installs into a different folder (I use c:\win98). Using %WINDIR% is often quite a good solution, though.

The above APIs are the best way to get the system info.
For extended info about the OS you can use this:

'Put this in a module
Public Declare Function GetVersionEx Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetVersionExA" (lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Long

Public Type OSVERSIONINFO
        dwOSVersionInfoSize As Long
        dwMajorVersion As Long
        dwMinorVersion As Long
        dwBuildNumber As Long
        dwPlatformId As Long
        szCSDVersion As String * 128
End Type

Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT = 2
Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS = 1
Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32s = 0

'Usage:
Dim OS As OSVERSIONINFO
Dim lResult As Long
Dim sOS As String
Dim sInfo As String

OS.dwOSVersionInfoSize = Len(OS)

lResult = GetVersionEx(OS)
Select Case OS.dwPlatformId
    Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT: sOS = "Windows NT"
    Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS: sOS = "Windows 95/98"
    Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32s: sOS = "Windows 3.X with Win32"
End Select

sInfo = Replace(OS.szCSDVersion, " ", "")
sInfo = Replace(sInfo, Chr(0), "")
If sInfo = "" Then sInfo = "None"

MsgBox "Operating System: " & sOS & vbCrLf & "Version: " & OS.dwMajorVersion & "." & OS.dwMinorVersion & "." & OS.dwBuildNumber & vbCrLf & "Other Info: " & sInfo

Hope it helps.