Which out of all these variants is the correct version format for Windows 10?

Question

If I run "winver", it says in a GUI box:

Windows 10 (visual logo)
Microsoft Windows
Version 1903
(OS Build 18362.592)

If I run "ver" on the command line "as administrator", I get:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18362.592]

If I run "ver" without "as administrator", I get:

The system cannot find message text for message number 0x2350 in the message file for Application.

So, is it:

Windows 10,
Windows 1903,
Windows 10 1903,
Windows 18362.592,
Windows 10 18362.592,
Windows 10.0.18362.592, or
Windows 0x2350

?

I have no idea what a "build" is, especially not in this context, but the most proper version seems to be "Windows 10 1903", since it tells you it's Windows 10 and also the "major release" version, which appears to be based on the year (2019) and month (03/March) when it was released.

I would not even bother asking and just use "Windows 10 1903" if it weren't for the fact that the "ver" command's output completely ommits it. I need to be able to grab this from the command line (to automate it).

Answer 1

The first two commands are correct and simple to use and give you your current build. Version 1903, Build 18362.592.

Version is the 4 digit number (e.g. 1903)
Build is the 5 digit number (18362) followed by the sub-build

So winver will give you the GUI box. I use this.

ver (Run as Administrator) gives you the same answer on a command line. You should get the same output using ver non-Admin. This uses a different form of output which is why I use Winver. I think (fairly sure) the build number indicates the version but you would need the Microsoft formula for this.

This is a a reasonably current version. I am using the next version up here

Follow up note - I went looking and there is not a precise formula I could find but you could build a table from the following Microsoft article

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4000825/windows-10-windows-server-2016-update-history

Answer 2

Which out of all these variants is the correct version format for Windows 10?

The correct one (using Microsoft's current definition for OS version - which was different in the past) is 1903:

• Windows 10 is the name of the operating system

• 1903 is the version number (also known as Release ID)

• 18362 is the major build number

• 592 is the minor build number

Here is a list for Windows 10:

Source Windows 10 version history - Wikipedia

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How do I retrieve the version number from the command line?

Using ver on the command line will display something like (I'm running Windows7):

F:\test>ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

So it returns the operating system name and the build number (not the version).

To get the Release ID see How to find the build / version of Windows 10 - Super User.

It seems to be quite difficult to find a command line or powershell script to get this (and I don't have Windows 10 to test on and provide a definitive solution for you).

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So what is the big deal with these Build Numbers?

Microsoft has always tried to be "clever" with their build numbers:

Microsoft has always tried to pick special numbers with meaning for the release to manufacturing of most major versions of Windows.

• Windows 95 used 4.00.950,
• Windows 98 used 4.10.1998,
• Windows XP settled on 5.1.2600 (a reference to the hacker magazine),
• Windows Vista rounded off to 6.0.6000.

While Microsoft engineers wanted to use 8888 for Windows 8, a new requirement introduced with Vista meant the final build number of any version of Windows must be a multiple of 16. That messed up the cute numbering scheme for Windows 8, but it’s almost perfect for Windows 10.

Microsoft has picked 10240 as the final build of Windows 10. At first glance it might not seem particularly interesting or relevant to Windows 10, but dig a little deeper and it’s math magic. Back in days before we even used to use floppy disks, the kilo prefix used to mean 1024 for the computer industry, so 1024 kilobytes would be 1 megabyte. These days the industry refers to 1000 kilobytes as 1 megabyte, but that’s not stopping Microsoft from reminiscing. 10240 kilobytes translates to 10 megabytes (using kilo as 1024), and you can have even more fun if you drop the trailing zero and focus on just the 1024 part of the build number.