Vista & .NET quirks - obtaining system info.

Question

Has anyone seen this behaviour?  Using Environment.osVersion.ToString in Vista appends an extra .0 after the build number.  This is a problem for me because my VBA code that obtains the version info does not have this behaviour.  (For rationale, see bottom.)

Return string from VB.net
Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6000.0

Return string from VBA (code at the bottom if you wish) Microsoft Windows NT 6.0.6000

Of course, this works fine for me in other flavours of Windows (2k, XP, 2k3)

The other problem I'm having with Vista is that I can't return the ProductID from the registry... I've tried running the app with Admin privledges, but no change.  And I can get the info I'm looking for if I run:

<CODE>
reg query "hklm\software\microsoft

\windows nt\currentversion" /v ProductID </CODE>


I've tried three different methods of retrieving the Windows ProductID:
<CODE>
winProdID =
My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\",
"ProductID", "Value Not Found!")
winProdID =
My.Computer.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey ("SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion").GetValue("ProductID",
"Value Not Found!")
winProdID =
Microsoft.Win32.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion",
"ProductID", "Value Not Found!").ToString() </CODE>

Each one returns the same thing... "Value Not Found!" (my default string if not found)


Rationale:
My software is installed by a .NET program and consists mainly of a .DOT template file for MS Word with VBA inside it to check the registration information (a serial number generated from system information).

Sure I could add a .0 at the end of osVersion string in VBA (and I have for the time being) but how will this affected by later versions of Windows?  What about Vista SP1, etc??


VBA code for version info (which works in all other flavours, remember)

<CODE>

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

Private Declare Function GetVersionEx Lib "kernel32" _ Alias "GetVersionExA" (lpVersionInformation As OSVERSIONINFO) As Boolean

' dwPlatforID Constants
Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32s = 0
Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS = 1 Public Const VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT = 2


Public Function IdentifyOperatingSystem() As String
  Dim rOsVersionInfo As OSVERSIONINFO
  Dim sOperatingSystem As String
 
  sOperatingSystem = "NONE"

  ' Pass the size of the structure into itself for the API call
  rOsVersionInfo.dwOSVersionInfoSize = Len(rOsVersionInfo)

  If GetVersionEx(rOsVersionInfo) Then    
    Select Case rOsVersionInfo.dwPlatformId
      Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_NT
        
        sOperatingSystem = "Microsoft Windows NT " & rOsVersionInfo.dwMajorVersion & "." & _
            rOsVersionInfo.dwMinorVersion & "." & rOsVersionInfo.dwBuildNumber & " " & rOsVersionInfo.szCSDVersion
        
      Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS
        If rOsVersionInfo.dwMajorVersion >= 5 Then
           sOperatingSystem = "Microsoft Windows ME"
        ElseIf rOsVersionInfo.dwMajorVersion = 4 And rOsVersionInfo.dwMinorVersion > 0 Then
           sOperatingSystem = "Microsoft Windows 98"
        Else
           sOperatingSystem = "Microsoft Windows 95"
        End If

      Case VER_PLATFORM_WIN32s
        sOperatingSystem = "Win32s"

    End Select
  End If
    
  IdentifyOperatingSystem = StripTerminator(sOperatingSystem) ' ,
Len(sOperatingSystem) - 2)

End Function


Private Function StripTerminator(sString As String) As String
    StripTerminator = Left$(sString, InStr(sString, Chr$(0)) - 1) End Function

</CODE>