You may not have really thought about Windows build numbers in the past unless it was part of your job to do so. But they’ve become more important with Windows 10. Here’s how to find out what build—and edition and version—of Windows 10 you’re running.
Windows has always used build numbers. They represent significant updates to Windows. Traditionally, most people have referred to Windows based on the major, named version they’re using—Windows Vista, 7, 8, and so on. Within those versions, we also had service packs to refer to: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, for example.
With Windows 10, things have changed a bit. For one thing, Microsoft claims there will be no more new versions of Windows—Windows 10 is here to stay. Microsoft has also done away with service packs, instead moving to releasing two big builds each year and giving them names. If you really need to refer to a specific version of Windows, though, it’s easiest to refer to it by its version number. Microsoft has hidden the version number somewhat in an attempt to make Windows 10 look always-up-to-date, but it’s not hard to find.
Note: In addition to builds, there also are still different editions of Windows 10—Home, Professional, Enterprise, and so on—with different features. Microsoft is also still offering both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows 10, as well.
Find Your Edition, Build Number, and More with the Settings App
The new Settings app also offers build, edition, and version information in a user-friendly form. Hit Windows+I to open Settings. In the Settings window, navigate to System > About. Scroll down a bit and you’ll see the information you’re after.
Navigate to System > About and scroll down. You’ll see the “Version” and “Build” numbers here.
RELATED:How to Upgrade From Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Professional
- Edition. This line tells you which edition of Windows 10 you’re using—Home, Professional, Enterprise, or Education. If you’re using Home and you’d like to upgrade to Professional, you can upgrade to the Professional edition from within Windows 10. Switching to Windows 10 Enterprise or Education editions will require a complete reinstall and a special key that isn’t made available to normal home Windows users.
- Version. The version number gives you the best information on what version of Windows 10 you’re running. The number is based on the date of the most recent large build release and uses a YYMM format. For example, in the screenshot above, the “1607” version tells us that the version we’re running is from the 7th month (July) of 2016. That’s the big Anniversary Update of Windows 10. The Fall Creators Update was released in September of 2017, so it’s version 1709.
- OS Build. This line shows the specific operating system build you’re running. It gives you sort of a timeline of minor build releases in between the major version number releases. In the screenshot above, the “14393.693” build was actually the 13th build released after version 1607 shipped in July, 2016. This information is somewhat less important to most people than the major version numbers, but it can still help you identify exactly what you’re running. If you’re curious, you can check out the whole history of versions and builds for Windows 10 on Microsoft’s TechNet site.
- System Type. This line tells you whether you’re using the 32-bit version of Windows 10 or the 64-bit version. It also tells you whether your PC is compatible with the 64-bit version or not. For example, “64-bit operating system, x64-based processor” indicates you’re using a 64-bit version of Windows 10 on a 64-bit processor. “32-bit operating system, x64-based processor” indicates you’re using a 32-bit version of Windows 10, but you could install the 64-bit version on your hardware if you preferred.
Find Your Edition and Build Number with the Winver Dialog
You can also use the old standby Windows Version (winver) tool to find some of this information. Hit Start, type “winver,” and then press Enter. You could also press Windows Key + R, type “winver” into the Run dialog, and press Enter.
The second line in the “About Windows” box tells you which version and build of Windows 10 you have. Remember, the version number is in the form YYMM—so 1607 means the 7th month of 2016. A couple of lines down, you’ll see the edition of Windows 10 you’re using—Windows 10 Pro in our example.
The “About Windows” box does not show whether you’re using a 64-bit or 32-bit version of Windows 10, but it does give you a quicker way to check your version and build than navigating through the Settings app.
RELATED:Stupid Geek Tricks: How to Display the Windows Version on the Desktop
All this information—edition, version, build number, and build type—can be important if you’re trying to determine whether Windows 10 has received a specific update, whether you have access to a feature available only in certain editions, or whether you should download the 64- or 32-bit version of a program. And, if you’re super interested in keeping up with it, we even have a way to display your build number right on your desktop. Enjoy!
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My personal website and others which I am involved with) display their current version number discreetly in the footer or some other area of the site. My question is whether this is useful information to visitors or whether its just textual 'noise'.
It is worth noting that the version number is the version of the software (not the data within the blog or whatever), so is irrelevant from a 'how old is the content on this site' perspective.
Since only one version of the site is active at any given point in time and it is not a redistributed product, does the version number serve any purpose? I understand this is somewhat of a subjective question, but I would like to gauge opinion on this to guide future decisions regarding version numbers and their relevance.
Mark EmblingMark Embling10.6k55 gold badges3434 silver badges5252 bronze badges
6 Answers
It partly depends on the type of website.
For something like Stack Overflow with lots of features which affect users, I think it makes a lot of sense in conjunction with a change log. In other words, make the version number a link so people can find out about new features, policy changes etc.
For a mostly static website I don't think it's nearly as important. What used to happen doesn't affect my behaviour now because the site is really just disseminating information.
Jon SkeetJon Skeet1116k709709 gold badges81328132 silver badges85398539 bronze badges
We use a visible version number so that our admin, sales team and customers can tell that the upgrade worked.
S.LottS.Lott326k6969 gold badges451451 silver badges725725 bronze badges
IT's going to depend on who has a copy of non-live code. If only you write/test/deploy, probably won't be terribly useful.If you have a tester or two who may have their own local copies and/or a test server which is not always uptodate on the super latest code changes - having the version there will be useful for any bug reports to contain to be able to tell if they are using a 'fixed in' version or not.
Short From - If anyone else may be helping you with it - Version numbers can become very useful very quickly.
QuinnGQuinnG5,71222 gold badges3636 silver badges4646 bronze badges
Its noise, stop it. ;)
Well really, I would miss stackoverflow's svn # in the bottom if it went away, whenever the number changes I always take a look around and see whats new.
John FarrellJohn Farrell22.6k1010 gold badges6767 silver badges105105 bronze badges
Yes, it's often useful. For example, so that one can easily tell if you / another site is running a bulletin board that has known security exploits. Or in corporate environments, where different customers may indeed be running different versions of the same software.
A website that shows pictures of your grandmother's dancing cat and holiday snaps? Not so relevant.
GavinGavin7,31277 gold badges4343 silver badges5959 bronze badges
adding a version number gives a dynamic feel to technical visitors.. at least I would see a 5 page static website with a version number as something that is under continuous surveillance by the admin and any interaction with that website would be well catered.
foxybaggafoxybagga3,74222 gold badges2828 silver badges3030 bronze badges
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged versioning or ask your own question.
I remember when Microsoft announced that Windows 4.0 would be known as Windows 95. At the time, it seemed like a radical, unnecessary change -- naming software with years instead of version numbers? Inconceivable! How will users of Windows 3.1 possibly know what software version they should upgrade to?
In retrospect, switching away from software version numbers to years seems like one of the wisest decisions Microsoft ever made. Simpleplanes mods download.
- Users don't care about version numbers. Major, minor, alpha, beta, build number. what does it all mean? What users might care about is knowing whether or not the software they're running is current. A simple date is the most direct way to communicate this to the user.
- A model year is easy to understand. Why should it take two arbitrary numbers and a decimal point to identify what software you're using? We identify tons of consumer products using a simple model year designator. Software should be no different.
- Version numbers don't scale. Once you get beyond ten versions, what's the point of meticulously counting every new release? Better to stamp it with a date and move on.
Microsoft Office 2003 is a far more meaningful name than Microsoft Office 11. And Firefox 2007 would be a much better name than Firefox 2.0 for all the same reasons.
But version numbers live on, at least for programmers. Here's a quick survey of version numbers for the software running on my machine at the moment:
As you can see, there's not even a commonly accepted pattern for version numbers. In .NET, the version number convention is:
(Major version).(Minor version).(Revision number).(Build number)
But it's hardly universal. And even if it was, what does all this meticulously numbered version data get us? What does it mean? Why have version numbers at all? It's partly because version number is an expected software convention. And partly because programmers never met a piece of arbitrarily detailed metadata they didn't love. Personally, I like to think of version numbers as dogtags for your software. Like dogtags, they're primarily designed for use in the event of an emergency.
In the event of a software problem-- if, on the battlefield, you hear someone screaming 'medic!'-- it is useful to consult the dogtags so you know exactly what version of the software you're dealing with.
But software version numbers, even arbitrarily detailed programmer version numbers, can't seem to avoid dates, either. Jensen Harris explains the Microsoft Office version numbering scheme:
The most interesting thing to watch for is the first 4-digit number you encounter. In the examples above, 5608 and 3417. These are what we refer to as the 'build number.' Every few days during the development cycle, we compile all of the code in Office and turn it into a 'build': essentially an installable version of all the work everyone's done up until that point. Eventually, a build becomes 'final' and that is the one that ends up on CDs and in the store.The 4-digit build number is actually an encoded date which allows you tell when a build was born. The algorithm works like this:
- Take the year in which a project started. For Office '12', that was 2003.
- Call January of that year 'Month 1.'
- The first two digits of the build number are the number of months since 'Month 1.'
- The last two digits are the day of that month.
So, if you have build 3417, you would do the following math: 'Month 1' was January 2003. 'Month 13' was January 2004. 'Month 25' was January 2005. Therefore, 'Month 34' would be October 2005. 3417 = October 17, 2005, which was the date on which Office 12 build 3417 started. For Office 2003 and XP both, 'Month 1' was January 2000. So, the final build of Office 2003, 5608, was made on August 8, 2003.
So Microsoft Office version numbers end up containing three relevant bits of data:
- the software generation (Office 97, Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007), which is patently obvious to anyone using the software-- and can be directly inferred from the build date anyway.
- the date of the build.
- the number of builds done after 'code freeze'.
Of those three, how many are actually useful to users? How many are useful to developers?
On the whole, I encourage software developers to avoid confounding users with version numbers. That's what leads to crappy ideas like SID 6.7 and even crappier movies like Virtuosity. We brought it on ourselves by letting our geeky, meaningless little construct of major and minor version numbers spill over into pop culture. It's not worth it. Let's reel it back in.
Whenever possible, use simple dates instead of version numbers, particularly in the public names of products. And if you absolutely, positively must use version numbers internally, make them dates anyway: be sure to encode the date of the build somewhere in your version number.
WindowsMac
- Open any Office application, such as Word or Excel, and select Account.Note: If you don't see Account or you already have a file or document open, choose File from the menu, and then select either Account or Help from the list on the left.
- Under Product Information, you'll find your Office product name and, in some cases, the full version number.
- 1 - Product name, such as Office 365 ProPlus or Office Home and Student.
- 2 - Version number, which includes version, build number, and the type of installation such as Click-to-run or Windows Store.
- For more information, such as the bit-version, choose About Excel. A dialog box opens, showing the full version number and bit version (32-bit or 64-bit).
See Also
- Open any Office application, such as Word and create a new document.
- Go to the Word menu and choose About Word.
- In the dialog box that opens, you can see the version number as well as the license type. In the example below, the version number is 16.18 and the license is a one-time purchase of Office 2019 for Mac.
See Also
Still not sure?
If the steps above didn't work for you, you're likely using an older version of Office. To learn what version you have, see Find details for other versions of Office.
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What Is The Version Number Of A Website Free
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