How do I programmatically get the version of a DLL or EXE file?

Question

I need to get the product version and file version for a DLL or EXE file using Win32 native APIs in C or C++. I'm not looking for the Windows version, but the version numbers that you see by right-clicking on a DLL file, selecting "Properties", then looking at the "Details" tab. This is usually a four-part dotted version number x.x.x.x.

Answer 1

You would use the GetFileVersionInfo API.

See Using Version Information on the MSDN site.

Sample:

DWORD  verHandle = 0;
UINT   size      = 0;
LPBYTE lpBuffer  = NULL;
DWORD  verSize   = GetFileVersionInfoSize( szVersionFile, &verHandle);

if (verSize != NULL)
{
    LPSTR verData = new char[verSize];

    if (GetFileVersionInfo( szVersionFile, verHandle, verSize, verData))
    {
        if (VerQueryValue(verData,"\\",(VOID FAR* FAR*)&lpBuffer,&size))
        {
            if (size)
            {
                VS_FIXEDFILEINFO *verInfo = (VS_FIXEDFILEINFO *)lpBuffer;
                if (verInfo->dwSignature == 0xfeef04bd)
                {

                    // Doesn't matter if you are on 32 bit or 64 bit,
                    // DWORD is always 32 bits, so first two revision numbers
                    // come from dwFileVersionMS, last two come from dwFileVersionLS
                    TRACE( "File Version: %d.%d.%d.%d\n",
                    ( verInfo->dwFileVersionMS >> 16 ) & 0xffff,
                    ( verInfo->dwFileVersionMS >>  0 ) & 0xffff,
                    ( verInfo->dwFileVersionLS >> 16 ) & 0xffff,
                    ( verInfo->dwFileVersionLS >>  0 ) & 0xffff
                    );
                }
            }
        }
    }
    delete[] verData;
}

Answer 2

All these solutions did not work properly (with my system). I found out that each of the four parts of the version number are saved as a 16-bit value.

The first two numbers are saved in the 32-bit DWORD dwFileVersionMS, and the second two in dwFileVersionLS. So I edited your code at the output section like this:

    TRACE( "File Version: %d.%d.%d.%d\n",
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionMS >> 16 ) & 0xffff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionMS >>  0 ) & 0xffff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >> 16 ) & 0xffff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >>  0 ) & 0xffff
        );

And it works perfectly. The output is formatted like on my system:

major.minor.build.revision

Answer 3

You get this information using the version information APIs. Here is a sample:

void PrintFileVersion( TCHAR *pszFilePath )
{
    DWORD               dwSize              = 0;
    BYTE                *pbVersionInfo      = NULL;
    VS_FIXEDFILEINFO    *pFileInfo          = NULL;
    UINT                puLenFileInfo       = 0;

    // Get the version information for the file requested
    dwSize = GetFileVersionInfoSize( pszFilePath, NULL );
    if ( dwSize == 0 )
    {
        printf( "Error in GetFileVersionInfoSize: %d\n", GetLastError() );
        return;
    }

    pbVersionInfo = new BYTE[ dwSize ];

    if ( !GetFileVersionInfo( pszFilePath, 0, dwSize, pbVersionInfo ) )
    {
        printf( "Error in GetFileVersionInfo: %d\n", GetLastError() );
        delete[] pbVersionInfo;
        return;
    }

    if ( !VerQueryValue( pbVersionInfo, TEXT("\\"), (LPVOID*) &pFileInfo, &puLenFileInfo ) )
    {
        printf( "Error in VerQueryValue: %d\n", GetLastError() );
        delete[] pbVersionInfo;
        return;
    }

    // pFileInfo->dwFileVersionMS is usually zero. However, you should check
    // this if your version numbers seem to be wrong

    printf( "File Version: %d.%d.%d.%d\n",
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >> 24 ) & 0xff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >> 16 ) & 0xff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >>  8 ) & 0xff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >>  0 ) & 0xff
        );

    // pFileInfo->dwProductVersionMS is usually zero. However, you should check
    // this if your version numbers seem to be wrong.

    printf( "Product Version: %d.%d.%d.%d\n",
        ( pFileInfo->dwProductVersionLS >> 24 ) & 0xff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwProductVersionLS >> 16 ) & 0xff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwProductVersionLS >>  8 ) & 0xff,
        ( pFileInfo->dwProductVersionLS >>  0 ) & 0xff
        );
}

Answer 4

Found these articles...sorry, but I don't have direct experience with how to do this using native APIs, so I deferred to an Internet search:

• C++: Determining the version number of a DLL or Executable
• VB (probably version 6): How to Use Functions in VERSION.DLL

Hope these help!

Answer 5

This code shows the file version numbers correctly.

( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionMS >> 16 ) & 0xff,
( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionMS >> 0 ) & 0xff,
( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >>  16 ) & 0xff,
( pFileInfo->dwFileVersionLS >>  0 ) & 0xff);

Answer 6

The easiest way is to use the GetFileVersionInfoEx or GetFileVersionInfo API functions.

You can also do it from within your application resources as explained here.