Operating System Detection by Java or JavaScript

Question

I need to detect OS name & version in Java. That I can do by

String os_name = System.getProperty("os.name", "");
String os_version = System.getProperty("os.version", "");

but the problem is that this is not reliable. Sometimes it returns incorrect information, and I can't detect all operating systems, except the most popular Windows, MacOS, Linux etc, and this even provides wrong information in the case of 64 bit operating systems. I need to detect any OS with any kind of specification. I am unable to find the right solution for this.

Maybe I can do this with JavaScript? If it's impossible in Java then please tell me how to do it with JavaScript.

Any input or suggestions highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Best regards,

**Nilanjan Chakraborty

you should indeed edit your post and remove your contact data. — Tomas Narros
– Tomas Narros, Commented Nov 11, 2010 at 13:50

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-13 19:27:07Z

9

In Java there are some common bugs while guessing the operating system:

https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug?bug_id=6819886

Maybe in newer versions of Java, they are solved.

In Javascript you can use navigator.appVersion:

// This script sets OSName variable as follows:
// "Windows"    for all versions of Windows
// "MacOS"      for all versions of Macintosh OS
// "Linux"      for all versions of Linux
// "UNIX"       for all other UNIX flavors 
// "Unknown OS" indicates failure to detect the OS

var OSName="Unknown OS";
if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Win")!=-1) OSName="Windows";
if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Mac")!=-1) OSName="MacOS";
if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("X11")!=-1) OSName="UNIX";
if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Linux")!=-1) OSName="Linux";

document.write('Your OS: '+OSName);

edited Nov 13, 2023 at 19:27

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 11, 2010 at 13:52

greuze

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2 Comments

nico Over a year ago

Of course you should be aware that the OS information can be very easily spoofed.

ahmet alp balkan Over a year ago

I think it is bug of Windows 7. If you upgrade from vista to Windows 7, it may remain as vista.

kennebec · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-11 14:48:09Z

3

All the browser's I'm familiar with report the OS from the navigator object (javascript)-

alert(navigator.platform)//returns string- eg'Win64'

answered Nov 11, 2010 at 14:48

kennebec

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Comments

ahmet alp balkan · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-11 14:01:23Z

-2

There are not too much ways to detect this. Most probably it will work correctly 99% of the time.

However if you are looking for another method, you can consider checking some magic file paths. i.e:

if /etc or /proc folders exists, it is Linux
if C:\Windows\ exists, it is Windows.
etc.

However they won't be again reliable since /etc /proc may also exist in Mac.

If you want to find exact name of the OS, you can look at /etc/issue file in Unix-Linux-Mac and you can use "os.name" (which you claim that it is inaccurate) or WMI (windows management instrument) to retrieve OS name+version.

answered Nov 11, 2010 at 14:01

ahmet alp balkan

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3 Comments

Jeremy Over a year ago

So I can add etc in my Windows root and BAM, I'm running Linux?

ahmet alp balkan Over a year ago

it would be c:\etc in windows not /etc. it is about delimiters and absolute paths.

Jeremy Over a year ago

You must be careful, as new File('/etc').exists() on Windows will return true if C:\etc is a directory.

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