[wpkg-users] Retrieving a program's version

[Mark Cooke]

On 12.03.2013 22:05 Stefan Pendl wrote:
> Am 12.03.2014 20:56, schrieb Frank Morawietz:
> >> WPKG is a software deployment system and no inventory system.
> >>
> >> You could run a batch file or DOS command script to parse the output of
> >> querying the uninstall registry tree.
> >> You would filter out the DisplayName and DisplayVersion values.
> >>
> >> Find an example below.
> >
> > Thanks a lot for your answer. And thanks for the example batch script.
> > In fact, it creates a pretty complete software inventory.
> > Unfortunately most of the entries are without version numbers.
> >
> > But it's an inspiring idea. I will have to think about it.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Frank
> 
> The problem is that not each installer writes its version information to
> the registry.
> In addition many executables don't include version information either.

That's true, but as a first cut capturing the output of

%COMSPEC% /C wmic product list

or

%COMSPEC% /C wmic product get Name, Version

would quickly get you some of the way with version data.  [ It does miss software with custom installers that don't use the windows installer service ]

Someone else did some more of the work using wmic to indirectly query the registry - see Q12 of:

  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee692772.aspx#EBAA


Also don't forget to query both 64 and 32 bit registry keys on 64 bit systems.

Cheers,

Mark