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When provisioning a remote server, verifying the exact Windows Server version is critical for compatibility with tools like PowerShell, Docker, or .NET frameworks. Here are technical approaches:

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"

Example output for 2012 R2:

OS Name:                   Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
OS Version:                6.3.9600 N/A Build 9600

[System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version

Key version numbers:

• 2012 (Original): Major=6, Minor=2
• 2012 R2: Major=6, Minor=3

For automation scripts, check the registry:

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v ProductName

Sample output for R2:

ProductName    REG_SZ    Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard

2012 R2 introduced critical features like:

• PowerShell 4.0 (vs 3.0 in 2012)
• Enhanced Hyper-V support
• Different .NET Framework baseline

using System;

class Program {
    static void Main() {
        Version osVersion = Environment.OSVersion.Version;
        Console.WriteLine(osVersion.Major == 6 && osVersion.Minor == 3 ? 
            "2012 R2" : "Original 2012");
    }
}

wmic os get caption

Returns full OS name including "R2" if present.

---

Windows Server 2012 R2 internally identifies itself as version 6.3, while the original 2012 release uses 6.2. Here's the definitive PowerShell one-liner:

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" | 
Select-Object ProductName, ReleaseId, CurrentVersion

Sample output for 2012 R2:
ProductName : Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
ReleaseId : 9600
CurrentVersion : 6.3

For automation scripts or remote checks, use this WMI approach:

$os = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem
$os.Caption + " | Build: " + $os.BuildNumber

Key identifiers:

• 2012 R2: Build number starts with 9600
• Original 2012: Build number starts with 9200

For servers without PowerShell remoting enabled:

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"

Expected R2 output pattern:
OS Name: Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
OS Version: 6.3.9600 N/A Build 9600

For deployment verification scripts, check these registry keys:

reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v ProductName

2012 R2 will explicitly include "R2" in the product name string.

For developers writing verification tools in C#:

using System;
using Microsoft.Win32;

class Program {
    static void Main() {
        var reg = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(
            @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion");
        Console.WriteLine($"Version: {reg.GetValue("CurrentVersion")}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Product: {reg.GetValue("ProductName")}");
    }
}

The R2 edition introduced significant API changes including:

• New PowerShell 4.0 features
• Enhanced Hyper-V integration
• Different .NET Framework baseline versions

Always verify before implementing features that depend on R2-specific functionality.

For legacy environments:

@echo off
for /f "tokens=3" %%i in ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v ProductName ^| find "R2"') do (
    if "%%i"=="R2" (
        echo This is Server 2012 R2
    ) else (
        echo This is original Server 2012
    )
)