How can I determine whether I'm running the Checked or retail version of Windows?

A. A Checked version of Windows has extra information used for debugging and troubleshooting an OS. A Checked version of each retail version of Windows is available. These debug or Checked versions are generally slower than the retail versions, which are streamlined for performance. To see whether you're running the checked or free (retail) version, run the sample script, which you can download at http://www.windowsitpro.com/content/content/48586/Ckosinfo.zip . (The script also shows other information that might be useful.) Essentially, the script queries the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) OS object and lists the content of each object (there will be just one instance of the OS object).

' osinfo.vbs by John SavillstrComputer = "."Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _& "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\" _& strComputer & "rootcimv2")Set colOperatingSystems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _("Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem")For Each objOperatingSystem in colOperatingSystems  Wscript.Echo "Install Date: " _  & objOperatingSystem.InstallDate   Wscript.Echo "Operating System: " _  & objOperatingSystem.Caption   Wscript.Echo "Version: " _  & objOperatingSystem.Version  Wscript.Echo "Checked Build: " _  & objOperatingSystem.Debug  Wscript.Echo "Service Pack: " _  & objOperatingSystem.ServicePackMajorVersion _  & "." & objOperatingSystem.ServicePackMinorVersionNext

Here is the script output, which shows that this installation is the retail and not the checked (debug) build:

D:temp>cscript osinfo.vbsMicrosoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.Install Date: 20051005103036.000000-300Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP ProfessionalVersion: 5.1.2600Checked Build: FalseService Pack: 2.0