This is very useful but easily forgotten. We will look how to do this on both Linux and Windows machines.

On Linux

You could easily use uname -o but there are times where it could provide you a very basic answer that does not help, like the picture below.

This is where I find lsb_release -a to be useful. It’s available on both Debian and Red hat based distributions and is easily installed with apt install lsb_release -y // yum lsb_release install -y on the respective operating system if not already available in your OS package.

On Windows

The easiest method is by going on system properties by right clicking properties on “This PC” and viewing what’s on the next page.

Using the Search Box

Could also use msinfo to load all data about your computer. You simply type msinfo in the search box located at the bottom left corner and you will be greeted by a similar screen.

Lastly, with the command line interface on Windows, you could use systeminfo.

I prefer this method on Windows because it shows you a lot of information in addition to which updates are currently installed on the machine.

Do you have other ways to know which operating systems you’re currently on? Feel free to share them below or to ask questions