Am I running Windows 8 or 8.1?

Solution 1:

Use a Powershell or a batch command and compare your output

Powershell: [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version
Command line> ver

Operating system                     Version number
Windows 10 Insider Preview           10.0
Windows Server Technical Preview     10.0
Windows 8.1                           6.3
Windows Server 2012 R2                6.3
Windows 8                             6.2
Windows Server 2012                   6.2
Windows 7                             6.1 
Windows Server 2008 R2                6.1
Windows Server 2008                   6.0
Windows Vista                         6.0
Windows Server 2003 R2                5.2
Windows Server 2003                   5.2
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition             5.2
Windows XP                            5.1
Windows 2000                          5.0

Source

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724832%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10#Technical_Preview

Solution 2:

To be honest, probably the easiest way to check is whether you have a start button on the desktop.

Unless of course you're using something like classic shell...

Solution 3:

It would say Windows 8.1 Pro if you're using Windows 8.1.

However, if you really want to verify you can follow this from MS:

Which Windows operating system am I running?

This tool will simply tell you, and provide you additional ways to get more info, such as:

Check for operating system info in Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1:

1. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings. (If you're using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer up, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)
2. Tap or click PC and devices, and then tap or click PC info.
3. Look under Windows for the version and edition of Windows that your PC is running.

Check for operating system info in Windows 8 or Windows RT

1. On the Start screen, type Computer, press and hold or right-click Computer, and then tap or click Properties.
2. Look under Windows edition for the version and edition of Windows that your PC is running.

For me it shows this:

enter image description here

FYI, I simply Googled "windows check which version", that was the first result. Not really sure why it was necessary to ask here.