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  • License MIT

Fast browser detection on Windows

Package Exports

  • win-detect-browsers

This package does not declare an exports field, so the exports above have been automatically detected and optimized by JSPM instead. If any package subpath is missing, it is recommended to post an issue to the original package (win-detect-browsers) to support the "exports" field. If that is not possible, create a JSPM override to customize the exports field for this package.

Readme

win-detect-browsers

Fast and native browser detection on Windows. Detects installed versions of Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, PhantomJS, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Maxthon and Yandex.

npm status Build status Dependency Status JavaScript Style Guide

Table of Contents

Click to expand

Usage

If you are upgrading: please see the changelog.

const detect = require('win-detect-browsers')

// All browsers
detect(function (err, browsers) {
  if (err) throw err
  console.log(browsers)
})

// Chrome and Firefox
detect(['chrome', 'firefox'], function (err, browsers) {
  if (err) throw err

  for (let b of browsers) {
    console.log(b.version) // '57.0.2931.0'
    console.log(b.channel) // 'canary'
  }
})

API

detect([names, ]callback)

names is an array of browser names you want to find. If omitted or empty, it will detect everything. The callback receives an error if any and an array of results. A result is excluded if its path has no .exe extension or if its version could not be read.

Each result is an object with the following properties:

  • name (string): chrome, chromium, firefox, phantomjs, ie, safari, opera, maxthon or yandex
  • path (string): absolute path to executable
  • version (string)
  • arch (string): CPU type the executable was built for: amd64, i386 or other;
  • info (object): executable metadata (see full sample below).

Additional properties are usually available but not guaranteed:

  • channel (string):
    • Chrome: stable, canary, beta or dev
    • Firefox: release, developer, nightly or esr
    • Older versions of Firefox: aurora, beta or rc;
    • Opera: stable, beta or developer.
  • uninstall (object): Chrome only. Uninstaller info with:
    • path (string): path to installer;
    • arguments (array): arguments to installer in order to uninstall.
  • bitness (number): Chrome only. 64 or 32.
  • guid (string): Chrome only.

CLI

win-detect-browsers [options] [name, name..]

Options:

  • --help -h: Show help
  • --version -v: Show CLI version number
  • --json -j: Print results as JSON array
  • --summary -s: Less properties;
  • --debug -d: Enable debug scope.

Sample

On Windows 10 with --summary:

Click to expand 
PHANTOMJS 2 32-bit
├── Path:    C:\Users\vweevers\AppData\Roaming\nvm\v10.0.0\node_modules\phantomjs-prebuilt\lib\phantom\bin\phantomjs.exe
└── Version: 2.1.1.0

IE 11 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
└── Version: 11.0.17134.1

IE 11 32-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
└── Version: 11.0.17134.1

CHROME 68 CANARY 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Users\vweevers\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome SxS\Application\chrome.exe
├── Version: 68.0.3436.0
└── GUID:    4EA16AC7-FD5A-47C3-875B-DBF4A2008C20

CHROME 66 STABLE 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
├── Version: 66.0.3359.181
└── GUID:    8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96

FIREFOX 61 RELEASE 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
└── Version: 61.0.0.6711

FIREFOX 62 NIGHTLY 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files\Firefox Nightly\firefox.exe
└── Version: 62.0.0.6712

FIREFOX 61 DEVELOPER 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files\Firefox Developer Edition\firefox.exe
└── Version: 61.0.0.6711

OPERA 53 BETA 64-bit
├── Path:    C:\Program Files\Opera beta\Launcher.exe
└── Version: 53.0.2907.31

Found 9 browsers in 26 ways within 76ms.

Full Sample

On Windows 10 with --json:

Click to expand 
[
  {
    "name": "phantomjs",
    "path": "C:\\Users\\vweevers\\AppData\\Roaming\\nvm\\v10.0.0\\node_modules\\phantomjs-prebuilt\\lib\\phantom\\bin\\phantomjs.exe",
    "version": "2.1.1.0",
    "arch": "i386",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "2.1.1.0",
      "FileDescription": "PhantomJS is a headless WebKit with JavaScript API",
      "LegalCopyright": "Copyright (C) Ariya Hidayat 2012",
      "OriginalFilename": "phantomjs.exe",
      "ProductName": "PhantomJS",
      "ProductVersion": "2.1.1",
      "CompanyName": "PhantomJS"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "ie",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe",
    "version": "11.0.17134.1",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "11.0.17134.1",
      "CompanyName": "Microsoft Corporation",
      "FileDescription": "Internet Explorer",
      "InternalName": "iexplore",
      "LegalCopyright": "© Microsoft Corporation. Alle rechten voorbehouden.",
      "OriginalFilename": "IEXPLORE.EXE.MUI",
      "ProductName": "Internet Explorer",
      "ProductVersion": "11.00.17134.1"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "ie",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe",
    "version": "11.0.17134.1",
    "arch": "i386",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "11.0.17134.1",
      "CompanyName": "Microsoft Corporation",
      "FileDescription": "Internet Explorer",
      "InternalName": "iexplore",
      "LegalCopyright": "© Microsoft Corporation. Alle rechten voorbehouden.",
      "OriginalFilename": "IEXPLORE.EXE.MUI",
      "ProductName": "Internet Explorer",
      "ProductVersion": "11.00.17134.1"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "firefox",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe",
    "version": "61.0.0.6711",
    "channel": "release",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "61.0.0.6711",
      "LegalCopyright": "©Firefox and Mozilla Developers; available under the MPL 2 license.",
      "CompanyName": "Mozilla Corporation",
      "FileDescription": "Firefox",
      "ProductVersion": "61.0",
      "InternalName": "Firefox",
      "LegalTrademarks": "Firefox is a Trademark of The Mozilla Foundation.",
      "OriginalFilename": "../../dist/bin/firefox.exe",
      "ProductName": "Firefox",
      "BuildID": "20180517141400"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "firefox",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Firefox Developer Edition\\firefox.exe",
    "version": "61.0.0.6711",
    "channel": "developer",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "61.0.0.6711",
      "LegalCopyright": "©Firefox and Mozilla Developers; available under the MPL 2 license.",
      "CompanyName": "Mozilla Corporation",
      "FileDescription": "Firefox Developer Edition",
      "ProductVersion": "61.0",
      "InternalName": "Firefox Developer Edition",
      "LegalTrademarks": "Firefox is a Trademark of The Mozilla Foundation.",
      "OriginalFilename": "../../dist/bin/firefox.exe",
      "ProductName": "Firefox Developer Edition",
      "BuildID": "20180517141400"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "firefox",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Firefox Nightly\\firefox.exe",
    "version": "62.0.0.6712",
    "channel": "nightly",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "62.0.0.6712",
      "LegalCopyright": "©Firefox and Mozilla Developers; available under the MPL 2 license.",
      "CompanyName": "Mozilla Corporation",
      "FileDescription": "Firefox Nightly",
      "ProductVersion": "62.0a1",
      "InternalName": "Firefox Nightly",
      "LegalTrademarks": "Firefox is a Trademark of The Mozilla Foundation.",
      "OriginalFilename": "firefox.exe",
      "ProductName": "Firefox Nightly",
      "BuildID": "20180518222751"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "chrome",
    "path": "C:\\Users\\vweevers\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome SxS\\Application\\chrome.exe",
    "version": "68.0.3436.0",
    "channel": "canary",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "bitness": 64,
    "guid": "4EA16AC7-FD5A-47C3-875B-DBF4A2008C20",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "68.0.3436.0",
      "CompanyName": "Google Inc.",
      "FileDescription": "Google Chrome",
      "InternalName": "chrome_exe",
      "LegalCopyright": "Copyright 2017 Google Inc. All rights reserved.",
      "OriginalFilename": "chrome.exe",
      "ProductName": "Google Chrome",
      "ProductVersion": "68.0.3436.0",
      "CompanyShortName": "Google",
      "ProductShortName": "Chrome",
      "LastChange": "e0f81fe637f233bf12e821915b72bc8d2194c3f2-refs/branch-heads/3436@{#1}",
      "Official Build": "1"
    },
    "uninstall": {
      "path": "C:\\Users\\vweevers\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome SxS\\Application\\68.0.3436.0\\Installer\\setup.exe",
      "arguments": [
        "--uninstall",
        "--chrome-sxs"
      ]
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "chrome",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe",
    "version": "66.0.3359.181",
    "channel": "stable",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "bitness": 64,
    "guid": "8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "66.0.3359.181",
      "CompanyName": "Google Inc.",
      "FileDescription": "Google Chrome",
      "InternalName": "chrome_exe",
      "LegalCopyright": "Copyright 2017 Google Inc. All rights reserved.",
      "OriginalFilename": "chrome.exe",
      "ProductName": "Google Chrome",
      "ProductVersion": "66.0.3359.181",
      "CompanyShortName": "Google",
      "ProductShortName": "Chrome",
      "LastChange": "a10b9cedb40738cb152f8148ddab4891df876959-refs/branch-heads/3359@{#828}",
      "Official Build": "1"
    },
    "uninstall": {
      "path": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\66.0.3359.181\\Installer\\setup.exe",
      "arguments": [
        "--uninstall",
        "--system-level",
        "--verbose-logging"
      ]
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "opera",
    "path": "C:\\Program Files\\Opera beta\\Launcher.exe",
    "version": "53.0.2907.31",
    "channel": "beta",
    "arch": "amd64",
    "info": {
      "FileVersion": "53.0.2907.31",
      "LegalCopyright": "Copyright Opera Software 2018",
      "InternalName": "Opera",
      "CompanyName": "Opera Software",
      "ProductName": "Opera beta Internet Browser",
      "ProductVersion": "53.0.2907.31",
      "FileDescription": "Opera beta Internet Browser"
    }
  }
]

Install

With npm do:

npm install win-detect-browsers     # For API
npm install win-detect-browsers -g  # For CLI

Changelog

3.0.0

Changed

  • Move registry-js and win-version-info out of optionalDependencies. Both are safe to install on all platforms and export a noop on non-windows.
  • Update debug, resolve and yargs
  • Add standard

3.0.0-rc1

Changed

  • Error-first callback: cb(err, browsers) instead of cb(browsers)
  • Remove streams: with new metadata being discovered via multiple avenues, results have to be merged before we can emit something;
  • More than 2x faster by using native modules: registry-js to read the Windows Registry and win-version-info to read executable metadata. No longer spawns child processes.

Added

  • Add Node 6, 8, 9, 10
  • Add release channel for Chrome, Firefox and Opera
  • Add executable metadata and CPU type to all browsers
  • Support phantomjs-prebuilt (2.x) as well as phantomjs (1.x)
  • Detect Firefox ESR
  • Add Firefox Developer Edition default location;
  • Add Firefox Nightly default location.

Removed

  • Drop Node 0.10, 4, 5
  • Drop XP and Vista
  • Remove version option;
  • Remove lucky option.

2.0.0

  • Speed improvement (2-4x), because it uses a single cscript process to query the registry (replaces reg queries) and a single cscript process to get the version numbers (replaces wmic queries).
  • Exports a readable object stream, but 1.x callback style is still supported
  • Only emits executables (*.exe)
  • No longer uses command-line version flags or version numbers found in the registry or elsewhere. This simplifies the process and makes the version numbers consistent and more detailed.

Background

Browser detection on Windows can't be done right. This is the try-everything-and-fail-silently approach. It accounts for architecture differences, normalizes environment variables, tries default locations, searches the registry (in the HKLM and HKCU hives as well as WoW counterparts) (including Start Menu Internet Applications, Google Updater and more), and looks in PATH. Version numbers are then read from the executable metadata.

browser-launcher by substack has poor Windows support, and it prompted me to create this module. It is now used in browser-launcher2, an active a once active fork of browser-launcher.

License

MIT © 2014-present Vincent Weevers.