Is there a way to find the complete OS version from the OS itself (ie without hooking up to the debug port)?
In control panel under System, on the General tab I see Microsoft Windows CE .NET Version 4.20
I am interested in further detail, ie 4.20.5 or 4.20.12, is there a way to get to this through the touch screen? Is this information available somewhere in the registry?
Sure. The version displayed on the debug port at boot is pulled from the system registry. You can pull it up yourself with the registry editor or programmatically. They key is stored as follows:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Platform\product_name] "ADSCEVersion"="v.vv.bb product_build model_registry type" ; ; where v.vv is the Microsoft kernel release and bb is the ADS build number. ; ; e.g. ; [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\PlatformGCX] "ADSCEVersion"="4.20.12 GCX_PRO_HIVE"
We are moving to a new convention with ADSCEVersion where the product name is removed from the key. This will allow software to search a common key regardless of platform.