Question : How to determine Windows Version installed on a non-booting hard drive

I often have a need to determine exactly which version of Windows is installed on a specific hard drive that will not boot.  Slaving the drive to my bench computer, I know you can view the prodspec.ini file to determine if it was XP home, meadia or Pro but what about which service pack was installed or if Internet Explorer has been updated to IE7 or IE8.  I am primarily interested in Windows XP but if there is an easy method that will work for all verisons that would be great as well.

Answer : How to determine Windows Version installed on a non-booting hard drive

Go to the Windows/Winnt folder, right click any of the executables like notepad.exe or regedit.exe, go to its 'Properties'-> 'Version' tab and then click on Files Version, you will see the version of windows, Service pack and build information..