From: https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-tell-what-version-of-Windows-is-installed-on-a-hard-drive-without-booting-it

windows version

Look in the ../Windows/System32 folder for a file called "ntoskrnl.exe". If this file exists, it is at least an NT based system. (I assume you are not looking for Win95 or earlier.)

Now do a properties and examine the details for a product version.

4.x: NT 4.x
5.0: Windows 2000
5.1: Windows XP
5.2: Windows 2003 Server or Windows XP-64-bit
6.0: Windows Vista
6.1: Windows 7
6.2; Windows 8
6.3: Windows 8.1

This does not however  tell you which flavor of those systems (Pro, Home, etc). 

On one deviceI see 6.2.9200 so I can assume this is a Windows 8 disk.

2:
Or, to make it even easier, you can open the file ../Windows/System32/license.rtf with Word pad. Guess what, it tells you EXACTLY what system is installed. On that same drive above, this file said "WINDOWS 8 PRO"

From: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2015/07/07/i-m-giving-away-millions-of-free-microsoft-ebooks-again-including-windows-10-windows-8-1-windows-8-windows-7-office-2013-office-365-sharepoint-2013-dynamics-crm-powershell-exchange-server-lync-2013-system-center-azure-clo.aspx

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From: http://books.google.com/books?id=cCPGh4ewKuEC&pg=PA285&lpg=PA285&dq=what+wsd+services+does+windows+7+advertise+-print&source=bl&ots=EIj-JNGBsn&sig=6t-EzIsUfwVn8vrMoX56hsyMcro&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hnk8VPyrBZSNNpK9gRg&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=what%20wsd%20services%20does%20windows%207%20advertise%20-print&f=false

  Web Services enable clients on noncorporate networksto locate resources such as shared folders and 
  printers on the network.

From: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/244d8984-be66-46ac-a732-d155dd16b38e/wsd-discovery-method

In Windows Server 2008, FDP (Function Discovery providers) uses various providers to enumerate discoverable resources. The built-in providers are NetBIOS, PnP, Registry, SSDP, WCN and WSD.

Provider Description NetBIOS provider The NetBIOS provider enumerates NetBIOS discoverable devices using the WNet functions. Plug and Play (PnP) provider The PnP provider constructs a function instance for each functional device object (FDO) installed on the system. The PnP provider also discovers network connected devices (NCD) that have been associated with the system through the PnP-X architecture. Registry provider The registry provider persists function instances based on resources registered through the system registry. SSDP provider The Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) provider provides Function Discovery with information regarding the presence of SSDP devices on the network. The SSDP provider discovers devices on the local subnet and, optionally, any other discoverable devices or local network resources. WS-Discovery (WSD) provider The Function Discovery WS-Discovery provider provides Function Discovery with information regarding the presence of Web services devices on the network. The WS-Discovery provider discovers devices across subnets. WCN provider The Windows Connect Now provider.

From: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=29887

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