i have an options dialog that starts up before the actual program starts. the option dialog has a details dialog that shows information such as GL_VENDOR, GL_RENDERER, etc. however, when i try to get the requested information, it cannot be found. if i have a dummy dialog that performs the exact same thing with the exception that it is invoked after the program starts, it can find the relevant information. my question is: do you have to create a working window with opengl already running to get this information, or can you just call glGetString regardless if opengl is set up or not?

You need to have an OpenGL context before any of the GL calls will work.