Develop Reference

How do you determine which adapter is used?

I have a need to figure out which adapter is used when a connection is created. In other words, if I have multiple NIC cards (i.e. wireless, lan, etc) on my machine, which card is being used for the connection?
If anyone can point me in the right direction...

In C#
foreach(var nic in NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces.Where(n => n.OperationalStatus == OperationStatus.UP)
{
if(nic.GetIsNetworkAvailable())
{
//nic is attached to some form of network
}
}
VB .NET
ForEach nic in NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces.Where(Function(n) n.OperationalStatus = OperationStatus.UP)
If nic.GetIsNetworkAvailable() Then
//nic is attached to some form of network
End If
Next
This will only test active working Network Interfaces that are connected to an active network.

Why don't you use the MAC address?

Maybe you could map it by the MAC Address:
var nics = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();
foreach (var nic in nics)
{
if (nic.OperationalStatus == OperationalStatus.Up)
{
var mac = nic.GetPhysicalAddress().ToString();
if (mac == "your:connections:mac:address")
{
/* ... */
}
}
}
The "your:connections:mac:address" part you can figure out following this method, using the IP address of the LocalEndPoint.
How do I obtain the physical (MAC) address of an IP address using C#?
It's not beautiful, but it could work.

Get MAC Address when network adapter is disabled?

Is there any way i can retrieve MAC Address when Network Adapter is disabled in .net?
Thanks in advance,

It is not possible to get the MAC address of an adapter which is disabled: this is because getting the MAC address requires querying the driver, and the driver for a disabled adapter is not loaded (source).
You can, however get the MAC address of an adapter which is not currently connected.
The WMI route is no good here, because it shows the MAC address as null for adapters which are not connected. The good news is that the NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces() route works just fine:
// using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
var nics = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();
// pick your NIC!
var selectedNic = nics.First();
var macAddress = selectedNic.GetPhysicalAddress().ToString();

Refer this link.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.networkinformation.physicaladdress.aspx
The example here displays physical address of all interface irrespective of their operational stage. HTH.

You can use WMI:
public static string GetMACAddress()
{
ManagementClass mc = new ManagementClass("Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration");
ManagementObjectCollection moc = mc.GetInstances();
string MACAddress=String.Empty;
foreach(ManagementObject mo in moc)
{
if(MACAddress==String.Empty) // only return MAC Address from first card
{
MACAddress= mo["MacAddress"].ToString() ;
}
mo.Dispose();
}
return MACAddress;
}

Using MS PowerShell command get-NetAdapter one can get the disabled network adapter's MAC Address.
More info at get-NetAdapter

How can I find out a COM port number of a bluetooth device in c#?

My company developed a device that communicates with a PC via Bluetooth using a virtual COM port.
Now we need a user to pair a device with a PC (MS Windows OS) first and then enter it's com port number manually into our application(I bet 95% of users will fail on this taks).
So I'd like my application to present a user with a list of paired bluetooth devices (a list of their "friendly names") and after that I'd like to find out the selecded device's COM port number automatically.
How can I do it in c#? (a solution independent of installed bluetooth stack is appreciated).
Thanks in advance.

See my answer at Widcomm bluetooth : how to open the virtual COM for my understanding of the licence: using the binary version is free for commercial use. And, also that I'm maintainer of the library.
So a brief slight digression. I'm not a big fan of virtual COM ports. It always seems much easier to use a direct 'sockets' connection, rather than attempt to setup a COM port, and try to find what name it was created as (see below!), and then have to open a SerialPort to use it, and then if the connection is lost one doesn't know and have simply to keep retrying... With the library its so much easier to just to create and use that direct Bluetooth connection!
However you may want a solution to your current task at the moment. :-) So, use WMI to find the current COM ports in place and see if any of them are for your device. For example in PowerShell:
C:\> Get-WmiObject -query "select DeviceID,PNPDeviceID from Win32_SerialPort"
...
...
DeviceID : COM66
PNPDeviceID : BTHENUM\{00001101-0000-1000-8000-00805F9B34FB}\7&1D80ECD3&0&00803A686519_C00000003
In that big long string one sees the address of the target device: 00803A686519. One can use WMI from .NET, run that query, filter the ones with "BTHENUM", and then parse out the address.
If you the do need to create a new Bluetooth virtual COM port, use 32feet.NET's BluetoothDeviceInfo.SetServiceState(BluetoothService.SerialPort) API. See the "Bluetooth Serial Ports" section in the User Guide e.g. at http://www.alanjmcf.me.uk/comms/bluetooth/32feet.NET%20--%20User%20Guide.html, and the class documentation in the release.
Unfortunately the native Win32 API we call does not tell what name of COM port it created! :-( So run the WMI query before and after the call to see what new name appeared (or use System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.GetPortNames as its simpler).
That's all specific to the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. I haven't investigated how other stacks behave in this regard. After a brief check Widcomm's serial ports appear in SerialPort.GetPortNames but not in the WMI query...

First, create a Management Object Searcher to search the WMI database:
ManagementObjectSearcher serialSearcher =
new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\CIMV2",
"SELECT * FROM Win32_SerialPort");
Next, use LINQ to get all the serial ports into a query:
var query = from ManagementObject s in serialSearcher.Get()
select new { Name = s["Name"], DeviceID = s["DeviceID"], PNPDeviceID = s["PNPDeviceID"] }; // DeviceID -- > PNPDeviceID
You can now print all the COM ports, their friendly names and you can even filter through their PNPDeviceID's to find the bluetooth device address. Here's an example:
foreach (var port in query)
{
Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1}", port.DeviceID, port.Name);
var pnpDeviceId = port.PNPDeviceID.ToString();
if(pnpDeviceId.Contains("BTHENUM"))
{
var bluetoothDeviceAddress = pnpDeviceId.Split('&')[4].Split('_')[0];
if (bluetoothDeviceAddress.Length == 12 && bluetoothDeviceAddress != "000000000000")
{
Console.WriteLine(" - Address: {0}", bluetoothDeviceAddress);
}
}
}

I manage to get the bluetooth name and the COM port by fiddling the registry key
The pseudo code to obtain the bluetooth information is below:
enumerate all the COM port available in the PNP
obtain the device classGuid
search the bluetooth address from the classGuid
when the bluetooth address is known, the bluetooth name can be obtained from the this registry SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices
The code is below, just call the GetBluetoothPort(), it will return a list of bluetooth devices, and you could connect them by passing the COM port number to the SerialPort class
public static string[] GetBluetoothPort()
{
Regex regexPortName = new Regex(#"(COM\d+)");
List<string> portList = new List<string>();
ManagementObjectSearcher searchSerial = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_PnPEntity");
foreach (ManagementObject obj in searchSerial.Get()) {
string name = obj["Name"] as string;
string classGuid = obj["ClassGuid"] as string;
string deviceID = obj["DeviceID"] as string;
if (classGuid != null && deviceID != null) {
if (String.Equals(classGuid, "{4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}", StringComparison.InvariantCulture)) {
string[] tokens = deviceID.Split('&');
if (tokens.Length >= 4) {
string[] addressToken = tokens[4].Split('_');
string bluetoothAddress = addressToken[0];
Match m = regexPortName.Match(name);
string comPortNumber = "";
if (m.Success) {
comPortNumber = m.Groups[1].ToString();
}
if (Convert.ToUInt64(bluetoothAddress, 16) > 0) {
string bluetoothName = GetBluetoothRegistryName(bluetoothAddress);
portList.Add(String.Format("{0} {1} ({2})", bluetoothName, bluetoothAddress, comPortNumber));
}
}
}
}
}
return portList.ToArray();
}
private static string GetBluetoothRegistryName(string address)
{
string deviceName = "";
string registryPath = #"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BTHPORT\Parameters\Devices";
string devicePath = String.Format(#"{0}\{1}", registryPath, address);
using (RegistryKey key = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(devicePath)) {
if (key != null) {
Object o = key.GetValue("Name");
byte[] raw = o as byte[];
if (raw != null) {
deviceName = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(raw);
}
}
}
return deviceName;
}

Maybe it is not what you are looking for, and maybe you already found your answer...
I just found a question not exactly like yours but worked for me.. With this one you can find out which one of your COM Ports are from a Bluetooth device:
StackOverflow - Determine if serial port is normal COM or SPP
I hope it helps somehow. If you find out how to do what you wanted, please let me know. Thanks.

So, to get the information about a remote device including its name, using 32feet.NET do:
BluetoothAddress addr = ... ...
BluetoothDeviceInfo info = new BluetoothDeviceInfo(addr);
string name = info.DeviceName;
If not using the library you'll have to P/Invoke Win32's BluetoothGetDeviceInfo.

private static string FindSerialPortForRFIDReaderCore()
{
string serialPort = "";
List<string> ports = new List<string>();
System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher Searcher = new System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher("Select * from WIN32_SerialPort");
foreach (System.Management.ManagementObject Port in Searcher.Get())
{
if (Port["PNPDeviceID"].ToString().ToUpper().Contains("MacAddress"))
ports.Add(Port["DeviceID"].ToString());
}
if (ports.Count > 1) // There are more than one Serial Ports created for the bluetooth device.
serialPort = ports.OrderByDescending(p => p).FirstOrDefault();
else if(ports.Count == 1)
serialPort = ports[0];
return serialPort;
}

Get IP of my machine C# with virtual machine installed

I want to get the current IP address of the computer that has say 3 virtual machines (VM Ware) installed. I want to get LAN address of that computer.
current code that i have returns me an array but how to identify current computer lan address ?
public static string getThisCompIPAddress()
{
IPAddress[] addresslist = Dns.GetHostAddresses(Dns.GetHostName());
return (addresslist[0].ToString());
}
addresslist returns an array of 3 IP addresses

You could try the NetworkInterface class, and try to match the name or physical address of the LAN connection to find out the real one. Maybe searching within this class and it's members you can find something that suits your needs.
Here is a simple method to provide some usage info:
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
...
static void ViewNetworkInfo()
{
NetworkInterface[] networks = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces();
foreach (NetworkInterface nw in networks)
{
Console.WriteLine(nw.Name);
Console.WriteLine(nw.GetPhysicalAddress().ToString());
IPInterfaceProperties ipProps = nw.GetIPProperties();
foreach (UnicastIPAddressInformation ucip in ipProps.UnicastAddresses)
{
Console.WriteLine(ucip.Address.ToString());
}
Console.WriteLine();
}
Console.ReadKey();
}

I've tried all of the solutions above but couldn't get the ip from my "real" machine and not the virtual one. I've managed to use this to get the IP from my virtual machine:
IPAddress[] addresslist = Dns.GetHostAddresses(Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables("%CLIENTNAME%"));
The reason why I used it this way is that the function Dns.GetHostAddresses return the adresses of the given host, so if you use the Dns.GetHostName() function it will return the virtual-machine name and not the local machine, but using the name of the machine where you can find using the: Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables("%CLIENTNAME%") you can get the client name and not the virtual-machine name, this way you can get the real IP of your local machine.
I hope this helps.

public static ArrayList getThisCompIPAddress()
{
ArrayList strArrIpAdrs = new ArrayList();
ArrayList srtIPAdrsToReturn = new ArrayList();
addresslist = Dns.GetHostAddresses(Dns.GetHostName());
for (int i = 0; i < addresslist.Length; i++)
{
try
{
long ip = addresslist[i].Address;
strArrIpAdrs.Add(addresslist[i]);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
foreach (IPAddress ipad in strArrIpAdrs)
{
lastIndexOfDot = ipad.ToString().LastIndexOf('.');
substring = ipad.ToString().Substring(0, ++lastIndexOfDot);
if (!(srtIPAdrsToReturn.Contains(substring)) && !(substring.Equals("")))
{
srtIPAdrsToReturn.Add(substring);
}
}
return srtIPAdrsToReturn;
}
this is 100% working, the real problem was that it was throwing error while calculating Address that returns long. Error Code is 10045

How to get bluetooth mac address from local pc?

I want to get the mac address of the bluetooth device on the pc my application is running on.
I have tried the following:
private void GetMacAddress()
{
string macAddresses = "";
foreach (NetworkInterface nic in NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces())
{
if (nic.OperationalStatus == OperationalStatus.Up)
{
macAddresses += nic.GetPhysicalAddress().ToString();
Console.WriteLine(macAddresses);
}
}
}
But the output does not match with 'ipconfig /all' in commandprompt. It does not print my blueotths mac address.
Any solutions?
I am ready to parse the output I get from 'ipconfig /all' but how do I get the output as a String?

public static PhysicalAddress GetBTMacAddress() {
foreach (NetworkInterface nic in NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()) {
// Only consider Bluetooth network interfaces
if (nic.NetworkInterfaceType != NetworkInterfaceType.FastEthernetFx &&
nic.NetworkInterfaceType != NetworkInterfaceType.Wireless80211){
return nic.GetPhysicalAddress();
}
}
return null;
}

You can maybe use WMI to get the results. Herewith a link to a WMI solution that trails through the network devices.
I'm posting the code here in case the website is down, but all credit goes to the original author, PsychoCoder.
Use WMI to get MAC Address in C#
And the code:
//Namespace reference
using System.Management;
/// <summary>
/// Returns MAC Address from first Network Card in Computer
/// </summary>
/// <returns>MAC Address in string format</returns>
public string FindMACAddress()
{
//create out management class object using the
//Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration class to get the attributes
//af the network adapter
ManagementClass mgmt = new ManagementClass("Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration");
//create our ManagementObjectCollection to get the attributes with
ManagementObjectCollection objCol = mgmt.GetInstances();
string address = String.Empty;
//My modification to the code
var description = String.Empty;
//loop through all the objects we find
foreach (ManagementObject obj in objCol)
{
if (address == String.Empty) // only return MAC Address from first card
{
//grab the value from the first network adapter we find
//you can change the string to an array and get all
//network adapters found as well
if ((bool)obj["IPEnabled"] == true)
{
address = obj["MacAddress"].ToString();
description = obj["Description"].ToString();
}
}
//dispose of our object
obj.Dispose();
}
//replace the ":" with an empty space, this could also
//be removed if you wish
address = address.Replace(":", "");
//return the mac address
return address;
}
Be sure to include the reference to System.Management.
In order for you to get the network device name, you can use the obj["Description"].ToString();
You can also have a look at MSDN regarding WMI, specifically to the Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration Class
Hope this helps.