I know we can get the BIOS information using system.management assembly but the assembly is not accessible for windows 8 app. I specifically need to know the serial number of the laptop on which the app is running. Is there any way that I can access that ?
I don't think there is a way if you are developing a Windows Modern UI App.
Modern UI Apps get run in a sandbox environment which have very limited access to anything. Check MSDN documentations on that.
If you are developing a desktop Windows app on the other hand, then try the following code:
(You need to import System.Management.dll into your project.)
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Management;
namespace GetHardwareIds
{
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(#"C:\HardwareInfo.txt"))
{
using
(
ManagementObjectSearcher searcher =
// Where __Superclass Is Null: selects only top-level classes.
// remove it if you need a list of all classes
// new ManagementObjectSearcher("Select * From meta_class Where __Superclass Is Null")
// this query only select the processor info. for more options uncomment top line
new ManagementObjectSearcher("Select * From meta_class Where __Class = 'Win32_Processor'")
)
{
foreach (ManagementObject managementObject in searcher.Get())
{
Console.WriteLine(managementObject.Path.ClassName);
writer.WriteLine(managementObject.Path.ClassName);
GetManagementClassProperties(managementObject.Path.ClassName, writer);
managementObject.Dispose();
}
}
}
}
public static void GetManagementClassProperties(string path, StreamWriter writer)
{
using (ManagementClass managementClass = new ManagementClass(path))
{
foreach (ManagementObject instance in managementClass.GetInstances())
{
foreach (PropertyData property in instance.Properties)
{
Console.WriteLine(" {0} = {1}", property.Name, property.Value);
writer.WriteLine(" {0} = {1}", property.Name, property.Value);
}
instance.Dispose();
}
}
}
}
}
Check this code. I am not a 100% clear on what you are trying to achieve but this code should return the device ID specified by Win8 (this code includes a concatenation of all ids.)
// get hardware token
HardwareToken token = HardwareIdentification.GetPackageSpecificToken(null);
// get hardware ID bytes
byte[] idBytes = hwToken.Id.ToArray();
// populate device ID as a string value
string deviceID = string.Join(",", idBytes);
Here is the link to MSDN articles about it:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj553431.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.system.profile.hardwareidentification.getpackagespecifictoken.aspxThere is an entry for BIOS in the return structure based on these articles.
Hopefully, this does what you need. Let me know if it worked :)
Unfortunately the information you want to obtain is not available to WinRT applications.
Is there a way to detect whether there is an antivirus software installed in a machine using C#? I know the Security Center detects antivirus software but how can you detect that in C#?And how to turn it off and on in C#?
How to detect it: See the following question: Detect Antivirus on Windows using C#
How to turn it off and on: As far as I know, there is no simple, common way to turn off anti-virus software. And that's a good thing! Turning off anti-virus software should always be a conscious choice of the user (or the administrator in a corporate environment) and not be something that can be done easily by a third-party product.
To return AntiVirus name as string:
public static string Antivirus()
{
try
{
string firewallName = string.Empty;
// starting with Windows Vista we must use the root\SecurityCenter2 namespace
using (ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher(#"\\" + Environment.MachineName + #"\root\SecurityCenter2", "Select * from AntivirusProduct"))
{
foreach (ManagementObject mObject in searcher.Get())
{
firewallName += mObject["displayName"].ToString() + "; ";
}
}
firewallName = RemoveLastChars(firewallName);
return (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(firewallName)) ? firewallName : "N/A";
}
catch
{
return "Unknown";
}
}
public static string RemoveLastChars(string input, int amount = 2)
{
if (input.Length > amount)
input = input.Remove(input.Length - amount);
return input;
}
For a programming project I would like to access the temperature readings from my CPU and GPUs. I will be using C#. From various forums I get the impression that there is specific information and developer resources you need in order to access that information for various boards. I have a MSI NF750-G55 board. MSI's website does not have any of the information I am looking for. I tried their tech support and the rep I spoke with stated they do not have any such information. There must be a way to obtain that info.
Any thoughts?
For at least the CPU side of things, you could use WMI.
The namespace\object is root\WMI, MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature
Sample Code:
ManagementObjectSearcher searcher =
new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\WMI",
"SELECT * FROM MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature");
ManagementObjectCollection collection =
searcher.Get();
foreach(ManagementBaseObject tempObject in collection)
{
Console.WriteLine(tempObject["CurrentTemperature"].ToString());
}
That will give you the temperature in a raw format. You have to convert from there:
kelvin = raw / 10;
celsius = (raw / 10) - 273.15;
fahrenheit = ((raw / 10) - 273.15) * 9 / 5 + 32;
The best way to go for hardware related coding on windows is by using WMI which is a Code Creator tool from Microsoft, the tool will create the code for you based on what you are looking for in hardware related data and what .Net language you want to use.
The supported langauges currently are: C#, Visual Basic, VB Script.
Note that MSAcpi_ThermalZoneTemperature does not give you the temperature of the CPU but rather the temperature of the motherboard. Also, note that most motherboards do not implement this via WMI.
You can give the Open Hardware Monitor a go, although it lacks support for the latest processors.
internal sealed class CpuTemperatureReader : IDisposable
{
private readonly Computer _computer;
public CpuTemperatureReader()
{
_computer = new Computer { CPUEnabled = true };
_computer.Open();
}
public IReadOnlyDictionary<string, float> GetTemperaturesInCelsius()
{
var coreAndTemperature = new Dictionary<string, float>();
foreach (var hardware in _computer.Hardware)
{
hardware.Update(); //use hardware.Name to get CPU model
foreach (var sensor in hardware.Sensors)
{
if (sensor.SensorType == SensorType.Temperature && sensor.Value.HasValue)
coreAndTemperature.Add(sensor.Name, sensor.Value.Value);
}
}
return coreAndTemperature;
}
public void Dispose()
{
try
{
_computer.Close();
}
catch (Exception)
{
//ignore closing errors
}
}
}
Download the zip from the official source, extract and add a reference to OpenHardwareMonitorLib.dll in your project.
How to get the applications installed in the system using c# code?
Iterating through the registry key "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" seems to give a comprehensive list of installed applications.
Aside from the example below, you can find a similar version to what I've done here.
This is a rough example, you'll probaby want to do something to strip out blank rows like in the 2nd link provided.
string registry_key = #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
using(Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(registry_key))
{
foreach(string subkey_name in key.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using(RegistryKey subkey = key.OpenSubKey(subkey_name))
{
Console.WriteLine(subkey.GetValue("DisplayName"));
}
}
}
Alternatively, you can use WMI as has been mentioned:
ManagementObjectSearcher mos = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");
foreach(ManagementObject mo in mos.Get())
{
Console.WriteLine(mo["Name"]);
}
But this is rather slower to execute, and I've heard it may only list programs installed under "ALLUSERS", though that may be incorrect. It also ignores the Windows components & updates, which may be handy for you.
I wanted to be able to extract a list of apps just as they appear in the start menu. Using the registry, I was getting entries that do not show up in the start menu.
I also wanted to find the exe path and to extract an icon to eventually make a nice looking launcher. Unfortunately, with the registry method this is kind of a hit and miss since my observations are that this information isn't reliably available.
My alternative is based around the shell:AppsFolder which you can access by running explorer.exe shell:appsFolder and which lists all apps, including store apps, currently installed and available through the start menu. The issue is that this is a virtual folder that can't be accessed with System.IO.Directory. Instead, you would have to use native shell32 commands. Fortunately, Microsoft published the Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack-Shell on Nuget which is a wrapper for the aforementioned commands. Enough said, here's the code:
// GUID taken from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/knownfolderid
var FOLDERID_AppsFolder = new Guid("{1e87508d-89c2-42f0-8a7e-645a0f50ca58}");
ShellObject appsFolder = (ShellObject)KnownFolderHelper.FromKnownFolderId(FOLDERID_AppsFolder);
foreach (var app in (IKnownFolder)appsFolder)
{
// The friendly app name
string name = app.Name;
// The ParsingName property is the AppUserModelID
string appUserModelID = app.ParsingName; // or app.Properties.System.AppUserModel.ID
// You can even get the Jumbo icon in one shot
ImageSource icon = app.Thumbnail.ExtraLargeBitmapSource;
}
And that's all there is to it. You can also start the apps using
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("explorer.exe", #" shell:appsFolder\" + appModelUserID);
This works for regular Win32 apps and UWP store apps. How about them apples.
Since you are interested in listing all installed apps, it is reasonable to expect that you might want to monitor for new apps or uninstalled apps as well, which you can do using the ShellObjectWatcher:
ShellObjectWatcher sow = new ShellObjectWatcher(appsFolder, false);
sow.AllEvents += (s, e) => DoWhatever();
sow.Start();
Edit: One might also be interested in knowing that the AppUserMoedlID mentioned above is the unique ID Windows uses to group windows in the taskbar.
2022: Tested in Windows 11 and still works great. Windows 11 also seems to cache apps that aren't installed per se, portable apps that don't need installing, for example. They appear in the start menu search results and can also be retrieved from shell:appsFolder as well.
I agree that enumerating through the registry key is the best way.
Note, however, that the key given, #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall", will list all applications in a 32-bit Windows installation, and 64-bit applications in a Windows 64-bit installation.
In order to also see 32-bit applications installed on a Windows 64-bit installation, you would also need to enumeration the key #"SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall".
You can take a look at this article. It makes use of registry to read the list of installed applications.
public void GetInstalledApps()
{
string uninstallKey = #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
using (RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(uninstallKey))
{
foreach (string skName in rk.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using (RegistryKey sk = rk.OpenSubKey(skName))
{
try
{
lstInstalled.Items.Add(sk.GetValue("DisplayName"));
}
catch (Exception ex)
{ }
}
}
}
}
While the accepted solution works, it is not complete. By far.
If you want to get all the keys, you need to take into consideration 2 more things:
x86 & x64 applications do not have access to the same registry.
Basically x86 cannot normally access x64 registry. And some
applications only register to the x64 registry.
and
some applications actually install into the CurrentUser registry instead of the LocalMachine
With that in mind, I managed to get ALL installed applications using the following code, WITHOUT using WMI
Here is the code:
List<string> installs = new List<string>();
List<string> keys = new List<string>() {
#"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall",
#"SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"
};
// The RegistryView.Registry64 forces the application to open the registry as x64 even if the application is compiled as x86
FindInstalls(RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry64), keys, installs);
FindInstalls(RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.CurrentUser, RegistryView.Registry64), keys, installs);
installs = installs.Where(s => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(s)).Distinct().ToList();
installs.Sort(); // The list of ALL installed applications
private void FindInstalls(RegistryKey regKey, List<string> keys, List<string> installed)
{
foreach (string key in keys)
{
using (RegistryKey rk = regKey.OpenSubKey(key))
{
if (rk == null)
{
continue;
}
foreach (string skName in rk.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using (RegistryKey sk = rk.OpenSubKey(skName))
{
try
{
installed.Add(Convert.ToString(sk.GetValue("DisplayName")));
}
catch (Exception ex)
{ }
}
}
}
}
}
it's worth noting that the Win32_Product WMI class represents products as they are installed by Windows Installer. not every application use windows installer
however "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" represents applications for 32 bit. For 64 bit you also need to traverse "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" and since not every software has a 64 bit version the total applications installed are a union of keys on both locations that have "UninstallString" Value with them.
but the best options remains the same .traverse registry keys is a better approach since every application have an entry in registry[including the ones in Windows Installer].however the registry method is insecure as if anyone removes the corresponding key then you will not know the Application entry.On the contrary Altering the HKEY_Classes_ROOT\Installers is more tricky as it is linked with licensing issues such as Microsoft office or other products.
for more robust solution you can always combine registry alternative with the WMI.
string[] registryKeys = new string[] {
#"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall",
#"SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" };
public class InstalledApp
{
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public string DisplayIcon { get; set; }
public string Version { get; set; }
public string InstallLocation { get; set; }
}
private void AddInstalledAppToResultView(RegistryHive hive, RegistryView view, string registryKey,Dictionary<string,InstalledApp> resultView)
{
using (var key = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(hive, view).OpenSubKey(registryKey))
{
foreach (string subKeyName in key.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using (RegistryKey subkey = key.OpenSubKey(subKeyName))
{
var displayName = subkey.GetValue("DisplayName");
var displayIcon = subkey.GetValue("DisplayIcon");
if (displayName == null || displayIcon == null)
continue;
var app = new InstalledApp
{
DisplayName = (string)displayName,
DisplayIcon = (string)displayIcon,
InstallLocation = (string)subkey.GetValue("InstallLocation"),
Version = (string)subkey.GetValue("DisplayVersion")
};
if(!resultView.ContainsKey(app.DisplayName))
{
resultView.Add(app.DisplayName,app);
}
}
}
}
}
void Main()
{
var result = new Dictionary<string,InstalledApp>();
var view = Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem ? RegistryView.Registry64 : RegistryView.Registry32;
AddInstalledAppToResultView(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, view, registryKeys[0],result);
AddInstalledAppToResultView(RegistryHive.CurrentUser, view, registryKeys[0],result);
AddInstalledAppToResultView(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry64, registryKeys[1],result);
Console.WriteLine("==============" + result.Count + "=================");
result.Values.ToList().ForEach(item => Console.WriteLine(item));
}
Iterate through "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" keys and check their "DisplayName" values.
Use Windows Installer API!
It allows to make reliable enumeration of all programs. Registry is not reliable, but WMI is heavyweight.
The object for the list:
public class InstalledProgram
{
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public string Version { get; set; }
public string InstalledDate { get; set; }
public string Publisher { get; set; }
public string UnninstallCommand { get; set; }
public string ModifyPath { get; set; }
}
The call for creating the list:
List<InstalledProgram> installedprograms = new List<InstalledProgram>();
string registry_key = #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
using (RegistryKey key = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(registry_key))
{
foreach (string subkey_name in key.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using (RegistryKey subkey = key.OpenSubKey(subkey_name))
{
if (subkey.GetValue("DisplayName") != null)
{
installedprograms.Add(new InstalledProgram
{
DisplayName = (string)subkey.GetValue("DisplayName"),
Version = (string)subkey.GetValue("DisplayVersion"),
InstalledDate = (string)subkey.GetValue("InstallDate"),
Publisher = (string)subkey.GetValue("Publisher"),
UnninstallCommand = (string)subkey.GetValue("UninstallString"),
ModifyPath = (string)subkey.GetValue("ModifyPath")
});
}
}
}
}
As others have pointed out, the accepted answer does not return both x86 and x64 installs. Below is my solution for that. It creates a StringBuilder, appends the registry values to it (with formatting), and writes its output to a text file:
const string FORMAT = "{0,-100} {1,-20} {2,-30} {3,-8}\n";
private void LogInstalledSoftware()
{
var line = string.Format(FORMAT, "DisplayName", "Version", "Publisher", "InstallDate");
line += string.Format(FORMAT, "-----------", "-------", "---------", "-----------");
var sb = new StringBuilder(line, 100000);
ReadRegistryUninstall(ref sb, RegistryView.Registry32);
sb.Append($"\n[64 bit section]\n\n{line}");
ReadRegistryUninstall(ref sb, RegistryView.Registry64);
File.WriteAllText(#"c:\temp\log.txt", sb.ToString());
}
private static void ReadRegistryUninstall(ref StringBuilder sb, RegistryView view)
{
const string REGISTRY_KEY = #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
using var baseKey = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, view);
using var subKey = baseKey.OpenSubKey(REGISTRY_KEY);
foreach (string subkey_name in subKey.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using RegistryKey key = subKey.OpenSubKey(subkey_name);
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(key.GetValue("DisplayName") as string))
{
var line = string.Format(FORMAT,
key.GetValue("DisplayName"),
key.GetValue("DisplayVersion"),
key.GetValue("Publisher"),
key.GetValue("InstallDate"));
sb.Append(line);
}
key.Close();
}
subKey.Close();
baseKey.Close();
}
Your best bet is to use WMI. Specifically the Win32_Product class.
Might I suggest you take a look at WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).
If you add the System.Management reference to your C# project, you'll gain access to the class `ManagementObjectSearcher', which you will probably find useful.
There are various WMI Classes for Installed Applications, but if it was installed with Windows Installer, then the Win32_Product class is probably best suited to you.
ManagementObjectSearcher s = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");
I used Nicks approach - I needed to check whether the Remote Tools for Visual Studio are installed or not, it seems a bit slow, but in a seperate thread this is fine for me. - here my extended code:
private bool isRdInstalled() {
ManagementObjectSearcher p = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Product");
foreach (ManagementObject program in p.Get()) {
if (program != null && program.GetPropertyValue("Name") != null && program.GetPropertyValue("Name").ToString().Contains("Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Remote Debugger")) {
return true;
}
if (program != null && program.GetPropertyValue("Name") != null) {
Trace.WriteLine(program.GetPropertyValue("Name"));
}
}
return false;
}
My requirement is to check if specific software is installed in my system. This solution works as expected. It might help you. I used a windows application in c# with visual studio 2015.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
object line;
string softwareinstallpath = string.Empty;
string registry_key = #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall";
using (var baseKey = Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry64))
{
using (var key = baseKey.OpenSubKey(registry_key))
{
foreach (string subkey_name in key.GetSubKeyNames())
{
using (var subKey = key.OpenSubKey(subkey_name))
{
line = subKey.GetValue("DisplayName");
if (line != null && (line.ToString().ToUpper().Contains("SPARK")))
{
softwareinstallpath = subKey.GetValue("InstallLocation").ToString();
listBox1.Items.Add(subKey.GetValue("InstallLocation"));
break;
}
}
}
}
}
if(softwareinstallpath.Equals(string.Empty))
{
MessageBox.Show("The Mirth connect software not installed in this system.")
}
string targetPath = softwareinstallpath + #"\custom-lib\";
string[] files = System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(#"D:\BaseFiles");
// Copy the files and overwrite destination files if they already exist.
foreach (var item in files)
{
string srcfilepath = item;
string fileName = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(item);
System.IO.File.Copy(srcfilepath, targetPath + fileName, true);
}
return;
}
I need to find a way to check if an Active Directory UserAccount has his account locked or not.
I've tried userAccountControl property in a Windows 2000 AD but that property does not change a byte when I force an account to get locked (by trying to log on to a workstation providing the wrong password for that specific user) And I can tell by using ADExplorer.exe utility made by semi-god -> Mr. Russinovich
I've seen that in the 3.5 Framework they use the method .InvokeGet("userLockedOut"); but I'm trying to do this in a Enterprise Application that was written in .Net Framework 1.1 and there's no chance of using newer ones (just if you thought of suggesting so).
Here is a link with all the info on Active Directory stuff...
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/everythingInAD.aspx
Found this, it is a little more than I have done in the past (can't find exact snippets) though the key is doing a directory search and limiting based on the lockouttime for your user(s) that are returned. Additionally for a particular user, you can limit your search further using additional properties. The codeproject link above has that particular logic (for search limiting) I believe.
class Lockout : IDisposable
{
DirectoryContext context;
DirectoryEntry root;
DomainPolicy policy;
public Lockout(string domainName)
{
this.context = new DirectoryContext(
DirectoryContextType.Domain,
domainName
);
//get our current domain policy
Domain domain = Domain.GetDomain(this.context);
this.root = domain.GetDirectoryEntry();
this.policy = new DomainPolicy(this.root);
}
public void FindLockedAccounts()
{
//default for when accounts stay locked indefinitely
string qry = "(lockoutTime>=1)";
TimeSpan duration = this.policy.LockoutDuration;
if (duration != TimeSpan.MaxValue)
{
DateTime lockoutThreshold =
DateTime.Now.Subtract(duration);
qry = String.Format(
"(lockoutTime>={0})",
lockoutThreshold.ToFileTime()
);
}
DirectorySearcher ds = new DirectorySearcher(
this.root,
qry
);
using (SearchResultCollection src = ds.FindAll())
{
foreach (SearchResult sr in src)
{
long ticks =
(long)sr.Properties["lockoutTime"][0];
Console.WriteLine(
"{0} locked out at {1}",
sr.Properties["name"][0],
DateTime.FromFileTime(ticks)
);
}
}
}
public void Dispose()
{
if (this.root != null)
{
this.root.Dispose();
}
}
}
Code was pulled from this post: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/csharpgeneral/thread/5e0fadc2-f27b-48f6-a6ac-644e12256c67/
After seeing the .NET 1.1, check this thread out: http://forums.asp.net/t/434077.aspx, using the lockouttime in the filter should still do the trick.
Specifically in the thread (after the larger code post which provides alot of the syntax):
(&(objectClass=user)(objectCategory=person)(lockoutTime>=1));
One other thing, it turns out that if you are using .NET v.1.1, then S.DS converts the Integer8 to the long integer correctly for you (does not work with 1.0) - which means you can do away with reflection code (in the post):
//use the filter from above
SearchResultCollection src = ds.FindAll();
foreach(SearchResult sr in src)
{
DateTime lockoutTime = DateTime.FromFileTime((long)sr.Properties["lockoutTime][0]);
Response.Output.Write("Locked Out on: {0}", lockoutTime.ToString());
}