BLOG.CSHARPHELPER.COM: Use WMI to get lots of information about the operating system in C#

Use WMI to get lots of information about the operating system in C#

When the program starts, it executes the query WMI "SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem." It loops through the results and calls subroutine GetValue for each of the many system parameters that should be available. The following code shows just a couple of the GetValue calls.

// Get and display OS properties.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    ManagementObjectSearcher os_searcher = 
        new ManagementObjectSearcher(
            "SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem");
    foreach (ManagementObject mobj in os_searcher.Get())
    {
        GetValue(mobj, "BootDevice");
        GetValue(mobj, "BuildNumber");
        GetValue(mobj, "BuildType");
        GetValue(mobj, "Caption");
        ...
    // Auto-size the columns.
    foreach (ColumnHeader col in lvwResults.Columns)
    {
        col.Width = -2;
    }
}

The code first creates a ManagementObjectSearcher to execute the query. (To use this class, add a Reference to System.Management and add a using statement for System.Management.)

Next the code loops through the returned ManagementObjects (there should be only one) and calls the GetValue method to get a bunch of values from the ManagementObject.

The following code shows the GetValue method.

// Get a value from the ManagementObject.
private void GetValue(ManagementObject mobj, string property_name)
{
    string value;
    try
    {
        value = mobj[property_name].ToString();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        value = "*** Error: " + ex.Message;
    }

    lvwResults.Items.Add(property_name).SubItems.Add(value);
}

This method uses the property's name as a ManagementObject index. It converts the property into a string (if possible) and adds the name and its value to the program's ListView control.

This example fetches these properties: