Using WMI to retrieve processor information in C#

• Download WMI_ProcessorInformation.zip - 60.03 KB
• Download WMI_ProcessorInformationWrapper.zip - 901 B

Introduction

This article demonstrates how to use WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) in C#, to retrieve several types of information about the processor, such as the CPU clock speed, Voltage, Manufacturer, and other properties. Included in the first .zip is the executable polls your system for all the implemented properties. The bench-marker looks like this:

Background

It seems that WMI is an unknown concept to many beginners and maybe it intimidates the somewhat more advanced ones. On the MSDN forums there are several questions on how to get CPU/Harddrive information. In this article I will demonstrate how to get a handful of CPU related properties, beginning on what hopefully will become a series of WMI articles/wrappers in the near future.

Using the Code

To use the wrapper, download the .cs file and place it in your application's solution folder: WMI_ProcessorInformationWrapper.zip - 901 B.

Next add a using reference to the namespace:

using WMI_ProcessorInformation;

the last step is to call one of the static methods like this:

public static string GetCpuManufacturer()
{
    try
    {
        ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\CIMV2",
            "SELECT * FROM Win32_Processor");
        foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in searcher.Get())
        {
            return queryObj["Manufacturer"].ToString();
        }
    }

    catch (Exception e)
    {
        return null;
    }

    return null;
}        

Future Wrappers

WMI is very powerfull and can be used to get the properties of many different system components such as:

Harddrive (total space, space remaining)

Battery (on a laptop)

Screensavers (executable path, timeout )

Wallpaper (image display mode, path to image)

hardware refridgeration!(fan RPM,etc),

User Account (User name, User's time zone)

Do you have any specific WMI wrapper you would like to see for C#? If so just drop a comment at this article and I'll try to get it written!

P.S. As this is my first article please cut me at least a little slack, but I am NOT opposed to constructive critisism and we'll have an article version at 2.5 before you know it.

History

V 0.9 ~Initial release.