How to detect Windows 64-bit platform with .NET?

Question

In a .NET 2.0 C# application I use the following code to detect the operating system platform:

string os_platform = System.Environment.OSVersion.Platform.ToS         


        

Answer 1

I need to do this, but I also need to be able as an admin do it remotely, either case this seems to work quite nicely for me:

    public static bool is64bit(String host)
    {
        using (var reg = RegistryKey.OpenRemoteBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, host))
        using (var key = reg.OpenSubKey(@"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\"))
        {
            return key.GetValue("ProgramFilesDir (x86)") !=null;
        }
    }

Answer 2

Microsoft has put a code sample for this:

http://1code.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/39074#842775

It looks like this:

    /// <summary>
    /// The function determines whether the current operating system is a 
    /// 64-bit operating system.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>
    /// The function returns true if the operating system is 64-bit; 
    /// otherwise, it returns false.
    /// </returns>
    public static bool Is64BitOperatingSystem()
    {
        if (IntPtr.Size == 8)  // 64-bit programs run only on Win64
        {
            return true;
        }
        else  // 32-bit programs run on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows
        {
            // Detect whether the current process is a 32-bit process 
            // running on a 64-bit system.
            bool flag;
            return ((DoesWin32MethodExist("kernel32.dll", "IsWow64Process") &&
                IsWow64Process(GetCurrentProcess(), out flag)) && flag);
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// The function determins whether a method exists in the export 
    /// table of a certain module.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="moduleName">The name of the module</param>
    /// <param name="methodName">The name of the method</param>
    /// <returns>
    /// The function returns true if the method specified by methodName 
    /// exists in the export table of the module specified by moduleName.
    /// </returns>
    static bool DoesWin32MethodExist(string moduleName, string methodName)
    {
        IntPtr moduleHandle = GetModuleHandle(moduleName);
        if (moduleHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            return false;
        }
        return (GetProcAddress(moduleHandle, methodName) != IntPtr.Zero);
    }

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    static extern IntPtr GetModuleHandle(string moduleName);

    [DllImport("kernel32", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    static extern IntPtr GetProcAddress(IntPtr hModule,
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)]string procName);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    static extern bool IsWow64Process(IntPtr hProcess, out bool wow64Process);

There is a WMI version available as well (for testing remote machines).

Answer 3

You can also check for the PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE environment variable.

It either doesn't exist or is set to "x86" on 32-bit Windows.

private int GetOSArchitecture()
{
    string pa = 
        Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE");
    return ((String.IsNullOrEmpty(pa) || 
             String.Compare(pa, 0, "x86", 0, 3, true) == 0) ? 32 : 64);
}

Answer 4

UPDATE: As Joel Coehoorn and others suggest, starting at .NET Framework 4.0, you can just check Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem.

---

IntPtr.Size won't return the correct value if running in 32-bit .NET Framework 2.0 on 64-bit Windows (it would return 32-bit).

As Microsoft's Raymond Chen describes, you have to first check if running in a 64-bit process (I think in .NET you can do so by checking IntPtr.Size), and if you are running in a 32-bit process, you still have to call the Win API function IsWow64Process. If this returns true, you are running in a 32-bit process on 64-bit Windows.

Microsoft's Raymond Chen: How to detect programmatically whether you are running on 64-bit Windows

My solution:

static bool is64BitProcess = (IntPtr.Size == 8);
static bool is64BitOperatingSystem = is64BitProcess || InternalCheckIsWow64();

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Winapi)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
private static extern bool IsWow64Process(
    [In] IntPtr hProcess,
    [Out] out bool wow64Process
);

public static bool InternalCheckIsWow64()
{
    if ((Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major == 5 && Environment.OSVersion.Version.Minor >= 1) ||
        Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6)
    {
        using (Process p = Process.GetCurrentProcess())
        {
            bool retVal;
            if (!IsWow64Process(p.Handle, out retVal))
            {
                return false;
            }
            return retVal;
        }
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

Answer 5

Use this to get the installed Windows architecture:

string getOSArchitecture()
{
    string architectureStr;
    if (Directory.Exists(Environment.GetFolderPath(
                           Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFilesX86))) {
        architectureStr ="64-bit";
    }
    else {
        architectureStr = "32-bit";
    }
    return architectureStr;
}

Answer 6

This is just an implementation of what's suggested above by Bruno Lopez, but works on Win2k + all WinXP service packs. Just figured I'd post it so other people didn't have roll it by hand. (would have posted as a comment, but I'm a new user!)

[DllImport("kernel32", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Winapi)]
public extern static IntPtr LoadLibrary(string libraryName);

[DllImport("kernel32", SetLastError = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Winapi)]
public extern static IntPtr GetProcAddress(IntPtr hwnd, string procedureName);

private delegate bool IsWow64ProcessDelegate([In] IntPtr handle, [Out] out bool isWow64Process);

public static bool IsOS64Bit()
{
    if (IntPtr.Size == 8 || (IntPtr.Size == 4 && Is32BitProcessOn64BitProcessor()))
    {
        return true;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

private static IsWow64ProcessDelegate GetIsWow64ProcessDelegate()
{
  IntPtr handle = LoadLibrary("kernel32");

  if ( handle != IntPtr.Zero)
  {
    IntPtr fnPtr = GetProcAddress(handle, "IsWow64Process");

    if (fnPtr != IntPtr.Zero)
    {
      return (IsWow64ProcessDelegate)Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer((IntPtr)fnPtr, typeof(IsWow64ProcessDelegate));
    }
  }

  return null;
}

private static bool Is32BitProcessOn64BitProcessor()
{
  IsWow64ProcessDelegate fnDelegate = GetIsWow64ProcessDelegate();

  if (fnDelegate == null)
  {
    return false;
  }

  bool isWow64;
  bool retVal = fnDelegate.Invoke(Process.GetCurrentProcess().Handle, out isWow64);

  if (retVal == false)
  {
    return false;
  }

  return isWow64;
}