C# get a list of programs instatlled on a remote machine (Add/Remove Programs)?

whorsfall
whorsfall used Ask the Experts™
on
Hi,

I am looking at a good way I can interrogate remote machines to work out what software is installed
in Add/Remove programs via C#.

The issue is the various methods return different results.

Some people say don't use Win32_product. Some were saying this is bad for performance.

However the other methods don't seem to return the correct count.

Here are some interesting results....

Add/Remove control panel applet            - 108 programs installed

Now compare this to the various methods:

select * from win32_product                - 186 items.
select * from Win32reg_AddRemovePrograms   - 71 objects.
select * from Win32Reg_AddRemovePrograms64 - 71 objects.

So why is there such a variance - I would of thought they should be *exactly* the same if not
close.

What are other peoples thought on the best method?
Why such a variance?
If I don't mind a performance hit is there anything wrong with using Win32_product?

Thanks,

Ward.
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KimputerIT Manager

Commented:
Win32_product shows only MSI installer products. Software using their own installer won't show.
Try to list it with an internal process and capture the output of
wmic product list brief
whorsfall

Author

Commented:
Hi,

Thanks for your response.

Can you clarify what you mean when you say:

Try to list it with an internal process and capture the output of
 wmic product list brief

So are u saying I should be capturing the output of:
 wmic product list brief

Thanks,
Ward.
KimputerIT Manager

Commented:
Yes, in VB it's like this:

Dim p As ProcessStartInfo = New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("wmic", "product list brief")

You can probably easily translate this to C#, and then capture the output (each line is a software product, only the name)? That's all.
David Johnson, CD
Top Expert 2016
Commented:
select * from win32_product  is extremely slow because it does a consistency check of the installed .msi packages.
http://csi-windows.com/toolkit/288-win32product-wmi-class-replacement

Query the registry is lightning fast (example given is vb but it is simple to convert to c#
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/821775
IT Manager
Commented:
I would contend that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall is probably not sufficient in this current day and age.
Enumerate this as well (64 bits OS):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

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