SoFunction
Updated on 2025-03-07

C# How to list all physical network adapters

This article describes how C# lists all physical network adapters. Share it for your reference. The details are as follows:

using System;
using ;
using ;
using ;
using ;
using ;
namespace RobvanderWoude
{
 class ListNICs
 {
  public static ArrayList nics = new ArrayList( );
  public static string computer = ;
  // Use global variables, so we only need to run the WMI queries once
  public static string nsrootwmi = computer + "root\\WMI";
  public static string nsrootcimv2 = computer + "root\\CIMV2";
  public static ManagementObjectSearcher searcher1 = new ManagementObjectSearcher( nsrootwmi, "SELECT * FROM MSNdis_PhysicalMediumType" );
  public static ManagementObjectCollection wmi1 = ( );
  public static ManagementObjectSearcher searcher2 = new ManagementObjectSearcher( nsrootcimv2, "SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapter" );
  public static ManagementObjectCollection wmi2 = ( );
  public static ManagementObjectSearcher searcher3 = new ManagementObjectSearcher( nsrootwmi, "SELECT * FROM MSNdis_LinkSpeed" );
  public static ManagementObjectCollection wmi3 = ( );
  static int Main( string[] args )
  {
   try
   {
    bool listBluetooth = true;
    bool listWired = true;
    bool listWireless = true;
    #region Command line parsing
    // Only 2 optional argument allowed: remote computer name and/or adapter type
    if (  > 2 )
    {
     return WriteError( "Invalid command line arguments" );
    }
    if (  > 0 )
    {
     foreach ( string arg in args )
     {
      // We'll display a 'friendly' message if help was requested
      if ( ( "/" ) || ( "-" ) )
      {
       switch ( ( ) )
       {
        case "/?":
        case "-?":
         return WriteError(  );
        case "/B":
        case "/BLUETOOTH":
         if ( ( listBluetooth && listWired && listWireless ) == false )
         {
          return WriteError( "Select a single adapter type only, or omit type to select all" );
         }
         listWired = false;
         listWireless = false;
         break;
        case "/W":
        case "/WIRED":
         if ( ( listBluetooth && listWired && listWireless ) == false )
         {
          return WriteError( "Select a single adapter type only, or omit type to select all" );
         }
         listBluetooth = false;
         listWireless = false;
         break;
        case "/WL":
        case "/WIFI":
        case "/WIRELESS":
         if ( ( listBluetooth && listWired && listWireless ) == false )
         {
          return WriteError( "Select a single adapter type only, or omit type to select all" );
         }
         listBluetooth = false;
         listWired = false;
         break;
        default:
         return WriteError( "Invalid command line argument" );
       }
      }
      else
      {
       if ( !( computer ) )
       {
        return WriteError( "Do not specify more than one computer name" );
       }
       computer = "\\\\" + arg + "\\";
      }
     }
    }
    #endregion Command line parsing
    foreach ( ManagementObject queryObj1 in wmi1 )
    {
     if ( queryObj1["NdisPhysicalMediumType"].ToString( ) == "10" )
     {
      if ( listBluetooth )
      {
       AddAdapter( queryObj1["InstanceName"].ToString( ), "Bluetooth" );
      }
     }
     if ( queryObj1["NdisPhysicalMediumType"].ToString( ) == "0" )
     {
      if ( listWired )
      {
       AddAdapter( queryObj1["InstanceName"].ToString( ), "Wired" );
      }
     }
     if ( queryObj1["NdisPhysicalMediumType"].ToString( ) == "1" )
     {
      if ( listWireless )
      {
       AddAdapter( queryObj1["InstanceName"].ToString( ), "Wireless" );
      }
     }
    }
    ( );
    foreach ( string nic in nics )
    {
     ( nic );
    }
    return 0;
   }
   catch ( Exception e )
   {
    return WriteError( e );
   }
  }
  public static void AddAdapter( string name, string type )
  {
   foreach ( ManagementObject queryObj2 in wmi2 )
   {
    if ( ( queryObj2["Name"].ToString( ) == name ) && ( queryObj2["PhysicalAdapter"] ) )
    {
     foreach ( ManagementObject queryObj3 in wmi3 )
     {
      if ( queryObj3["InstanceName"].ToString( ) == name )
      {
       ( ( "{0,6}", Convert.ToInt32( queryObj3["NdisLinkSpeed"] ) / 10000 ) + " Mb/s\t" + ( "{0,-11}", "[" + type + "]" ) + "\t" + name );
      }
     }
    }
   }
  }
  #region Error handling
  public static int WriteError( Exception e )
  {
   return WriteError( e == null ? null :  );
  }
  public static int WriteError( string errorMessage )
  {
   if ( ( errorMessage ) == false )
   {
    ( );
     = ;
    ( "ERROR: " );
     = ;
    ( errorMessage );
    ( );
   }
   ( );
   ( "ListNICs, Version 1.00" );
   ( "List physical network adapters on the specified computer" );
   ( );
   ( "Usage: " );
    = ;
   ( "LISTNICS" );
   ( );
   ( " [ computername ] [ " );
    = ;
   ( "/B" );
   ( );
   ( "luetooth | " );
    = ;
   ( "/W" );
   ( );
   ( "ired | " );
    = ;
   ( "/W" );
   ( );
   ( "ire" );
    = ;
   ( "L" );
   ( );
   ( "ess ]" );
   ( );
   ( "Where: \"computername\" is a remote computer name (default: this computer)" );
    = ;
   ( "  /B" );
   ( );
   ( "luetooth or " );
    = ;
   ( "/B" );
   ( );
   ( " list Bluetooth adapters only (default: all)" );
    = ;
   ( "  /W" );
   ( );
   ( "ired  or " );
    = ;
   ( "/W" );
   ( );
   ( " list wired adapters only  (default: all)" );
    = ;
   ( "  /W" );
   ( );
   ( "ire" );
    = ;
   ( "L" );
   ( );
   ( "ess or " );
    = ;
   ( "/WL" );
   ( );
   ( " list wireless adapters only (default: all)" );
   ( );
   ( "Written by Rob van der Woude" );
   return 1;
  }
  #endregion Error handling
 }
}

I hope this article will be helpful to everyone's C# programming.