Which is faster to get running processes WMI or System.Diagnostics.Process?

Question

I'm developing a small remote task manager application [server/client] on LAN using WCF service lib.

I need to know which way is faster to get processors information:

• getting processes info from System.Diagnostics?
• getting processes info from WMI?

I'm using the first options now, but if the application is x86, and the process is x64 then I can't access to Process.MainModule, so it forces me to create two versions of my application to get it work on any PC, x86 version and x64.

So if I used WMI would I face the same issue?

public void GetProcesses()
    {
        foreach (Process p in Process.GetProcesses())
        {
            try
            {
                InfoProcess process = new InfoProcess(p.Id, p.MainModule.ModuleName, p.MainModule.FileVersionInfo.FileDescription, p.WorkingSet / 1024);
                PrintProcess(process);
            }
            catch
            { }
        }
    }


public class InfoProcess
{
    public int Id;
    public string Name;
    public string Description;
    public int WorkingSet;
    public InfoProcess(int Id, string Name, string Desc, int WorkingSet)
    {
        this.Id = Id;
        this.Name = Name;
        this.Description = Desc;
        this.WorkingSet = WorkingSet;
    }
}

If WMI is better, I need a little help with properties names that gives me:

• Process.WorkingSet
• Process.MainModule.FileVersionInfo.FileDescription

Answer 1

I would expect WMI to be slower. There are some tricks that you can use to speed up WMI, but in general, performance is often poor.

In your situation I would simply build your app targeting AnyCPU. Then you have a single app that runs as x86 under a 32 bit OS and as x64 under a 64 bit OS. That way you can avoid WMI altogether.