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c# Windows 10 virtual keyboard issues

I have developed a c# code snippet to determine if the virtual (on-screen) keyboard was showing or not.
The code below worked fine in Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, but in Windows 10, the IsKeyboardVisible always returns true...
public static bool IsKeyboardVisible() {
Process keyboardProc;
UInt32 WS_DISABLED = 0x8000000;
UInt32 WS_VISIBLE = 0X94000000;
int GWL_STYLE = -16;
IntPtr keyboardHandle = GetKeyboardWindowHandle();
bool visible = false;
if (keyboardHandle != IntPtr.Zero) {
UInt32 style = GetWindowLong(keyboardHandle, GWL_STYLE);
// in Win10, this always returns "true", i.e. WS_DISABLED is
//
//visible = ((style & WS_DISABLED) != WS_DISABLED);
// UPDATE: I found this code helping here
visible = (style == WS_VISIBLE);
}
return visible;
}
I used a tutorial on SO, but it's a while ago so sorry for not crediting the author.
Does anyone know about a working code snippet for all recent Windows versions, so I don't have to check the actual OS to switch on the version...?
UPDATE
I found the original post here, which allowed me to correct the code. So now my problem is the same old Win10 issue - I can't show the virtual keyboard using
string progFiles = #"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ink";
string keyboardPath = Path.Combine(progFiles, "TabTip.exe");
keyboardProc = Process.Start(keyboardPath);
... Again, is there any "all-platform" code I can use, or what is the suggested approach for Win10?
UPDATE 2
I found out about issues running a 32-bit application on a 64-bit os. That being said, the error occurs whether I try to run osk.exe in the System32 or the "sysWOW64` folder... Is there any other way than making a 64-bit release???

After much digging about TabTip.exe, osk.exe and x86 and x64 compatibility issues, I found a solution by searching the osk.exe on my system and trying to run each of them. I found 4 version the following folders:
C:\Windows\System32
C:\Windows\SysWOW64
C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft...
C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft...
It appears the one in C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft... works fine (not the other three though)...
Given the "amd64_...." folder might not be the same on different machines (I actually checked and they don't match, I didn't search whether this depends on the machine, the windows build or anything else...).
So basically I did a small routine to look into WinSxS folder and returning the very firs occurrence of osk.exe, which works just fine. I also made the code working on a 32-bit OS using a simple OS-architecture test:
string OSKpath64 = getOskPath(#"C:\Windows\WinSxS");
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(OSKpath64)) {
OSKpath64 = "osk.exe";
}
string OSKpath32 = #"C:\Windows\System32\osk.exe";
if (!File.Exists(OSKpath32)) {
OSKpath32 = #"osk.exe";
}
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start((Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem) ? OSKpath64 : OSKpath32);
UPDATE:
The confusion with one working and one non-working version within the WinSxS folder made me nervous. It works just fine because the amd_.. folder is alphabetically before wow64_....
I therefore suggest to add a test in the getOskPath method to return the first native 64-bit osk.exe (not the emulated one).
Using the IsWin64Emulator method found here, the method looks like this:
static string getOskPath(string dir) {
string path = Path.Combine(dir, "osk.exe");
if (File.Exists(path)) {
Process p = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(path);
if (p.IsWin64Emulator()) {
path = string.Empty;
}
p.Kill();
return path;
}
DirectoryInfo di = new DirectoryInfo(dir);
foreach (DirectoryInfo subDir in di.GetDirectories().Reverse()) {
path = getOskPath(Path.Combine(dir, subDir.Name));
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path)) {
return path;
}
}
return string.Empty;
}

Same problem with me, I try all answer here, but it not work.
After finding solution with google, this is is ok.
// Step 1: For Load On-Screen Keyboard
const string Kernel32dll = "Kernel32.Dll";
[DllImport(Kernel32dll, EntryPoint = "Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection")]
public static extern bool Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(ref IntPtr ptr);
[DllImport(Kernel32dll, EntryPoint = "Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection")]
public static extern bool Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection(IntPtr ptr);
IntPtr wow64Value;
//---------------------------------------
// Step 2: Function-----
if (Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem)
{
if (Wow64DisableWow64FsRedirection(ref wow64Value))
{
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("osk.exe");
Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection(wow64Value);
}
}
else
{
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("osk.exe");
}
//----------------

Can I tell the difference between windows desktop and server in C# [duplicate]

I am looking for an elegant way to get the OS version like: "Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1" or "Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition" etc.
Is there an elegant way of doing that?
I am also interested in the processor architecture (like x86 or x64).

You can use WMI to get the product name ("Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise "):
using System.Management;
var name = (from x in new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT Caption FROM Win32_OperatingSystem").Get().Cast<ManagementObject>()
select x.GetPropertyValue("Caption")).FirstOrDefault();
return name != null ? name.ToString() : "Unknown";

You should really try to avoid WMI for local use. It is very convenient but you pay dearly for it in terms of performance. This is quick and simple:
public string HKLM_GetString(string path, string key)
{
try
{
RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(path);
if (rk == null) return "";
return (string)rk.GetValue(key);
}
catch { return ""; }
}
public string FriendlyName()
{
string ProductName = HKLM_GetString(#"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "ProductName");
string CSDVersion = HKLM_GetString(#"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion", "CSDVersion");
if (ProductName != "")
{
return (ProductName.StartsWith("Microsoft") ? "" : "Microsoft ") + ProductName +
(CSDVersion != "" ? " " + CSDVersion : "");
}
return "";
}

Why not use Environment.OSVersion? It will also tell you what operating this is - Windows, Mac OS X, Unix, etc. To find out if you are running in 64bit or 32bit, use IntPtr.Size - this will return 4 bytes for 32bit and 8 bytes for 64bit.

Try:
new ComputerInfo().OSVersion;
Output:
Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise
Note:
Add reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices;

For me below line works which gives me output like:
Microsoft Windows 10.0.18362
System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation.OSDescription
It can be used to get information like architecture as well
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.runtime.interopservices.runtimeinformation?view=netframework-4.8
Properties
FrameworkDescription: Returns a string that indicates the name of the .NET installation on which an app is running.
OSArchitecture: Gets the platform architecture on which the current app is running.
OSDescription: Gets a string that describes the operating system on which the app is running.
ProcessArchitecture: Gets the process architecture of the currently running app.

Little late, but this is how I did it. Might help someone in the future.
using Microsoft.Win32;
RegistryKey registryKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Software\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion");
string pathName = (string)registryKey.GetValue("productName");

Sample output:
Name = Windows Vista
Edition = Home Premium
Service Pack = Service Pack 1
Version = 6.0.6001.65536
Bits = 64
Sample class:
class Program
{
static void Main( string[] args )
{
Console.WriteLine( "Operation System Information" );
Console.WriteLine( "----------------------------" );
Console.WriteLine( "Name = {0}", OSInfo.Name );
Console.WriteLine( "Edition = {0}", OSInfo.Edition );
Console.WriteLine( "Service Pack = {0}", OSInfo.ServicePack );
Console.WriteLine( "Version = {0}", OSInfo.VersionString );
Console.WriteLine( "Bits = {0}", OSInfo.Bits );
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Source code for OSInfo class: http://www.csharp411.com/determine-windows-version-and-edition-with-c/ However there is an error in the code, you will need to replace the "case 6" statement (it's just before #endregion NAME) with this:
case 6:
switch (minorVersion)
{
case 0:
switch (productType)
{
case 1:
name = "Windows Vista";
break;
case 3:
name = "Windows Server 2008";
break;
}
break;
case 1:
switch (productType)
{
case 1:
name = "Windows 7";
break;
case 3:
name = "Windows Server 2008 R2";
break;
}
break;
}
break;
And if you want to go a step further and see if your program is running in 64 or 32 bit:
public static class Wow
{
public static bool Is64BitProcess
{
get { return IntPtr.Size == 8; }
}
public static bool Is64BitOperatingSystem
{
get
{
// Clearly if this is a 64-bit process we must be on a 64-bit OS.
if (Is64BitProcess)
return true;
// Ok, so we are a 32-bit process, but is the OS 64-bit?
// If we are running under Wow64 than the OS is 64-bit.
bool isWow64;
return ModuleContainsFunction("kernel32.dll", "IsWow64Process") && IsWow64Process(GetCurrentProcess(), out isWow64) && isWow64;
}
}
static bool ModuleContainsFunction(string moduleName, string methodName)
{
IntPtr hModule = GetModuleHandle(moduleName);
if (hModule != IntPtr.Zero)
return GetProcAddress(hModule, methodName) != IntPtr.Zero;
return false;
}
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
extern static bool IsWow64Process(IntPtr hProcess, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)] out bool isWow64);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
extern static IntPtr GetCurrentProcess();
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
extern static IntPtr GetModuleHandle(string moduleName);
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, SetLastError = true)]
extern static IntPtr GetProcAddress(IntPtr hModule, string methodName);
}

One thing to be careful of is this information is usually localized and will report differently depending on the language of the OS.
You can get a lot of info from WMI look for the Win32_OperatingSystem class

Note that the processor architecture question is complex:
do you mean (higher numers require lower numbers to be true):
The CPU is capable for handling 64bit (in the sense that it supports AMD/intel x64 or Itanium)
The Operating system is 64bit
GPR and pointers are 64bits, i.e. XP 64, Vista 64, a 64 bit server release or a 64bit OS for mono
The currently executing process is a 64 bit process (not executing under Wow64 for example)
if you are happy that all 3 must be true then
IntPtr.Size == 8
Indicates that all three are true

You can use Visual Basic Devices to get version information.
Code:
using Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices;
var versionID = new ComputerInfo().OSVersion;//6.1.7601.65536
var versionName = new ComputerInfo().OSFullName;//Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
var verionPlatform = new ComputerInfo().OSPlatform;//WinNT
Console.WriteLine(versionID);
Console.WriteLine(versionName);
Console.WriteLine(verionPlatform);
Output:
6.1.7601.65536
Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise
WinNT
Note:
You will need to add a reference to Microsoft.VisualBasic;

I know it is no direct answer to the question and it's also a little bit late, but for those who are only looking for a way to determine whether the OS is a Client OS or a server there is a way to use the following: (you need to include the System.Management reference)
using System;
using System.Management;
ManagementClass osClass = new ManagementClass("Win32_OperatingSystem");
foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in osClass.GetInstances())
{
foreach (PropertyData prop in queryObj.Properties)
{
if (prop.Name == "ProductType")
{
ProdType = int.Parse(prop.Value.ToString());
}
}
}
while the variable ProdType is an integer that was initialized before. It will contain a value between 1 and 3 while 1 stands for Workstation, 2 for Domain Controller and 3 for a server.
This was taken from Accessing the properties of Win32_OperatingSystem and changed a little bit...

Disclosure: After posting this, I realized that I am depending on a Nuget extension method library called Z.ExntensionMethods which contains IndexOf()
using Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices;
string SimpleOSName()
{
var name = new ComputerInfo().OSFullName;
var parts = name.Split(' ').ToArray();
var take = name.Contains("Server")?3:2;
return string.Join(" ", parts.Skip(parts.IndexOf("Windows")).Take(take));
}
Faster performance using System.Management;
string SimpleOSName()
{
var name = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT Caption FROM Win32_OperatingSystem")
.Get().Cast<ManagementObject>()
.Select(x => x.GetPropertyValue("Caption").ToString())
.First();
var parts = name.Split(' ').ToArray();
var take = name.Contains("Server")?3:2;
return string.Join(" ", parts.Skip(parts.IndexOf("Windows")).Take(take));
}
output example:
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008

Check printer if connected to pc or not

I need to write some code that would prompt a message "printer is connected" when the printer is plugged into the computer and also prompt a message "printer not connected" when I plug out the printer from computer. I also want to list the printers available through a combobox. How can I do this in C# using Visual Studio?

You should use Winspool.lib
C# Signature :
[DllImport("winspool.Drv", EntryPoint = "OpenPrinterA", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)]
public static extern bool OpenPrinter([MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStr)] string szPrinter, out IntPtr hPrinter, IntPtr pd);
EDIT:
You can also use this
foreach (string printer in System.Drawing.Printing.PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters)
{
//Add in combo box
}

to immediately get the pop-up that new Printer Found/Disconnected... you must have to run some code in background continuously Windows Service is the best for that.. and using the below code you can get the installed printer so first store the currently installed printer in list and after each 10(or any you want) second get the installed printer again if difference found propmt the message accordingly..
this is the snippet to get the installed printer..
private string[] GetAvailablePrinters()
{
var installedPrinters = new string[PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters.Count];
PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters.CopyTo(installedPrinters, 0);
var printers = new List<string>();
var printServers = new List<string>();
var searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_Printer");
foreach (var printer in searcher.Get())
{
var serverName = #"\\" + printer["SystemName"].ToString().TrimStart('\\');
if (!printServers.Contains(serverName))
printServers.Add(serverName);
}
foreach (var printServer in printServers)
{
var server = new PrintServer(printServer);
try
{
var queues = server.GetPrintQueues();
printers.AddRange(queues.Select(q => q.Name));
}
catch (Exception)
{
// Handle exception correctly
}
}
return printers.ToArray();
}
You might need to add the System.Management, System.Drawing, System.Printing references in you project..

Can I get the icon associated with an installed printer through .Net?

I know how to get the list of all of the installed printers on a machine with .Net:
foreach (String printer in PrinterSettings.InstalledPrinters)
{
Console.WriteLine(printer.ToString());
}
Console.ReadLine();
InstalledPrinters is just a list of strings though. Is there any way to get the installed printer objects that contain both the name and the icon image that I would ordinarily see under "Devices and Printers" in the Windows Explorer?

The icon is normally embedded into either one of the dll files or the main EXE, look at the System.Drawing.Icon static methods, the link below is for WinForms, its slightly different with WPF as you have to create an ImageSource from the extracted icon stream.
How to: Extract the Icon Associated with a File in Windows Forms

C# code for this task:
public static class PrinterIcons
{
public static Dictionary<string, Icon> GetPrintersWithIcons(IntPtr hwndOwner)
{
Dictionary<string, Icon> result = new Dictionary<string, Icon>();
Shell32.IShellFolder iDesktopFolder = Shell32.GetDesktopFolder();
try
{
IntPtr pidlPrintersFolder;
if (Shell32.SHGetFolderLocation(hwndOwner, (int)Shell32.CSIDL.CSIDL_PRINTERS, IntPtr.Zero, 0, out pidlPrintersFolder) == 0)
try
{
StringBuilder strDisplay = new StringBuilder(260);
Guid guidIShellFolder = Shell32.IID_IShellFolder;
IntPtr ptrPrintersShellFolder;
iDesktopFolder.BindToObject(pidlPrintersFolder, IntPtr.Zero, ref guidIShellFolder, out ptrPrintersShellFolder);
Object objPrintersShellFolder = Marshal.GetTypedObjectForIUnknown(ptrPrintersShellFolder, Shell32.ShellFolderType);
try
{
Shell32.IShellFolder printersShellFolder = (Shell32.IShellFolder)objPrintersShellFolder;
IntPtr ptrObjectsList;
printersShellFolder.EnumObjects(hwndOwner, Shell32.ESHCONTF.SHCONTF_NONFOLDERS, out ptrObjectsList);
Object objEnumIDList = Marshal.GetTypedObjectForIUnknown(ptrObjectsList, Shell32.EnumIDListType);
try
{
Shell32.IEnumIDList iEnumIDList = (Shell32.IEnumIDList)objEnumIDList;
IntPtr[] rgelt = new IntPtr[1];
IntPtr pidlPrinter;
int pceltFetched;
Shell32.STRRET ptrString;
while (iEnumIDList.Next(1, rgelt, out pceltFetched) == 0 && pceltFetched == 1)
{
printersShellFolder.GetDisplayNameOf(rgelt[0],
Shell32.ESHGDN.SHGDN_NORMAL, out ptrString);
if (Shell32.StrRetToBuf(ref ptrString, rgelt[0], strDisplay,
(uint)strDisplay.Capacity) == 0)
{
pidlPrinter = Shell32.ILCombine(pidlPrintersFolder, rgelt[0]);
string printerDisplayNameInPrintersFolder = strDisplay.ToString();
Shell32.SHFILEINFO shinfo = new Shell32.SHFILEINFO();
Shell32.SHGetFileInfo(pidlPrinter, 0, out shinfo, (uint)Marshal.SizeOf(shinfo), Shell32.SHGFI.PIDL | Shell32.SHGFI.AddOverlays | Shell32.SHGFI.Icon);
Icon printerIcon = (Icon)Icon.FromHandle(shinfo.hIcon).Clone();
Shell32.DestroyIcon(shinfo.hIcon);
result.Add(printerDisplayNameInPrintersFolder, printerIcon);
}
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(objEnumIDList);
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(objPrintersShellFolder);
}
}
finally
{
Shell32.ILFree(pidlPrintersFolder);
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(iDesktopFolder);
}
return result;
}
}
Beware, that printer names in result dictionary will be printer names shown in Printers shell folder, and they can be different from printer names, used in PrinterSettings class (for example, network printers in Printers shell folder can be shown as " on ", and word "on" depends from windows localization and can be not machine network name). I don`t know yet how to get "real" printer name from IShellFolder to use it with standart PrinterSettings class.
Anyway, this code loads printers system icons, so you can use it for you task.
Upd: Shell32 class code, used in this code can be found here (too big for answer): http://pastebin.com/thJuWx45

How to determine if a directory path was SUBST'd

How can I figure out if a file is in a folder that has been SUBST'ed or is located in a user folder using C#?

I think you need to P/Invoke QueryDosDevice() for the drive letter. Subst drives will return a symbolic link, similar to \??\C:\blah. The \??\ prefix indicates it is substituted, the rest gives you the drive+directory.

This is the code I use to get the information if a path is substed:
(Some parts come from pinvoke)
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
static extern uint QueryDosDevice(string lpDeviceName, StringBuilder lpTargetPath, int ucchMax);
public static bool IsSubstedPath(string path, out string realPath)
{
StringBuilder pathInformation = new StringBuilder(250);
string driveLetter = null;
uint winApiResult = 0;
realPath = null;
try
{
// Get the drive letter of the path
driveLetter = Path.GetPathRoot(path).Replace("\\", "");
}
catch (ArgumentException)
{
return false;
//<------------------
}
winApiResult = QueryDosDevice(driveLetter, pathInformation, 250);
if(winApiResult == 0)
{
int lastWinError = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error(); // here is the reason why it fails - not used at the moment!
return false;
//<-----------------
}
// If drive is substed, the result will be in the format of "\??\C:\RealPath\".
if (pathInformation.ToString().StartsWith("\\??\\"))
{
// Strip the \??\ prefix.
string realRoot = pathInformation.ToString().Remove(0, 4);
// add backshlash if not present
realRoot += pathInformation.ToString().EndsWith(#"\") ? "" : #"\";
//Combine the paths.
realPath = Path.Combine(realRoot, path.Replace(Path.GetPathRoot(path), ""));
return true;
//<--------------
}
realPath = path;
return false;
}

I think you have a few choices --
Via System.Management classes:
http://briancaos.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/get-local-path-from-unc-path/
Or
Via P/Invoking this MAPI function:
ScUNCFromLocalPath
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc842520.aspx

If SUBST is run without parameters it produces a listing of all current substitutions. Get the list, and check your directory against the list.
There is also the issue of mapping a volume to a directory. I have never attempted to detect these, but the mount point directories do show up differently than regular directories, so they must have a different attribute of some kind, and that could be detected.