How to get the CPU Usage in C

Question

I want to get the overall total CPU usage for an application in C   I ve found many ways to dig into the properties of processes  but I only want the CPU usage of the processes  and the total CPU like you get in the TaskManager   How do I do that

User · Answer

public int GetCpuUsage         var cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  quot Processor quot    quot   Processor Time quot    quot  Total quot   Environment MachineName       cpuCounter NextValue        System Threading Thread Sleep 1000     This avoid that answer always 0     return  int cpuCounter NextValue       Original information in this link https   gavindraper com 2011 03 01 retrieving-accurate-cpu-usage-in-c

User · Answer

It s OK  I got it  Thanks for your help   Here is the code to do it   private void button1 Click object sender  EventArgs e        selectedServer    JS000943       listBox1 Items Add GetProcessorIdleTime selectedServer  ToString        private static int GetProcessorIdleTime string selectedServer        try               var searcher   new            ManagementObjectSearcher                      selectedServer     root CIMV2                  SELECT   FROM Win32 PerfFormattedData PerfOS Processor WHERE Name    Total               ManagementObjectCollection collection   searcher Get            ManagementObject queryObj   collection Cast lt ManagementObject gt    First             return Convert ToInt32 queryObj  PercentIdleTime               catch  ManagementException e                MessageBox Show  An error occurred while querying for WMI data      e Message             return -1

User · Answer

You can use WMI to get CPU percentage information  You can even log into a remote computer if you have the correct permissions  Look at http   www csharphelp com archives2 archive334 html to get an idea of what you can accomplish   Also helpful might be the MSDN reference for the Win32 Process namespace   See also a CodeProject example How To   Almost  Everything In WMI via C

User · Answer

CMS has it right  but also if you use the server explorer in visual studio and play around with the performance counter tab then you can figure out how to get lots of useful metrics

User · Answer

You can use the PerformanceCounter class from System Diagnostics   Initialize like this   PerformanceCounter cpuCounter  PerformanceCounter ramCounter   cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total    ramCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Memory    Available MBytes      Consume like this       public string getCurrentCpuUsage                return cpuCounter NextValue           public string getAvailableRAM                return ramCounter NextValue    MB

User · Answer

CMS has it right  but also if you use the server explorer in visual studio and play around with the performance counter tab then you can figure out how to get lots of useful metrics

User · Answer

It s OK  I got it  Thanks for your help   Here is the code to do it   private void button1 Click object sender  EventArgs e        selectedServer    JS000943       listBox1 Items Add GetProcessorIdleTime selectedServer  ToString        private static int GetProcessorIdleTime string selectedServer        try               var searcher   new            ManagementObjectSearcher                      selectedServer     root CIMV2                  SELECT   FROM Win32 PerfFormattedData PerfOS Processor WHERE Name    Total               ManagementObjectCollection collection   searcher Get            ManagementObject queryObj   collection Cast lt ManagementObject gt    First             return Convert ToInt32 queryObj  PercentIdleTime               catch  ManagementException e                MessageBox Show  An error occurred while querying for WMI data      e Message             return -1

User · Answer

You can use WMI to get CPU percentage information  You can even log into a remote computer if you have the correct permissions  Look at http   www csharphelp com archives2 archive334 html to get an idea of what you can accomplish   Also helpful might be the MSDN reference for the Win32 Process namespace   See also a CodeProject example How To   Almost  Everything In WMI via C

User · Answer

This class automatically polls the counter every 1 seconds and is also thread safe   public class ProcessorUsage       const float sampleFrequencyMillis   1000       protected object syncLock   new object        protected PerformanceCounter counter      protected float lastSample      protected DateTime lastSampleTime            lt summary gt                    lt  summary gt      public ProcessorUsage                 this counter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total   true                   lt summary gt                    lt  summary gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public float GetCurrentValue                 if   DateTime UtcNow - lastSampleTime  TotalMilliseconds  gt  sampleFrequencyMillis                        lock  syncLock                                if   DateTime UtcNow - lastSampleTime  TotalMilliseconds  gt  sampleFrequencyMillis                                        lastSample   counter NextValue                        lastSampleTime   DateTime UtcNow                                                     return lastSample

User · Answer

You can use the PerformanceCounter class from System Diagnostics   Initialize like this   PerformanceCounter cpuCounter  PerformanceCounter ramCounter   cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total    ramCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Memory    Available MBytes      Consume like this       public string getCurrentCpuUsage                return cpuCounter NextValue           public string getAvailableRAM                return ramCounter NextValue    MB

User · Answer

CMS has it right  but also if you use the server explorer in visual studio and play around with the performance counter tab then you can figure out how to get lots of useful metrics

User · Answer

It s OK  I got it  Thanks for your help   Here is the code to do it   private void button1 Click object sender  EventArgs e        selectedServer    JS000943       listBox1 Items Add GetProcessorIdleTime selectedServer  ToString        private static int GetProcessorIdleTime string selectedServer        try               var searcher   new            ManagementObjectSearcher                      selectedServer     root CIMV2                  SELECT   FROM Win32 PerfFormattedData PerfOS Processor WHERE Name    Total               ManagementObjectCollection collection   searcher Get            ManagementObject queryObj   collection Cast lt ManagementObject gt    First             return Convert ToInt32 queryObj  PercentIdleTime               catch  ManagementException e                MessageBox Show  An error occurred while querying for WMI data      e Message             return -1

User · Answer

After spending some time reading over a couple different threads that seemed pretty complicated I came up with this   I needed it for an 8 core machine where I wanted to monitor SQL server   For the code below then I passed in  sqlservr  as appName   private static void RunTest string appName        bool done   false      PerformanceCounter total cpu   new PerformanceCounter  Process      Processor Time     Total        PerformanceCounter process cpu   new PerformanceCounter  Process      Processor Time   appName       while   done                float t   total cpu NextValue            float p   process cpu NextValue            Console WriteLine String Format   Total    0   App    1   2   n   t  p  p   t   100            System Threading Thread Sleep 1000             It seems to correctly measure the   of CPU being used by SQL on my 8 core server

User · Answer

I did not like having to add in the 1 second stall to all of the PerformanceCounter solutions  Instead I chose to use a WMI solution  The reason the 1 second wait stall exists is to allow the reading to be accurate when using a PerformanceCounter  However if you calling this method often and refreshing this information  I d advise not to constantly have to incur that delay    even if thinking of doing an async process to get it   I started with the snippet from here Returning CPU usage in WMI using C  and added a full explanation of the solution on my blog post below    Get CPU Usage Across All Cores In C  Using WMI

User · Answer

CMS has it right  but also if you use the server explorer in visual studio and play around with the performance counter tab then you can figure out how to get lots of useful metrics

User · Answer

After spending some time reading over a couple different threads that seemed pretty complicated I came up with this   I needed it for an 8 core machine where I wanted to monitor SQL server   For the code below then I passed in  sqlservr  as appName   private static void RunTest string appName        bool done   false      PerformanceCounter total cpu   new PerformanceCounter  Process      Processor Time     Total        PerformanceCounter process cpu   new PerformanceCounter  Process      Processor Time   appName       while   done                float t   total cpu NextValue            float p   process cpu NextValue            Console WriteLine String Format   Total    0   App    1   2   n   t  p  p   t   100            System Threading Thread Sleep 1000             It seems to correctly measure the   of CPU being used by SQL on my 8 core server

User · Answer

It s OK  I got it  Thanks for your help   Here is the code to do it   private void button1 Click object sender  EventArgs e        selectedServer    JS000943       listBox1 Items Add GetProcessorIdleTime selectedServer  ToString        private static int GetProcessorIdleTime string selectedServer        try               var searcher   new            ManagementObjectSearcher                      selectedServer     root CIMV2                  SELECT   FROM Win32 PerfFormattedData PerfOS Processor WHERE Name    Total               ManagementObjectCollection collection   searcher Get            ManagementObject queryObj   collection Cast lt ManagementObject gt    First             return Convert ToInt32 queryObj  PercentIdleTime               catch  ManagementException e                MessageBox Show  An error occurred while querying for WMI data      e Message             return -1

User · Answer

This class automatically polls the counter every 1 seconds and is also thread safe   public class ProcessorUsage       const float sampleFrequencyMillis   1000       protected object syncLock   new object        protected PerformanceCounter counter      protected float lastSample      protected DateTime lastSampleTime            lt summary gt                    lt  summary gt      public ProcessorUsage                 this counter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total   true                   lt summary gt                    lt  summary gt           lt returns gt  lt  returns gt      public float GetCurrentValue                 if   DateTime UtcNow - lastSampleTime  TotalMilliseconds  gt  sampleFrequencyMillis                        lock  syncLock                                if   DateTime UtcNow - lastSampleTime  TotalMilliseconds  gt  sampleFrequencyMillis                                        lastSample   counter NextValue                        lastSampleTime   DateTime UtcNow                                                     return lastSample

User · Answer

public int GetCpuUsage         var cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  quot Processor quot    quot   Processor Time quot    quot  Total quot   Environment MachineName       cpuCounter NextValue        System Threading Thread Sleep 1000     This avoid that answer always 0     return  int cpuCounter NextValue       Original information in this link https   gavindraper com 2011 03 01 retrieving-accurate-cpu-usage-in-c

User · Answer

This seems to work for me  an example for waiting until the processor reaches a certain percentage  var cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total    int usage    int  cpuCounter NextValue    while  usage    0    usage  gt  80         Thread Sleep 250        usage    int cpuCounter NextValue

User · Answer

You can use the PerformanceCounter class from System Diagnostics   Initialize like this   PerformanceCounter cpuCounter  PerformanceCounter ramCounter   cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total    ramCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Memory    Available MBytes      Consume like this       public string getCurrentCpuUsage                return cpuCounter NextValue           public string getAvailableRAM                return ramCounter NextValue    MB

User · Answer

This seems to work for me  an example for waiting until the processor reaches a certain percentage  var cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total    int usage    int  cpuCounter NextValue    while  usage    0    usage  gt  80         Thread Sleep 250        usage    int cpuCounter NextValue

User · Answer

You can use WMI to get CPU percentage information  You can even log into a remote computer if you have the correct permissions  Look at http   www csharphelp com archives2 archive334 html to get an idea of what you can accomplish   Also helpful might be the MSDN reference for the Win32 Process namespace   See also a CodeProject example How To   Almost  Everything In WMI via C

User · Answer

You can use WMI to get CPU percentage information  You can even log into a remote computer if you have the correct permissions  Look at http   www csharphelp com archives2 archive334 html to get an idea of what you can accomplish   Also helpful might be the MSDN reference for the Win32 Process namespace   See also a CodeProject example How To   Almost  Everything In WMI via C

User · Answer

A little more than was requsted but I use the extra timer code to track and alert if CPU usage is 90  or higher for a sustained period of 1 minute or longer   public class Form1        int totalHits   0       public object getCPUCounter                  PerformanceCounter cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter            cpuCounter CategoryName    Processor           cpuCounter CounterName      Processor Time           cpuCounter InstanceName     Total                            will always start at 0         dynamic firstValue   cpuCounter NextValue            System Threading Thread Sleep 1000                          now matches task manager reading         dynamic secondValue   cpuCounter NextValue             return secondValue               private void Timer1 Tick Object sender  EventArgs e                int cpuPercent    int getCPUCounter            if  cpuPercent  gt   90                        totalHits   totalHits   1              if  totalHits    60                                Interaction MsgBox  ALERT 90  usage for 1 minute                    totalHits   0                                                          else                       totalHits   0                    Label1 Text   cpuPercent       CPU             Label2 Text   getRAMCounter       RAM Free           Label3 Text   totalHits     seconds over 20  usage

User · Answer

I did not like having to add in the 1 second stall to all of the PerformanceCounter solutions  Instead I chose to use a WMI solution  The reason the 1 second wait stall exists is to allow the reading to be accurate when using a PerformanceCounter  However if you calling this method often and refreshing this information  I d advise not to constantly have to incur that delay    even if thinking of doing an async process to get it   I started with the snippet from here Returning CPU usage in WMI using C  and added a full explanation of the solution on my blog post below    Get CPU Usage Across All Cores In C  Using WMI

User · Answer

You can use the PerformanceCounter class from System Diagnostics   Initialize like this   PerformanceCounter cpuCounter  PerformanceCounter ramCounter   cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Processor      Processor Time     Total    ramCounter   new PerformanceCounter  Memory    Available MBytes      Consume like this       public string getCurrentCpuUsage                return cpuCounter NextValue           public string getAvailableRAM                return ramCounter NextValue    MB

User · Answer

A little more than was requsted but I use the extra timer code to track and alert if CPU usage is 90  or higher for a sustained period of 1 minute or longer   public class Form1        int totalHits   0       public object getCPUCounter                  PerformanceCounter cpuCounter   new PerformanceCounter            cpuCounter CategoryName    Processor           cpuCounter CounterName      Processor Time           cpuCounter InstanceName     Total                            will always start at 0         dynamic firstValue   cpuCounter NextValue            System Threading Thread Sleep 1000                          now matches task manager reading         dynamic secondValue   cpuCounter NextValue             return secondValue               private void Timer1 Tick Object sender  EventArgs e                int cpuPercent    int getCPUCounter            if  cpuPercent  gt   90                        totalHits   totalHits   1              if  totalHits    60                                Interaction MsgBox  ALERT 90  usage for 1 minute                    totalHits   0                                                          else                       totalHits   0                    Label1 Text   cpuPercent       CPU             Label2 Text   getRAMCounter       RAM Free           Label3 Text   totalHits     seconds over 20  usage

[c#] How to get the CPU Usage in C#?

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