Determine Network Adapter Type via WMI

Question

I'm using WMI (Win32_NetworkAdapter) and trying to get the details of attached physical network adapters either wired or wireless and avoid virtual adapters, etc.

Reading this article it explains that you have to do some clever querying on WMI to eliminate virtual adapters and attempt to only return real physical adapters.

Reading this post it explains that you can compare the text in the "Description" of the network adapter to see if it includes "Wireless", "802.11", or "WLAN", if it does, then most likely the adapter is a wireless adapter.

With today's .Net versions and other advancements, are these really the only two ways of determining on Windows XP+ if a network adapter is wired or wireless and is not a virtual adapter from VM software or the like? If not, please explain.

Answer 1

You can use new WMI class MSFT_NetAdapter in 'root\StandardCimv2' namespace. This class was introduced in Windows 8.

We can use property ConnectorPresent to filter only to physical adapters. Next we must eliminate Wi-Fi adapters (which is present among physical adapters), we can use InterfaceType and/or NdisPhysicalMedium properties.

InterfaceType is defined by the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) and for all ethernet-like interfaces is value ethernetCsmacd (6) (see https://www.iana.org/assignments/ianaiftype-mib/ianaiftype-mib).

In NdisPhysicalMedium is for ethernet adapters values 0 or 802.3 (14).

So my solution for this in C# is:

try
{
    var objectSearcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\StandardCimv2", $@"select Name, InterfaceName, InterfaceType, NdisPhysicalMedium from MSFT_NetAdapter where ConnectorPresent=1"); //Physical adapter

    int count = 0;
    foreach (var managementObject in objectSearcher.Get())
    {
        //The locally unique identifier for the network interface. in InterfaceType_NetluidIndex format. Ex: Ethernet_2.
        string interfaceName = managementObject["InterfaceName"]?.ToString();
        //The interface type as defined by the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA).
        //https://www.iana.org/assignments/ianaiftype-mib/ianaiftype-mib
        UInt32 interfaceType = Convert.ToUInt32(managementObject["InterfaceType"]);
        //The types of physical media that the network adapter supports.
        UInt32 ndisPhysicalMedium = Convert.ToUInt32(managementObject["NdisPhysicalMedium"]);

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(interfaceName) &&
            interfaceType == 6 &&       //ethernetCsmacd(6) --for all ethernet-like interfaces, regardless of speed, as per RFC3635
            (ndisPhysicalMedium == 0 || ndisPhysicalMedium == 14))   //802.3
        {
            count++;
        }
    }

    return count;
}
catch (ManagementException)
{
    //Run-time requirements WMI MSFT_NetAdapter class is included in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
}