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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

C# | check if program/application is installed

I searched for a code that getting the list of installed application/programs on my windows pc, but the result wat not satisfying.
I saw that the list of installed programs that i find is NOT like the "Add-Remove Programs" list!!!
The solution is to search for 3 places in registry:
1. SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall inside CurrentUser
2. SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall inside LocalMachine
3. SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall in LocalMachine
And this is my solution...

The Code:
public static bool IsApplictionInstalled(string p_name)
{
    string displayName;
    RegistryKey key;

    // search in: CurrentUser
    key = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");
    foreach (String keyName in key.GetSubKeyNames())
    {
        RegistryKey subkey = key.OpenSubKey(keyName);
        displayName = subkey.GetValue("DisplayName") as string;
        if (p_name.Equals(displayName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == true)
        {
            return true;
        }
    }

    // search in: LocalMachine_32
    key = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");
    foreach (String keyName in key.GetSubKeyNames())
    {
        RegistryKey subkey = key.OpenSubKey(keyName);
        displayName = subkey.GetValue("DisplayName") as string;
        if (p_name.Equals(displayName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == true)
        {
            return true;
        }
    }

    // search in: LocalMachine_64
    key = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall");
    foreach (String keyName in key.GetSubKeyNames())
    {
        RegistryKey subkey = key.OpenSubKey(keyName);
        displayName = subkey.GetValue("DisplayName") as string;
        if (p_name.Equals(displayName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == true)
        {
            return true;
        }
    }

    // NOT FOUND
    return false;
}

This is great for searching for installed / uninstall programs.
I would like for some comments...