Determine if an executable is 64-bit or 32-bit in C#

Question

I'm looking for a solution to determine whether a given executable is 64-bit or 32-bit.

The executable being tested may be .NET based or not.

I've seen multiple different techniques, not sure in what one differs from the other.

Techniques i've seen listed:

Using dumpbin.exe (comes with Visual Studio or Windows SDK)
Win32 function GetBinaryType http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa364819(v=vs.85).aspx
Checking the file's headers (demonstrated in this Q: How can I determine for which platform an executable is compiled?)

What is the most robust way of doing it ?

Why are you asking for a robust way - either they works or they don't, right ?? — Peter Larsen 'CPH', Oct 31 '12 at 11:44
read this http://superuser.com/questions/358434/how-to-check-if-a-binary-is-32-or-64-bit-on-windows hope this helps you — Jack Gajanan, Oct 31 '12 at 11:53
There is no reliable way to do this for a .NET executable. AnyCPU means what it says, it can be either. The bitness is determined at runtime. — Hans Passant, Oct 31 '12 at 13:03
But it is possible to know whether a compiled program has been forced to run either 32 or 64 architecture. — Peter Larsen 'CPH', Nov 01 '12 at 07:15

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 31 '12 at 12:01

There are two ways I know of:
1. If you need to check it in run-time: use IsWow64Process. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms684139(v=vs.85).aspx?ppud=4
if it is a x86 process - it will return true, otherwise - false.
2. If you need to check it not in run-time, just inspect the EXE PE format.
if the NT Header -> Optional header->Magic == IMAGE_NT_OPTIONAL_HDR64_MAGIC it's a x64 exe/dll.

Determine if an executable is 64-bit or 32-bit in C#

1 Answers1