Get Windows User Display Name

Question

How do I get the display name of the user that is logged in? Not the username, but the display name, such as is shown in the screenshot below - and as seen on the start menu in any Windows Vista/7 computer.

enter image description here

I tried a bunch of different suggestions from other questions, but they all show the username, not the display name. You can see the results of these attempts in the above screenshot.

Imports System.Security.Principal
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.IO
Imports System

Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        MsgBox("1: " & System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name.ToString & vbCrLf & _
               "2: " & Environment.UserDomainName & vbCrLf & _
               "3: " & WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name & vbCrLf & _
                "4: " & Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity.Name & vbCrLf & _
               "5: " & Environment.UserName & vbCrLf & _
               "6: " & My.User.Name & vbCrLf &
                "7: " & My.Computer.Name)

    End Sub

End Class

In what context is the code using `Environment.UserName` running? Is it in ASP.Net, windows service, normal desktop app, etc ... — JaredPar, Mar 05 '14 at 03:18
are you sure you didnt "try" `My.Cmputer.Name` because `Environment.UserName` is the well, user name — Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp, Mar 05 '14 at 03:18
@Codemunkeee u can refer the first link... where u can find the answer — The Hungry Dictator, Mar 05 '14 at 03:18
@Codemunkeee Why is the answer there "not what you wanted"? Does it produce incorrect output? — Asad Saeeduddin, Mar 05 '14 at 03:20
Plutonix yes I did, all the links say the same functions and calls.. killer R what link are you referring to? Asad I have edited my question.. you can see from the output.. — Codemunkeee, Mar 05 '14 at 03:23
Of course you had to hide the only important bit of code under the dialog. — Luc Morin, Mar 05 '14 at 03:26
If you application is running under another user, you will get that other user name. — Pierre-Alain Vigeant, Mar 05 '14 at 03:27
I will post all the codes that I used. As of now I'm still listing them — Codemunkeee, Mar 05 '14 at 03:28
because the other question answer your question. Also, read the comments. — Pierre-Alain Vigeant, Mar 05 '14 at 04:05
No, the other question did not answer my question. I'll read the comments now. — Codemunkeee, Mar 05 '14 at 04:11
This isn't a duplicate and should be reopened. It wasn't clear what the OP was asking, but the question is NOT about the username, its about the display name shown in the screenshot. — Tim, Mar 05 '14 at 04:16
The correct answer is 'System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal.Current.DisplayName' (and add a reference to `System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.dll') which is not mentioned in any of the answers on the question of which this one is supposedly a duplicate. — Tim, Mar 05 '14 at 04:21
@Tim - if you figured what OP wants you should edit question itself as OP does not see need to do so (or don't see why other readers get the question differently)... You probably right that image showing random code actually does not show code but start menu... — Alexei Levenkov, Mar 05 '14 at 04:25
@Pierre-AlainVigeant re-open question looks missed out few comments ! (btw good to know you can make dead alive (re open) on stack overflow ) — Baljeetsingh Sucharia, Mar 05 '14 at 04:39
answered here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3438634/how-to-get-logged-in-users-full-name-in-windows — Baljeetsingh Sucharia, Mar 05 '14 at 04:46
possible duplicate of [How do I get the AD Display Name of the currently logged in user](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6692767/how-do-i-get-the-ad-display-name-of-the-currently-logged-in-user) — Shell, Mar 05 '14 at 05:12

score 69 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 12 '22 at 17:10

69

You should use UserPrincipal.DisplayName:

System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal.Current.DisplayName

To do so, you'll need to and add a reference to System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.dll from your project.

Note: Doesn't work when machine is unplugged from the network or domain server is not reachable.

edited Oct 12 '22 at 17:10

J Santosh

3,808
2
22
43

answered Mar 05 '14 at 04:31

Tim

14,999
1
45
68

9

I used this approach, but in the real world I'm seeing the getter for UserPrincipal.Current throwing a PrincipalServerDownException. I believe the case is when the current user is logged in with a domain account, but the directory server can't be contacted, such as when a laptop has been unplugged from the network. Use this method with caution, it doesn't seem to be reliable! – Roger Sanders Mar 19 '15 at 21:42
1

Roger Sanders is right, use this variable with caution. In my case there was a long delay on the network so this method hangs for a while. – Lumo Oct 26 '17 at 11:41
1

`Unable to cast object of type 'System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.GroupPrincipal' to type 'System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal'. ` – AgentFire Jul 17 '19 at 09:00

Dexters · Answer 2 · 2014-03-05T03:25:44.043

-3

Try this

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sfs49sw0(v=vs.110).aspx

using System.IO;
using System;
using System.Security.Principal;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine(WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name);
    }
}

edited Mar 05 '14 at 03:25

answered Mar 05 '14 at 03:18

Dexters

2,419
6
37
57

4

@Codemunkeee When describing a problem, saying "it's not working" is useless. In order to receive help you have to tell us what is going wrong. Do you see an exception? If so, what is the exception? Is the result unexpected? How so? – Asad Saeeduddin Mar 05 '14 at 03:22
You can refer to my question above. As you can see it returns a different output, I'll edit the code again to list all the things that I did.. – Codemunkeee Mar 05 '14 at 03:24
@Codemunkeee can you please try the above code and paste what console output you are getting – Dexters Mar 05 '14 at 03:26
still the same bro :( – Codemunkeee Mar 05 '14 at 03:28
okay.. wait.. I'm still editing the code and all the things that I've used – Codemunkeee Mar 05 '14 at 03:31
I have edited my question, there you can see all the things that I did. – Codemunkeee Mar 05 '14 at 03:42

score -4 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 25 '18 at 19:39

-4

This is contained within the System.DirectoryServices namespace so you need to add this in the using section.

Then you can use System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.UserPrincipal.Current.DisplayName which returns the Display Name. This is typically shown in the Start Menu.

edited Jul 25 '18 at 19:39

Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩

5,753
72
57
129

answered Nov 24 '16 at 05:07

Ash.sh

1

Get Windows User Display Name

3 Answers3

Linked

Related