How do I get the computer name in .NET

Question

How do I get the computer name in .NET c#

@Sam a windows service is just a windows application that runs in the background, so really it's the same thing. — Malachi
– Malachi, Commented Jun 13, 2013 at 13:04
@Malachi, yeah, I know what you mean. However, the I think the references to the ASP.NET-specific and Winforms-specific ways of doing this in the answers to this question mightn't apply in that question. — Sam
– Sam, Commented Jun 15, 2013 at 0:14
@Sam all this question asks is how to get the computer name. you can't really do that over the internet. .NET is a Framework. there is almost no Difference between a Windows service and a Windows Form Application. other than a windows service happens behind the scenes without a user interface. taking information from a user's computer over the internet is not an easy thing to do. neither Question asks how to get the user's computer information over the internet. and neither question mentions ASP.NET which is a subset of the .NET Framework — Malachi
– Malachi, Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 20:52

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:34:45Z

510

System.Environment.MachineName from a console or WinForms app.
HttpContext.Current.Server.MachineName from a web app
System.Net.Dns.GetHostName() to get the FQDN

See How to find FQDN of local machine in C#/.NET ? if the last doesn't give you the FQDN and you need it.

See details about Difference between SystemInformation.ComputerName, Environment.MachineName, and Net.Dns.GetHostName

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:34

CommunityBot

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answered Nov 20, 2009 at 3:46

tvanfosson

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11 Comments

P.K Over a year ago

@tvanfosson: what is the difference ? I mean, which one should I use when? Does this have any security implications?

tvanfosson Over a year ago

I would use the first from a console or winforms app, the second from a web app, and the third if I needed to get the FQDN. See the referenced documentation for information on the permissions required.

Ryan S Over a year ago

@tvanfosson All of these three get me the server name and not the clients machine which is accessing the page. Is this how it works? or am I doing something incorrectly. I would like to get the clients machine, and not the server. I am using Web Forms with asp.NET 4.0

Sam Over a year ago

I just tested this and found that Dns.GetHostName() didn't give the fully-qualified name.

RandomInsano Over a year ago

Note that System.Enviornment.MachineName is only going to give you the NetBIOS name, so if the host name is longer than 15 characters, you'll hit problems if you need the full name. I can't speak for the others.

|

Zach Johnson · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-08 23:11:34Z

100

System.Environment.MachineName

Or, if you are using Winforms, you can use System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.ComputerName, which returns exactly the same value as System.Environment.MachineName.

edited Jan 8, 2010 at 23:11

answered Nov 20, 2009 at 3:41

Zach Johnson

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VladL · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-20 10:15:28Z

64

System.Environment.MachineName

edited Mar 20, 2014 at 10:15

VladL

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answered Nov 20, 2009 at 3:42

AlteredConcept

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1 Comment

octopusgrabbus Over a year ago

As easy as pie in F# open system ... let system_name = System.Environment.MachineName

ChrisF · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-19 19:46:17Z

46

Some methods are given below to get machine name or computer name

Method 1:-

string MachineName1 = Environment.MachineName;

Method 2:-

string MachineName2 = System.Net.Dns.GetHostName();

Method 3:-

string MachineName3 = Request.ServerVariables["REMOTE_HOST"].ToString();

Method 4:-

string MachineName4 = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("COMPUTERNAME");

For more see my blog

edited Jul 19, 2018 at 19:46

ChrisF

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answered Jul 19, 2018 at 15:36

NEERAJ SRIVASTAVA

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2 Comments

marsh-wiggle Over a year ago

When the Hostname is longer than 15 characters, this methods will return different names!

MartinZ Over a year ago

The blog link doesn't give any more information about the API mentioned in this answer. So I don't think it should be added here.

VladL · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-20 10:14:54Z

25

string name = System.Environment.MachineName;

edited Mar 20, 2014 at 10:14

VladL

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answered Nov 20, 2009 at 3:51

Zach

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PRR · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-20 05:12:26Z

Well there is one more way: Windows Management Instrumentation

using System.Management;

try
        {
            ManagementObjectSearcher searcher =
                new ManagementObjectSearcher("root\\CIMV2",
                "SELECT Name FROM Win32_ComputerSystem");

            foreach (ManagementObject queryObj in searcher.Get())
            {
                Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------------");
                Console.WriteLine("Win32_ComputerSystem instance");
                Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------------");
                Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}", queryObj["Name"]);
            }
        }
        catch (ManagementException e)
        {
            // exception handling
        }

Thomas · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-19 01:36:39Z

16

You can have access of the machine name using Environment.MachineName.

edited Jul 19, 2016 at 1:36

Thomas

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answered Nov 20, 2009 at 3:42

CesarGon

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Comments

Ramgy Borja · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-31 13:28:22Z

5

Make it simple by using this one line

Environment.MachineName;

answered Jan 31, 2021 at 13:28

Ramgy Borja

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Soner Gönül · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-02 11:13:50Z

4

Try this:

string[] computer_name = System.Net.Dns.GetHostEntry(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["remote_addr"]).HostName.Split(new Char[] { '.' });
return computer_name[0].ToString();

edited Mar 2, 2016 at 11:13

Soner Gönül

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answered Dec 15, 2014 at 12:47

A Ghazal

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1 Comment

marsh-wiggle Over a year ago

DNS name and computername may differ. He's asking for the computername!

Joe · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-14 15:46:05Z

4

I set the .InnerHtml of a <p> bracket for my web project to the user's computer name doing the following:

HTML:

    <div class="col-md-4">
       <h2>Your Computer Name Is</h2>
       <p id="pcname" runat="server"></p>
       <p>
           <a class="btn btn-default" href="#">Learn more &raquo;</a>
       </p>
    </div>

C#:

using System;
using System.Web.UI;

namespace GetPCName {
   public partial class _Default : Page {
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {            
        pcname.InnerHtml = Environment.MachineName;
    }
   }
}

answered Apr 14, 2016 at 15:46

Joe

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Comments

JRrelyea · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-10 14:05:12Z

2

2 more helpful methods: System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ComputerName" )

System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ClientName" ) to get the name of the user's PC if they're connected via Citrix XenApp or Terminal Services (aka RDS, RDP, Remote Desktop)

answered Mar 10, 2018 at 14:05

JRrelyea

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Comments

user2864740 · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-15 02:29:49Z

2

Try this one.

public static string GetFQDN()
{
    string domainName = NetworkInformation.IPGlobalProperties.GetIPGlobalProperties().DomainName;
    string hostName = Dns.GetHostName();
    string fqdn;
    if (!hostName.Contains(domainName))
        fqdn = hostName + "." +domainName;
    else
        fqdn = hostName;

    return fqdn;
}

edited Apr 15, 2020 at 2:29

user2864740

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answered Apr 11, 2018 at 9:52

LEFOPHANA GODFREY

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1 Comment

osexpert Over a year ago

But why not use System.Net.NetworkInformation.IPGlobalProperties.GetIPGlobalProperties().HostName?

Greg La Due · Accepted Answer · 2023-06-27 13:20:04Z

1

fyi: Environment.MachineName and System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.ComputerName only return 15 characters. Use System.Net.Dns.GetHostName() to get full name.

answered Jun 27, 2023 at 13:20

Greg La Due

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1 Comment

Jeremy Caney Over a year ago

This is commentary on existing answers.

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