Enumerating All Processes

The following sample code uses the EnumProcesses function to retrieve the process identifier for each process object in the system. EnumProcessModules is then called to get each process name and print it.

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <psapi.h>

// To ensure correct resolution of symbols, add Psapi.lib to TARGETLIBS
// and compile with -DPSAPI_VERSION=1

void PrintProcessNameAndID( DWORD processID )
{
    TCHAR szProcessName[MAX_PATH] = TEXT("<unknown>");

    // Get a handle to the process.

    HANDLE hProcess = OpenProcess( PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION |
                                   PROCESS_VM_READ,
                                   FALSE, processID );

    // Get the process name.

    if (NULL != hProcess )
    {
        HMODULE hMod;
        DWORD cbNeeded;

        if ( EnumProcessModules( hProcess, &hMod, sizeof(hMod), 
             &cbNeeded) )
        {
            GetModuleBaseName( hProcess, hMod, szProcessName, 
                               sizeof(szProcessName)/sizeof(TCHAR) );
        }
    }

    // Print the process name and identifier.

    _tprintf( TEXT("%s  (PID: %u)\n"), szProcessName, processID );

    // Release the handle to the process.

    CloseHandle( hProcess );
}

int main( void )
{
    // Get the list of process identifiers.

    DWORD aProcesses[1024], cbNeeded, cProcesses;
    unsigned int i;

    if ( !EnumProcesses( aProcesses, sizeof(aProcesses), &cbNeeded ) )
    {
        return 1;
    }


    // Calculate how many process identifiers were returned.

    cProcesses = cbNeeded / sizeof(DWORD);

    // Print the name and process identifier for each process.

    for ( i = 0; i < cProcesses; i++ )
    {
        if( aProcesses[i] != 0 )
        {
            PrintProcessNameAndID( aProcesses[i] );
        }
    }

    return 0;
}

The main function obtains a list of processes by using the EnumProcesses function. For each process, main calls the PrintProcessNameAndID function, passing it the process identifier. PrintProcessNameAndID in turn calls the OpenProcess function to obtain the process handle. If OpenProcess fails, the output shows the process name as <unknown>. For example, OpenProcess fails for the Idle and CSRSS processes because their access restrictions prevent user-level code from opening them. Next, PrintProcessNameAndID calls the EnumProcessModules function to obtain the module handles. Finally, PrintProcessNameAndID calls the GetModuleBaseName function to obtain the name of the executable file and displays the name along with the process identifier.