How to find the Number of CPU Cores via .NET/C#?

There are many answers here already, but some have heavy upvotes and are incorrect.

The .NET Environment.ProcessorCount WILL return incorrect values and can fail critically if your system WMI is configured incorrectly.

If you want a RELIABLE way to count the cores, the only way is Win32 API.

Here is a C++ snippet:

#include <Windows.h>
#include <vector>

int num_physical_cores()
{
    static int num_cores = []
    {
        DWORD bytes = 0;
        GetLogicalProcessorInformation(nullptr, &bytes);
        std::vector<SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION> coreInfo(bytes / sizeof(SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION));
        GetLogicalProcessorInformation(coreInfo.data(), &bytes);

        int cores = 0;
        for (auto& info : coreInfo)
        {
            if (info.Relationship == RelationProcessorCore)
                ++cores;
        }
        return cores > 0 ? cores : 1;
    }();
    return num_cores;
}

And since this is a .NET C# Question, here's the ported version:

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct CACHE_DESCRIPTOR
{
    public byte Level;
    public byte Associativity;
    public ushort LineSize;
    public uint Size;
    public uint Type;
}

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Explicit)]
struct SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_UNION
{
    [FieldOffset(0)] public byte ProcessorCore;
    [FieldOffset(0)] public uint NumaNode;
    [FieldOffset(0)] public CACHE_DESCRIPTOR Cache;
    [FieldOffset(0)] private UInt64 Reserved1;
    [FieldOffset(8)] private UInt64 Reserved2;
}

public enum LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_RELATIONSHIP
{
    RelationProcessorCore,
    RelationNumaNode,
    RelationCache,
    RelationProcessorPackage,
    RelationGroup,
    RelationAll = 0xffff
}

struct SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION
{
    public UIntPtr ProcessorMask;
    public LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_RELATIONSHIP Relationship;
    public SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_UNION ProcessorInformation;
}

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern unsafe bool GetLogicalProcessorInformation(SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION* buffer, out int bufferSize);

static unsafe int GetProcessorCoreCount()
{
    GetLogicalProcessorInformation(null, out int bufferSize);
    int numEntries = bufferSize / sizeof(SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION);
    var coreInfo = new SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION[numEntries];

    fixed (SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION* pCoreInfo = coreInfo)
    {
        GetLogicalProcessorInformation(pCoreInfo, out bufferSize);
        int cores = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < numEntries; ++i)
        {
            ref SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION info = ref pCoreInfo[i];
            if (info.Relationship == LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_RELATIONSHIP.RelationProcessorCore)
                ++cores;
        }
        return cores > 0 ? cores : 1;
    }
}

public static readonly int NumPhysicalCores = GetProcessorCoreCount();

You can use this class:

public static class CpuCores
{
    private static int cores = 0;
    
    public static int Number
    { 
        get
        {
            if (cores > 0) return cores;

            RegistryKey key = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\" +
                "{50127dc3-0f36-415e-a6cc-4cb3be910b65}");
            if (key == null)
            {
                cores = Environment.ProcessorCount;
                return cores;
            }
            string[] subkeys = key.GetSubKeyNames();
            key.Close();
            cores = 0;
            if (subkeys != null && subkeys.Length > 0) foreach (string s in subkeys)
            {
                if (s.Length != 4) continue;
                int n;
                if (int.TryParse(s, out n) && ++n > cores) cores = n;
            }
            if (cores <= 0) cores = Environment.ProcessorCount;
            return cores;
        } 
    }
}