python - List running processes on 64-bit Windows

Question

I amm writing a little python script that will grab information from VMs of Windows that I am running.

At the moment I can list the processes on a 32bit XP machine with the following method:

http://code.activestate.com/recipes/305279/

Is it possible to somehow detect the version of windows running and excute a different method for getting the processes on a 64bit machine, I am trying to get the processes from a 64Bit Vista and 64bit Windows 7.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

If you don't want to rely on any extra installed modules then you can parse the output of wmic, e.g.:

c:> wmic process get description,executablepath    
...
explorer.exe               C:Windowsexplorer.exe
cmd.exe                    C:WindowsSysWOW64cmd.exe
conhost.exe                C:Windowssystem32conhost.exe
...

Reference: http://geekpedia.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/use-command-line-to-track-windows-processes/