How can I access the memory space of another process?

Question

If I am running, say, notepad, and I want to make a program to locate the memory space of the process and grab the text displayed on the screen directly from memory, how would I go about doing it?  Can I do it in a higher-level language like C++?  Can I do it without circumventing kernel-level address space protection?

I have a good idea of how virtual and physical memory work, but I'm a little fuzzy on OS-level protection and allocation.  Any links or tips would be appreciated.

Anonym · Accepted Answer

There are a number of interprocess communication objects that you can use for this type of thing. It does mean the programs have to be designed in cooperation - you cannot just reach into the memory of any process.

In a previous job we used shared memory across a number of activeX controls, DLL's, etc. to record what was happening in the systems (communication logs, data structures, etc.) and had one central application that could display that information. It was all intended to diagnose problems in the system.

You are going to want to look at shared memory and such. I've provided a reference that can get you started.

How can I access the memory space of another process?

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