When you use selectNodes then you get all nodes Elements which fits your XPath , but not nodes inisde the XPath. So you get exactly one node <licensed_software> To go deeper you should check childs nodes   Try to read here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms763798(v=vs.85).aspx   And here is your working example: _Example() Func _Example() ; Error monitoring. This will trap all COM errors while alive. ; This