How can know Manufacture Hardware ID (Serial Number) of Disk or MotherBord etc

[nilesh16782]

I want to give my app for trial version.. therefore for this purpose
How can i know Manufacture Hardware ID (Serial Number) of Disk or MotherBord etc.
Plz Help.....

[bgmacaw]

You can't because there is no standard way that hardware companies provide this information. What you would need to do is work out a hardware detection algorithm similar to what Windows XP does.

[nilesh16782]

You can't because there is no standard way that hardware companies provide this information. What you would need to do is work out a hardware detection algorithm similar to what Windows XP does.

hmm...
then you know what is standard way to distribute application for trial versions..
if i give disk serial no or other id for this purpose then it will be change when going to system formating..
...and also i think every thing which store in storage disk or boot sector; it can be change by experts.. No??

[rory]

Actually you can (some dont provide the serial numbers, havent come across any that have not yet though), I have the code here for the hard drive firmware serial number (not the volume serial number), works in Limited user mode in XP and in Vista, but it is very detailed and there is more to creating a trial version and or activation then just getting the hardware ID. Also, you cannot depend on just the hard drive serial number, also to the other member, yes MS will use the Hard Drive serial number (if available) along with other hardware.

Here is an older method though, but you dont get the number if the user is logged on as a Limited User:
http://www.vbforums.com/showpost.php...3&postcount=23

Unless you are willing to spend a couple months putting something together, you may want to take a look at a Trial Creator program or something else, see this thread. http://www.vbforums.com/showpost.php?p=3025904


Anyway here is the Motherboard Serial and Bios ID using WMI, I wont post the hard drive code though as well it is too much, I didnt write it, and I really dont want to take it out of my project right now (maybe another time). Like I said though getting the serial numbers etc is the easy part, there is alot more involved with activations etc. Check out the software link in the thread I posted above, it tested it last night and it works, and its free.

Public Function GetBiosVersion() As String
   Dim strComputerName As String
   Dim objWMIService As Object
   Dim colItems As Object
   Dim objItem As Object
   On Local Error Resume Next
   strComputerName = Space(255)
   GetComputerName strComputerName, 255
   strComputerName = Left(strComputerName, InStr(1, strComputerName, Chr(0)) - 1)
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputerName)
   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select SerialNumber from Win32_BIOS", , 48)
   For Each objItem In colItems
       GetBiosVersion = objItem.SerialNumber
   Next
   Set colItems = Nothing
   Set objWMIService = Nothing
End Function

Public Function GetMoboNumber() As String
   Dim strComputerName As String
   Dim objWMIService As Object
   Dim colItems As Object
   Dim objItem As Object
   On Local Error Resume Next
   strComputerName = Space(255)
   GetComputerName strComputerName, 255
   strComputerName = Left(strComputerName, InStr(1, strComputerName, Chr(0)) - 1)
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputerName)
   Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT SerialNumber FROM Win32_BaseBoard", , 48)
   For Each objItem In colItems
       GetMoboNumber = objItem.SerialNumber
   Next objItem
   Set colItems = Nothing
   Set objWMIService = Nothing
End Function

[nilesh16782]

Actually you can (some dont provide the serial numbers, havent come across any that have not yet though), I have the code here for the hard drive firmware serial number (not the volume serial number), works in Limited user mode in XP and in Vista, but it is very detailed and there is more to creating a trial version and or activation then just getting the hardware ID. Also, you cannot depend on just the hard drive serial number, also to the other member, yes MS will use the Hard Drive serial number (if available) along with other hardware.

Here is an older method though, but you dont get the number if the user is logged on as a Limited User:
http://www.vbforums.com/showpost.php...3&postcount=23

Unless you are willing to spend a couple months putting something together, you may want to take a look at a Trial Creator program or something else, see this thread. http://www.vbforums.com/showpost.php?p=3025904


Anyway here is the Motherboard Serial and Bios ID using WMI, I wont post the hard drive code though as well it is too much, I didnt write it, and I really dont want to take it out of my project right now (maybe another time). Like I said though getting the serial numbers etc is the easy part, there is alot more involved with activations etc. Check out the software link in the thread I posted above, it tested it last night and it works, and its free.

...

i run your code... it execute properly but can not fetches any id...??

[rory]

How did you run it?

[nilesh16782]

How did you run it?

i copy and paste your code in new vb form and also paste code of ..
"Private Declare Function GetComputerName Lib "KERNEL32" _
Alias "GetComputerNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long"

and then i give this..

Private Sub Form_click()
MsgBox Me.GetMoboNumber
MsgBox Me.GetBiosVersion
End Sub

(FOR REMMEMBER I USE WINDOW XP)

[rory]

i copy and paste your code in new vb form and also paste code of ..
"Private Declare Function GetComputerName Lib "KERNEL32" _
Alias "GetComputerNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long"

and then i give this..

Private Sub Form_click()
MsgBox Me.GetMoboNumber
MsgBox Me.GetBiosVersion
End Sub

(FOR REMMEMBER I USE WINDOW XP)

Remove the GetComputerName API Declaration, you dont need it in this case.

[nilesh16782]

i m trid Your GetHDDSerialNumber.zip it works well...(thanks)
In this i want to know..

Is HDD Serial Number changable or not??
and it is relaible to create programs of trial versions..??

[rory]

Its an old version, it will work but it will not get a serial number if the user of the program is logged in as a Limited user, they have to be logged in as Admin. There is other code out there though that does get the serial number when in either Limited or Admin mode, I just cant post it right now.

[nilesh16782]

Its an old version, it will work but it will not get a serial number if the user of the program is logged in as a Limited user, they have to be logged in as Admin. There is other code out there though that does get the serial number when in either Limited or Admin mode, I just cant post it right now.

Then i think it not sutable to use this code for create a trial version program to distribute world wide( where i not know user which system and O/S use.. )

ok please can you tell me....
Is HDD Serial Number changable or not??
and it is relaible(your program to know HDD Serial No. and generate key...) to create programs of trial versions..??

[rory]

Then i think it not sutable to use this code for create a trial version program to distribute world wide( where i not know user which system and O/S use.. )

Free software that will do it for you. I tried to see how they do it but I gave up after an hour or so. So it works pretty good.
http://www.softwarekey.com/swk_products/trial_creator/

Open source project:
http://activelocksoftware.com/

I use activation in one of my programs also, i use the HDD one you tried, but changing it to another method when I get some free time, though I also use the Bios ID and the Motherboard serial, as well as the user name. It can use all of them, but it has to have at least the HDD serial, or, the Bios ID and the Motherboard Serial, without either of those 2 groups it will not activate. It also uses the User's name, which must be entered in a text box. Using all that, it is all encrypted and encoded then a Serial Key is created out of that. The activation code is based on the same idea. They send me the Serial Key and I send them back an Activation Code. The program then does its thing and checks if it is valid.

Its pretty straight forward, keeps everything else encrypted using Rijndael in a data file. Ofcourse like anything it is crackable. You need to also put jumps all over the place, dont name things how you normally would (least with the activation part of it), write down your design so you will be able to go back to it and understand it, as you want to make it as hard to understand as possible. In other words just dont say "If this = that then Activated" as that will be hacked in no time.

Im no expert in this though, Ive also used KeyLok for another app I did, and honestly when I start to get more sales i will fork out the money to buy a solution for this program, one that is ready made, as my time is better spent working on what I do best, and letting the companies that do this type of thing 24/7 deal with that part of it. Its just something to make it more difficult to hack for now

[rory]

ok please can you tell me....
Is HDD Serial Number changable or not??
and it is relaible(your program to know HDD Serial No. and generate key...) to create programs of trial versions..??

See post above.
That is the hard drive's firmware number, far as I know you cant change that.

[nilesh16782]

ok..
LOT of THANKS for your LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of help.....

[rory]

Ok see attached to get the HDD serial number using the old and the new method. I also added in the Bios and Motherboard numbers (uses WMI) as well as the Bios Version. This will get everything whether or not the user is in Admin or Limited user modes.

There are other things you can get like MAC address, IP, DNS, etc, but those can be changed, or they do change; so I don't use them.

Ideally you would put this all in a single class module, but for now I left it as 3 separate modules (plus the declarations module).

Good luck!

Ps. Original Developers Copyrights and Disclaimers, and other sources, are included where they are required.

Note. WMI can take a few milliseconds to initiate the first time it has been run since Windows Startup; WMI is only used for the motherboard info. Also, not 100% certain whether either HDD method works with SMART disabled, perhaps someone can confirm that, my current bios does not allow disabling it.

[sessi4ml]

I use the PC's NIC for trial coding.
Check the link below...Get MAC

[rory]

Yeah but you can change the mac.
Also, using that code in your sig, my mac is: 00-00-00-00-00-00
I also originally had the mac as an option in my activation but had to take it out.

[nilesh16782]

OK What you think about this code....
This code return HDD SNO. ..

IS IT RELIABLE???

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Dim fs, d, s, t
    Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    Set d = fs.GetDrive(fs.GetDriveName(fs.GetAbsolutePathName("C:\")))
    Select Case d.DriveType
        Case 0: t = "Unknown"
        Case 1: t = "Removable"
        Case 2: t = "Fixed"
        Case 3: t = "Network"
        Case 4: t = "CD-ROM"
        Case 5: t = "RAM Disk"
    End Select
    s = "Drive " & d.DriveLetter & ": - " & t
    s = s & vbCrLf & "SN: " & d.SerialNumber
    MsgBox s
End Sub

[rory]

No, that is not the firmware serial number.

[sessi4ml]

rory, if the whole reason is to make sure only steals or moves your trial version, then check several PC values, NIC, HDD, amount of memory, speed, a value stored on the disk, in the reg...etc
If any one of these change, ..........

[rory]

Yes, please see my attached file above, which does just that, and my other posts on how I handle the actual activation.

[killo]

hello i just used rory's code for bios and mobo number and the bios one works ok but when i run the mobo one:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Text1.Text = GetMoboNumber()
End Sub

it waits for a while then says "none" in the textbox

[rory]

hello i just used rory's code for bios and mobo number and the bios one works ok but when i run the mobo one:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Text1.Text = GetMoboNumber()
End Sub

it waits for a while then says "none" in the textbox

Not all mobo's will return a serial number. What mobo do you have; brand and model number? Also what OS are you using?

Also, add Exit For in the For Next loop to see if that ends it quicker, and please let us know, thanks.

'get bios id, bios serial, and mobo serial with WMI
Public Function GetMotherboard() As Boolean
    
On Error GoTo Error_Handler

    Dim strComputerName As String
    Dim objWMIService As Object
    Dim colItems As Object
    Dim objItem As Object
    
    strComputerName = Space$(255)
    GetComputerName strComputerName, 255
    strComputerName = Left$(strComputerName, InStr(1, strComputerName, Chr(0)) - 1)
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputerName)
    
    Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select Version, SerialNumber from Win32_BIOS", , 48)
    For Each objItem In colItems
        BiosVersion = UCase(Replace(objItem.Version, " ", ""))
        BiosSerial = objItem.SerialNumber
        Exit For
    Next objItem

    Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select SerialNumber from Win32_BaseBoard", , 48)
    For Each objItem In colItems
        MoboSerial = objItem.SerialNumber
        Exit For
    Next objItem
    
    GetMotherboard = True
    
Error_Handler:
    Set colItems = Nothing
    Set objWMIService = Nothing
    
End Function

[killo]

ok i tried that but it still doesn't work. it does end it quicker but still says "none" in the textbox heres the code i'm using:

'get bios id, bios serial, and mobo serial with WMI
Option Explicit
Private Declare Function GetComputerName Lib "KERNEL32" _
Alias "GetComputerNameA" (ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long
Dim strComputerName As String
    Dim objWMIService As Object
    Dim colItems As Object
    Dim objItem As Object
   Dim biosversion As String
   Dim biosserial As String
   Dim moboserial As String
    
Public Function GetMotherboard() As Boolean
    
On Error GoTo Error_Handler

    
    strComputerName = Space$(255)
    GetComputerName strComputerName, 255
    strComputerName = Left$(strComputerName, InStr(1, strComputerName, Chr(0)) - 1)
    Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputerName)
    
    Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select Version, SerialNumber from Win32_BIOS", , 48)
    For Each objItem In colItems
        biosversion = UCase(Replace(objItem.Version, " ", ""))
        biosserial = objItem.SerialNumber
        Exit For
    Next objItem

    Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select SerialNumber from Win32_BaseBoard", , 48)
    For Each objItem In colItems
        moboserial = objItem.SerialNumber
        Exit For
    Next objItem
    
    GetMotherboard = True
    
Error_Handler:
    Set colItems = Nothing
    Set objWMIService = Nothing
    
End Function


Private Sub Command1_Click()
 Call GetMotherboard

Text1.Text = moboserial
End Sub

Private Sub Command2_Click()
 Call GetMotherboard
Text2.Text = biosserial & vbCrLf & biosversion
End Sub

however the bios serial and bios version works fine,
also, if the user upgraded their bios firmware, then would the bios serial or bios version change?
I'm unning windows xp, i am not on a limited account and i dont know my motherboard manufacturer

[killo]

can anyone help me with this as i would like to use it in a program registration scheme, maybe the user clicks register and my program gives them their motherboard or bios serial no. and then I SHA1 hash it and encrypt it a few times and send it back then my program veirifies it

[nasreen]

Remove the GetComputerName API Declaration, you dont need it in this case.

Hi Rory
Although I am too late to this post I feel it is very useful for me.
However If I remove the GetComputName API Declatartion i get a compile error saying Sub or function not defined highligting (GetComputerName strComputerName, 255)
If use that API declaration I see GetBiosVersion works fine and GetMoboNumber as blank

Nasreen

[Edgemeal]

However If I remove the GetComputName API Declatartion i get a compile error saying Sub or function not defined highligting (GetComputerName strComputerName, 255)

For the local PC I believe you can just use "." for the ComputerName,

strComputerName = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputerName)

[some1uk03]

Id say avoid using WMI, because if im not wrong, its only included in WinXp & above...
unless thats the targes OS you're aiming...

Use API's to get infos about the pc and the regedit has plenty of info for you to use...

[nasreen]

Hi some1uk03

Id say avoid using WMI, because if im not wrong, its only included in WinXp & above...
unless thats the targes OS you're aiming...

Use API's to get infos about the pc and the regedit has plenty of info for you to use...

Can you please give more idea with example how to capture PC infos using API

Nasreen

[Deliriumxx]

The code provided with old and new method does not work on Vista and Windows 7

[hai2hai]

@roy, please share your code to get MFG's HDD Serial in both Administrator and Limited user mode (without using WMI Services cause I actually don't want to add one more scripting library in my apps, just plain api code only)

Thanks!

[westconn1]

limited user can't get hdd serial number using api

if you don't want to use wmi, no solution for limited user

[hai2hai]

According to Randy Birch: The drive code will only work for SMART drives; not older plain IDE drives

Original code here: http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/disk/smartide.htm

[rory]

According to Randy Birch: The drive code will only work for SMART drives; not older plain IDE drives

Original code here: http://vbnet.mvps.org/code/disk/smartide.htm

It will still work for IDE drives with SMART enabled as I was using an old 6 or 7 year old IDE hard drive when i first tested this code, and the second harddrive serial code included in the project above is totally different code from the link you posted, and is also API but as mentioned does not work in limited mode.

[hai2hai]

The code provided with old and new method does not work on Vista and Windows 7

@roy: As Deliriumxx said in above post and also I test roy's code (using API then WMI) in vista/windows7 (w/o Run as Administrator mode). The HDD Serial return Bank.

May you test the code in Vista and W7 again?

Thanks!

[westconn1]

as this is an old thread resurrected, you should make clear who you are addressing, people who posted in this thread originally may not still be active in the forum

i have tested wmi in both vista and windows7 (home premium) as a limited user, works in both, but the return strings have to be decoded
in vista the return is in ascii
but in widows 7 the return is a hex string
in either case it easy to process the return to get the correct value
should be able to figure from the length of the return whether it is ascii or hex
as admin user the correct value was returned directly from the wmi query in vista, have not tried that yet in windows 7

i have also made an api version that asks for elevation, then it works correctly with admin password provided

[hai2hai]

i have tested wmi in both vista and windows7 (home premium) as a limited user, works in both, but the return strings have to be decoded
in vista the return is in ascii
but in widows 7 the return is a hex string
in either case it easy to process the return to get the correct value
should be able to figure from the length of the return whether it is ascii or hex
as admin user the correct value was returned directly from the wmi query in vista, have not tried that yet in windows 7

i have also made an api version that asks for elevation, then it works correctly with admin password provided

Could you please share the code that return & get correct value in both vista and w7?

And provide me the solution "api version that asks for elevation, then it works correctly with admin password provided"

TIA

P/S: Anyone know how to get Physical LAN Adapter (MAC Address). I have the code but it sometime get VMW Adapter, sometime get Wireless Adapter and sometime get LAN Adapter (happen when I disable and enable again the LAN adapter). In most case I want to return Physical LAN Adapter only (Not other if LAN adapter is enable). I don't know why sometime Wireless Adapter have adapter index smaller than the Physical LAN adapter.

[westconn1]

Set WMIObjectSet = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\CIMV2").ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_PhysicalMedia")
For Each wmiobject In WMIObjectSet
    s = wmiobject.SerialNumber
    sn = ""
    If Not IsNull(s) Then
    If Len(s) > 20 Then
    For i = 1 To Len(s) Step 4   ' windows 7
        sn = sn & Chr("&h" & Mid(s, i + 2, 2)) & Chr("&h" & Mid(s, i, 2))
    Next
    ElseIf Len(s) = 20 Then
    For i = 1 To Len(s) Step 2   ' vista
        sn = sn & Mid(s, i + 1, 1) & Mid(s, i, 1)
    Next
    Else: sn = s   ' where string returned directly
    End If
    MsgBox wmiobject.Tag & " : " & Trim(sn)
    End If
Next
Set WMIObjectSet = Nothing
 
End Sub

And provide me the solution "api version that asks for elevation

you need to follow all instructions for adding manifests to your exe, these are discussed in many places in this forum, all apps should now have this to be vista and windows 7 aware, as this is not just some vb code, but requires a tutorial, you will need to research it

[hai2hai]

If Not IsNull(s) Then
    If Len(s) > 20 Then
    For i = 1 To Len(s) Step 4   ' windows 7
        sn = sn & Chr("&h" & Mid(s, i + 2, 2)) & Chr("&h" & Mid(s, i, 2))
    Next
    ElseIf Len(s) = 20 Then
    For i = 1 To Len(s) Step 2   ' vista
        sn = sn & Mid(s, i + 1, 1) & Mid(s, i, 1)
    Next

Many thanks, how about the BIOS & Motherboard Serials in Vista & Windows 7?

[westconn1]

you can get with wmi, tested as a limited user in windows 7, there are several threads on this on the forum, most show the same code

"select * from win32_baseboard"

on my laptop the serial number for the bios is the same as the baseboard, i have no idea what that means