How to Check Your HWID on Windows 10 and 11 (Disk, BIOS, MAC)

You can check your HWID on Windows without installing anything. A few PowerShell commands show the serial numbers of your drives, motherboard and BIOS, your system UUID and your MAC addresses. This guide lists the commands, explains what each ID is, and shows how to compare them before and after you spoof.

What "HWID" actually means

There is no single hardware ID. "HWID" is shorthand for the set of identifiers your hardware reports to Windows: serial numbers burned into drives and motherboards, values stored in your BIOS, and the addresses of your network adapters. An anti-cheat reads several of these and combines them into a fingerprint of your PC.

That is why a HWID ban follows you to new accounts. The account is new, the fingerprint is not. Our guide to fixing a HWID ban covers that side in more detail.

How to open PowerShell

Press Windows + X and pick Terminal or Windows PowerShell. You do not need admin rights for most of the commands below, but running as administrator avoids blank results on some machines. Copy each command, paste it in, and press Enter.

The commands

Disk serial numbers

Get-CimInstance Win32_DiskDrive | Select-Object Model, SerialNumber

This lists every physical drive with its model and serial. A second view of the same thing:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Select-Object FriendlyName, SerialNumber

Drive serials are one of the most common IDs anti-cheats read, because almost every PC has at least one drive and the serial is unique.

Volume serial number

vol C:

This shows the serial of the C: partition. It is different from the drive serial: Windows creates it when the partition is formatted, so it changes if you reinstall Windows.

Motherboard (baseboard)

Get-CimInstance Win32_BaseBoard | Select-Object Manufacturer, Product, SerialNumber

The baseboard serial identifies your motherboard. On some boards, especially cheaper ones, this field reads "Default string" or "To be filled by O.E.M." because the manufacturer never set it.

BIOS

Get-CimInstance Win32_BIOS | Select-Object Manufacturer, SMBIOSBIOSVersion, SerialNumber

This shows the BIOS vendor, version and serial number. On prebuilt PCs and laptops the BIOS serial is often the same as the service tag printed on the case.

System UUID

Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystemProduct | Select-Object UUID

The UUID is a 128-bit identifier stored in your firmware (SMBIOS). It is meant to be unique per machine, which makes it a strong part of any fingerprint.

CPU

Get-CimInstance Win32_Processor | Select-Object Name, ProcessorId

The ProcessorId is not unique per chip (identical CPU models often report the same value), but it still adds to the overall fingerprint.

MAC addresses

getmac /v

getmac works in both PowerShell and Command Prompt. The /v switch shows the adapter name next to each physical address, so you can tell your Ethernet port from your Wi-Fi card. You can also use:

Get-NetAdapter | Select-Object Name, InterfaceDescription, MacAddress

What each ID is, at a glance

The pattern is clear: the IDs that matter most are stored in hardware or firmware, not in Windows. That is why reinstalling Windows does not lift a hardware ban.

Why anti-cheats read these IDs

When a cheater is banned, the anti-cheat wants the ban to stick. If it only banned the account, the player could make a new one in five minutes. By recording hardware identifiers at the time of the ban, it can recognise the same PC when a new account logs in.

BattlEye, Easy Anti-Cheat and Ricochet all use hardware identifiers in some form, though none of them publishes exactly which IDs they read or how they weight them. Games also leave their own files and registry entries on your PC, which is why removing traces with a cleaner matters as much as changing IDs. Our anti-cheat guide explains how each system works.

Save your real IDs first

Before you spoof anything, save a copy of your real values. One way is to send everything to a text file on your desktop:

Get-CimInstance Win32_DiskDrive | Select-Object Model, SerialNumber | Out-File "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\hwid-before.txt"
Get-CimInstance Win32_BaseBoard | Select-Object SerialNumber | Out-File "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\hwid-before.txt" -Append
Get-CimInstance Win32_BIOS | Select-Object SerialNumber | Out-File "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\hwid-before.txt" -Append
Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystemProduct | Select-Object UUID | Out-File "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\hwid-before.txt" -Append
getmac /v | Out-File "$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop\hwid-before.txt" -Append

Having this file makes it easy to see what changed later, and to confirm everything is back to normal after a restart.

Checking before and after spoofing

A spoofer changes the IDs your PC reports while it is active. Our Temp HWID Spoofer has a built-in HWID checker, so you do not have to run these commands by hand every time:

1. Open the spoofer and look at the HWID checker. Note your current values.
2. Close every game and launcher, then run the one-click spoof and clean.
3. Open the HWID checker again and confirm the values are different.
4. Optionally, run the PowerShell commands above as a second check.

Because it is a temporary spoofer, your real IDs come back when you restart. You can confirm that by checking again after a reboot and comparing with your saved file. If you are not sure whether temporary or permanent spoofing suits you, read temp vs perm HWID spoofers.

One thing to know: the spoofer supports Windows 10 and 11 but not Windows 11 24H2. See our post on HWID spoofing and Windows 11 24H2 for how to check your version.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one command that shows my HWID?

No. Windows has no single "HWID" value. You check each identifier separately: drive serials, baseboard serial, BIOS serial, system UUID and MAC addresses. Together they make up what people call your HWID.

Why does my motherboard serial say "Default string"?

Some manufacturers leave the field empty or filled with a placeholder. It is normal and does not mean anything is broken. Anti-cheats simply rely more on the other IDs in that case.

Does reinstalling Windows change my HWID?

Only the volume serial and some Windows-level values. Drive, motherboard, BIOS and UUID values are stored in hardware or firmware, so a reinstall leaves them the same.

How do I know the spoofer worked?

Compare the values in the built-in HWID checker before and after spoofing. If the drive and motherboard serials changed, the spoof is active. After a restart they should match your originals again.

Do I need a spoofer if I'm not banned?

Not always. Read do I need a HWID spoofer to work out whether your situation calls for one.