Hard Drive Serial Number

Z

ZeroEffect

Junior Contributor
Joined
Oct 24, 2004
Messages
204
Location
Detroit, MI
I have found a couple of ways to get a serial number for a hard drive. One way is like this

Visual Basic: 
        Dim fso As Scripting.FileSystemObject
        fso = New Scripting.FileSystemObject()
        TextBox1.Text = Hex(fso.GetDrive("C").SerialNumber())

That works great but the serial number would change if the drive is reformated. The other way is like this

Visual Basic: 
        TextBox1.AppendText(vbCrLf)
        Dim hdCollection As New ArrayList()
        Dim searcher As New ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_DiskDrive")
        Dim wmi_HD As New ManagementObject()

        For Each wmi_HD In searcher.Get

            Dim hd As New HardDrive()

            hd.Model = wmi_HD("Model").ToString()
            hd.Type = wmi_HD("InterfaceType").ToString()
            hdCollection.Add(hd)
        Next

        Dim searcher1 As New ManagementObjectSearcher("SELECT * FROM Win32_PhysicalMedia")


        Dim i As Integer = 0
        For Each wmi_HD In searcher1.Get()

            '// get the hard drive from collection
            '// using index

            Dim hd As HardDrive
            hd = hdCollection(i)


            '// get the hardware serial no.
            If wmi_HD("SerialNumber") = "" Then
                hd.serialNo = "None"
            Else
                hd.serialNo = wmi_HD("SerialNumber").ToString()
                i += 1
            End If
        Next

        Dim hd1 As HardDrive
        Dim ii As Integer = 0

        For Each hd1 In hdCollection
            ii += 1
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + "Disco Name: " + hd1.name + Chr(13) + Chr(10)
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + "Disco #: " + ii.ToString + Chr(13) + Chr(10)
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + "Model: " + hd1.Model + Chr(13) + Chr(10)
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + "Tipo: " + hd1.Type + Chr(13) + Chr(10)
            TextBox1.Text = TextBox1.Text + "Serial No: " + hd1.serialNo + Chr(13) + Chr(10) + Chr(13) + Chr(10)
        Next

This works great because it returns the physical HD serial number but I can't tell which drive is the "C" drive if there is more than one drive.

I want to use the Physical HD serial number and hash it to make an activation password for my application. Is there a way to do this?

Thanks

ZeroEffect
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply PlausiblyDamp. I went through the MSDN web site and found nothing for the DriveID in the WMI. Do you have an example or another place to look?

Thanks

ZeroEffect
 
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