What is HWID and which parameters it includes

HWID (Hardware ID) is not a single number. It is a fingerprint built from a dozen or more values that Windows and applications read from the components of your PC. When a service says you are "banned by hardware," it is not comparing one value — it is matching a whole profile of identifiers.

Here is what that profile contains, which layer of the system each piece lives in, and which parts can actually be changed by software.

Quick reference: where each HWID piece lives

Identifier	Where it lives	Changeable by software?
SMBIOS UUID	Motherboard firmware	No
Motherboard serial	Motherboard firmware	No
BIOS serial	Motherboard firmware	No
CPUID / CPU brand string	The CPU itself	No
TPM 2.0 endorsement key	TPM chip	No
Disk firmware serial (NVMe/SATA)	Drive controller	No
NTFS volume serial	Partition BPB on disk	Yes (raw sector write)
MAC address	NIC driver / EEPROM	Yes (driver override)
Machine GUID	Windows registry	Yes
HwProfileGuid	Windows registry	Yes
ProductId	Windows registry	Yes
SQM MachineId	Windows registry	Yes
SusClientId	Windows registry	Yes
ComputerName / Hostname	Windows registry	Yes
GPU UUID	GPU driver	No (without spoof DLL)

The rule of thumb: anything in firmware stays put; anything in the Windows registry or in NTFS partition metadata is changeable. The middle ground — MAC, GPU UUID — depends on the device.

What goes into the HWID profile

A typical hardware profile includes:

• Motherboard serial and SMBIOS UUID — live in firmware; read through SMBIOS or WMI.
• MAC addresses of every network interface — Ethernet, Wi-Fi, virtual adapters; read by the driver.
• Physical disk serials — NVMe and SATA, each in their own format.
• Volume serials of partitions (NTFS volume IDs) — sit on the disk itself, in the partition's BPB.
• GPU identifier — GPU UUID, device ID.
• CPU information — CPUID, brand string, model.
• TPM data — the TPM 2.0 endorsement key, unique to each chip.

And a layer of Windows-specific values on top:

• Machine GUID in the registry — HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\MachineGuid, generated at Windows install time.
• HwProfileGuid, SQM\MachineId, SusClientId — hardware-profile and Windows Update identifiers.
• ComputerName and hostname — your PC's text label.

Each lives in a different layer of the system — some in the registry, some on the disk, some in the firmware. That layering is the key to understanding which parts can be changed and which cannot.

How HWID differs from Machine GUID, Product Key, and serial number

These four terms are often confused, but each refers to a specific identifier:

• HWID — the composite hardware fingerprint described in this article. Not stored anywhere as a single value; computed on demand by reading multiple sources.
• Machine GUID — one registry value (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\MachineGuid). One piece of the HWID profile, not the whole thing. Regenerated by some clean-install scenarios.
• Windows Product Key — the 25-character licence key for your copy of Windows. Tied to your Microsoft account or motherboard for digital licences, but separate from HWID.
• Computer serial number — the manufacturer-printed serial on your laptop or chassis; reported by SMBIOS as BaseBoard.SerialNumber or BIOS.SerialNumber. One identifier in the HWID profile, not the profile itself.

When someone says "my HWID got banned," they mean the anti-cheat matched a set of these values, not just one.

Why changing one value does not beat an HWID ban

Because the profile is multi-layered, changing only your MAC address — or reinstalling Windows — almost never defeats a hardware ban. The service still matches against several of the other values and re-flags the machine as "the same one."

Anti-cheats like BattlEye, EAC and Vanguard compare a set of identifiers and decide based on multiple matches, not just one.

What specific anti-cheats actually read

Different anti-cheats lean on different identifiers:

• Vanguard (Riot, used by VALORANT and League of Legends) — kernel driver, reads SMBIOS UUID, motherboard serial, disk firmware serials, MAC, and several registry values directly. Considered the strictest mainstream anti-cheat for HWID matching.
• Easy Anti-Cheat (Epic, used by Fortnite, Apex Legends, Fall Guys, Rust) — kernel mode; reads SMBIOS, disk serials, MAC, and Windows registry IDs.
• BattlEye (Arma, PUBG, Rainbow Six Siege, Tarkov) — kernel mode; similar set, with extra focus on disk and motherboard.
• VAC (Valve, all Steam titles) — user-mode only; uses lighter heuristics and tends to match on accounts more than pure HWID, though Steam family-sharing limits do touch hardware.
• Ricochet (Activision, used by Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare) — kernel mode; checks SMBIOS, disks, and process-level signals.
• FairFight / Warden — server-side and in-process scanners; mostly behavioural, less HWID-focused.

The takeaway: the more aggressive the anti-cheat, the more firmware-level identifiers it reads — which is exactly the part that no software-only HWID changer can rewrite.

What can and cannot be changed

It is worth being precise.

Safe to change by software:

• Machine GUID and adjacent Windows registry identifiers.
• NTFS volume serials (via direct write to disk sector 0).
• MAC addresses of physical adapters — through the driver's NetworkAddress property, with some caveats.
• ComputerName and hostname.

Cannot be changed by ordinary software:

• SMBIOS UUID — lives in motherboard firmware.
• Firmware-level disk serials (the ones the controller itself returns).
• CPUID and CPU brand string.
• TPM 2.0 endorsement key — burned in by the chip's manufacturer.

A safe HWID change works on the first group, consistently, and always with a saved state you can roll back to. The second group stays put — an honest limit of any software-only solution, and the reason no "perfect" hardware bypass exists.

Where HWID is actually used

Not only in games. HWID is one of the main device-binding tools across the industry:

• Games — for hardware bans and to slow down multi-account abuse. VALORANT, Fortnite, COD: Warzone, PUBG, Apex Legends, Rust, Tarkov, and Rainbow Six Siege all rely on HWID checks.
• Software licensing — so a program only runs on the PC it was bought for. Adobe Creative Cloud, AutoCAD, FL Studio, and most professional DAWs all bind activations to hardware.
• Windows activation — particularly digital licences, which are tied to a hash of your hardware. Replace the motherboard and you often need to re-activate.
• Fraud-prevention systems — banks, marketplaces, ad networks fingerprint devices to spot returning bad actors after an account ban.
• Anti-piracy DRM — Denuvo, SecuROM, and BattlEye's licence layer all read HWID-style fingerprints to lock content to a machine.

Frequently asked questions

Is HWID the same as my computer's serial number?

No. The serial on a laptop or desktop is one of the identifiers stored in SMBIOS, and it is just one part of the HWID profile. The full HWID is built from a dozen or more values.

Does reinstalling Windows change my HWID?

Partially. The identifiers Windows generates itself (Machine GUID, HwProfileGuid, and similar) change on a clean install. The hardware identifiers — motherboard serial, SMBIOS UUID, disk serials, CPUID — do not: they live in firmware and on the hardware itself. An anti-cheat would still recognise the profile.

Does HWID change after a hardware upgrade?

It depends on which part you upgraded. Swapping an SSD or a network card moves some identifiers (disk serial, MAC), while the motherboard serial and SMBIOS UUID stay where they are. An upgrade can also have side effects elsewhere — for example, your HWID can shift enough to require Windows re-activation.

Can I see my HWID with one command?

No single command, because HWID is not a single field. A baseline view comes from wmic, PowerShell's Get-CimInstance, dxdiag and msinfo32. The full set is what dedicated utilities show.

Can my HWID be "reset" completely?

In software — no. Firmware-resident identifiers (SMBIOS UUID, BIOS serial, CPUID) stay because they are physically burned in. A software HWID change works on the layers where it is both safe and reversible — that covers most needs, but not all.

How long is a typical HWID value?

There is no single fixed length, because HWID is a profile, not a string. Individual components have their own formats: SMBIOS UUID is a 128-bit GUID (36 characters with hyphens), Machine GUID is also a GUID, MAC is 12 hex characters, NTFS volume serial is 32-bit (8 hex characters). When utilities display "your HWID" as a short hash, they are showing a SHA-256 or similar digest of the combined set.

Is HWID stored anywhere on my PC?

Not as a single field. Each component is stored where the hardware or OS places it — SMBIOS in the BIOS chip, MAC in the NIC's EEPROM, volume serial in the partition's BPB on disk, Machine GUID in the Windows registry. Anti-cheats and licensing systems compute the composite at runtime.

Does using a VPN change my HWID?

No. A VPN changes only your network identity — your IP address and the route your traffic takes. HWID is read from local hardware and the registry, both untouched by a VPN. If a game ban is HWID-based, a VPN alone will not unban you.

The takeaway

HWID is not a single sticker on a box — it is a composite of a dozen or more identifiers spread across the registry, the disk and the firmware. Knowing which layer holds which identifier is the foundation for every practical question: the exact step-by-step for changing HWID on Windows 11, what can be changed in software, what cannot, and where a software HWID change reaches its limit.