topic Re: serial number? in Operating System - Microsoft

serial number?

Mary Deck — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 17:59:28 GMT

Hi,

Under Win2K Svr or newer, is there a way to display the server's serial number, without using any agents? Very much prefer something included in the OS (since customers at different sites may have slightly different OS loads/configurations). It doesn't appear to be in the registry, msconfig, msinfo32, device mgr, etc.

Of course it's on the hardware, but there's not necessarily someone on-site. I know it's in BIOS, but looking for a way to avoid rebooting. And I know it's available through insight agents, but I can't guarantee they'll be running, so I need an out-of-band way to get the info.

???

-- Mary

Re: serial number?

Norman_21 — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 01:17:17 GMT

Hi
It's not clear what serial number are you talking about. Do you mean the Product Key?
Please be more specific

thanks

Re: serial number?

Michael Schulte zur Sur — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 08:23:08 GMT

Hi,

do you want to know the processor serial number?

Michael

Re: serial number?

Mary Deck — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 10:05:21 GMT

As I said in the first sentence, looking for the SERVER's serial number -- the number to which warranty is tied. Definitely not the processor's serial number. I have no idea what a product key is, but if it's not the server's serial number, it's not what I'm looking for.

-- Mary

Re: serial number?

Jon Finley — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 11:07:34 GMT

There are only a few manufacturers that actually place a unit serial number (unit ID number) in the BIOS, or make use of an ID chip somewhere on the motherboard or within a sepparate socket somewhere on the PCI Bus. The few I'm aware of that do this, are Dell, Stratus, and some of the higher end servers from HP and Compaq. Because the methods used are proprietary, the software used to retrieve the information is also proprietary.

Which hardware vendor are you asking about?

As for the insight agents, if they aren't running at the time, but ARE installed, then they should be able to be invoked (started) remotely.

Jon

Re: serial number?

chuck berry_3 — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 10:12:22 GMT

http://www.aida32.hu/aida-download.php?bit=32

will take you to a downloadable program called AIDA32 whic seeme to provide a lot of information in the area you asked about. From CPU Serial number to system license #.

It has a chassis reading that looks like this:
Chassis Properties
Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
Version MT
Asset Tag 7UXCJ

and a motherboard propertie like this:
Motherboard Properties
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Product SE440BX-3
Version AA722396-108
Serial Number 0007335T1246199C006N

Both samples are from a Dell machine.

Good luck.

Re: serial number?

Mary Deck — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 11:07:40 GMT

Thanks, that looks like it'll do the trick. Now, if only I had some of the correct hardware on which to try it!

-- Mary