How to uniquely identify computer using C#?

Question

How to uniquely identify computer (mainboard) using C#(.Net/Mono, local application)?

Edition. We can identify mainboard in .Net using something like this (see Get Unique System Identifiers in C#):

using System.Management;
...
ManagementObjectSearcher searcher = new ManagementObjectSearcher("select * from Win32_MotherboardDevice");
...

But unfortunately Mono does not support System.Management. How to do it under Mono for Linux? - I don't know :(

Answer 1

Try this:

http://carso-owen.blogspot.com/2007/02/how-to-get-my-motherboard-serial-number.html

Personally though, I'd go with hard drive serial number. If a mainboard dies and is replaced, that PC isn't valid any more. If the HDD drive is replaced, it doesn't matter too much because the software was on it.

Of course, on the other hand, if the HDD is just moved elsewhere, the information goes with it, so you might want to look at a combination of serial numbers, depending what you want it for.

Answer 2

Please see: Get Unique System Identifiers in C#

Answer 3

Write a function that takes a few unique hardware parameters as input and generates a hash out of them.

For example, Windows activation looks at the following hardware characteristics:

• Display Adapter
• SCSI Adapter
• IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
• Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
• RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
• Processor Type
• Processor Serial Number
• Hard Drive Device
• Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
• CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

You can pick up a few of them to generate your unique computer identifier.

Answer 4

How about the MAC address of the network card?