Question

For simple copy-protection purposes, I would like to generate a small string or int value to (somewhat) uniquely identify the current computer. Ideally this value won’t change after simple hardware peripheral changes, or even hopefully after a complete re-installation of Windows.

Most of the answers found here and elsewhere are unsatisfactory for three main reasons:

1. The code presented isn’t easily portable to C#.
2. The hardware values suggested are often unusable/empty (e.g. the processor ID or even the hard drive serial number) or unstable (e.g. the MAC address).
3. The code involved requires elevated admin privileges.

I have searched through several posts and found a helpful article (How To Get Hardware Information), but since #3 is an important consideration in my case, I’m not sure what hardware info I can retrieve with just normal user privileges.

Regarding #2, I imagine the best solution is to simply append a few different values together, but which ones? Any help is greatly appreciated, especially if it includes or points to C# code. 😀

Answer 1

I think you’re going to have a hard time meeting this criteria because uniquely identifying the machine may be a functionality that is only intended for administrators. If this isn’t the case now I’d imagine it will be as time goes on due to rising privacy concerns.