How To Find My Computer Serial Number
Whether you need to update drivers, check hardware compatibility, or you’re just curious, it’s way easier to check your motherboard model number with these simple tricks than to crack open your case to check the board itself. Here’s how to check your motherboard model number from the comfort of your keyboard.
Why Do I Want To Do This?
Knowing your motherboard’s model number is important if you’re thinking of upgrading your drivers, buying new hardware (you’ll need the proper expansion or memory slots, for example), or just checking the capabilities of your board if you’re considering upgrading your whole rig.
If you kept the paperwork that came with your computer (or the individual components, if you built it yourself), you can often times reference that. Even then, it’s best to check to make sure the documentation is correct. Rather than open the case and search for the model number on the board itself, use tools within Windows to check things out instead.
Check Your Model Number from the Command Prompt (or PowerShell)
If you’re comfortable using the Command Prompt (or PowerShell, where these commands also work), you can easily check a variety of motherboard and hardware stats using the handy Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC)—a command-line interface for Microsoft’s powerful WMI tool.
With the WMIC, you can entry the query baseboard
to check motherboard stats, and then use additional modifiers like get Manufacturer, Model, Name, PartNumber, slotlayout, serialnumber, or poweredon
to get more detailed information about the motherboard.
As an example, let’s check a motherboard’s manufacturer, model number, and serial number using WMIC.
Open up the command prompt in Windows via either the run dialog (Windows+R) or by searching for “cmd” on the Start menu—no need to run the Command Prompt as an administrator. And, as we mentioned, you could also use PowerShell here, if you prefer. The command works the same in both shells. At the command line, type the following text (noting that there are no spaces between the modifiers—just commas), and then hit Enter:
The information returned checks out for the motherboard we’re using: the manufacturer is Gigabyte, the board is the Z170X-Gaming 7, and while the WMIC tool tried to check the serial number, Gigabyte left that particular bit unfilled for whatever reason. Nonetheless, the WMIC tool functioned just as it should, and without opening the case or using any third party tools, we have the basic information we’re looking for.
Check Your Model Number with Speccy
If you’d prefer a GUI-based way to check your motherboard’s model number (as well as a method that yields more information at a glance than the WMIC tool), you can grab the free tool Speccy. It’s a handy app to have around.
After downloading and installing Speccy, go ahead and fire it up.
You can see the motherboard model number right on the summary page, along with it’s current operating temperature (assuming your board includes that). You can also see basic details about other system components.
Click over to the “Motherboard” tab on the left to see even more information about your motherboard, including details about the chipset and voltages, along with the types of slots included on the board and whether or not they’re currently in use.
If a Creative Cloud app asks for a serial number
Creative Cloud apps do not require serial numbers. If you are asked to enter a serial number when you start a Creative Cloud app, it is an error. For help resolving this issue, see Troubleshoot when Creative Cloud apps ask for serial number.
If you purchased from Adobe.com or registered your product
If you downloaded your product from Adobe.com or have registered it, finding your serial number is simple. Adobe keeps track of it for you.
To see a list of your registered products and their serial numbers, follow these steps:
Access your Adobe ID account, and sign in with your Adobe ID and password.
Your Adobe ID is the unique email address you first used when you started your membership, or purchased an Adobe app or service. If you used your social (Facebook or Google) account to create your Adobe ID account, your Adobe ID is the same as the email address associated with your social account. For more information, see Manage your Adobe ID account.
In the Order history screen, click the order number in the ORDER# column.
In the Order number screen, click Downloads and Serial Numbers.
If you have the product packaging or a redemption code from a reseller
If you have the product packaging or a redemption code from a reseller, check the following table to find your serial number.
How did you purchase your product? | Where’s your code or serial number? |
Prepaid card, product box, or from reseller | See the section below: Prepaid card, product box, or from reseller. |
As a Student or Teacher Edition product | See Serial numbers, redemption codes, and product codes Student & Teacher editions. |
As a volume license | You can find your serial number on the Adobe Licensing Website. |
If you purchased your product using a prepaid card, have a boxed product, or bought from a reseller, here's how to find your serial number.
What do you have? | Where’s your code or serial number? |
A prepaid card | Find your redemption code beneath the scratch-off foil on the back of the card. For detailed instructions, see Redemption code help. |
A product box | Serial Number Find your serial number on the disc sleeve or on the product box. The serial number is a 24-digit numeric code. Note: For Elements products, the serial number is located on the Windows DVD sleeve. Redemption Code Find your redemption code on an insert card inside the box. The redemption code is a 22-digit alphanumeric code. For detailed instructions, see Redemption code help. |
An email from a reseller | Find your redemption code or serial number in the email. If you receive a redemption code, see Redemption code help. |
Invalid or revoked serial number
If you receive a message when trying to install Adobe Creative Suite or Adobe Acrobat, stating that the serial number you are using has been revoked, or is invalid, it is because the serial number you are attempting to use has been blocked by Adobe. Adobe blocks serial numbers that are known to have not been issued by Adobe, or are known to have been used fraudulently by unauthorized sellers to produce counterfeit software. Unfortunately, you may only know the serial number has been blocked for this reason when re-activating or reinstalling Adobe software.
To learn more and to resolve this issue, visit this page.
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