Serial Number Commands

Get Serial Number — Commands for Desktops, Servers & Network Devices

Copy the commands from the boxes and run them on the target machine. This HTML uses no JavaScript (improves Blogger Compose compatibility). Expand each section for commands and notes.

Windows (Desktop & Server)PowerShell & WMIC

Works on Windows 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 and Windows Server (2008+). Run as Administrator when required.

Commands

Tip: Click inside a box, Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C to copy

PowerShell (Get-CimInstance)

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_BIOS | Select-Object SerialNumber

PowerShell (alternate)

Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_BIOS | Select-Object SerialNumber

Legacy WMIC (works in many environments)

wmic bios get serialnumber

From registry (example)

reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\HARDWARE\\DESCRIPTION\\System\\BIOS /v SystemSerialNumber

If commands return blank on virtual machines the host/BIOS might not expose serial number (VMs often show 'None' or empty).

Linux (Desktop & Server)dmidecode / sysfs

Commands below require root privileges for dmidecode and reading /sys files on many systems.

Commands

Run as root or prepend sudo where shown

dmidecode

sudo dmidecode -s system-serial-number

Alternative via sysfs (Linux kernel)

cat /sys/class/dmi/id/product_serial\n# or\ncat /sys/class/dmi/id/board_serial

Using lshw (if installed)

sudo lshw -class system | grep -i serial

Red Hat / CentOS note

sudo dmidecode -t system

On cloud instances or some small form-factor devices the DMI table may be absent or have vendor-specific fields.

macOS (Apple desktop & server)system_profiler / ioreg

Run on the Mac where the hardware is physically present.

Commands

system_profiler

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk '/Serial/ {print $4}'\n# Or fuller info\nsystem_profiler SPHardwareDataType

ioreg method

ioreg -l | grep IOPlatformSerialNumber\n# or\n/usr/sbin/ioreg -c IOPlatformExpertDevice | awk -F'\"' '/IOPlatformSerialNumber/ {print $4}'

Cisco IOS (routers & switches)show commands

Run from privileged EXEC mode (enable).

Commands

Basic (shows Processor board ID / serial)

show version

Inventory (detailed, modular devices)

show inventory\n# On some platforms\nshow platform chassis serial\nshow platform hardware qfp active infrastructure sysid

Look for lines like Processor board ID XXXXXXXXX or serial entries in the inventory output.

Juniper Junosshow chassis

Run from CLI in operational mode.

Commands

show chassis hardware | match Serial\n# or\nshow system information | match serial

Other Unix variantsAIX / Solaris / FreeBSD / HP-UX

Commands below vary by vendor. Run as root when required.

Commands

OS	Command (examples)
AIX	lsattr -El sys0 | grep -i systemid\n# or\nlscfg -vp | grep -i serial
Solaris (SPARC/x86)	prtdiag -v | grep -i serial\n# or\n/usr/sbin/smbios -s system-summary
FreeBSD	dmidecode -s system-serial-number\n# or\nkenv -q smbios.system.serial
HP-UX	# On many HP systems\n/opt/hp/hpuxinfo/bin/serialnumber (vendor tool)\n# Or check SAM or iLO for servers; vendor utilities vary

If OS-level commands do not show serial, check vendor management interfaces (ILO, DRAC, IMM) or hardware labels.

Quick troubleshooting & best practice

• Run commands as an administrator/root where noted (use sudo for Linux).
• Virtual machines often do not expose a hardware serial number; check hypervisor or cloud metadata service instead.
• For servers, management controllers (iLO, DRAC, IMM) reliably show chassis serial numbers from the vendor.
• If a command returns nothing, try alternate commands in the same section — vendors differ.