What Is a HWID? How to Find Your Hardware ID on Windows

A Windows Hardware ID is a vendor-defined string that helps Windows match a device with a driver package. Microsoft describes an ID for a device, not one universal number for an entire PC. The same device may report several IDs, usually ordered from most to least suitable for driver matching. “What is my HWID?” therefore needs a more precise question: which device and which identifier property?

In gaming, the same acronym also appears in discussions of hardware-linked restrictions and spoofer products. Those uses are related to hardware identity, but Microsoft's driver-matching definition does not explain a publisher's private enforcement checks. If you are comparing what products claim to change, the HWID spoofer hub records their published scope and limits separately from any ban outcome.

Sources: [1][3]

Windows Device Manager shows the Hardware Ids property for a selected device. Microsoft's documentation, updated November 1, 2025, gives a five-step read-only route:

1. Search Windows for Device Manager and open it. 2. Select the device you want to inspect in the device tree. 3. Open that device's Properties. 4. Select the Details tab. 5. Choose Hardware Ids in the Property list and read the values shown.

The selected device matters. Looking at a network adapter shows that device's property, not a complete summary of every component or a game's enforcement record. Microsoft also lists Compatible Ids in the same menu. It is a different property. Keep the property name with any note you make, or a copied string loses its context. You do not need to install a checker to follow Microsoft's path.

Sources: [1][2]

A Windows Hardware ID is a string, and its format depends on the device's enumerator. Microsoft gives PCI\VEN_1000&DEV_0001&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_02 as an example for a PCI device. It is an example from driver documentation, not an ID that identifies every computer. A value in your own Device Manager can look different and one device may have more than one value.

Microsoft tells developers to treat device identification strings as opaque strings for comparison. Reading a vendor-looking fragment from a sample does not turn the complete string into a reliable explanation of a game's hardware restriction. The important distinction for a reader is the property being viewed, not an attempt to decode every character.

Sources: [1][2]

Windows uses several device identification strings for different jobs. Microsoft's December 19, 2024 Plug and Play documentation separates two driver-matching categories, Hardware IDs and Compatible IDs, from instance identifiers for particular installed device instances. A Container ID groups related device nodes. The table keeps those jobs separate from the looser phrase “HWID ban” used in game support.

The table describes Microsoft's Windows terms. It does not say that an anti-cheat reads each listed field, or that changing any one field would change a game decision.

Sources: [1][2]

Riot Games uses “HWID ban” for a restriction it says targets a computer's physical components rather than only an account. Its May 31, 2026 support article also says an account ban and an HWID ban are different penalties. That explains Riot's use of the label; it does not establish how every game identifies a device.

The existing HWID-ban guide explains the restriction itself. The spoofer-definition guide explains what the product category claims to change. Neither a Windows Hardware Ids list nor a spoofer product description establishes that a publisher has changed an account sanction. Read the game publisher's own notice for the actual restriction on an account or computer. The Valorant HWID-spoofer page is the game-specific comparison route for product listings.

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The Hardware Ids property does not report a game's ban status. Microsoft's November 1, 2025 instructions show Windows properties for one selected device. Riot's May 31, 2026 HWID-ban support page explains a sanction and its account consequences, but that page does not enumerate the identifiers behind Riot's decision. These sources do not provide a method for identifying Riot's ban inputs from the Windows property.

A cross-game table should distinguish a documented policy from a player's guess, and date the official statement for each game. Use that policy record before assuming that a blocked login is a hardware ban.

Sources: [1][3]

A publisher's exact notice is the starting point for a ban question. Riot says a login attempt during an active HWID ban produces VAN 152. Its support article also describes asking Player Support to review an eligible case, without promising a reversal. A different launch failure or restriction should not be relabelled an HWID ban because a Windows device has a Hardware Ids value; Windows shows that property for devices regardless of any game notice.

Keep the code, game, and date with the notice when using the official support route. The dedicated VAN 152 guide covers Riot's error in detail, while this page stays with the identifier's meaning.

Sources: [1][3]