saeidjoker / libc.hwid

generate unique hardware id in C#

libc.hwid

C# cross platform hardware ID generator

Unique hardware ID generator for protecting your distributed .net software (Ubuntu, Windows & Mac OS Big Sur)

Why we need this?

• We want to distribute a software and we worry about possible copyright violations.
• We don't want your software to be distributed without our consent

How does it work?

• HwId.Generate() method combines Motherboard info with CPU ID into a string
• Then hashes the string into a 40 character ASCII string. This final string value is the Hardware ID

Considerations:

• So called Hardware ID, created with HwId.Generate() method, will return the same value on a computer system as long as the mother board and CPU do not change
• This library does not use Mac address since the value returned from WMI on Microsoft Windows will change if the computer's network connection is lost or disabled.

I've used this piece of code in my projects on the following operating systems:

• Ubuntu 16.04
• Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
• Windows 7
• Windows 7 SP1
• Windows 8
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10
• MacOS Big Sur

Usage:

The nuget package is written as a .Net Standard 2.0 & .Net 5.0 class library, so you can use it in the following project types:

• .Net Standard 2.0+
• .Net 5.0
• .Net Core 2.0+
• .Net Framework 4.6.1+

Just add this nuget package to your project and use as below:

var hardwareId = libc.hwid.HwId.Generate();

Take a look at tests to understand the usage better

libc.hwid's Issues

Question about motherboard and CPU

Hi, does the same brand/model Motherboard and exact same CPU model, generate the
same hardware id? Thanks.

sudo permissions on Linux

On Linux, the Generate() function needs sudo permissions to run.
There is no async function to wait until the user entered the password for console applications.

Not campatible with .net Core 3

Getting exception thrown on Arch Linux e.g: Manjaro XFCE (Virtual Machine)

Hi, on freshly installed Manjaro XFCE VM I get the following exception

Unhandled exception. System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'TEST.Program' threw an exception.
---> System.InvalidOperationException: Sequence contains no matching element
at System.Linq.ThrowHelper.ThrowNoMatchException()
at System.Linq.Enumerable.First[TSource](IEnumerable'1 source, Func'2 predicate)
at libc.hwid.HwId.Dmidecode(String query, String find)
at libc.hwid.HwId.GetInfo(Hardware hw)
at libc.hwid.HwId.Generate()

How is the code used
I have the class User with the field public static string UUID
In that class there is a constructor that has the following code

public User() { UUID = libc.hwid.HwId.Generate(); }
The exception is thrown when I create a new user object with
static User user = new User();

This works fine on windows

Do cloned PCs have the same ID ?

Hello,
In the case of identical PCs with same MotherBoard and CPU, and a clone of the system image, will the generated ID be the same?