How to Find the Hard Drive Serial Number in Windows

To find the manufacturer’s serial number for a physical hard drive or SSD, open PowerShell and query Windows for its disk information. This also works for many USB drives Windows detects. The vol command shows a different value: a volume serial number tied to a drive letter, not the hardware serial you need for a warranty claim.

Find the physical HDD or SSD serial number

1. Open PowerShell. Select Start, type PowerShell, and open Windows PowerShell or PowerShell from the results. You normally do not need to run it as administrator for this read-only query.
2. Run this command:

   Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_DiskDrive | Select-Object Index, Model, SerialNumber

   Press Enter. The command asks Windows for its physical-disk records and displays three useful fields.
3. Find the correct row. Match the model and disk index to the drive you need, then copy the value under SerialNumber. If the computer has several drives, compare their models and disk numbers in Disk Management (right-click Start and choose Disk Management). Do not use a volume letter such as C: as the disk number; a physical disk can contain multiple volumes.

The query uses the Win32_DiskDrive class. Microsoft describes it as a physical disk drive as Windows sees it, and defines SerialNumber as the manufacturer-assigned identifier for the physical media. The Get-CimInstance cmdlet is the PowerShell method used here to retrieve that record. The query only reads device details; it does not change or format the drive.

Check an external drive, too

Connect the external HDD or SSD, wait for Windows to recognize it, and run the same PowerShell command again. External USB drives that Windows exposes as physical disks can appear in the results alongside internal storage.

If the external device is missing, check that it appears in Disk Management and try another cable or USB port. If its row appears but SerialNumber is blank, the enclosure or USB-to-SATA bridge may not pass the drive’s serial through to Windows. The number shown can also belong to the enclosure or controller instead of the drive. In that case, check the label on the drive or enclosure, the manufacturer’s utility, or the original documentation before giving a serial to support.

Volume serial number vs. hard drive serial number

To see the identifier for a volume such as C:, open Command Prompt and enter:

vol C:

Replace C: with another drive letter as needed. Microsoft documents vol as displaying a disk volume’s label and serial number, if present.

A volume serial identifies a formatted volume, while the PowerShell result identifies a physical disk. One disk can hold several partitions with different drive letters, so vol can return different volume serials for the same physical hardware. Use the PowerShell result when a manufacturer, repair shop, or warranty form asks for the HDD or SSD serial number.

Why the older WMIC command may fail

Older guides often recommend wmic diskdrive get serialnumber. Microsoft deprecated the WMIC utility starting with Windows 10 version 21H1 and has removed it from Windows 11 version 24H2 and later. Windows Management Instrumentation remains available; it is the WMIC command-line utility that has been phased out. Use the PowerShell query above instead. See Microsoft’s WMIC documentation for the current status.

If the serial is missing or the command fails

Make sure you entered the query in PowerShell, not Command Prompt. If Windows says it cannot find Get-CimInstance, reopen Windows PowerShell from Start and try again. If the command returns no disk rows, first check whether the drive appears in Disk Management; a drive Windows has not detected cannot return a serial through this query.

A blank or generic-looking serial usually means the device, enclosure, RAID controller, or virtual storage layer is not passing through the manufacturer’s physical-drive identifier. Windows can report only what that hardware exposes. For a RAID array, consult the system or controller vendor’s management tool if you need the serial of an individual member disk. Cross-check the model and serial against the label or manufacturer documentation before submitting a warranty request.

References

• Microsoft: Win32_DiskDrive class
• Microsoft: Get-CimInstance
• Microsoft: vol command
• Microsoft: WMIC utility status