How to get a unique computer identifier in Java (like disk ID or motherboard ID)?
I'd like to get an id unique to a computer with Java, on Windows, MacOS and, if possible, Linux. It could be a disk UUID, motherboard S/N...
Runtime.getRuntime().exec can be used (it is not an applet).
Ideas?
Answer
The problem with MAC address is that there can be many network adapters connected to the computer. Most of the newest ones have two by default (wi-fi + cable). In such situation one would have to know which adapter's MAC address should be used. I tested MAC solution on my system, but I have 4 adapters (cable, WiFi, TAP adapter for Virtual Box and one for Bluetooth) and I was not able to decide which MAC I should take... If one would decide to use adapter which is currently in use (has addresses assigned) then new problem appears since someone can take his/her laptop and switch from cable adapter to wi-fi. With such condition MAC stored when laptop was connected through cable will now be invalid.
For example those are adapters I found in my system:
lo MS TCP Loopback interface
eth0 Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
eth1 Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection
eth2 VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
eth3 Sterownik serwera dostepu do sieci LAN Bluetooth
Code I've used to list them:
Enumeration<NetworkInterface> nis = NetworkInterface.getNetworkInterfaces();
while (nis.hasMoreElements()) {
NetworkInterface ni = nis.nextElement();
System.out.println(ni.getName() + " " + ni.getDisplayName());
}
From the options listen on this page, the most acceptable for me, and the one I've used in my solution is the one by @Ozhan Duz, the other one, similar to @finnw answer where he used JACOB, and worth mentioning is com4j - sample which makes use of WMI is available here:
ISWbemLocator wbemLocator = ClassFactory.createSWbemLocator();
ISWbemServices wbemServices = wbemLocator.connectServer("localhost","Root\\CIMv2","","","","",0,null);
ISWbemObjectSet result = wbemServices.execQuery("Select * from Win32_SystemEnclosure","WQL",16,null);
for(Com4jObject obj : result) {
ISWbemObject wo = obj.queryInterface(ISWbemObject.class);
System.out.println(wo.getObjectText_(0));
}
This will print some computer information together with computer Serial Number. Please note that all classes required by this example has to be generated by maven-com4j-plugin. Example configuration for maven-com4j-plugin:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.jvnet.com4j</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-com4j-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<configuration>
<libId>565783C6-CB41-11D1-8B02-00600806D9B6</libId>
<package>win.wmi</package>
<outputDirectory>${project.build.directory}/generated-sources/com4j</outputDirectory>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>generate-wmi-bridge</id>
<goals>
<goal>gen</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
Above's configuration will tell plugin to generate classes in target/generated-sources/com4j directory in the project folder.
For those who would like to see ready-to-use solution, I'm including links to the three classes I wrote to get machine SN on Windows, Linux and Mac OS: