Thread: Getting hold of a unique identifier for a device

  1. #1
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    Question Getting hold of a unique identifier for a device

    Hi

    How do I get hold of a unique identifier for a device - be it a computer or a PDA? The only thing I can think of is the MACaddress - but how do I get hold of that? Should I even be trying to use the MAcaddress? What I am wanting to do is be able to is uniquely identify a device without any user input.

    Thanks for all the help.

  2. #2
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by adamK
    Hi

    How do I get hold of a unique identifier for a device - be it a computer or a PDA? The only thing I can think of is the MACaddress - but how do I get hold of that? Should I even be trying to use the MAcaddress? What I am wanting to do is be able to is uniquely identify a device without any user input.

    Thanks for all the help.
    How about a GUID?

    You can do this easilly enough on a windows machine usinag a few APIs

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    From what I understand about GUID's they are something the program makes to get a unique identifier - so the next time I ask for a GUID on the same device I will get a different one. Am I right? I want to access some id from the hardware to be able to say that that device will have a id of, say, x - and evey time I ask the device for its id it will return x.
    Or are you suggesting the program assigns the device a GUID and keeps that as the device's id? In that case once the program ends or the device is turned off the device will get a new GUID. Am I right?
    Thanks for the help

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    Would IP addresses work?

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    Don't think so. I need something a little closer to the hardware than that.

  6. #6
    Yes, my avatar is stolen anonytmouse's Avatar
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    >> From what I understand about GUID's they are something the program makes to get a unique identifier - so the next time I ask for a GUID on the same device I will get a different one. <<

    The idea is that you generate the uuid once and store it somewhere(file, registry, user) for subsequent use.

    Hardware IDs may be available in the form of a MAC address or hard disk serial number. However, a PDA may have neither.

    If you are using windows the functions you should look at are UuidCreate() and GetIfTable().

    Many users do not like the idea of being uniquely identified.

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