Device Identification
The hwid (Hardware ID) is the value that identifies the device on which a license is activated. It is generated automatically by the SDK, so you never need to create it yourself — in your integration code you only need to understand how the hwid behaves.
Behavior characteristics
Section titled “Behavior characteristics”| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| Re-running or reinstalling on the same device | Same hwid — no additional slot consumed |
| Replacing components such as disk, RAM, or USB network card | hwid unchanged — recognized as the same device |
| Replacing the motherboard | New hwid — recognized as a new device (the old device must be deactivated) |
| Reinstalling the OS | Generally keeps the same hwid (based on core hardware) |
The hwid is computed deterministically from the device’s core hardware, and the server only judges an exact match against the registered value. Because of this there is no fuzzy judgment like “X% of components match,” and the outcome is always predictable.
Virtual machines and cloud
Section titled “Virtual machines and cloud”The SDK automatically detects VM/emulator environments and reports them along with the activation request. The vendor chooses how to respond via the policy’s VM policy:
| Policy | Behavior |
|---|---|
allow |
Allow as is |
warn |
Allow but flag it in the dashboard |
block |
Refuse activation |
On cloud instances (EC2 and the like), devices are identified reliably based on the instance identifier.
Environments with weak identification
Section titled “Environments with weak identification”In some environments (embedded systems, non-standard hardware) it may not be possible to obtain enough core hardware information. In that case the SDK uses fallback identification and reports the device as “weak hardware identification,” which is shown as such in the vendor dashboard.
Notes for guiding end users
Section titled “Notes for guiding end users”- A user who has reached the device limit (
maxDevices) can simply deactivate an existing device and then activate on the new one (this can be self-served in the portal). - Hardware changes on the level of a motherboard replacement are treated as a new device, so advise users to deactivate before replacing.