api call to get serial number of pc

private static extern long GetVolumeInformation(string PathName, StringBuilder VolumeNameBuffer, UInt32 VolumeNameSize, ref UInt32 VolumeSerialNumber, ref UInt32 MaximumComponentLength, ref UInt32 FileSystemFlags, StringBuilder FileSystemNameBuffer, UInt32 FileSystemNameSize)

Are you looking for Volume's serial number or Mother board's serial no?

bhaspup

It is the serial no of the computer which i believe is in the bios

Thanks
Patrick

The serial number (or assest tag) of the computer is usually available via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

Here is an example (in VB.Net) that demonstrates the concepts:

Imports System
Imports System.Management
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Namespace WMISample

    Public Class MyWMIQuery

        Public Overloads Shared Function Main() As Integer

            Try
                Dim searcher As New ManagementObjectSearcher( _
                    "root\CIMV2", _
                    "SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystemProduct")

                For Each queryObj As ManagementObject in searcher.Get()

                    Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------------")
                    Console.WriteLine("Win32_ComputerSystemProduct instance")
                    Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------------")
                    Console.WriteLine("Caption: {0}", queryObj("Caption"))
                    Console.WriteLine("IdentifyingNumber: {0}", queryObj("IdentifyingNumber"))
                    Console.WriteLine("Name: {0}", queryObj("Name"))
                Next
            Catch err As ManagementException
                MessageBox.Show("An error occurred while querying for WMI data: " & err.Message)
            End Try
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

How do i make this work in a vb application. Is this is a windows api call ?