How to change Hard Disk's Volume Serial Number (Volume ID)
The Volume Serial Number (also known as VSN) is a unique serial number that is assigned to an optical disk (CD or DVD) or a hard drive after formatting. The Volume Serial Number was added by Microsoft and IBM so that the operating system could recognize if an optical disk or a drive is changed on the system. By that time the only way to determine this, was the volume label (Volume Name) that the user defined to each storage disk. But that way, there was a problem if a user gave the same (Volume) name to two (or more) disks. To bypass this problem, Microsoft and IBM decided to assign a new unique number in hexadecimal form (called 'Volume Serial Number' or 'Volume ID' or 'VSN') when a drive (optical disk or hard drive) was formatted.
In simple words, the Volume Serial Number indicates the exact time {Date, Month, Year & Time (Hour, Minute & Second)} of format operation. The VSN is changed anytime you format the disk, so if you re-install Windows and you format the system disk, Windows will ask again for activation.
Taking advantage of VSN, some software vendors use the Volume Serial Number to avoid pirate copying of their products. This means that software from these vendors can not run if the Volume Serial Number is different from the VSN of the product's original optical disk that was shipped or of the hard drive that the software was first installed. Also this technique was previously used by multiplayer game vendors to ban the gamers that tried to cheat. Nowadays, this method is useless because the game or software vendors now use the hardcoded serial number (HDD Manufacture's S/N that is embedded into the firmware) to identify (ban) cheaters or they ban the CD key.
In this article you will find detailed instructions on how to change the hard drive's Volume Serial Number (aka Volume ID or VSN).
How to change HDD Volume Serial Number (VolumeID).
Option 1: Using Sysinternals VolumeID changer.
VolumeID by Mark Russinovich, is another freeware tool that helps you to change the Volume IDs of drives from command line window.
1. Download VolumeID.
2. Extract "volumeid.zip" file contents and move the extracted files ("Volumeid.exe" & "Eula.txt") to the root of C: drive.
3. Open an elevated command prompt. To do that:
In Windows 7, Vista & XP: 1. Go to Start > All Programs. 2. Click to expand Accessories. 2. Right click on Command Prompt and choose “Run as administrator”
In Windows 8
Right-click at the screen's bottom-left corner and from the pop-up menu, choose “Command Prompt (Admin)”.
4. Let's say that we want to change the Volume serial number of the system drive C:.
Inside the command prompt window, type the following command to see the current Volume Serial Number of C: drive
vol
4a. The "vol" command should return the Volume Serial Number. In this example the VSN is "94F8-9C08".
– To change the current VSN –
5. Navigate to the root folder of Disk C: (where "volumeid.exe" is located/saved) and type the following command:
volumeid <driveletter:> xxxx-xxxx
* As <driveletter:> : type the drive of the disk (drive or volume) that we want to change the VSN ("C:").
** As xxxx-xxxx : type the new Volume Serial Number (e.g. 74F8-9C08).
In this example I want to change the VSN of disk C: and I have changed only one character (the first) of the old VSN to specify the new one. So the full command should be:
volumeid c: 74F8-9C08
5. When "volumeid" command updates the Volume ID of your drive, close the command prompt window and restart your computer.
Option 2: Using Hard Disk Serial Number Changer.
Update: The download link is not working anymore (removed).
The second free tool you can use to change the Volume Serial Number is called Hard Disk Serial Number Changer. The program can change only the HDD's Volume Serial Number and not the Hardcoded Serial Number.
1. Download Hard Disk Serial Number Changer.
2. Right-click at HardDiskSerialNumberChanger.exe & select Run as Administrator.
3. Accept the UAC warning message.
4. Choose the disk that you want to change the Serial Number. (e.g. "C:").
5. Type the new serial number at this form XXXX-XXXX.
6. Press Change.
7. Click Yes and reboot your computer.
That's it!
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syahrul fatoni
January 11, 2024 @ 7:29 pm
hello, i want to download gdrive files but the link is not working? can anyone help me to get it?
IDK
December 30, 2023 @ 7:41 pm
steps (if on windows 10 and volume id no specefic path)
1: run as admin
2: vol
3: cd /
4: cd windows
5:VolumeId64.exe c:"u know what" (for some reason i have the exe same location without 64 make sure u use 64 one unless u have 32 bit system)
David J
February 24, 2022 @ 5:03 pm
Thanks it work for me!!
just had to run it as an Administrator.
Pegaso
September 5, 2020 @ 8:54 am
Not work starting windows 10 2004 version … no one program work more about volume id changing. Some one have info about ?
Jeff
January 30, 2020 @ 7:22 am
Thank you – this saved me! Duped my system to new drives, and didn't realize they got different IDs until a program wasn't recognizing music I already had imported!
Paul A
December 24, 2018 @ 5:21 pm
In windows 10 (Oct 2018) I get "The parameter is incorrect" when trying to change the VolumeID of the C: drive using the SysInternals volumeid.exe. Also the Hard Disk Serial Number Changer fails with the error "Unable to write to this disk in drive". Any ideas how I can change the volumeID?
Just for info, I have tried this with Windows10 VM running under Fusion on Mac OS, ands also with Win10 installed on a BOOTCAMP partition on Mac also. No joy with either. Windows is installed under EFI setup, so GPT volume. Not sure if this is the cause?
lakonst
January 14, 2019 @ 9:56 am
I Have tried the procedure in Windows 10 v1809 VM (VirtualBox) with UEFI setup (& GPT Volume) and it worked.
Lissele
December 10, 2018 @ 6:52 pm
C:\volumeid>volumeid c: 3673-8729
VolumeId v2.1 – Set disk volume id
Copyright (C) 1997-2016 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals – http://www.sysinternals.com
Error opening drive: Acesso negado.
C:\volumeid>
lakonst
January 14, 2019 @ 9:57 am
@Lissele: Run the command as Administrator.
Adam
April 15, 2019 @ 6:56 pm
Program on disk C.
CMD Run administrator.
cd c:\
Volumeid.exe C: 1234-5678
Restart.
C: 1234-5678 -Disk and new number
Reading the number.
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe As a file .bat
Running on a changed drive.
Write in.
vol
lakonst
April 16, 2019 @ 11:30 am
@Adam: ???
Irwin Gretczko
November 18, 2018 @ 10:37 pm
Does not work in windows 10 – gets error message "unable to write to disk in drive"
Soyoung
November 9, 2017 @ 8:27 pm
Oh this is incredibly kind guide I have ever found today. Thank you so much.
But unfortunately, this doesn't work for the number of the Sandisk I have.. I think it is the product issue.. because the micro SD which is from Samsung works fine with both ways(volumeID and Hard Disk Serial Number Changer).
If sanddisk's volume ID would be changed in this way, my job for this week would be a lot more easier..
but the reality is…. OTL…
Anyone who can rescue me?
Patrick
September 15, 2017 @ 2:41 am
I can't get to the C:\VolumeID> prompt. When I enter "VolumeID" I get:
VolumeId v2.1 – set disk volume id
Copyright (C) 1997-2016 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals – http://www.sysinternals.com
usage: volumeid [drive:] [Id]
-nobanner Do not display the startup banner and copyright message.
Id must be in the following hexadecimal format: xxxx-xxxx
Note: new NTFS volume ids will not appear in directory listings until after the next reboot.
C:\>
In other words, I get the info above, and then it's right back to the C:\> prompt.
I'm running 64bit Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1
Thanks!
Mac
December 16, 2017 @ 5:46 am
@Patrick
VolumeID doesn't have any prompt of it's own in the way that tools like diskpart does, all the input to the command must be given along with the tool name on the command line, as the usage: help indicates, so for example you could type:
volumeid e: a1b2-c3d4
nb. generally please ensure volume ids are indeed unique, otherwise you can expect issues.
Menard
September 2, 2017 @ 1:06 pm
It would be better to point out that the volume serial number is a general identifyer for all volumes, not only for a disk and that what you are talking about here, is only the volume serial number of the first volume (partition) of a disk.
So I noticed a strange fact : I had a GRUB first volume with VSN 080A-5579 so 1 year after, I find E80A-5579 … I do not remember having formated it between. I only restored this partition with Back up files made with Clonezilla Live in default mode.
The 2 numbers differ by only one character … ??? very non usual
Brandon Lee
April 22, 2017 @ 5:29 am
I had changed my serial id on Windows 10.
After doing so I cannot play media such as YouTube.
Any help will be appreciated.
(Note: I run Windows 10 64-bit)
lakonst
April 22, 2017 @ 7:51 am
@Brandon Lee: I have not addressed this problem and I can not imagine why this happens. I suggest you to perform a repair/upgrade of Win10.
Magnificus
August 31, 2016 @ 9:13 pm
Perfect guide!!!! you help me a lot! thank you!!!!!
Rick
July 13, 2016 @ 6:03 pm
@JimH
Thank you for listing the recent addition to diskpart. I use the tool as part of my job and had never played with that feature. Unfortunately I think that is a different ID than what people here are talking about. If you type 'vol c:' at a command prompt you will see a Serial number that is unrelated to the uniqueid. One of the giveaways is that each partition has an ID, but uniqueid only deals with a disk (that may contain several partitions). I believe the number being discussed here lives in the VBR.
JimH
June 1, 2016 @ 7:20 am
I found a more reliable solution. It works with Windows 7 & 8 (and probably 10). It uses a command that comes with Windows, and therefore does not require downloading anything. As you will see, though, there are more steps involved, but it worked for me when volumeid did not.
How to Fix the Disk Signature Collision Problem in Windows 7 & 8
Windows 7 & 8 come with a command line utility called diskpart that can let you view and change the disk signature.
1) Open a command prompt as administrator.
2) Type "diskpart" (without the quotes)
3) Microsoft DiskPart will start. When it is ready, it will issue a "DISKPART>" prompt, allowing you to enter your commands.
4) Type "list disk"
This will list all the disks that are currently mounted (connected to the system).
The disk will not have the usual names and labels that you're accustomed to from
the Windows Explorer interface, so you will have to recognize them by their sizes.
Note that "list disk" actually lists the physical disks, and not the partitions that
you may have assigned drive letters. This means that if you have 2 physical disks,
with 3 partitions on each, so that you have drives C:, D:, E:, F:, G: and H:,
"list disk" will only show "Disk 0" and "Disk 1".
5) Type "select disk x" (without the quotes) where x is the number of the disk from your "list disk" display.
6) When you type (say) "select disk 1", DiskPart will respond by telling you "Disk 1 is now the selected disk".
7) Type "uniqueid disk". DiskPart will respond with the disk's signature, a series of hexadecimal digits
8) Type "uniqueid disk ID=[NEW SIGNATURE]" where "[NEW SIGNATURE]" stands for the new identifier you want for the disk
9) Quit DiskPart by typing "exit".
10) Type "exit" again to quit the Administrator Command Prompt.
eran
April 24, 2017 @ 10:57 pm
DO NOT DO THIS!!!
You won't be able to start the computer afterwards!!!
Somchai
December 2, 2017 @ 9:43 am
uniqueid is not volume serial ID.
JimH
June 1, 2016 @ 12:05 am
I have tried this with Win 8.1 on three WD external hard drives. I type in the following command:
volumeid e: 1234-5678
In each case, I get the following error.
Error reading drive: The parameter is incorrect.
JimH
June 1, 2016 @ 12:18 am
I forgot to mention that all three drives have been scanned and no errors were detected. All three drives seem to function just fine – as long as only one of the three are connected. All three drives have identical Volume Serial Numbers.
I have two USB ports, and if I connect any two of these drives, the system recognizes only one of them.
I have a fourth external drive that has a unique serial number. I can connect this drive and any of the other three at the same time with no problem whatsoever.
Jim
January 9, 2016 @ 11:03 pm
I have used VolumeID with Windows XP and it worked great.
Any problems using VolumeID with preinstalled Windows 10? (product key issues?)
saurabh gaur
August 16, 2015 @ 9:37 am
hello sir,
My name is saurabh gaur and i face the problem when i changed my serial number i got a message that is volumeid is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
Please tell me what can i do for change my serial number.
please send me the solution ASAP!
Thanking you.
lakonst
August 16, 2015 @ 1:10 pm
@saurabh gaur: The volumeid command works like a charm. Follow the instructions exactly as written.
David Harris
April 27, 2015 @ 12:53 am
Thank-you! Last tidbit from here on how to run the command prompt as Administrator in Windows 8 finally got my Adobe Photoshop Elements working correctly. Breaking a Raid array left me with 2 hard drives with the same volume ID, so Photoshop Elements lost 1/2 of them immediately upon import. I could not get VolumeID by Mark Russinovich to work – access denied.