How Do I Get a Flash Drive Serial Number?

USBDeview can help map the origin of a virus on your network and deduce which computers need disinfection.

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A long serial number inscribed on a device as small as a USB thumb drive would be microscopic, but you can put away your reading glasses because that's not usually where it's found.

A few USB device serial numbers might be found in the device's Properties. Go to Windows Explorer and right-click on the USB drive and select "Properties." In the "Details" tab, several properties are listed in a drop-down list, but "Serial Number" is often not one of them.

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The surest way to track down that serial number is to use a utility called USBDeview, a handy tool to find information about USB devices both currently and previously connected to your PC.

Step 1

Click the download link and then open the downloaded file.

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Insert your flash drive into your USB port. In your browser, go to NirSoft's website to download USBDeview. Download links for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are at the bottom of the page. Click on the appropriate version for your system to download and open it.

Step 2

Double-click the "USBDeview" application file and select "Run."

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Double-click on the USBDeview file with the "Application" descriptor and click "Run" in the dialog box. You do not need to extract the files; just run the executable file. This utility does not need to be installed. It stands alone as an executable file to do the job you need.

Step 3

Double-click on your device.

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Find your USB device in the list and double click on it to open its Properties window. Note that the list also includes previously-connected devices, with the Connected column indicating which devices are currently connected.

Step 4

Find the serial number in the fifth field down in the first column.

Image Credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Find the serial number in the fifth field down in the first column.