What is an HWID spoofer?
What hardware IDs are, why games like Fortnite read them, and what a spoofer changes and leaves alone.
Updated
Hardware IDs in plain terms
Every part inside your PC carries identifiers set at the factory or by its firmware: a serial number on each disk, a MAC address on each network adapter, serial numbers and a UUID in the motherboard's SMBIOS tables, variables stored in the UEFI firmware, and keys held by the TPM. Windows and the programs running on it can read all of them.
A hardware ID, or HWID, is what software builds from those values. Some programs read a single serial, but most combine several into a fingerprint, because a fingerprint survives what a single value does not: a Windows reinstall, a new account, a new IP address.
| Identifier | Where it lives | When it changes on its own |
|---|---|---|
| Disk serial numbers | The firmware of each drive | When you replace the drive |
| MAC addresses | Each network adapter | When you replace the adapter |
| System and board serials, UUID | The SMBIOS tables in your firmware | Rarely. A BIOS update or a firmware reset can change the UUID |
| UEFI variables | The motherboard firmware | With firmware updates and resets |
| TPM keys | The TPM chip, or the firmware TPM in your processor | Practically never |
Who reads them
Three kinds of software commonly read hardware IDs:
- Anti-cheat systems, which can tie a ban to the machine as well as the account. That is what people call an HWID ban: a new account on the same PC is recognized straight away.
- License checks and trial limits, which bind a piece of software to one computer.
- Fraud and tracking systems, which use the fingerprint to recognize a device across accounts and reinstalls.
Reinstalling Windows changes none of the values above, because none of them are stored in Windows. That is why a clean install on its own rarely makes a machine look new.
Hardware bans in games like Fortnite
Online games are where most people first run into hardware IDs. Fortnite is a well-known example: it runs Easy Anti-Cheat alongside the game, and Epic Games bans hardware as well as accounts, so a new account on a banned PC is recognized from the machine alone.
That kind of ban is why many players look for an HWID spoofer. Know where Epic stands first: its help center says Fortnite shows a Hardware Identifiers Warning when it detects a tool that hides or changes hardware identifiers, and that an account which keeps one running can be removed from matches or banned permanently.
Fortnite is only an example here. HwidSpoofer is not affiliated with Epic Games, and this page does not claim it works with any particular game.
What a spoofer changes
An HWID spoofer makes your PC report different identifiers without changing the hardware. When a program asks for a disk serial or the board UUID, it gets a substitute value instead of the real one.
HwidSpoofer works at the firmware level rather than inside individual programs. It rewrites the SMBIOS tables and UEFI variables that Windows reads, and covers disks, network adapters and the TPM as well. You can toggle each of them in the loader.
- The new serials follow the formats your real manufacturer uses, so nothing looks synthetic.
- Nothing is written to the hardware. A cold shutdown brings every original serial back.
- A saved seed brings back the same spoofed machine every time you spoof.
- You spoof once per boot. Spoofing twice without restarting is the most common way to break a session.
Seeds decide which fake machine you get, and they matter more than most people expect. See seeds and fixed identifiers and one spoof per boot.
Spoofer or changer
People search for both, but they are not the same thing: a spoofer is temporary, a changer is permanent.
| HWID spoofer | HWID changer | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Makes the PC report substitute values | Rewrites the stored values themselves |
| How long it lasts | Until the next cold shutdown | Until something changes it again |
| Risk to the hardware | None, nothing is written to it | Depends on the tool. A firmware write can go wrong |
| Undoing it | Shut the PC down | Write the original values back, if you kept them |
Some values can be changed permanently, such as a network adapter's MAC address in its driver settings. Many cannot be rewritten at all, the TPM's keys among them. A spoofer covers both kinds without writing anything.
Check your hardware IDs
You can read the main identifiers yourself from PowerShell, before and after a spoof:
Get-CimInstance Win32_DiskDrive | Select-Object Model, SerialNumber
Get-CimInstance Win32_BaseBoard | Select-Object Manufacturer, SerialNumber
Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystemProduct | Select-Object UUID
Get-NetAdapter | Select-Object Name, MacAddress
Older guides use wmic for the same job. Recent Windows 11 releases no longer include it by
default, so use the lines above instead.
After a spoof, the values should differ from what you saw before and still look like real manufacturer serials. Your first spoof walks through that check.
What it does not do
- It does not lift a ban from an existing account. It changes what the machine reports, not what a service already has on file.
- It does not change your IP address, your accounts or your payment details, which services can link as well.
- It does not change the rules of the games and services you use. Many restrict changing hardware identifiers.
Where and how you run it is your decision, and the Terms of Service explain what that means for you.
Check that your PC qualifies on the system requirements page, then follow start here for the whole setup in order. Still comparing spoofers? Read how to choose one.
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