Argh - how to get Flash GUID from windows


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Yes, I have searched the forums, looked for an FAQ, googled, and poked throughout control panel and various other things.

 

HOW THE HECK DO I FIND MY USB FLASH GUID??  ???

 

Very frustrating, since the instructions on Lime-Tech's site seem to assume you are already running the Lime SW.

 

 

Bill

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Sorry to sound dim, but, how do you check the GUID of a flash drive? (ideally, on Windows)

 

Well the Flash doesn't really have a GUID (!).  GUID means "Globally Unique Identifier", and the linux USB subsystem "synthesizes" it by combining the Flash Vendor ID, Product ID, and Serial Number.  That's one reason why we recommend you download unRAID Server Basic (free version), boot it, and see what the GUID is that linux assigned.

 

That said, there's a utility from Microsoft that can be used to view all the information about USB devices.  If you poke around in the device tree shown by that utiliy you can find all the information linux uses to form the GUID.

 

Download UVCView from the Microsoft link above, and the parts of the GUID can be found.  Mine seems to be idVendor+idProduct+0000+iSerialNumber.  Copying the basic unRAID version to your USB drive, booting it, and accessing the Web GUI Devices page is the best way to see it, and is probably the only official way.  You don't actually need the GUID until you purchase, and you have to install the basic version first any way.  The purchased licenses just unlock the basic version, they don't replace the software.

 

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Thanks - I actually thought about downloading the basic version last night, but I may go for UVCView instead.

 

Apparently the site's search facility isn't too great, since I know I looked for "flash guid" and similar strings.

 

 

Cheers,

Bill

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About the site's search function.. I've found that you get so many more result when you don't type the full keywords. It seems to be a bug to me that should be fixed. But while the bug is still here, it's handy to know this tip:

 

When looking for Flash GUID, try typing: Flas Gui instead on the search box.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 7 years later...

Just for the sake of the next NOOB trying to figure this out.  The EASIEST way now, is to go to the webgui for the flash drive.

 

//yourservername/Main/Flash?name=flash

 

(capitalization is important).

 

Or you can just log into your server, scroll down to the Boot Device and click on Flash.  The GUID is on the next page, cut and paste and you're home free...

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Just for the sake of the next NOOB trying to figure this out.  The EASIEST way now, is to go to the webgui for the flash drive.

 

//yourservername/Main/Flash?name=flash

 

(capitalization is important).

 

Or you can just log into your server, scroll down to the Boot Device and click on Flash.  The GUID is on the next page, cut and paste and you're home free...

 

The procedure how to obtain the GUID is described in detail on the Limetech website, see http://lime-technology.com/registrationkeys/

 

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The procedure how to obtain the GUID is described in detail on the Limetech website, see http://lime-technology.com/registrationkeys/

 

Yes it is, but that information is buried in pages of information.  Just put a quick link "how to find your GUID" on the order page and life is easier...  Code on an HTML page is cheap.  Marketing messages that help the order process are priceless...unless elitism is you goal.

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I am not quite sure where it is suggested that the information should be made any clearer?

 

I found that if you go to the LimeTech home page and then select Products->unRAID Registration Keys then the page that comes up has a "How to Buy" paragraph that tells you exactly what you need to do to get the GUID.

 

Where was the OP on the site when this information could not be found?

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I agree it's VERY simple to get the GUID by simply installing UnRAID and booting to the flash drive ... it just seems like it could be even simpler by just having a little utility that ran from Windows and didn't even require downloading UnRAID.    Some as simple as Steve Gibson's many little utilities to do simple things -- e.g. Securable to see if a system is 64-bit and if it supports hardware virtualization [ https://www.grc.com/files/securable.exe ]

 

 

 

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I see two situations:

 

1. People installed unRAID, liked it and decide to buy a license, here I would expect to see clear instructions how to obtain the key from the system installed, at the end of the day it will be installed on this system.

 

2. People buy a USB stick upfront with the intention to use that in a unRAID system, here a utility would be handy.

 

Perhaps the LT site can mention that in V6 the GUID can be simply viewed by pressing the "info" button in the top-right of the screen, yeah that's right the information is just one click away (no secrets intended)  :)

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Perhaps the LT site can mention that in V6 the GUID can be simply viewed by pressing the "info" button in the top-right of the screen, yeah that's right the information is just one click away (no secrets intended)  :)

 

Doesn't seem to be the case with rc-1...

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  • 1 year later...

Hey guys,

 

I was keen to find out this information before buying any new USB Flash drives.

I found this utility that shows the Serial Number for any USB Flash drive that has one plus all the other info you might need.

 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/USBView.shtml#download

 

Mortumus

(Noob)

 

With unRAID 6 there isn't a need to obtain the GUID upfront. After installation of unRAID 6 you can do an online registration within the GUI.

 

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... I was keen to find out this information before buying any new USB Flash drives.

I found this utility that shows the Serial Number for any USB Flash drive that has one plus all the other info you might need.

 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/USBView.shtml#download

 

This utility doesn't directly show the GUID, but it appears to be the following:

 

<idVendor> <idProduct> <Last 16 digits of the Serial Number>

 

The idVendor and idProduct values are 4 digits each;  the serial number may only have 16 digits, but may be longer (2 of the 4 I checked had 24 digits; the other 2 only had 16 digits) ... but the last 16 digits are what you need.

 

At least this works for all of the flash drives I checked -- 4 different units.  So it does provide a simple way to extract the GUID for a flash drive from Windows  :)

 

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So it does provide a simple way to extract the GUID for a flash drive from Windows  :)

That's all well and good, but if unraid won't boot properly, having the GUID is unproductive. ALWAYS better to install unraid and boot the drive to get the GUID, that way you know the drive should work fully.

 

If, on the other hand, you need to ID a flash drive that is currently licensed for purposes of verifying which license key file applies, this method is fine.

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