You just got hardware banned. New account, fresh email, completely different username — and you're banned again within an hour of launching the game. Sound familiar? That's because you don't actually understand what an HWID ban is or what it's tracking. And I guarantee most of you found this article after trying random fixes from some outdated Reddit thread that did absolutely nothing.
Here's the thing. An HWID ban isn't some simple flag on your account. It's a sophisticated fingerprint built from multiple hardware identifiers on your machine. Change just one of those identifiers and the fingerprint still matches. That's why you formatted your drive, created a new Steam account, and got banned again before you could even finish your first match.
Let's fix that confusion right now. By the end of this guide, you'll understand exactly what HWID bans are, how they work at a technical level, what anti-cheat systems are actually detecting, and what you need to know to make informed decisions about your situation.
What Exactly is an HWID Ban
HWID stands for Hardware ID. At its core, an HWID ban is when a game publisher or anti-cheat system bans your physical computer hardware rather than just your game account. This means that even if you create a brand new account with a different email address, the game can still identify your machine and deny access.
The idea is that account bans alone aren't effective against repeat offenders. Someone can create unlimited new accounts, right? But they can't easily create unlimited new computers. So publishers started implementing hardware bans as a more permanent solution to remove problem players from their games.
According to Epic Games' anti-cheat documentation, hardware bans are designed to create meaningful consequences for cheating that persist beyond simple account suspension. The Steam support pages also note that VAC bans can be tied to hardware identifiers in certain circumstances.
But the important part is understanding that an HWID ban doesn't track just one thing. Modern anti-cheat systems create a device fingerprint from multiple hardware identifiers combined. Your disk serial number, MAC address, motherboard UUID, and sometimes even your GPU identifier all get pulled together into one unique signature.
How HWID Banning Actually Works
So the way it works is pretty straightforward once you understand the technical layer. When you install a game with anti-cheat protection, that anti-cheat software starts collecting information about your hardware the moment it loads.
Let's break this down with a real scenario. You download Fortnite and Easy Anti-Cheat initializes. Here's what EAC is doing behind the scenes:
- Querying your disk drive serial number via IOCTL_STORAGE_QUERY_PROPERTY
- Pulling your network adapter's MAC address from the registry and direct hardware queries
- Reading your motherboard UUID from SMBIOS tables
- Collecting your GPU identifier and sometimes RAM serial numbers
- Checking registry fingerprints that persist across Windows installations
- In some cases, reading your monitor's EDID data
All of this information gets hashed together into a unique machine ID. That fingerprint is then associated with your game account. If you get banned, that hardware fingerprint gets added to a blocklist.
The Windows documentation on hardware identification explains how these identifiers work at the system level. Each piece of hardware has manufacturer-assigned serial numbers that are burned into firmware and don't change with software modifications.
Now here's where it gets interesting. The anti-cheat doesn't need an exact match on every single identifier. Most systems use a weighted matching algorithm. If 80% of your hardware fingerprint matches a banned profile, you're getting flagged. This is why changing just your MAC address alone doesn't work — you've only changed maybe 15% of the total fingerprint.
Different anti-cheat engines pull different identifiers and weight them differently. BattlEye tends to be aggressive about disk serial numbers. Riot's Vanguard runs at kernel level from boot and has access to more system information. RICOCHET for Call of Duty games uses machine learning to detect patterns. Each system has its own fingerprinting methodology.
The Difference Between HWID Bans and Account Bans
This is where a lot of people get confused, so let me be direct about it. An account ban and a hardware ban are two completely different things, and understanding the difference matters.
An account ban affects only that specific game account. Your Steam account, your Epic account, your Activision ID — whatever. If you get an account ban, you technically can create a new account and start playing again. Many games that use HWID bans initially issue account bans as a first offense.
A hardware ban affects your actual computer. It doesn't matter how many new accounts you create — as long as you're playing on the same hardware, the anti-cheat recognizes your machine and issues an automatic ban on any new account you create. This is often called a permanent ban because it persists across accounts.
Some games use both simultaneously. You get an account ban for the original offense, then an HWID ban to prevent you from just creating new accounts to circumvent it. According to Activision's security enforcement policies, hardware bans are reserved for extreme or repeat violations.
The other thing is that HWID bans can also be temporary in some cases. Not all hardware bans are permanent. Some games issue temporary HWID bans lasting 7 days, 30 days, or specific ban duration periods. But many publishers, especially for competitive games, issue permanent hardware bans for cheating offenses.
What Hardware Identifiers Anti-Cheat Systems Detect
Let's get into the specific technical details because this is what actually matters when you're trying to understand your situation. Here are the primary hardware identifiers that anti-cheat systems collect:
Disk Serial Numbers
Your hard drive or SSD has a hardware serial number burned into its firmware by the manufacturer. This is different from your volume serial number, which changes when you format. The hardware serial stays the same unless you physically replace the drive. Anti-cheat systems query this through IOCTL calls to get the real hardware serial, not the volume serial that Windows displays.
MAC Address
Your network adapter has a Media Access Control address. Most people know you can change your MAC address through software, but modern anti-cheat goes deeper. They can read the original manufacturer MAC that's burned into the adapter firmware, bypassing software-level spoofing.
Motherboard UUID
Your motherboard has a Universally Unique Identifier stored in the SMBIOS tables. This is a critical identifier because your motherboard is essentially the core of your system. Changing this requires kernel-level intervention or physically swapping the motherboard.
GPU Identifier
Your graphics card has serial numbers and identifiers that can be queried. While less commonly weighted as heavily as disk or motherboard serials, some anti-cheat systems do include GPU data in their fingerprinting.
Registry Fingerprints
Beyond hardware, anti-cheat systems also create registry fingerprints. Installation dates, specific GUIDs, machine SIDs, and other registry artifacts that persist even across Windows reinstalls on the same hardware.
Additional Identifiers
Some aggressive anti-cheat systems also pull monitor EDID data, RAM serial numbers, TPM information, and even USB device histories. The more data points, the more accurate the device fingerprint.
Do you see why just changing one thing doesn't work? If the anti-cheat is pulling six or more identifiers and you only change one, you're still 80%+ matched to the banned fingerprint.
Why Most Common Fixes Don't Work
I guarantee you've already tried some of these. Let's go through the common methods people attempt and explain exactly why they fail against modern anti-cheat detection.
Formatting Your Drive
This is probably the most common failed fix. You format your drive, reinstall Windows, create a new account, and get banned immediately. Here's why: formatting changes your volume serial number, but your disk's hardware serial number stays exactly the same. It's burned into the drive's firmware. The anti-cheat reads the hardware serial via IOCTL calls, not the volume serial that changes with formatting.
Creating New Accounts
Obviously this doesn't work because the HWID ban isn't tied to your account — it's tied to your hardware. Every new account you create gets automatically flagged as soon as the anti-cheat fingerprints your machine and matches it against the banned list.
Using a VPN
VPNs change your IP address. HWID bans don't care about your IP address. These are completely different identification systems. Your IP address isn't part of your hardware fingerprint. Using a VPN might help with some IP-based restrictions, but it does absolutely nothing for a hardware ban.
Changing Your MAC Address Through Windows
Windows lets you change your MAC address through network adapter settings or registry edits. The problem is that sophisticated anti-cheat systems can still read the original hardware MAC from the adapter firmware. Software-level MAC changes are easily detected as spoofed.
Reinstalling the Game
The ban isn't in your game installation — it's in the anti-cheat's server-side database. Reinstalling the game just makes you wait longer to get banned again.
Buying a New Copy of the Game
Game licenses aren't what's banned. Your hardware is. A new copy of the game running on the same banned hardware results in the same ban.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has documented how hardware fingerprinting works for tracking purposes, and the same principles apply to anti-cheat systems. The fingerprinting is sophisticated enough that surface-level changes don't affect the match.
How Different Anti-Cheat Systems Handle HWID Bans
Not all anti-cheat systems work the same way. Understanding which system you're dealing with matters for understanding your situation.
Easy Anti-Cheat
EAC is one of the most common anti-cheat systems, used in games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Rust. If you're dealing with a Rust HWID ban, you're dealing with EAC. It runs as a kernel-level driver and has deep system access. EAC pulls disk serials, MAC addresses, motherboard UUIDs, and creates a comprehensive hardware fingerprint. EAC bans tend to be aggressive and permanent for cheating offenses.
BattlEye
BattlEye protects games like PUBG, DayZ, Rainbow Six Siege, and Escape From Tarkov. The Tarkov HWID ban system through BattlEye is known for being particularly thorough. BattlEye operates at kernel level and has been around long enough to have sophisticated detection methods. They're known for delayed ban waves where they detect violations but don't ban immediately.
Riot Vanguard
Vanguard is Riot's proprietary anti-cheat for Valorant and League of Legends. What makes it different is that it runs from system boot, not just when you launch the game. This gives it access to your system before most spoofers can even load. Vanguard is considered one of the most aggressive anti-cheat systems currently in operation.
RICOCHET
Activision's RICOCHET protects Call of Duty titles including Warzone. If you're looking at a Black Ops HWID ban fix, RICOCHET is what you're up against. It uses kernel-level drivers and machine learning to detect both cheating and spoofing attempts. RICOCHET has gotten significantly more sophisticated since its initial launch.
Other Systems
Games like GTA Online use Rockstar's own anti-cheat. Arena Breakout has its own system — see our Arena Breakout HWID spoofer guide for specifics. Each system has different identifiers it prioritizes and different detection methodologies.
What Actually Happens When You Get HWID Banned
Let me walk you through the actual sequence of events so you understand what's happening on both the technical and server side.
First, the anti-cheat detects a violation. This could be running cheat software, memory manipulation, or suspicious patterns in your gameplay data. Some anti-cheat systems ban immediately upon detection. Others flag your account and wait for a ban wave to make detection harder for cheat developers.
When the ban executes, your account gets suspended and your hardware fingerprint gets added to a blocklist database on the publisher's servers. This database contains fingerprints of all hardware-banned machines.
Now every time you launch the game, the anti-cheat first collects your hardware identifiers and creates your current fingerprint. It then checks this fingerprint against the banned database. If there's a match above the threshold — remember, it doesn't need to be exact — your new account gets automatically banned.
This all happens in seconds. That's why you create a new account, launch the game, and sometimes get banned before you can even finish the tutorial. The fingerprint matching happens almost instantly.
False Positives and Unjust Bans
Let's address something important. Not everyone who gets HWID banned actually cheated. False positives happen. Maybe you bought a used computer that was previously banned. Maybe your system triggered a false positive from legitimate software that the anti-cheat misidentified. Maybe there was an actual error in the detection system.
The frustration of a false ban is real. You've got hundreds or thousands of hours invested. Maybe hundreds of dollars in cosmetics and DLC. And suddenly you can't access any of it.
The problem is that most publishers have a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach to ban appeals. Their official stance is that their detection systems are accurate and bans are final. According to most game publishers' terms of service, including EA's user agreement, they reserve the right to terminate access without detailed explanation.
Ban appeals rarely succeed. Most appeal systems are designed to handle cases of compromised accounts, not disputes about detection accuracy. If you submit an appeal saying you didn't cheat, the most likely response is a generic "after reviewing your case, the ban stands" message.
This is the unfortunate reality of the current system. Whether you were actually cheating or got caught in a false ban wave, the practical outcome and the options available to you are essentially the same.
Understanding HWID Spoofers
Now let's talk about HWID spoofers — what they are and how they work. An HWID spoofer is software designed to randomize or change your hardware identifiers so that the anti-cheat sees different serial numbers than your actual hardware has.
The technical approach matters here. There are user-level spoofers that run as regular applications and try to intercept the anti-cheat's queries before they reach your hardware. Then there are kernel-level spoofers that operate at ring-0, the same privilege level as the operating system and anti-cheat drivers themselves.
Kernel-level spoofers are more effective because they can intercept hardware queries at the driver level. When the anti-cheat driver asks for your disk serial number, a properly designed HWID spoofer returns a randomized value instead of your real serial.
But here's the critical detail that most people miss: boot order matters. If the anti-cheat driver loads before your spoofer, it can read your real hardware identifiers before any spoofing takes effect. This is why Vanguard is particularly difficult — it loads at Windows boot, before most other software.
A proper spoofer needs to:
- Operate at kernel level with ring-0 access
- Load before the anti-cheat driver initializes
- Spoof all identifiers the anti-cheat is pulling, not just some
- Randomize values consistently so they don't change every session
- Avoid detection patterns that anti-cheat systems flag
The Microsoft documentation on kernel drivers explains how drivers interact at the system level. Understanding this helps you understand why not all spoofers are created equal.
There's also HWID cleaners which focus on removing traces and artifacts rather than spoofing identifiers in real-time. These serve a different purpose and are often used in conjunction with spoofers.
Permanent Versus Temporary Solutions
Let's talk about the difference between permanent and temporary spoofers because this affects your long-term approach.
Temporary spoofers only work while running. They load at boot, spoof your identifiers during your gaming session, and when you restart without them, your real hardware identifiers are visible again. If you accidentally launch the game without your spoofer running, you're exposed.
Permanent solutions attempt to actually change the identifiers stored in firmware or make persistent changes that survive reboots. This is technically more complex and has its own risks and limitations.
Most people use temporary session-based spoofing because it's more straightforward to implement and update. The tradeoff is that you need to ensure the spoofer loads every single time before launching the game.
The Cat and Mouse Reality
Here's something important you need to understand. This is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game between anti-cheat developers and spoofer developers. Methods that work today might get detected tomorrow. Anti-cheat systems update. They add new detection methods. They flag spoofers that worked last month.
According to anti-cheat vendors, they actively monitor and research spoofing methods to develop new detection techniques. This means any specific tool or method has a detection lifecycle.
The best spoofers have developers who actively update them in response to anti-cheat changes. Free tools floating around Discord servers are often outdated, already detected, or worse — actually malware designed to steal your credentials.
This is why it's so important to understand how the underlying technology works rather than just looking for a tool to run. If you understand what identifiers need to be addressed and why, you can better evaluate whether a solution actually addresses your situation.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Let me list out the most common errors I see people make when trying to deal with HWID bans:
Only spoofing some identifiers
If the anti-cheat pulls six identifiers and you only spoof three, you're still partially matching the banned fingerprint. You need to address all the identifiers your specific anti-cheat is tracking.
Running the spoofer after the anti-cheat loads
Boot order is critical. If the anti-cheat driver initializes before your spoofer, your real identifiers get captured first. Make sure you understand when your spoofer loads relative to the anti-cheat.
Using obviously fake serials
Some people manually set their serials to obviously fake values like "0000000" or "SPOOFED." Anti-cheat systems can detect these patterns. Randomized but realistic-looking serials are what you want.
Forgetting about registry artifacts
Even if you spoof your hardware identifiers, leftover registry entries can still link your new account to the banned profile. Machine SIDs, installation artifacts, and other registry fingerprints need to be addressed. Changing all hardware IDs includes dealing with these traces.
Reusing linked accounts
If your new Steam account is linked to the same email, same payment method, or same phone number as your banned account, you're creating a connection that can be flagged. According to Steam's account practices, linked accounts can share ban status in some circumstances.
Using detected tools
That free spoofer from a random Discord server might already be flagged by the anti-cheat. Using detected tools doesn't just fail to help — it can actually trigger additional bans or make your situation worse.
Trusting "guaranteed unban" services
If someone is promising you a guaranteed unban for payment, you're probably getting scammed. No one can guarantee anything in this space because anti-cheat updates can change the landscape at any time.
How to Verify Your Approach is Working
If you do attempt to address an HWID ban, here's how you can verify that changes actually took effect before risking a new account:
Open Device Manager and check the properties of your hardware devices. The serial numbers displayed there should be different from your original hardware serials if spoofing is working.
Use command line tools like wmic to query your disk and system serials. Compare the output before and after your spoofer runs.
Check your network adapter settings to verify MAC address changes.
Look at your SMBIOS data to verify motherboard UUID changes.
The point is to verify changes took effect before launching any game. If you launch a game and immediately get banned, you've confirmed that something in your approach isn't working, but you've also burned another account in the process.
Legal and Terms of Service Considerations
Let me be direct about something. Using spoofers or attempting to circumvent bans violates virtually every game's terms of service. According to most publisher EULAs, this can result in permanent account termination and potentially legal action in extreme cases.
Whether a ban was justified or not, attempting to circumvent it creates additional risk. If you're caught circumventing, any new accounts you've built up can be terminated. Some publishers track circumvention attempts and escalate responses.
This guide is providing information about how these systems work. What you do with that information is your decision and your responsibility. Understand the potential consequences before making choices.
The Hardware Swap Option
Some people consider physically swapping hardware components to change their hardware fingerprint legitimately. In theory, if you replace your motherboard, disk drives, and network adapter, you've changed the major identifiers anti-cheat systems track.
The obvious problem is cost. Replacing those components could run hundreds of dollars. At that point, you're approaching the cost of just building a secondary PC.
There's also no guarantee it works completely. Some fingerprinting extends beyond the major components. Registry artifacts and other traces might persist even with hardware changes. PC building guides from Tom's Hardware explain component replacement, but don't typically cover the anti-cheat implications.
If you're considering this route, you need to treat it like setting up a completely new machine — new Windows installation, new accounts, no connection to anything from your banned profile.
What About Buying a Used PC
Here's something that comes up a lot. What if you buy a used computer that was previously hardware banned by a prior owner?
This is a real risk. There's no way to check if a used PC is hardware banned before purchasing it. You could end up with a machine that immediately gets banned on multiple games because the previous owner was flagged.
If you buy a used PC and immediately get hardware banned on games you've never played before on that machine, this is likely what happened. Your options at that point are the same as anyone else dealing with an HWID ban — the anti-cheat doesn't care how you ended up with a banned fingerprint.
Some argue you could appeal with proof of purchase showing the hardware changed hands. In practice, these appeals rarely succeed because publishers can't easily verify such claims.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an HWID ban?
An HWID ban is a hardware identification ban where the game bans your physical computer components rather than just your account. The anti-cheat system creates a device fingerprint from multiple hardware identifiers like your disk serial number, MAC address, and motherboard UUID. When banned, this fingerprint gets added to a blocklist, and any account used on that hardware automatically gets banned.
How does HWID banning work?
HWID banning works by collecting multiple hardware identifiers from your system and combining them into a unique machine fingerprint. Anti-cheat software queries your disk serial numbers via IOCTL calls, reads your MAC address from network adapters, pulls your motherboard UUID from SMBIOS tables, and collects other identifiers. This fingerprint is matched against a database of banned hardware. If your fingerprint matches above a threshold, you're automatically banned regardless of what account you use.
Can you bypass an HWID ban?
Technically, HWID bans can be addressed by changing the hardware identifiers that the anti-cheat is detecting. This requires changing all the relevant identifiers, not just one or two. Methods for bypassing HWID bans include hardware spoofing tools that present randomized identifiers to the anti-cheat, or physically replacing hardware components. However, this violates terms of service and risks further penalties if detected. Anti-cheat systems constantly update to detect bypass attempts.
Are HWID spoofers safe?
The safety of HWID spoofers depends entirely on the specific tool and source. Legitimate HWID spoofers from reputable developers operate at the kernel level and are regularly updated to avoid detection. However, many free spoofers found on Discord servers and forums are either outdated and detected, or actually malware designed to steal credentials or compromise your system. Any kernel-level software carries inherent risk because it operates with the highest system privileges.
How long do HWID bans last?
HWID ban duration varies by game and publisher. Many games issue permanent HWID bans for cheating offenses with no expiration. Some publishers use temporary HWID bans lasting 7 days, 30 days, or 90 days as first offenses. Competitive games like Valorant and Warzone typically issue permanent hardware bans for detected cheating. Check the specific game's enforcement policy for ban duration information, though most publishers don't publicize the exact criteria they use.
Recap
So to kind of recap everything we've covered. An HWID ban isn't tracking one thing — it's a fingerprint built from multiple hardware identifiers including your disk serial number, MAC address, motherboard UUID, and potentially several other data points.
Simple fixes like formatting your drive, reinstalling Windows, creating new accounts, or using a VPN don't work because they don't address the actual hardware identifiers being tracked. Your disk's hardware serial is burned into firmware and doesn't change with formatting. Your IP address isn't part of your hardware fingerprint at all.
Different anti-cheat systems like EAC, BattlEye, Vanguard, and RICOCHET have different approaches to fingerprinting and detection. Understanding which system you're dealing with helps you understand what identifiers are being collected.
HWID spoofers work by presenting randomized identifiers to the anti-cheat, but they need to operate at kernel level, load before the anti-cheat driver, and address all relevant identifiers — not just some. Boot order matters. Partial spoofing results in partial fingerprint matches that still get flagged.
False bans happen, but appeal systems rarely help. Whether your ban was justified or not, the practical situation and available options are largely the same.
This is an ongoing cat-and-mouse game between anti-cheat developers and those trying to circumvent detection. Methods that work today can become detected tomorrow. Understanding the underlying technology is more valuable than just knowing which tool to use at any given moment.
Hopefully this guide cleared up a lot of the confusion around HWID bans. The more you understand about how these systems actually work at a technical level, the better equipped you are to make informed decisions about your situation. Stay safe out there.