This article describes three ways to find a drive volume label or serial number. Instructions are for Windows 10 to Windows XP.
The volume label of the drive is not usually an important piece of information, but it can be an important piece of information when certain commands are executed from the command prompt.
When you want to format a partition, you need the volume label of the drive. If you don't know the label, you can't get the job done. The volume serial number is less important, but it can be a valuable piece of information in some specific cases.
Follow these simple steps to find the volume label or serial number using the command prompt.
1. Open the command prompt.
In Windows 10 and Windows 8, right-click the Start button to find the Command Prompt. In older versions of Windows, search for cmd in the Start menu, or find Command Prompt in the Accessories folder of the Start menu.
Note: If you do not have access to Windows, in all versions of Windows, you can also use the Command Prompt from Safe Mode, Advanced Boot Options in Windows 10 and Windows 8, and System Recovery Options in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
2. When prompted, execute the vol command as shown below, and then press Enter
vol c:Note: Change C to any drive whose volume label or serial number you want to find. For example, if you want to find this information for an E drive, type vol E:.
3. Directly below the prompt, you should see two lines similar to the following:
The volume in drive C is Windows with serial number C1F3-A79EAs you can see, the volume of drive C is labeled Windows and the volume serial number is C1F3-A79E.
Note: If you see that the volume in drive C does not have a label, then this is exactly what is described above, the volume label is optional, and your drive happens to have no volume label.
4. Now that you have found the volume label or volume serial number, if you are done, you can close the command prompt, or you can continue to execute other commands.
Using the command prompt is the fastest way to find this information, but there are other ways to do it as well.
Use the drive's properties in Windows
Execute the Win+E keyboard shortcut to open the list of hard drives (if you are using Windows 10, you can also select this PC from the left).
Each drive has a corresponding volume label next to it. Right-click on one of them (or tap and hold) and select "Properties" to view it there as well, and change the volume label of the drive.
Free system information tool
Such as the free speccy program. Especially when using the program, locate the "Storage" section and select the hard drive from which you want to get the information. Displays the serial number of each drive and the serial number of a specific volume.