---
name: "hwinfo"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "hwinfo"
version: "26.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/hwinfo"
---

# hwinfo(8)

probe for hardware

## NAME

hwinfo - probe for hardware

## SYNOPSIS

**hwinfo \[** *OPTIONS* **\]**

## DESCRIPTION

**hwinfo** is used to probe for the hardware present in the system. It can be used to generate a system overview log which can be later used for support.

## OPTIONS

Note that running **hwinfo** without any options is roughly equivalent to 'hwinfo --all --log=-'.

- **--\<*****HARDWARE\_ITEM*****\>**

  This option can be given more than once. Probe for a particular *HARDWARE\_ITEM*. Available hardware items are:

  all, arch, bios, block, bluetooth, braille, bridge, camera, cdrom, chipcard, cpu, disk, dsl, dvb, fingerprint, floppy, framebuffer, gfxcard, hub, ide, isapnp, isdn, joystick, keyboard, memory, mmc-ctrl, modem, monitor, mouse, netcard, network, partition, pci, pcmcia, pcmcia-ctrl, pppoe, printer, redasd, reallyall, scanner, scsi, smp, sound, storage-ctrl, sys, tape, tv, uml, usb, usb-ctrl, vbe, wlan, xen, zip

  Note that if this option is missing, no hardware probing will be done!

- **--short**

  Show only a summary. Use this option in addition to a hardware probing option.

- **--listmd**

  Normally hwinfo does not report RAID devices. Add this option to see them.

- **--only** *DEVNAME*

  This option can be given more than once. If you add this option only entries in the device list matching *DEVNAME* will be shown. Note that you also have to specify --\<*HARDWARE\_ITEM*\> to trigger any device probing.

- **--save-config** *SPEC*

  Store config for a particular device below /var/lib/hardware. *SPEC* can be a device name, an UDI, or 'all'. This option must be given in addition to a hardware probing option.

- **--show-config** *UDI*

  Show saved config data for a particular device.

- **--map**

  If disk names have changed (e.g. after a kernel update) this prints a list of disk name mappings. Note that you must have used --save-config at some point before for this can work.

- **--debug** *N*

  Set debug level to *N*. The debug info is shown only in the log file. If you specify a log file, the debug level is implicitly set to a reasonable value (N is a bitmask of individual flags).

- **--verbose**

  Increase verbosity. Only together with --map.

- **--log** *FILE*

  Write log info to *FILE*. Don't forget to also specify --\<*HARDWARE\_ITEM*\> to trigger any device probing.

- **--dump-db** *N*

  Dump hardware data base. *N* is either 0 for the external data base in /var/lib/hardware, or 1 for the internal data base.

- **--version**

  Print libhd version.

- **--help**

  Print usage.

## ENVIRONMENT

**hwprobe** can hold a comma-separated list of probing flags preceded by '+' or '-' to be turned on or off. To get a complete list of supported flags, run 'hwinfo -all' (note: not '--all') and look at the top of the output.

hwinfo also looks at /proc/cmdline for a **hwprobe** option.

## EXAMPLES

- \- show all disks

  hwinfo --disk

- \- just an overview

  hwinfo --short --block

- \- show a particular disk

  hwinfo --disk --only /dev/sdb

- \- save disk config state

  hwinfo --disk --save-config=all

- \- try 4 graphics card ports for monitor data (default: 3)

  hwprobe=bios.ddc.ports=4 hwinfo --monitor

- \- monitor detection runs the Video BIOS to get the monitor data; dump a complete BIOS code execution trace to the log

  hwprobe=bios.ddc.ports=1,x86emu=trace:dump:trace.only=0:dump.only=0 hwinfo --monitor --log=foo

## FILES

- **/var/lib/hardware/hd.ids**

  External hardware data base (in readable text form). Try the --dump-db option to see the format.

- **/var/lib/hardware/udi**

  Directory where persistent config data are stored (see --save-config option).

## BUGS

Not all hardware can be detected.

## SEE ALSO

More documentation in /usr/share/doc/packages/hwinfo.\
 Source repository: git@github.com:openSUSE/hwinfo.git.