How to determine the PPK2 Serial Number

RE: How to determine the PPK2 Serial Number

WhiteFang — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 07:07:07 GMT

I have found *a solution* for Windows users - at least one that works on my dev computer.. time will tell! 😃

It takes two calls to the CLI via whatever tool you use (I use LabVIEW), but I only found the value I need through PowerShell (rumor is you can also find it in windows registry but that has even more "concerns" in terms of programmatic access and access rights). Anyway, I found the parameter name in Windows to be> DEVPKEY_Device_Parent

2-step solution, assuming you already know the COM port the device is on, in my example below it was on COM9:

1. Issue command to get PNPDeviceID:

wmic path Win32_SerialPort where "DeviceID='COM9'" get PNPDeviceID

(parse the CLI output to obtain the PNPDeviceID, in my case it was USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01\6&1A807EFB&0&0001)

2. Issue a CLI command to run a Powershell Script. The whole thing gets a bit "messy" but the below CLI goes in as one lump and executes in a second or so:

cmd /c powershell.exe -Command "$deviceId = 'USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01\6&1A807EFB&0&0001'; $parentProperty = Get-PnpDeviceProperty -InstanceId $deviceId | Where-Object { $_.KeyName -eq 'DEVPKEY_Device_Parent' }; $parentInstanceId = $parentProperty.Data; Write-Output "Parent Instance ID: $parentInstanceId""

Parse the output to get the ParentID value, for me it was USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A\F0D53E50C7CD

....tada?! :D

EDIT>>>

Depending on your tools and needs, I found a way to speed it up by making one CLI call, and then getting the ParentID value from a Windows Registry Read. Of course, if you use .NET you can also avoid the CLI entirely which may speed up the process even more. I did not want to depend on .NET on the target machines so my method currently is this:

1: get info on all (connected/active) SerialPorts via CLI (takes the same amount of time as getting one port)>
wmic path Win32_SerialPort get DeviceID, PNPDeviceID, Description

2: parse the CLI output and make a list of PNPDeviceIDs (and COM Port) filtered by the Description field which should contain "nRF Connect" etc.

3: Open Windows Registry with "KEY_READ" privileges to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (this should be allowed on most systems I think). The SubKeys you want to list/read consists of the "first part, up to the second &" of the PNPDeviceID USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01\6&1A807EFB&0&0001 (VID = VendorID so I suspect this is constant over time but ...)

4: when you read the subkey above you should get a list (array) of them, representing the SN# of all the matching VID devices that has at some point been connected. From there I open each subkey from the list in step 3, using additional info from the PNPDeviceID string I started with to find which SN# belongs to it. E.g. Open key "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A\F0D53E50C7CD" and Read Value of "ParentIdPrefix" and match this against the "6&1A807EFB&0" - If it matches you found your device SN.

Sorry if the above is hard to follow but basically if you open regedit to the Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB you will see all USB items, most likely including many other VID devices as well. so step 3 is to get a list of all the nRF device based on the VID number we got from CLI (or .NET or...). Then under e.g. Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A you will see the SN of every PPK you ever had attached, and inside each SN key, there will be a ParentIdPrefix to match against the "last part" of the PNPDeviceID string (from the last \ to the end of the string).

So in my current implementation, I now do one CLI that takes around 300ms - then using various regex and filters I cross-check against the registry (the registry reads are on the 1ms level on my system), and out of this I return an array of COM# and SN# currently connected.

RE: How to determine the PPK2 Serial Number

WhiteFang — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:13:55 GMT

Hi Bendik,

I somehow missed it when I (tried) to inspect all the properties earlier, I am able to see the "Parent" property Value similar to how you show, and my SN# is F0D53E50C7CD

However, I have been unable to get this property value listed via CLI in Windows (11).

Am I just missing some property? Should I use another command?

Does anyone know how to retrieve this programmatically on Windows? (Can we have it as a future FW update that it can be included in the MetaData?)

For example I have tried variations of:

1. Get PNPDeviceID:

wmic path Win32_SerialPort where "DeviceID='COM9'" get PNPDeviceID

2. list info of PNPDeviceID:

wmic path Win32_PnPEntity where "DeviceID='USB\\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01\\6&1A807EFB&0&0001'" get /format:list

Which gives this listing, and I may have gone blind but for some reason that particular info does not appear to be in any of the many listed values?!

Availability=
Caption=nRF Connect USB CDC ACM (COM9)
ClassGuid={4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID={"USB\COMPAT_VID_1915&Class_02&SubClass_02&Prot_00","USB\COMPAT_VID_1915&Class_02&SubClass_02","USB\COMPAT_VID_1915&Class_02","USB\Class_02&SubClass_02&Prot_00","USB\Class_02&SubClass_02","USB\Class_02"}
ConfigManagerErrorCode=0
ConfigManagerUserConfig=FALSE
CreationClassName=Win32_PnPEntity
Description=nRF Connect USB CDC ACM
DeviceID=USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01\6&1A807EFB&0&0001
ErrorCleared=
ErrorDescription=
HardwareID={"USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&REV_0305&MI_01","USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01"}
InstallDate=
LastErrorCode=
Manufacturer=Nordic Semiconductor ASA
Name=nRF Connect USB CDC ACM (COM9)
PNPClass=Ports
PNPDeviceID=USB\VID_1915&PID_C00A&MI_01\6&1A807EFB&0&0001
PowerManagementCapabilities=
PowerManagementSupported=
Present=TRUE
Service=usbser
Status=OK
StatusInfo=
SystemCreationClassName=Win32_ComputerSystem

RE: How to determine the PPK2 Serial Number

Bendik Heiskel — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:26:49 GMT

Hi,

The serial number as a part of the USB device descriptor. There are multiple ways of read this info.

In windows you can find it in the "parent" property found in the device manager:

The PPK2 will show up as a serial COM port.

In linux you can use lsusb -d 1915:C00A -v

Best regards,

Bendik