lshw Command in Linux: List Hardware Information

Quick take: sudo lshw -short gives a compact one-line-per-device hardware summary. Use -class disk, -class network, or -class memory to filter by device type. Generate an HTML report with sudo lshw -html > report.html.

What Is lshw in Linux?

lshw (List Hardware) is a comprehensive hardware information tool that reads system hardware details from multiple sources: /proc, /sys, DMI/BIOS tables, and direct hardware probing. It shows model names, firmware versions, bus speeds, driver names, and logical device names — all in one command.

It is the go-to tool when you need to document server specifications for a client, verify hardware before a firmware upgrade, or diagnose driver binding issues for a newly added device.

Install lshw

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install lshw

# RHEL / CentOS / Rocky
sudo dnf install lshw

# Verify
lshw -version

Syntax

sudo lshw [OPTIONS]

Root privileges are required for complete hardware data. Without sudo, many device entries show as "UNCLAIMED" or display incomplete information.

Common Options

Practical Examples

# Quick summary — best starting point
sudo lshw -short

# Filter to memory modules only
sudo lshw -class memory -short

# Filter to disks
sudo lshw -class disk -short

# Filter to network interfaces
sudo lshw -class network -short

# Filter to CPU
sudo lshw -class processor

# Show PCI bus info for all devices
sudo lshw -businfo

# JSON output — pipe to jq
sudo lshw -json | jq '.children[] | select(.class == "storage")'

# Safe output for sharing (removes serial numbers)
sudo lshw -short -sanitize

Sample lshw -short output:

H/W path        Device     Class       Description
====================================================
                           system      PowerEdge R640
/0                         bus         0CXJM3
/0/0                       memory      64GiB System Memory
/0/0/0                     memory      32GiB DIMM DDR4 Synchronous 2666 MHz
/0/1                       processor   Intel Xeon Silver 4210R
/0/100/1f.2    /dev/sda    disk        240GB SATA SSD
/0/100/1f.2/0              volume      223GiB EXT4 volume
/1             eno1        network     Ethernet interface 10GbE

Generate an HTML Report

For client documentation or asset management, lshw can generate a formatted HTML page:

# Generate and save HTML report
sudo lshw -html > /tmp/hardware_report.html

# Sanitize (remove serial numbers) then generate
sudo lshw -html -sanitize > /tmp/hardware_report_safe.html

# View in browser (on a desktop system)
xdg-open /tmp/hardware_report.html

# Transfer to your laptop for viewing
scp server:/tmp/hardware_report.html ~/Downloads/

The HTML report is well-formatted and includes color-coded device classes — useful for sending to procurement teams or storing in a server inventory system.

Related Hardware Commands

lshw covers the full hardware picture, but these focused tools complement it:

• lscpu — CPU details, cores, NUMA topology, flags
• lsblk — Block device tree (disks, partitions, LVM volumes)
• lspci — PCI bus devices (GPUs, network cards, RAID controllers)
• lsusb — USB devices and their bus addresses
• dmidecode — Raw BIOS/UEFI DMI table data (memory speed, firmware version)
• inxi -Fxz — Another comprehensive hardware overview tool

# CPU details
lscpu

# Disk and partition tree
lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINT

# PCI devices
lspci -v

# Memory DIMM details from DMI
sudo dmidecode -t memory | grep -E "Size|Speed|Manufacturer|Part"

Processing lshw JSON Output with jq

The -json output is the most useful for automation — you can pipe it to jq to extract exactly what you need from any device class.

# Extract all disk device names and sizes
sudo lshw -json -class disk | jq '.[] | {name: .logicalname, size: .size, description: .description}'

# Extract RAM details — manufacturer, part number, speed
sudo lshw -json -class memory | jq '.[] | .children[]? | {product: .product, size: .size, clock: .clock}'

# Get network interface MAC addresses and driver
sudo lshw -json -class network | jq '.[] | {name: .logicalname, mac: .serial, driver: .configuration.driver}'

# Build a hardware inventory script
sudo lshw -json | jq '{
  hostname: .id,
  cpu: (.children[].children[]? | select(.class == "processor") | .product),
  memory_gb: ([.children[].children[]? | select(.class == "memory") | .size?] | add / 1073741824),
  disks: [.. | objects | select(.class == "disk") | .logicalname]
}'

lshw vs Alternative Hardware Tools

Server Inventory Script

This script documents a server's hardware specs into a text file — useful before a migration or for client handover documentation:

#!/bin/bash
HOSTNAME=$(hostname -f)
DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
OUTPUT="/tmp/${HOSTNAME}_hardware_${DATE}.txt"

{
  echo "=== Hardware Inventory: $HOSTNAME ($DATE) ==="
  echo ""
  echo "--- CPU ---"
  lscpu | grep -E "Model name|Socket|Core|Thread|Architecture"
  echo ""
  echo "--- Memory ---"
  sudo lshw -class memory -short 2>/dev/null
  echo ""
  echo "--- Disks ---"
  lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINT
  echo ""
  echo "--- Network ---"
  sudo lshw -class network -short 2>/dev/null
  echo ""
  echo "--- Full JSON ---"
  sudo lshw -json -sanitize 2>/dev/null
} > "$OUTPUT"

echo "Inventory saved to: $OUTPUT"

Common Errors and Fixes

Reference: lshw man page — linux.die.net. Tested on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (bare metal Dell PowerEdge) and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (AWS EC2 t3.medium).

Final Thoughts

lshw is the most complete single-command hardware inventory tool available on Linux. Start with sudo lshw -short for a quick overview and add -class filtering to drill into specific subsystems. For documentation and client reports, the HTML output format is professional enough to send directly without formatting.