hwinfo — Clarus Command Guide

Install

# Check if present
hwinfo --version

# RHEL / Alma / Rocky
sudo dnf install hwinfo

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install hwinfo

# openSUSE
sudo zypper install hwinfo

# Arch
sudo pacman -S hwinfo

What it does

hwinfo scans your system and reports detailed information about hardware devices. It is useful when you need more than a quick summary: PCI devices, disks, network cards, USB devices, display adapters, drivers, firmware data, and other lower-level system details.

How it works (mechanical)

Walks system hardware information sources such as sysfs, procfs, and device buses.
Queries specific classes of hardware such as CPU, disk, network, USB, or graphics.
Collects identifiers, configuration details, driver associations, and capability flags.
Prints either broad system inventory or targeted device-class output depending on the options used.
Can produce large output, so it is often paired with less, grep, or redirection to a file.

Quick Start

# Full hardware scan
hwinfo

# Show only network devices
hwinfo --network

# Show a shorter summary
hwinfo --short

10 Practical Examples

Get a short system hardware summary
```
hwinfo --short
```
Inspect network hardware
```
hwinfo --network
```
Inspect storage devices
```
hwinfo --disk
```
Inspect USB devices
```
hwinfo --usb
```
Inspect graphics hardware
```
hwinfo --gfxcard
```
Inspect BIOS and firmware details
```
hwinfo --bios
```
Write a full inventory to a file
```
hwinfo > hwinfo-full.txt
```
Search for driver information
```
hwinfo --network | grep -i driver
```
Page through long output
```
hwinfo --disk | less
```
Check CPU details
```
hwinfo --cpu
```

Notes & Gotchas

Output can be very long. Use targeted options like --network or --disk when possible.
Root may reveal more. Some hardware details are more complete when run with elevated privileges.
Option names are specific. Device classes use names like --gfxcard, not always the first term you might guess.
Hardware detection is descriptive, not magical. It can tell you a lot, but it does not fix driver issues by itself.
Useful for troubleshooting. Especially good when comparing what the kernel sees versus what you expected to be present.

Historical Context

hwinfo became especially well known in Linux distributions that emphasized hardware probing and installer support, such as SUSE and openSUSE. It remains a strong tool for deep inspection because it presents structured device information beyond the quick summaries given by lighter commands.

Modern Equivalent

inxi — friendlier high-level summary for quick system overviews
lshw — another detailed hardware inventory tool
lsblk — focused storage and block-device view

Related Commands

inxi — friendly high-level system summary
lsblk — inspect block devices and mount relationships
lspci — list PCI devices directly
lsusb — list USB devices directly
dmidecode — read BIOS and SMBIOS tables
ipmitool — inspect and manage BMC/IPMI hardware
cpupower — inspect CPU power and frequency settings
rfkill — manage wireless device radio state