What is my NIC ID?

I need to get my NIC ID for a temporarily software license to be generated for me. How should I find my NIC ID?

I have found contradictory information on the web. Some suggested that I run getmac.exe:

C:\Windows\System32>getmac.exe

Physical Address    Transport Name
=================== ==========================================================
D4-BE-D9-1C-4F-C7   \Device\Tcpip_{7E28ABA4-55A5-4ECC-9B9A-8A440CDB9B95}
24-77-03-3E-B2-9C   Media disconnected
7C-E9-D3-FE-40-41   Media disconnected
24-77-03-3E-B2-9D   Media disconnected

From that, I assume my NIC ID is {7E28ABA4-55A5-4ECC-9B9A-8A440CDB9B95}. But then others have suggested to go to Device Manager -> Network adapters -> [my NIC] -> Details but I get many IDs in the same format as above, not just one:

They probably mean your MAC address. (The hexidecimal string under the Physical Address column of getmac. - Either D4-BE-D9-1C-4F-C7, 24-77-03-3E-B2-9C, 7C-E9-D3-FE-40-41, or 24-77-03-3E-B2-9D, depending on which is your NIC/the Network interface this license will be run against. Most likely D4-BE-D9-1C-4F-C7.)

Certainty will require asking whomever it is generating the license. So ask, and while you're at it, tell them they're asshats for having that kind of licensing in the first place, in addition to not clearly specifying what identifier they require, precisely.

These sorts of software licenses generally tie themselves to the MAC address of an Ethernet adapter in the server on which they're to be run. Which is annoying as hell when the NIC breaks and has to be replaced... So the NIC ID they're asking for is almost certainly the MAC address.

An OUI search gives really interesting results for those MAC addresses:

24:77:03 Intel Corporate
7C:E9:D3 Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co.,Ltd.
D4:BE:D9 Dell Inc

Just what on earth do you have in that server?

Anyway, to figure it out for sure, run ipconfig /all and scroll through the output until you find the entry matching your current IP address. A running example from my workstation:

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : example.com
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 6C-62-6D-D1-DF-AD
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:db8:1600:80bf:4c09:a0d:9c35:30b3(Preferred)
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4c09:a0d:9c35:30b3%12(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 172.25.49.119(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, December 4, 2012 9:20:23 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, December 5, 2012 8:43:48 PM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::56e6:fcff:fef4:66f1%12
                                       172.25.49.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.25.49.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.25.49.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

You can see here that the IPv4 address is 172.25.49.1, the IPv6 address is 2001:db8:1600:80bf:4c09:a0d:9c35:30b3 and the MAC address is 6C-62-6D-D1-DF-AD. Problem solved.