1. A method of generating a verbose hardware identification (VHWID) for a first computer system having a first hardware configuration, wherein the method comprises: selecting n component classes; identifying all component instances within each of the n component classes; generating a plurality of hash results, wherein the plurality of hash results comprises a hash result for each component instance and at least one hash result for the n component classes; and concatenating the plurality of hash results to form a hash portion, wherein the hash portion forms the verbose hardware identification (VHWID) for the first computer system.