If you are activating the MFA device with the IAM console then you only need the device. If you are using the AWS CLI or the IAM API then you need the following:
1. The serial number of the MFA device. The format of the serial number depends on whether you are using a hardware device or a virtual device:
Hardware MFA device: The serial number is on the bar-coded label on the back of the device.
Virtual MFA device: The serial number is the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) value returned when you run the iam-virtualmfadevicecreate command in the AWS CLI or call the CreateVirtualMFADevice API.
2. Two consecutive MFA codes displayed by the MFA device.
