What Is A MAC Address And How To Change It
At the command prompt, type 'ipconfig /all' without quotes. (space between g and /) Alternatively, if using Windows XP, you can use the command 'getmac'. Your MAC Address is listed under 'Physical Address' as a series of 6 groups of two digits, letters and numbers, separated by dashes, such as in the image below. Make sure you get the physical. Configuration Commands Expand/collapse global location. Vpn interface mac-address—Configure a MAC address to associate with the interface in the VPN.
A MAC (Media Access Control) address is required to identify individual devices connected to the network. No matter which network (wired or wireless) used, you will require hardware such as cables and routers, and software to transmit data from your device or computer to the router or ISP server, and vice versa. MAC and IP addresses are unique identifiers, both of which make data transmission on a network possible.
Get your computer's Wired or Wireless MAC address from the Command Prompt Screen: Select the Start button. Type command in the search box (Start-Run for Windows XP) and press Enter.At the Command Prompt, type.ipconfig /all Note: Be sure to put a space between ipconfig and /all! Press Enter to list the connection information for your wired. Command-2: View the items in a Finder window as a list. Command-3: View the items in a Finder window in columns. Command-4: View the items in a Finder window in a gallery. Command–Left Bracket : Go to the previous folder. Command–Right Bracket : Go to the next folder. Command–Up Arrow: Open the folder that contains the current folder.
A MAC address is a unique code or identification number also known as a physical or hardware address. MAC addresses are often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface controller and stored in hardware such as the card's read-only memory or other firmware mechanism. A MAC address consists of 12-digit hexadecimal numbers, often in a format such as 00:0A:H4:79:67:M5. The number usually remains constant. This is different to an IP address, which changes when moved from one network to another. It is, however, possible to find and modify the MAC address if required.
Not all network drivers support an option to change the MAC address. In this guide, we show how to determine your MAC address and how to change it (if this feature is supported by your network driver). You will find screenshots and simple steps described in the guide below.
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How To Find MAC Address
To find your MAC address, you will need to use Command Prompt. Command Prompt is the input field in a text-based user interface screen, a command line interpreter application available in most Windows operating systems. It is used to execute entered commands, most of which are used to automate tasks through scripts and batch files, perform advanced administrative functions, troubleshoot and solve certain types of Windows issues. To use Command Prompt, you must enter a valid command together with any optional parameters. It then executes the command as entered and performs whatever task or function it is designed to perform in Windows. To launch elevated Command Prompt (to run it as administrator), type 'command prompt' in Search and right-click the 'Command Prompt' result. Then select the 'Run as administrator' option from the contextual menu.
Once you have the Command Prompt open, type the 'getmac' /v /fo list' command, press Enter on your keyboard and look for the MAC address next to the 'Physical Address' line. Another way to get the MAC address is to execute the 'ipconfig /all' command and look for it next to the 'Physical Address' line.
Change Your MAC address Using Device Manager
The device Manager tool can be found in most versions of Windows. It is used to manage installed hardware devices. You can find all installed hardware devices such as monitors, network adapters, display adapters, keyboards, disk drives, audio inputs and outputs, sound, video and game controllers, etc. Using Device Manager, you can get information about installed hardware devices and drivers, and also change the MAC address, disable a particular device, update or uninstall drivers automatically or manually, roll back a driver to its previous state (version), scan for hardware changes (if there were any or if Windows could not reinstall uninstalled drivers or update them automatically), and configure power management settings. Open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start button and selecting the 'Device Manager' result from the contextual menu, or type 'device manager' in Search and click the 'Device Manager' result.
In Device Manager you will see a list of devices connected to your computer. Expand the 'Network adapters' section and right-click your network adapter. Select 'Properties' from the contextual menu.
In the network adapter properties window, select the 'Advanced' tab and select 'Network Address' or 'Locally Administered Address' (depending on your network adapter) and enable the 'Value' option. Then type your desired (hexadecimal) MAC address without any separating characters. Click 'OK' when finished. If there is no 'Advanced' tab in your network adapter properties window, your network adapter does not support this feature.
If you want to undo the changes and return the old MAC address, simply enable the 'Not Present' option when in the network adapter properties window.
Change Your MAC Address Using Registry Editor
Windows Registry, usually referred to as just 'the registry', is a collection of databases of configuration settings in Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is used to store much of the information and settings for software programs, hardware devices, user preferences, operating system configurations, and much more. Many of the options exposed in the registry are not accessible elsewhere in Windows. In this guide, we show how to change the MAC address using this Windows tool. Please note that incorrectly changing Windows Registry might damage your operating system irreversibly.
Before you start configuring Windows registry, you will need to open Command Prompt and execute the 'net config rdr' command. Write down the 'Workstation active on' number or leave the Command Prompt open. You will need to use this number in future steps.
To open Registry Editor, open the Run dialog box. Press the Windows Windows key + R or right-click Start and select 'Run' and type 'regedit'. Press Enter or click 'OK'.
Now follow this path 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass', find the '{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}'. Type under the Class key and expand it. You will see keys such as '0000', '0001'. '0002', and so on. Select them one by one and see which contains the number in Command Prompt. Look for the number on the right pane near 'NetCfgInstanceId'. In our case, we found it in the '0010' key.
Right-click the key where the number (in our case, it is 0010) was found and select 'New'. Then select 'String Value' and name it 'NetworkAddress'.
Double-click the newly created NetworkAddress string in the right pane and enter your desired 12-digit hexademical MAC address in the 'Value data' box. Click 'OK' to save the changes and restart your computer to apply them.
Bear in mind that your desired MAC address might need to have A, E, 2 or 6 as the second character. In some cases, network adapters do not work properly if the second character does not match one of these.
Change Your MAC Using NoVirusThanks MAC Address Changer
NoVirusThaks MAC address Changer is a tool that allows you to easily change the MAC address of any network adapter in Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. It is free and very easy to use. You can change the MAC address into your desired one manually or allow this tool to generate a random MAC address for you. Click this link to download the NoVirusThanks MAC address Changer, install and open it. Then select your network adapter and click 'Change MAC' button.
You will see your current MAC address. Change it to your desired address and click 'Change' button. Alternatively, click the 'Randomize' button and it will generate a random MAC address for you. Then click the 'Change' button to apply it.
If you want to restore your MAC address to the previous one (default MAC address), simply click the 'Restore MAC' button.
We hope this guide was useful and you now know what a MAC address is used for and how to change it manually using Windows tools or automatically using a third-party tool such as NoVirusThanks MAC Address Changer. If you have any questions relating to this topic, do not hesitate to leave a comment in the section below.
Video Showing How To Change Your MAC Address:
In this article, I will take you through different ways to List/Get/Display/Find MAC Address in Linux. You might be aware of Ethernet Card/Network Card/NIC Controller which works at Network level and is responsible for communicating with other network devices in a Network Topology. It is used in Layer-2 Communication. You can find the usage of MAC address in wide range of Network Devices currently in use. This is typically in-line with IEEE 802 Network technologies.
What is MAC Address
MAC is abbreviated as Media Access Control. It is a unique 48 bit(6-byte) address assigned to a Network Interface. It is almost used in all the Network Devices which has network controller in it. It will always show in this form 00:07:Y7:1C:6L:03.
Find MAC Address in Linux
Also Read:25 Useful Linux SS Command Examples to Monitor Network Connections
Method 1: How to find MAC Address in Linux Using ifconfig command
If you want to check MAC Address of all the network interfaces in Linux using our traditional ifconfig command then you need to use ifconfig -a command as shown below.
NOTE:
root user to run all the below commands.You can use any user with sudo access to run all these commands. For more information Please check Step by Step: How to Add User to Sudoers to provide sudo access to User.Method 2: How to find an ethernet MAC Address in Linux Using ifconfig command
If you want to check the MAC Address of a specific network interface using ifconfig command then you need to use network interface name with ifconfig command as shown below. Here we are checking MAC Address of interface enp0s3 using ifconfig enp0s3 command.
NOTE:
eth0 network interface in your system instead of enp0s3. Hence Please use the network interface name with all the mentioned commands as per your system interface name or else none of the command will work.Method 3: How to find MAC Address in Linux Using ip addr sh command
If you want to check the MAC address of all the network interfaces then you need to simply use ip addr sh command and check the MAC address from ether field as shown below.
Method 4: How to find an ethernet MAC Address in Linux using ip addr sh command
If you want to check the MAC address of some specific network interface then you need to use the interface name with ip addr sh command and check the MAC address from ether field as shown below. In this example we are checking MAC address of enp0s3 network interface.
Method 5: How to find MAC Address in Linux Using ip link show command
If you want to check the MAC address of all the network interfaces then you can use another useful ip link show command and check the MAC address from link/ether field as shown below.
Method 6: How to find an ethernet MAC Address in Linux using ip link show command
If you want to check the MAC address of some specific network interface then you need to use the interface name with ip link show command and check the MAC address from ether field as shown below. In this example we are checking MAC address of enp0s3 network interface.
Method 7: How to find MAC Address in Linux using ethtool command
You can also use another useful linux tool called ethtool to find MAC address in Linux as shown below. Here I am checking MAC address of my ethernet card enp0s3 using ethtool command hence you need to mention your Interface name before running below command.
Method 8: How to find MAC Address in Linux using Regex with ifconfig command
You can use a simple grep regular expression with ifconfig command to find the MAC Address of an ethernet card in Linux as shown below. Like above example, Here I am using regular expression on my System enp0s3 interface so you need to change and mention your interface name instead of enp0s3 before running below command.
Method 9: How to find MAC Address in Linux using SYS Files
If you want to check MAC address in Linux using SYS files you need to check network address file using below cat command. As mentioned below SYS file is a text file so its contents can always be seen through Linux cat command.
Method 10: How to find MAC Address in Linux using AWK Regex with ifconfig command
Ping For Mac Address Command
You can also use AWK regular expression with ifconfig command to find MAC Address in Linux as shown below. Here we are grepping ether keyword from ifconfig command and then piping to awk to get first and second column output separated by tab.
Method 11: How to find MAC Address in Linux using Sed Regex with ifconfig command
Cmd Commands For Mac Address
Like above example, you can also use Sed Regular expressions with ifconfig command to find MAC Address in Linux as shown below.
Command For Mac Address In Cmd
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