An example of a MAC address is 1F-2E-3D-4C-5B-6A and it falls into the Layer 2 networking protocol of the OSI model. In today’s networks, ARP, or Address Resolution Protocol converts a MAC address to a Layer 3 protocol address, such as an IP address. A MAC address can also be called a Physical Address.
MAC addresses are unique identifiers that are used to identify a network card in a computer. You can’t change or spoof the MAC address on your own, but you can use a few simple tricks to change or spoof it.
There are many reasons to want to change your MAC address. One reason is to bypass network restrictions. By emulating an unrestricted MAC address or by spoofing a MAC address that is already authorized, you can gain access to restricted networks. ..
A WiFi network may only allow authorized computers to connect to it and filters out computers based on the MAC address. If you can sniff out a legitimate MAC address, you can then spoof your MAC address and gain access to the WiFi network.
Another example is if you have an ISP that allows only a certain number of computers to connect to the Internet from your home. If you have more computers that need to connect, you can spoof the MAC address of an authorized computer and connect from a different computer.
Change Windows MAC Address
To change the MAC address for a network card in Windows, follow these steps:
- Open the Control Panel.
- Under Network and Internet, click Network and Sharing Center.
- Under Local Area Networks, click View Details for your network connection.
- In the “MAC Address” section, under “Hardware ID,” click Change.
- In the “New MAC Address” box, type in the new MAC address for your network card.
- Click OK to save the changes and close Network and Sharing Center. ..
Step 2: In the Properties window, you will see the MAC address field. Change the value to the new MAC address you just obtained. Step 3: Click on OK to close the Properties window.
Windows Vista, Windows 7, and higher require users to go to Control Panel, Network and Internet, Network and Sharing Center, and then click on Manage Network Connections or Change adapter settings in order to connect to a wireless network. ..
The Properties dialog box will open. In the General tab, you can change the adapter’s name, description, and other settings. The Adapter Properties dialog box will close.
Configure your network settings to be the best possible for your needs.
Step 3: Now click on the Advanced tab and click on the Locally Administered Address property or the Network Address property.
To change the default MAC address for your computer, go to the System Preferences and click on the Security & Privacy tab. Under the “MAC Address” heading, you will see a list of all of your computers. Click on the “Not Present” value and enter in a new MAC address. The new MAC address will be added to your computer’s list of Mac addresses.
You can check that the MAC address has been changed by going to the command prompt and typing IPCONFIG /ALL. After restarting the computer, the changes will take effect.
To change your MAC address in Windows, you can use the registry. However, it’s a more technical process and may not be necessary for most people.
Change OS X MAC Address
Once you have changed the MAC address, you then have to reboot your computer in order for the new MAC address to take effect.
To change the adapter settings on a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, you first need to know the technical name of the adapter. Here’s how to find it:
- On your phone, open Settings and select Wireless and Networks.
- Under “Wi-Fi networks,” tap the network you want to connect to.
- If you have more than one network listed, select the one that has the name of your home or office network listed next to it (in my case, it’s called “Samsung Galaxy S6 Home Network”).
- Under “Basic information,” look for the “Adapter type” section and see if there is a listing for an adapter with a different model number than your phone (in my case, there is). If so, that means you have an incompatible adapter and need to replace it with a compatible one.
- If there isn’t a listing for an adapter with a different model number, then you can proceed with changing the settings on your phone. Here are instructions on how:
- On your phone, open Settings and select Wireless and Networks again.
- Under “Wi-Fi networks,” tap the network you want to connect to again (in my case it would be Samsung Galaxy S6 Home Network).
- This time under “Basic information,” look for the “Adapter type” section and see if there is now a listing for an adapter with a different model number than your phone (in my case there is). If so, that means you have successfully changed adapters! You can now disconnect from any other networks and continue with these steps below:
- Tap on the new adapter name that appears in this section (in my case it would be called SAMSUNG-SM-G9 ..
To find out the MAC address for your Mac, you can do one of two things: through System Preferences or through Terminal. Open System Preferences, click on Network, and then click on the Advanced button. Make sure to select the appropriate interface first (WiFi, Ethernet, etc) in the listbox on the left. ..
The first line on the Hardware tab is a MAC address. You can’t change the MAC address, but you can configure it.
sudo ifconfig You can also get the MAC address by looking at your router’s configuration. ..
sudo ip addr show en0 sudo ip addr add en0 1 sudo ip addr del en0
You can compare the MAC addresses listed here with the one you saw via System Preferences. In my case, my WiFi MAC address of f8:1e:df:d8:9d:8a matches with en1, so that is the interface I have to use for the next commands.
If you need to change your MAC address, you can use the macchanger command in Terminal. This command will generate a new random MAC address for you. ..
mac-update This command will update your MAC address and save the new one in your computer’s memory.
To change the MAC address of your Apple device, you need to be logged in as an Administrator or have enabled the root account. By default, root is disabled and it’s better to leave it disabled if you can. Just login as an admin and you should be able to run the command just fine. It will ask you for your password, though, before changing the MAC address.
If you are still connected to a WiFi network, the address won’t change. To disconnect from a wireless network, first press and hold the Option key and then click on the WiFi icon.
- Run the command “netstat -a” to get a list of all network interfaces.
- Use the command “macaddr” to get the MAC address of the interface on which you are working.
- Use the command “update-macaddr” to update the MAC address of the interface on which you are working.
- Verify that the MAC address has actually changed by running “netstat -v” and checking for changes in both addresses and time stamps.
Windows users can’t just copy and paste the commands to fix their computer, but they can use a different method to fix it. This is because Windows is not as simple as it seems. The process is more complicated than what you see in Windows, but you can still do it if you follow the steps. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy!