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Here's how to change your computer's MAC address, courtesy of Mytour.
Instructions for changing MAC address on your computer
Changing MAC Address in Windows
To modify this address, we need to access Device Manager within the Windows system. There are several ways to do this. One common method is by right-clicking on My Computer > Properties.
Here, proceed to select Device Manager.
Alternatively, you can also right-click on My Computer and choose Manage, then within Computer Manager, select Device Manager as depicted below.
In the Network Adapters section below, identify the network interfaces you wish to modify, then right-click on it and select Properties
A list of functions will appear in Properties. Click on the Advanced tab and select Network Address from the list. However, if it doesn't appear, it means your machine's network driver doesn't support MAC address changes.
Next, click on Value to input the desired MAC address without any separators, dashes, or colons --> Then press OK to confirm the changes and exit.
Changing MAC Address in Linux
To change the Mac address for the Linux operating system, particularly with Ubuntu, click on the network icon on the control panel --> select Edit Connection.
Next, choose the network connection you want to modify and click Edit.
Under the Ethernet Task, double-click on Cloned MAC address, input the new MAC address, and remember to save the changes upon completion.
- Alternatively, use the following command line to change the Mac address with the following syntax:
sudo ifconfig eth0 down
sudo ifconfig eth0 hw ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
sudo ifconfig eth0 up
Where:
eth0 can be replaced with the name of the network interface you wish to modify.
xx:xx:.. should be replaced with the new MAC address you prefer.
Changing MAC Address in Mac OS X
To change the MAC address, you can do so by using a command line. Open a Terminal window (press Ctrl+Space --> type “Terminal”). Then use the following command to change the MAC address with the following syntax:
sudo ifconfig eth0 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Where:
eth0 can be replaced with the name of the network interface you wish to modify.
xx:xx:.. should be replaced with the new MAC address you prefer.
To verify whether the changes take effect, run the command ipconfig /all in the Command Prompt in Windows; for Linux and Mac OS X, use the ifconfig command.
In Linux and Mac OS X, this change is temporary and will revert to default upon reboot. Therefore, you'll need a script if you wish to maintain the changed MAC address. Add the line hwaddress ether [MAC address] to the file /etc/network/interfaces.d/ or /etc/network/interfaces to preserve this change.
MAC addresses on computers are crucial beyond network connectivity purposes; they're used for setting static IP addresses, MAC filtering, MAC authentication, device identification, and tracking. The above outlines all the methods to change MAC addresses for computer systems. Additionally, tools like A Mac Address Change or Change MAC Address also facilitate this task effortlessly.
