Can I change my computer's MAC address?

[Truknox]

hello guys i want to change my computer's MAC address. tell me how can i change it.

[Borek]

As far as I know there are (expensive) net interfaces that allow for that. In most cases MAC address is stored in some kind of read only memory and can't be changed - so probably the only way you can do it is to connect to the network through a new network interface (be it card or USB device).

But then my knowledge is rather limited and dated, could be there are other ways.

[Routaran]

Mac addresses are physically coded onto your netowork card. You cannot change them. You have two options. First, you can get a Mac spoofer. A very basic description is that Its a software program that basically sits between the network card and the network. It changes the Mac address on the packets going in and out of your system. Or second, you can simply purchase a new network card ($30) and use it instead.

[jhae2.718]

You can spoof MAC addresses in most operating systems, e.g. Win 7 (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/697bf48c-a226-4315-8875-2bbeddf16db2), etc. (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Changing_Your_MAC_Address).

[rcgldr]

In the case of Windows XP: clcik on control panel, network and other connections, network connection, right click on the network controller you want to change, click on configure, advanced, choose "Locally Administrators Address", enter a 12 digit hex number.

To display your current MAC address, open a dos console window and enter

ipconfig / all | more

it will show up as physical address. The "| more" is used to pipe the output one screen at a time so the information doesn't scroll off the screen. Press spacebar to scroll one screen at a time, or enter to scroll one line at a time.

[rishi.sharma]

The message posted by rcgldr works absolutely fine.
-
The one I use is
Xp->Start->Control Panel->Network and Connections->Local area network adaptor

Click on properties of your adaptor.You can see "Configure" options in your adaptor settings.
Click on that, Advanced-> select "Network Address", from the list ., check the radio box with define network address " and enter the 12 places of mac id, i.e 48bits MAC ID.
save it, and I am sure it will change the mac id,
I use realtek and atheros NIC's. This works on both of them.

I think this changes the mac address for you, but not permanently, maybe it provides a reference address to new address.

and answer to your questions is yes..but it is not permanent.

[Routaran]

advanced options under the driver for the NIC (Network Interface Card) may or may not be present. This depends on the card and the driver. Manufacturer's like Dell and HP will, generally speaking, not have this option. But depending on the type of system you might.

If the option is available, this is the best course, take this route.

If it is not, then you will need to either use a 3rd party MAC Spoofer (does essentially the same thing as the advanced options in the driver)
or
you have to get a new network card.

[rcgldr]

In the case of Windows XP: click on control panel, network and other connections, network connection, right click on the network controller you want to change, click on configure, advanced, choose "Locally Administrators Address", enter a 12 digit hex number.Note it's possible that after changing your MAC on a Window XP system that it will ask to re-activate Windows since it thinks it's a new system, even though the only thing changed was a MAC address. Usually this means you'll have to make a phone call to re-activate since the online re-activation will most likely fail.

[-Job-]

AFAIK, when you override the mac address the resulting value will indicate that it's a locally administered address so you're spoofing a local value rather than a universally assigned value.

[Routaran]

Note it's possible that after changing your MAC on a Window XP system that it will ask to re-activate Windows since it thinks it's a new system, even though the only thing changed was a MAC address. Usually this means you'll have to make a phone call to re-activate since the online re-activation will most likely fail.

This shouldnt cause any issues with activation rcgldr. The NIC is one of the hardware devices checked by windows but changing just once device isnt enough to cause it to fail validation.
[Source] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Product_Activation) and
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

in any case, the hardware isnt being changed so there shouldnt be any problem.