How To Change Mac Address

Learning how to change the MAC Address on your computer may sound like it is only for the techies, but anyone can do it without too much trouble. Here you will find instructions on how to change your MAC Address for your Windows based PC, your Mac OSX PC or your Linux PC. Just find your operating system below, and follow the steps.

What You Need

• Access to the computer that you want to change the MAC Address on; you need to be logged in to the Admin account.
• The new MAC Address that you want to change to.
• The name of your network interface card.

Steps for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users

1. Go to the "Start menu". Then click on the word Settings and then click on the words "Control Panel".
   
2. Double click on the words "Network and Dial-up Connections". This will bring you to the main window for managing your network settings.
   
3. Find the name of your NIC, or Network Interface Card, from the list on the right. Once you have found it,  click on it to select the card.
4. Click on the word "Properties". 
5. Locate the “General” tab, which will be on the top of the window. Then, click on the “Configure” button.
6. Click on the “Advanced” tab.
   
7. Look for “Property section”. Once you find it, you will see a label  “Network Address” or "Locally Administered Address". Depending on your operating system, click on this.
   
8. Look on the right side of this window to find a field labeled "Value". In this field type in the New MAC address
9. Open your command prompt (click on Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, and finally Command Prompt) and type in “ipconfig /all” or “net config rdr” to verify the changes.

Steps for Mac OSX Users

1. Open Terminal. You can do this by clicking on Macintosh HD, then Applications, then Utilities, then Terminal.
2. Type in the following command: sudo ifconfig en1 ether x. Replace X with the MAC address that you want to change it to.

Steps for the Users of Most Linux Flavors

1. Login as the root user for the system.
   
2. Enter this command: "# ifconfig eth0 down # ifconfig eth0 hw ether X # ifconfig eth0 up # ifconfig eth0 |grep HWaddr" (replace X with the MAC address that you want to change it too). Then run the command.

Tips

• You will need to test your new MAC address to ensure that the changes have taken effect.
• For some systems you will need to reboot to see the changes take place.
• Never make changes via the command prompt without knowing exactly what you are doing. Do not play with any other commands, or any unfamiliar commands during this process, or you will risk damaging your computer.

Warnings

• Never change a MAC address unless you need to. While this may be suggested for any number of problems, be sure that any less complicated fixes have been tried first.
• Never attempt to change a MAC address unless you know the address that you will be changing to. For many systems this will make the change ineffective, and it can damage some systems.

Reference:

Changing MAC Address