Change Mac Address Macbook Apps

The MAC (media access controller) address is a unique identification number for your computer’s networking hardware. Generally, it just works, but sometimes you need to change it. Apple and Microsoft don’t make it easy to change your MAC address, but it is possible.

Mar 24, 2017  MAC address, or the Media Access Control address is a unique address assigned to the network interface of a device. On your Android smartphone, or tablet, network cards such as those for WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. Will have unique MAC addresses assigned to them. These addresses are used to uniquely identify devices on a network. The local hostname, or local network name, is displayed beneath the computer’s name at the top of the Sharing preferences pane. It identifies your Mac to Bonjour-compatible services. The local hostname is your computer’s name with.local added, and any spaces are replaced with hyphens. For example, if your computer’s name is My Computer, your local hostname is My-Computer.local. In the Information tab, find the Change MAC Address frame. Enter new MAC address in the field and click Change Now! You may even click Random MAC Address button to fill up a randomly selected MAC address from the vendor list available. To restore the original MAC address of the network adapter, select the adapter, click Restore Original. Feb 18, 2014  The other for my iTunes/Mac App Store content. It's not difficult. Just because the user name is a defunct mac.com email address doesn't mean that you can't update the primary email associated with the Apple ID to a functioning email address. The one for my Apple accounts is a gmail address and the one for my iTunes/MAS account is a hotmail.

Why Would You Want to Change it?

This setting doesn’t give you any speed or performance benefit. It’s like the phone number of your hardware. If you change it to an existing number, you’ll confuse your network.

The most common reason for changing your MAC address is some other device is locked to an old address. Your router or another piece of hardware might only accept or give out connections to a particular MAC address. I ran into this problem once connecting to my office computer. The IT help desk was closed, but I needed to connect to the network with a different laptop. Once I changed my new laptop to my old laptop’s MAC address I got into the network.

Another reason to change your MAC address is for wifi networks that limit the time or number of connections. You shouldn’t use this to bypass time restrictions on a network, but you can transfer your connection time to another MAC address. For example, you might sign up for a few hours of Wi-Fi on your tablet. Then want to use your laptop on the network. Instead of paying for another connection, changing your laptop’s MAC to the MAC address of your tablet might get you out of paying for an extra connection.

Be Ethical: Don’t use this to circumvent security or cheat.

Finally, someone can track you through your MAC address. You might want to change it each time you connect to a network or just use a random address.

How to Find a MAC Address On a PC

If you’re on a PC, the easiest way is through the command prompt. Type

ipconfig /all

Change Mac Address On Mac

and you’ll see all your network interfaces and the physical address. That’s the MAC address.

You can also find it by going to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections. Then right-click on the network adapter and pick Status > Details. Again, the physical address is the MAC address.

PC Command Prompt Tips: Here’s a list of cool command prompt tips. You can even install apps from the command prompt.

How to Find a MAC Address On a Mac

If you’re on a wireless network, hold down the

Select the interface you’re checking, then go to

You can also type

ifconfig

in terminal, and that will tell you the MAC address of all your interfaces.

Cool wireless Mac tools:

Change Mac Address On Mac

That option key is just one of many hidden Mac wireless features.

The Easy Way to Change This on a Mac

The best program I’ve found for this on the Mac is WifiSpoof. It’s $9.99, but they offer a free 2-week trial. It not only makes it easy to change the address but runs as a menu bar icon if you want. It can randomize the MAC address each time it’s run. If you’re concerned about tracking, this is the app for you.

If all you want is a simple way to change the address, Mac MACSpoof does this for a $4.99 optional purchase. The interface isn’t as slick and the app requires an additional “helper” app to install.

The Easy Way to Change This on a PC

Just like on a Mac, a third-party software makes this easy for a PC. For example, Technitium MAC Address Changer is a free program that does this for you.

Mac osx sharing apps between users. It is not intended for sharing files between machines – and people – on a network, as there are better mechanisms and methods for that type of activity.I am constantly exploiting the Shared Folder, finding it enormously useful in my work.

What I like about this app is it lets you pick a random MAC address if all you’re interested in is changing the address for testing purposes. It also enables you to know which addresses are active.

NoVirusThanks’s MAC Address Changer is another free program. It has fewer options, but it is easier to use than Technitium’s version.

Windows 10 users: Your computer’s hardware might support automatic MAC randomization.

The Direct Way to Change This on a Mac

If you feel comfortable in the OS X terminal type the command

sudo ifconfig en0 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

Replacing the XX with the number of the new MAC address.

The Direct Way to Change This on a PC

Similar to the direct way on a Mac, this way works without third-party software. Head on over to Device Manager. Then click the disclosure triangle and find the adapter you want to change. Again remember, each type of adapter uses a unique MAC address.

Change mac address on macbook

After you find your adapter, click

Remember to Change It Back

Whichever option you choose, don’t forget to change the MAC address back when you’re done. If you don’t, you might have problems on other networks. If your goal is to use a random address, you might have trouble if someone is already using that MAC address.

ALSO SEE:How to Prevent a Mac From Connecting to the Wrong Wireless Network


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Find Mac Address On Macbook

Technitium MAC Address Changer allows you to change (spoof) Media Access Control (MAC) Address of your Network Interface Card (NIC) instantly. It has a very simple user interface and provides ample information regarding each NIC in the machine. Every NIC has a MAC address hard coded in its circuit by the manufacturer. This hard coded MAC address is used by windows drivers to access Ethernet Network (LAN). This tool can set a new MAC address to your NIC, bypassing the original hard coded MAC address. Technitium MAC Address Changer is a must tool in every security professionals tool box.

Features

  • Works on Windows 10, 8 & 7 for both 32-bit and 64-bit.
  • Enhanced network configuration presets with IPv6 support allow you to quickly switch between network configurations.
  • Allows complete configuration of any network adapter.
  • Command line options with entire software functionality available. You can select a preset from specified preset file to apply directly.
  • Update network card vendors list feature allows you to download latest vendor data (OUI) from IEEE.org.

How Does It Work?

This software just writes a value into the windows registry. When the Network Adapter Device is enabled, windows searches for the registry value 'NetworkAddress' in the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1- 08002bE10318}[ID of NIC e.g. 0001]. If a value is present, windows will use it as MAC address, if not, windows will use the hard coded manufacturer provided MAC address. Some Network Adapter drivers have this facility built-in. It can be found in the Advance settings tab in the Network Adapter's Device properties in Windows Device Manager.

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How To Change MAC Address

  1. Starting MAC address changer will list all available network adapters.
  2. Select the adapter you want to change the MAC address. You will get the details of your selection below.
  3. In the Information tab, find the Change MAC Address frame. Enter new MAC address in the field and click Change Now! button. You may even click Random MAC Address button to fill up a randomly selected MAC address from the vendor list available.
  4. To restore the original MAC address of the network adapter, select the adapter, click Restore Original button in the Change MAC Address frame.

NOTE: This tool cannot change MAC address of Microsoft Network Bridge. Network Bridge will automatically use the original MAC address of the first NIC added into bridge with the first octet of MAC address set to 0x02.

Help Topics

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Read this blog post for more details on issues with wireless networks and workaround.