Identifying MAC Addresses

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lockIdentifying MAC Addresses

How to find your Network MAC address for: Windows | Macs

A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a unique numeric identifier used to distinguish a device from others on a network. The address is assigned by the manufacturer, for Ethernet and Wi-Fi cards. Your device therefore is likely to have two MAC addresses.

How to find your Network MAC address on a Windows machine/device

Get your computer's Wired or Wireless MAC address from the Command Prompt Screen:

1. Select the Start button.
2. Type command in the search box (Start->Run for Windows XP) and press Enter.
3. At the Command Prompt, type ipconfig /all Note: Be sure to put a space between ipconfig and /all!
4. Press Enter to list the connection information for your wired and/or wireless connections.
5. To find the Physical Address for your connection:

  • The wired physical address will be listed under Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection
  • The wireless physical address will be listed under Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection

6. Write down or copy/paste the addresses for future reference.

cmd

submenuCopy this information from the command prompt screen into a notepad document:

1. Right-click anywhere in the command prompt window and choose Select All.
2. Press Enter to copy the text from the Command Prompt screen.
3. Open up Notepad (Start->All Programs->Accessories->Notepad).
4. Right-click and choose Paste to put the information into the document.
5. Save and Print the document and keep it with your important papers.

 

How to find your Network MAC Address on OSX

To get your computer's Wired or Wireless MAC address from the Terminal Screen:

1. Locate and open Terminal from Applications->Utilities->Terminal.
2. At the Terminal Prompt, type ifconfig and press Enter. This will list all of your network settings, including the physical addresses of your wired and wireless hardware.
3. To find the Physical Address for your connection:

  • The wired physical address will be listed under en0
  • The wireless physical address will be listed under en1

4. Write down or copy/paste the addresses into a document for future reference. You can also directly print it by going to Shell->Print. Keep this document with your important papers.

Mac