How to change your PC's MAC address
In this post, we will see what is MAC Address and how to change a MAC Address in Windows10.
Each network interface card, called NIC for short, has a MAC address like a postal address so that the data packets travelling on your network can reach the correct NIC and from your computer's. While the IP address is the software part of the NIC, the MAC address is hardware one. Without it, data packets will just keep on roaming on the network, as they do not have any address where to deliver the data. Each data packet on the network has a header containing MAC address of the computer you want to connect to. The last part of the data packet will contain a bit ascertain if the data bit was correctly delivered or was it corrupted or changed during the transmission.
How can I display MAC address of mine?
MAC addresses do not appear when you click on Open Network Adaptors in the Windows System Tray. Unlike IP addresses, that are provided by your ISP or network admins. MAC addresses are assigned by the manufacturers of network interface cards. These MAC addresses are built into the cards and are resolved using a method called Address Resolution Protocol. This Address Resolution Protocol first obtains the IP address of the computer to be contacted and then resolves it into the MAC address before embedding it into header of the data packets so that they are delivered exactly to the computer intended and not to any other computer in the network.
Be Careful
MAC addresses are especially useful when it comes to protecting your network from unwanted connections. All you have to do is to authorise only the MAC addresses that you wish to connect to the Internet or the network. This you can do it easily using third party programs. You can also filter MAC addresses manually by going to your router page and entering the MAC addresses that are allowed to interact with the router.
What does a MAC address exactly mean?
A MAC address (Media Access Control address) is a unique identifier assigned to every Network Interface Card. It's like IMEI numbers of mobile phones. While most of us believe that it is the IP address that is significant in contacting another computer on the network, MAC is more important than IP (Internet Protocol) address.
Each network interface card, called NIC for short, has a MAC address like a postal address so that the data packets travelling on your network can reach the correct NIC and from your computer's. While the IP address is the software part of the NIC, the MAC address is hardware one. Without it, data packets will just keep on roaming on the network, as they do not have any address where to deliver the data. Each data packet on the network has a header containing MAC address of the computer you want to connect to. The last part of the data packet will contain a bit ascertain if the data bit was correctly delivered or was it corrupted or changed during the transmission.
Should I change my MAC address?
Whether you are using wired network or wireless , you need a network card to connect to other computers and to allow other computers to your computer.If a system's administrator restricted some MAC adresses' Internet accesses to the network, users of the same system would be stimulated to change their MAC addresses, which could be a justifiable reason.How can I display MAC address of mine?
MAC addresses do not appear when you click on Open Network Adaptors in the Windows System Tray. Unlike IP addresses, that are provided by your ISP or network admins. MAC addresses are assigned by the manufacturers of network interface cards. These MAC addresses are built into the cards and are resolved using a method called Address Resolution Protocol. This Address Resolution Protocol first obtains the IP address of the computer to be contacted and then resolves it into the MAC address before embedding it into header of the data packets so that they are delivered exactly to the computer intended and not to any other computer in the network.
- You have to go to the command line.
- Type getmac /v /fo list and press enter key. The output for each of your NIC adaptor (network adaptors, wired or wireless) will be displayed.
How can I change my MAC address in Windows?
Changing the MAC address on networks sometimes fail to appear on the network. But if you want to change the MAC address for some reasons, it is an easy process without using any tools.- Press Windows key + break or pause key to open System Properties window. If the pause key is combined with the shift key, you may need to press Win+Fn+pause key.
- Click on Device Manager to the left side of the System window.
- Once the Device Manager dialog appears, look for the category named Network Adaptors.
- Click on the plus sign previous Network Adaptors to see all the Network cards attached to your computer.
- Select the network adaptor whose MAC address you wish to change.
- Right click on the network adaptor and select Properties.
- Click on the Advanced tab.
- In the list of available options, select Locally Administered MAC address or Network Address, notice that only one of the two options will appear based on the type of your network adaptor.
- When you select one of the above options, you will get a text box saying Value.
- Type a six digit alphanumeric code in the Value field after selecting the radio button; note that you do not have to type the dashes or full colon.For example,if you want to type 00:4f:gH:HH:88:80, you simply type 004fgHHH8880 without any dashes or full colons, because adding dashes may result in error.
- Click enter to close the dialog box.
- Close other open dialog boxes (if any) and close the Device Manager.
- If you want to revert to the original MAC address, just follow the above steps and instead of inputting a value, select the radio button that says “Not Present” or “No Value“. That will get you back your original MAC address.
Be Careful
MAC addresses are especially useful when it comes to protecting your network from unwanted connections. All you have to do is to authorise only the MAC addresses that you wish to connect to the Internet or the network. This you can do it easily using third party programs. You can also filter MAC addresses manually by going to your router page and entering the MAC addresses that are allowed to interact with the router.
Comments
Post a Comment