

When entering the new MAC value, omit the dash (-), for example 8817E890E20A. The MAC address consists of 6 pairs of numbers (0 – 9) and characters (A – F) combination. Change the value by clicking on radio button for Value:, and then type in a new MAC address to assign to the NIC.

To the right, “Not Present” radio button is by default selected as value.In the Property section, select and highlight Network Address or Locally Administered Address.In the General tab, click on the Configure button.Select the network adapter that connects that active network, and select Properties.Īlternatively, if you already know which network adapter that’s responsible for your network or Internet connection, go to Device Manager and open the properties dialog by double click on the NIC itself. In Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Window Server 2008 (R2), Windows Server 2012 (R2), Windows Server 2016 or later, access to NIC’s properties is from Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Manage Network Connections (or Change adapter settings in the left pane). The, right click on the active network connection with network adapter that you want to change the MAC address (normally Local Area Network or Wireless Network Connection) and click on Properties. Double click on Network Connections (inside Network and Internet Connections category in Windows XP). In Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 go to Start -> Control Panel.However, operating system can spoof as if there is different MAC address for the network interface card using tricks below. Actually, the original MAC address is burnt and imprinted to the network card, and cannot be changed. Whatever the reason, it’s pretty easy to change the MAC address or perform MAC spoofing on most of today’s hardware, listed below. MAC spoofing also potentially trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) attack by causing routing problem with duplicating MAC address exists in the network, especially those similar with gateway and AP router’s BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier.) However, changing MAC address can still keep the real information from been detected and logged by various services such as IDS, firewall, DHCP server, wireless access points and etc, and is essential protect user’s privacy. The trick can be used to get pass the network access restriction by emulating a new unrestricted MAC address, or to gain access connection by spoof an authorized MAC address after sniffing the legitimate MAC address out of the air in MAC filtering Wi-Fi network.īeside, hackers or enthusiasts also spoofing another host’s MAC address as their own in order to receive traffic packets not meant for them, although ARP poisoning technique is more commonly used. For example, to bypass the MAC address filtering on firewall or router. There are many reasons or possibilities that an user may want to change the MAC address or a network adapter, which also known as MAC spoofing. MAC address thus forms the basis of most of the layer 2 networking upon which higher OSI Layer protocols are built to produce complex, functioning networks. Content of ARP table on each computer can be viewed by typing arp -a in Windows or arp in Linux.
HOW TO CHANGE MAC ADDRESS IN WINDOWS XP PC
After translated (or when a host on LAN sends its MAC address to another machine which does not configured not to accept unrequested ARP replies on the network for preemptive caching), MAC address is cached on source PC ARP table for later use. In practical usage, layer 2 MAC address is converted from layer 3 protocol addresses such as Internet Protocol (IP address) by ARP (Address Resolution Protocol), which then allowed each host to be uniquely identified and frames to be marked for specific hosts on broadcast networks, such as Ethernet. In operating system, MAC address is often represented in 12-digit hexadecimal number. As such, all network cards, whether it’s of Ethernet NIC, Gigabit Ethernet NIC or wireless 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi or HiperLAN adapter, should have different MAC addresses, which also known as Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA) or adapter address. MAC address (Media Access Control address) is a quasi-unique identifier consists of a six byte number that attached to most network adapter card or network interface card (NIC).
