MAC or “Media Access Control” Address is hardware address assigned to network interface devices. So, your laptop, smartphone, WiFi radio, each of them have a separate and fixed MAC address. While connecting your device to a network (e.g., WiFi Hotspot), your MAC address is recorded there. The owner can’t directly identify if it’s your device but he can see it’s MAC address and block it if he finds it annoying.
Normal users can’t directly change it on their will so it works fine. But if you know how to “spoof” or “change” your device’s MAC address then even after blocking your MAC address, you can still connect your device to your desired network by changing your mac address. Not only this, you can enjoy few more benefits as mentioned below –
- You can stay anonymous in a network
- Some networks or (confidential) websites allow only specific range of MAC address devices to connect to them. So, if you know the list or range, you can change your device’s MAC address accordingly to connect to the server.
- You can be tracked using your MAC address. Many technologies tracked users using their MAC address which they received when user tried to connect the device to a public network or WiFi. Concerning this fact, Apple developers have put random MAC address concept to their iOS 8 operating system to prevent users from being tracked without their consent.
- Some public networks which allow Free WiFi put the limitation on each device (actually on their MAC address) to use their network for like 30 minutes. After that, the MAC address automatically gets blocked. So, if you know spoofing of MAC address, you can enjoy free WiFi for an unlimited time by changing MAC address when it’s blocked.
And, Yes! It’s legal. MAC address assigned in a factory and it’s legal to change your device’s MAC address.
So here in this article, we are going to show how to change or spoof MAC address in your Windows Operating System. Although, we are providing this guide through our Windows 10 OS but steps are similar for Windows 8.1, 8 and 7 OS. Scroll down to know how to change MAC address in Windows 10.
List All Network Adapters with their MAC Address
Before changing MAC address of your PC, you first need to check if there are more than one network interface hardware in your device as each of them have different MAC address and you need to change only that using which you connects to a network.
So, open command prompt either by typing “command prompt” or “cmd” at Cortana bar or Windows search bar or by opening RUN dialog box by pressing Win+R and typing “cmd” in there and hit ENTER!
Now in the command prompt window type –
cd\
getmac /v /fo list
Hit ENTER !
It will show all network interface devices available in your device with their Physical Address (MAC Address) :-
Now, you know which network adapter’s MAC Address you intend to change. Lets assume you want to change your WiFi adapter’s MAC Address. As shown on screenshot above, my WiFi network adapter’s name is “Qualcomm Atheros AR956x Wireless Network Adapter”.
So, to change the network adapter’s MAC Address, follow the instructions provided below.
Steps to Spoof MAC Address in Windows 10 PC or Laptop
Step 1:- Right Click on the Start (Windows icon on the bottom left). From the context menu, choose ‘Network Connections’.
Step 2:- On the opened window screen, locate your desired network adapter, right-click on it and go to its properties.
Step 3:- At this WiFi Properties screen, click “Configure” to open your network adapter’s property screen.
Step 4:- Go to “Advanced” Tab. From the list of available options, select “Network address” or Local Administered MAC Address, whichever is available.
Step 5:- Upon selection, you will see a text box saying ‘Value’. This is the place where you need to enter your custom MAC address. Enter six digit alphanumeric code here (without any dashes or colon). For example – enter 0A54EG70HH11 in the value text box if you want so set the network adapter’s MAC Address 0A:54:EG:70:HH:11
Step 6 :- Click OK and close other opened window or dialog box.
And, it’s done!
To verify if you have successfully spoofed your MAC address, you can run command prompt commands mentioned above to check if your network adapter’s MAC address spoofed or not.
