What is MAC (Media Access Control) Address?

It is a sub layer of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) Data Link Layer protocol that gives the rules for resolving contention from multiple transmitters that transmit on a shared transmission medium.

Changing MAC Address in Linux

To change your MAC address in Linux do the following series of commands below.

shell# ifconfig ethN down

shell# ifconfig ethN hw ether new-mac-address

shell# ifconfig ethN up

where N is the interface number e.g eth0, eth1 …

Changing MAC Address in Windows XP/2k(x)

There are many ways to change your MAC Address in windows but i will not discuss it all here, instead i will just point you to the easiest way.

To change your MAC Address in windows simply download a MAC Address changer program which is widely available and free (at least some of them). You can download one from this url .

If you have problems before or after changing your MAC Address, I encourage you to post it here.

Warning: Changing MAC Address of your network interface card will cause network disconnection. It can also cause MAC Address conflict within your network so be very careful. you have been warned.