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Is it possible to change my MAC address? If so, how?

8,435 Expert 8TB
Hi all.

A friend wants me to write a VB program for him which will, among other things, change the MAC address on his PC. I thought this was something hard-wired into each network card, but he assures me that I'm living in the past, and it can be overridden on most cards these days. (And no, he's not trying to hack anything, to the best of my knowledge.)

So, can anyone give me any pointers on how I might go about doing so? I'll be working in VB6, but put the question in Techie Talk because it's more of a general question about if/how than about the Vb specifics.

Comments, anyone?

I did do some searching, but the most relevant thing I could find was a thread on TheScripts which pointed to this .Net code on another site (which I won't mention, mostly because I forget what it was) which apparently retrieves the address from each network adapter. It's probably loosely related to what I'm looking for. Posting here just in case it helps narrow things down or generate ideas.

Expand|Select|Wrap|Line Numbers
  1. Use the Management Class object in .NET.
  2.  
  3. ManagementClass oMClass = new ManagementClass ("Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration");
  4.  
  5. ManagementObjectCollection colMObj = oMCLass.GetInstances();
  6.  
  7. foreach(ManagementObject objMO in colMObj)
  8. {
  9. Console.WriteLine(objMO["MacAddress"].ToString());
  10. }
  11.  
Jan 15 '07 #1
15 6495
bartonc
6,596 Expert 4TB
Hi all.

A friend wants me to write a VB program for him which will, among other things, change the MAC address on his PC. I thought this was something hard-wired into each network card
I would have said that if it's not "hard wired" it's at least soft wired in a PROM. But I'd (almost) be willing to bet that it's the former.
Jan 15 '07 #2
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
I would have said that if it's not "hard wired" it's at least soft wired in a PROM. But I'd (almost) be willing to bet that it's the former.
You and me both. But he seems fairly certain of himself, and he does deal with this network stuff quite a bit, albeit at a somewhat "higher" level.
Jan 15 '07 #3
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
In case anyone's interested, I'm at home now with a bit more to search. Google has found me quite a bit of information on changing MAC addresses.

Now if I could just find the time to read it...
Jan 15 '07 #4
r035198x
13,262 8TB
In case anyone's interested, I'm at home now with a bit more to search. Google has found me quite a bit of information on changing MAC addresses.

Now if I could just find the time to read it...
Did you manage to change the MAC?
Jan 16 '07 #5
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
Did you manage to change the MAC?
Actually, I ended up moving on to other things. Will let you know when I get back to this.

In fact, I may not need to. From what little I've had a chance to read so far, I think I may be able to get away with just changing the HTTP headers that I send, or something.

Stay tuned...
Jan 16 '07 #6
drhowarddrfine
7,435 Expert 4TB
The MAC address is a permanent part of each board placed there by the manufacturer to uniquely identify each board. It is possible to use different addresses in a network but I don't know anything about it. Here is a Wikipedia article that talks about it.
Jan 16 '07 #7
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
The MAC address is a permanent part of each board placed there by the manufacturer to uniquely identify each board. It is possible to use different addresses in a network but I don't know anything about it. Here is a Wikipedia article that talks about it.
Thanks for that, Doc.

This part of the project is on the back burner for the moment, but I'll bookmark this for when I get back to it.
Jan 16 '07 #8
Motoma
3,237 Expert 2GB
Often, Windows drivers for network cards (wired and wireless) allow you to override your MAC address. This is usually done by going into the Device Manager, and busting through the Advanced tab until you find something like "Network address" or "MAC Address" with a user-defined field.
I know that you can change your MAC address in Linux using ifconfig.
Be aware, there are certain conventions that come with MAC addresses, assigning an address reserved for wired cards when you have a wireless card could clue network admins to your hijinx. Usually, playing with your MAC address is against the User Agreement for networks.
Jan 18 '07 #9
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
Often, Windows drivers for network cards (wired and wireless) allow you to override your MAC address. This is usually done by going into the Device Manager, and busting through the Advanced tab until you find something like "Network address" or "MAC Address" with a user-defined field.
I know that you can change your MAC address in Linux using ifconfig.
Be aware, there are certain conventions that come with MAC addresses, assigning an address reserved for wired cards when you have a wireless card could clue network admins to your hijinx. Usually, playing with your MAC address is against the User Agreement for networks.
Thanks for the info.

It doesn't matter if the MAC gives anything away - it's his own server he'll be hitting. I think he's doing some stress-testing, or something like that.
Jan 18 '07 #10
Motoma
3,237 Expert 2GB
Thanks for the info.

It doesn't matter if the MAC gives anything away - it's his own server he'll be hitting. I think he's doing some stress-testing, or something like that.
Well, tell your friend good luck, and let me know if you need more specifics.
Jan 18 '07 #11
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
Well, tell your friend good luck, and let me know if you need more specifics.
Will do - thanks.
Jan 18 '07 #12
Atli
5,058 Expert 4TB
Hi

To the best of my knowledge. The MAC address is acctually "hard-coded" into the hardware itself, and you can not change it there.

But I know that the software can "mask" the address so what you send from you is infact not the MAC burned into you device.

How to do that, I haven't a clue :)
Jan 19 '07 #13
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
Hi

To the best of my knowledge. The MAC address is acctually "hard-coded" into the hardware itself, and you can not change it there.

But I know that the software can "mask" the address so what you send from you is infact not the MAC burned into you device.

How to do that, I haven't a clue :)
Me neither, yet. But it will be good enough.
Jan 19 '07 #14
horace1
1,510 Expert 1GB
have you tried macshift or similer
http://devices.natetrue.com/macshift/

also see
http://www.tech-faq.com/change-mac-address.shtml
Jan 20 '07 #15
Killer42
8,435 Expert 8TB
have you tried macshift or similer
http://devices.natetrue.com/macshift/
also see
http://www.tech-faq.com/change-mac-address.shtml
Not yet. Thanks for the info.
Jan 21 '07 #16

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