How to Change MAC Address of A Computer

Why to Change MAC Address?

Sometimes, it becomes necessary to change the physical address of the computer whether it is due to the privacy point of view or to resolve the internet connectivity issues i.e. ISP (Internet Service Provider) issues an IP it may be a static or dynamic. Internet subscriptions are allowed for a static IP address in most of the cases. Therefore, ISP monitors and keeps the track record of the MAC address for all the connected devices. If customer replaces the PC or network adapters then its new MAC address does not match with the registered address; so ISP instantly blocks all internet services.

Physical Address:

MAC address which is the abbreviation of Medium Access Control is also known as Physical address. It is a unique tag given to each LAN card by the manufacturers for the identification purposes. If you have experienced to use a mobile phone then you can easily understand the concept of MAC address. Just like the unique IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number for the cell phones there is MAC address for network cards.

Cloning:

MAC address cannot be changed; it is a combination of 12 alphabets and numeric values which are fixed and serves combined as a permanent identity for the hardware. However, we can emulate any MAC address in software. This technique is called cloning.

There are two useful methods which depend on the type of your LAN card. If your LAN card supports Clone MAC address then use the first method otherwise try the second one.

Method 1
For Network Cards Supporting Cloning

1. Right click at the Computer and chose Manage from the menu.
2. At the left side, click at the Device Manager under the System Tools. All the devices attached to the computer would be displayed.
   

    3.  Expand the Network Adapters and double click to open it.

    4.  Open the Advanced next to the General tab.

    5.  Click at the Network Address and enter the new MAC address.

Note:

• Value for MAC address should not exceed up to the 12 alphanumeric values.
• Check your network configurations to see its effect by typing ipconfig /all in the command prompt.
• Reboot your computer if change does not occur.

Method 2 

For Network Cards Not Supporting Cloning

You need to have backup of your registry entries and must know sufficient use of Windows Registry before the implementation. If your answer is in negation then do not worry, you still go through by using SMAC which is developed for spoofing (In this case do not implement following six steps and read the Note written in the end).

1-    Click Start Menu | RUN and type cmd to open command prompt.

2-     Type ipconfig /all and note the Description and Physical Address in a Notepad file.

3-     Type net config rdr and also note the long number trailed by the NetBT_Tcpip_{number-to-note}

4-    Click at Start Menu | RUN and type regedit to begin the registry editing.

5-    Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | SYSTEM | CurrentControlSet | Control | Class | {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. You will see the directories comprising the name of 4 digits starting with 0000 and so on.

6-     Observe each directory starting from 0000, 0001, … for the keyword:

a.    DriverDesc on the right, to check whether it is the network adapter you want to change MAC address. It should match with the Description you have noted in Step 2-

OR

b.    NetCfgInstanceID also on the right, to verify whether it is the same long number which you previously noted in Step 3-

Repeat this process until you find the required directory. In this figure 0004 is selected.

7-     Now, make sure that the keyword NetworkAddress exists in the right side of the window of type REG_SZ. Double click at this keyword and insert the desired MAC address in the Value field of opened String Editor.

Note: 
Mostly, MAC address does not active immediately. So, follow these steps:

• Open Control Panel | Network Connections and Disable the network adapted you just changed the MAC address. 
• After some moments make it Enable. 
• Now, your DHCP server will detect your new MAC address and issue the new IP. 
• Check your new IP by typing ipconfig /all in the command prompt. 
• Reboot your computer after finishing these steps.