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How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows

Method 1 of 2:

Using the Device Manager

  1. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 1
    Open the Device Manager. You can access the Device Manager from the Control Panel. It will be located in the System and Security section if you are using Category View.
  2. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 2
    Expand the Network Adapters section. In your Device Manager, you will see a list of all of the hardware installed on your computer. These are sorted into categories. Expand the Network Adapters section to see all of your installed network adapters.
    1. If you are not sure which adapter you are using, see Step 1 of the second method to find your device's Description.
  3. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 3
    Right-click on your adapter. Select Properties from the menu to open the network adapter's Properties window.
  4. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 4
    Click the Advanced tab. Look for the "Network Address" or "Locally Administered Address" entry. Highlight it and you will see a "Value" field on the right. Click the radio button to enable the "Value" field.
    1. Not all adapters can be changed this way. If you can't find either of these entries, you will need to use one of the other methods in this article.
  5. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 5
    Enter your new MAC address. MAC addresses are 12-digit values, and should be entered without any dashes or colons. For example, if you want to make the MAC address "2A:1B:4C:3D:6E:5F", you would enter "2A1B4C3D6E5F".
  6. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 6
    Reboot your computer to enable the changes. You can also disable and re-enable your adapter within Windows for the change to become effective without rebooting. Just sliding the Wi-Fi's On/Off switch like the slider found on ThinkPads and VaiOs won't satisfactorily disable/re-enable the card.
  7. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 7
    Check that the changes took effect. Once you've rebooted the computer, open the Command Prompt and enter ipconfig /all and note the Physical Address of your adapter. It should be your new MAC address.
Method 2 of 2:

Using the Registry Editor

  1. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 8
    Find your network adapter's ID information. In order to easily identify your network adapter in the Windows Registry, you'll want to gather some basic information about it through the Command Prompt. You can open the Command Prompt by typing "cmd" into the Run box (Windows key + R).
    1. Type ipconfig /all and press Enter. Note the Description and Physical Address for the active network device. Ignore devices that aren't active (Media Disconnected).
    2. Type net config rdr and press Enter. Note the GUID, which is displayed between the "{}" brackets next to the Physical Address you recorded earlier.
  2. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 9
    Open the Registry Editor. You can start the Registry Editor by opening the Run dialog box (Windows key + R) and typing "regedit". This will open the Registry Editor, which will allow you to change the settings for your network card.
    1. Making incorrect changes to the registry can cause your system to malfunction.
  3. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 10
    Navigate to the registry key. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlClass{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Expand it by clicking the arrow.
  4. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 11
    Find your adapter. There will be several folders labeled "0000", "0001", etc. Open each of these and compare the DriverDesc field to the Description you noted in the first step. To be completely sure, check the NetCfgInstanceID field and match it with the GUID from the first step.
  5. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 12
    Right-click on the folder that matches your device. For example, if the "0001" folder matches your device, right-click on the folder. Select New → String Value. Name the new value "NetworkAddress".
  6. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 13
    Double-click the new Network Address entry. In the "Value data" field, enter your new MAC address. MAC addresses are 12-digit values, and should be entered without any dashes or colons. For example, if you want to make the MAC address "2A:1B:4C:3D:6E:5F", you would enter "2A1B4C3D6E5F"..
  7. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 14
    Ensure that the MAC address is formatted properly. Some adapters (especially Wi-Fi cards) are unforgiving of MAC addresses changes if the first octet's 2nd half isn't a 2,6,A,E or begins with a zero. This requirement has been observed as far back as Windows XP and is formatted as:
    1. D2XXXXXXXXXX
    2. D6XXXXXXXXXX
    3. DAXXXXXXXXXX
    4. DEXXXXXXXXXX
  8. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 15
    Reboot your computer to enable the changes. You can also disable and re-enable your adapter within Windows for the change to become effective without rebooting. Just sliding the Wi-Fi's On/Off switch like the slider found on ThinkPads and VaiOs won't satisfactorily disable/re-enable the card.
  9. How to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows Picture 16
    Check that the changes took effect. Once you've rebooted the computer, open the Command Prompt and enter ipconfig /all and note the Physical Address of your adapter. It should be your new MAC address.[1]
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