How to check MAC address on Linux

You don't know how to find and get the MAC address on your computer? So let's continue reading TipsMake's article below to learn more details.

How to check MAC address on Linux

Method 1: Use the "ifconfig" command

The simplest way to find and check the MAC address on Linux is to run the ifconfig command plus the "-a " option in the Terminal window. The MAC address shows up in the ether section as shown in the image below.

How to check MAC address on Linux Picture 1

Also on the same window, you can find other information including:

- General information about the network card: running on unicast or multicast and MTU.

- Layer 2 information: MAC address as well as the layer 2 protocol used by the network card (in this case Ethernet).

- Layer 3 information: includes IP address information (IPv4 and IPv6 addresses), default gateway IP address and subnet mask.

- RX and TX packages: RX and TX are the names of the cable being used.

Note: In case you are using a virtual machine or VPS (virtual server), the MAC address you receive is the virtual address, not the service provider's.

Method 2: Use the "ip" command to find the MAC address on Linux

Another way to find the MAC address on Linux is to use the "ip" command. This command is mainly used to find the computer IP address.

To get and check your computer's MAC address, open Terminal and run the command below:

$ ip addr show

The above command will list all available network interfaces on your current server.

Method 3: Find MAC address on Linux by navigating the filesystem

On Linux, some information and data are stored directly in plain text files that users can access and view, including MAC addresses.

To find the MAC address on Linux, all you need to do is navigate to the path: "/sys/class/net ", here find the network interface card you are interested in.

How to check MAC address on Linux Picture 2

The next step is to open the "address" file in this symbolic link:

$ cat /sys/class/net/eth0/address

How to check MAC address on Linux Picture 3

Now you can see your Linux computer's MAC address.

Also, if you don't know how to check the MAC address of a Windows 7/8/10 and Mac OS X computer, you can watch the tutorial here to check.

Above TipsMake has just shown you 3 ways to find and check MAC address on Linux. In addition, readers can refer to some articles already on TipsMake to learn more about how to find IP address and Mac address on Mac OS X.

Lesley Montoya

Update 17 June 2024

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