Asked By
anonymous
7060 points
N/A
Posted on - 10/19/2011
The IP address of a computer may change from time to time. By doing so will it's MAC address remain the same or will it also change?
How do we ensure no duplication of MAC addresses?
Changing the IP address will change the MAC address?
Hi Sarah Shahbaz,
As you said, IP address changes time to time while the MAC Address is the same all the time. Well. Somehow, it's truly said, I will be answering your question to make it more clear to you that what MAC address is and if it can be changed or not? I will answer, with a little bit addition to your words, that a MAC address can or cannot be changed!
You have not mentioned the current operating system, so I will be answering the question by considering XP/VISTA and 7 (most widely used operating systems)
Here is how,
In windows XP/Vista Environment:
In Windows XP the MAC address is stored in a registry key. You can modify that registry key to change the MAC address. As it is not legal in some countries or organizations to change the MAC address without proper permissions, so you are recommended to do it under safe hands *(this guide is just for educational purposes only)*.
*You are recommended to backup your registry before modifying any registry key, so that in case something goes wrong then you can use your backup of registry to regain the previous state*
Following windows registry key stores the information of the MAC address stored by the network adapter.
Start>Run>regedit>Enter
[ ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlClass{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}’. ]
Some network adapters allow exclusively to change the MAC address in the advanced tab in the network adapter’s properties menu. ( usually called network address)
For being more secure you can use this tool to freely change the MAC address of your NIC card. Macshift
In Windows 7 Environment:
In Windows 7 you need to right click on “Computer” and click on “properties” and go to the “Device Manager” and select the “Network Adapter” and by right clicking on it select “properties”. In the next dialogue box go to the “advanced” tab and select “Network Address”. And there you can put any Mac address you want to assign to your “network adapter”.
Hope you found your answers.
Changing the IP address will change the MAC address?
MAC Addresses can't be cloned, not unless this is caused by manufacturer's error. MAC Address is like a serial number of a device, this identifies that the unit is unique and is different from other devices.
This can be compared to a human's finger print. We may have the same face, feature, looks, color and many more but the finger print will always be different.
Computer also has this feature in the form of MAC Address identifier. This identifies the product that it belongs to them and is unique from everyone else. This will let them identify that the product is genuine and not copied.
MAC address also can't be changed on your computer not unless, you replace the motherboard and network adapters. Once changed, the MAC address will be different because you will be using a new network adapter.
Answered By
lee hung
75 points
N/A
#81127
Changing the IP address will change the MAC address?
Hi Sarah,
MAC addresses for computers do not change, they are fixed or static. They are allocated for computers when they are manufactured and each computer that exists has a unique MAC address, which is not used by any other computer. There are no two computers that can be sharing a MAC address. So when you change your IP address, the MAC address is not affected at all.
An IP address is required when you have to connect your computer to a certain network, and for the purposes of connecting to the Internet while MAC addresses are used to uniquely identify each and every computer that is manufactured.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Lee Hung.
