MAC Address

ghalen · 06-25-2003, 12:07 AM

Where can I go to change the MAC Address of my network card under Mandrake 9.1? Is it even possible? The system it's on dual boots to Windows XP, and I can do it there.

sky260 · 06-25-2003, 12:13 AM

Hello,

I thought that the MAC address couldn't be changed, as it contains the ID of the manufacturer and the ID of the card.

How did you manage to do it in Windows ?

ghalen · 06-25-2003, 12:15 AM

Most of the time this is true, but I found a F=MA card that allows you to do so under Windows XP, or 2000. I assume I can also do this under Linux.

Rick422 · 06-25-2003, 02:00 AM

As far as I know, the MAC addresses is hard coded into the the NIC by the manufacturer and usually can not be changed. Why anyone would want to anyway? Normally only a layer 3 IP address is changed and the layer 2 MAC address stays the same.

ghalen · 06-29-2003, 01:13 AM

I'm using a F=MA lap-32 pcmcia network card. Under the properties window I can change the mac address of the card when using Windows XP, or 2000. I'm a service tech for an ISP. I won't go into the details of why, but I will say it's quit usefull.

xcon · 07-06-2003, 02:25 AM

problem: non-usb cable modem, unlike matching usb enabled version, has no MAC in it. it reports to cable company whatever MAC from the NIC it's hooked to. if you hook up a different NIC or try to use a different machine, it doesn't get on the net. USB version has the MAC because the USB part is an integrated ethernet adapter.

A D-Link router and probably others can 'clone' the MAC that it finds behind it, to make such a modem think it's still connected to the same thing and thus the cable co still identifies you.

in WinXP i punched in the MAC from the stupid inline USB adapter they gave with the modem, and it gets right on. In linux it's not happening. That's why it's important, because USB ethernet sucks.

btw, we don't want to alter the card to rewrite its MAC, we only want the OS to act as if its MAC is not what it is ---such as when dhcpcd requests an IP, providing the MAC for the iface is how they know you from someone who's been disconnected. I'll keep looking...

xcon · 07-06-2003, 02:44 AM

i got it

http://www.voy.com/41165/1/2324.html

RH instructions are at that link...
ifconfig can set it, we Slackers will be patching rc.inet1

update: verified it works, added this to rc.inet1, right after first "if" block in eth0 section, immediately before /sbin/dhcpcd command:

Code:

ifconfig eth0 hw ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX    # desired MAC

comes right up.