How To Modify MAC address in Windows 10 (Both Wired and Wireless Adapter)?

Last Updated : 31 Jul, 2022

Prerequisite – Introduction of MAC Address, and Difference between MAC Address and IP Address

A Media Access Control address is unique in nature which is doled out to a Network Interface Card to be utilized as a network address in communications within a network. In the Open Systems Interconnection network model, these addresses are utilized under the data link layer. Network nodes with multiple network interfaces, like routers and multi-layer switches, should have a single MAC address for every NIC. MAC addresses are regularly utilized for different purposes:

Static IP Assignment: Routers permit you to allot static IP to your PCs.
MAC Address Filtering: Networks can utilize this option, just permitting gadgets with explicit MAC address to have an interface with a system.
MAC Authentication: Some Internet specialist co-ops may require validation with a MAC address and just permit a gadget with that MAC address to associate with the Internet.
Device Identification: Many air terminal Wi-Fi systems and other open Wi-Fi systems utilize a gadget’s MAC address to recognize it.
Device Tracking: Because they’re distinctive in nature, MAC can be utilized to follow you.

Note: Use the following steps for ethical purposes only.

EASY METHOD:

Step 1: Right-Click on the Windows Start button which is located on the bottom-left corner of your screen.

Step 2: Select the Device Manager option.

Now, foremost we are going to change the Ethernet(Wired Medium) adapter’s MAC address.

Step 3: Click on Network adapters.

Step 4: Right-Click the Network Adapter(in this case the Ethernet NIC which is ”Realtek PCIe Gbe Family Controller”) you want to change and then, select the Properties option.

Step 5: Go through the Advanced Tab and then, select the Locally Administered Address(Network Address).

Step 6: Specify the new MAC address and then, Click OK. If the MAC address change fails try setting the second character to 2 or 6 or A or E(Make sure to enter exactly 12 digits in the empty field of value).

Step 7.0: Use a command prompt command to verify the MAC address change.

Step 7.1: Use the following command in order to verify that the MAC address has been changed or not:

getmac

Now, we can see that the desired NIC’s MAC Address has been changed.

TRICKY METHOD:

Step 1: Open a command prompt by typing ‘cmd’ in the search bar and clicking on open.

Step 2: Type in the following command in order to find the MAC address and transport name:

getmac

Step 3: Click Device Manager.

Now secondly, we are going to change the wireless medium network adapter’s MAC address.

Step 4: Right-click on Network adapters, and select Properties option.(Here, in this case, the NIC is “Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHZ”.)

Step 5: Now, we can go to the Advanced Tab, and then we can change the MAC address as earlier.

But, here, in the case of this NIC, we don’t have any option of network address as in the earlier case, so we have to follow the Value Changing Process in the Registry of Windows 10.

This is the hard method and this uses the Windows Registry, so we have to be careful while making the required changes.

Step 1: Firstly, go to open a command prompt shell, and then type “getmac” in order to see the Transport Address as well as MAC Address.

Step 2: Now, in order to know what is the Wireless NIC’s MAC address, we can navigate to the Network & Internet Settings, and then right-click on the Wifi option, from there select the properties option which will show you the required details.

Step 3: Now, firstly click on the Start button and type “Registry Editor” and open it.

Step 4.0: Now, we have to navigate into a specific folder which is:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/Class/{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

Step 4.1: Firstly, in order to get into the correct folder, we can easily direct to the Class directory and from there on we can follow the next steps:

Step 4.2: Right-click on the class folder and select the find option, and then copy the first part of the transport name which is mention in the Wireless Network MAC address row against the physical address.

Step 4.3: Now, paste the highlighted text into the empty search bar in a previously selected find option:

Step 4.4: Now, click on the “Find Next” button, and then you will be redirected to the required folder and the sub-directory automatically.

Step 4.5: Verify that the “NetCfgInstanceId” (this will be shown on the right-hand side on the window) is the same as the value shown in the “getmac” command.

Step 5: Now, Right-click on the white-space on the right-hand side of the window opened and choose to create a string value with the name NetworkAddress.

Step 6: Right Click on the NetworkAddress string created and then select the Modify option and then, specify your MAC address.

Note: If the MAC address change fails try setting the second character to 2 or 6 or A or E.

Step 7: Now, the MAC address has been changed so, in order to verify the changes we have to Wireless Network Adapter option in Control Panel and Disable it by right-clicking on it, then after few seconds we will double click on the same icon in order to re-enable the Wireless NIC.