3 Ways to Change a Computer's Mac Address in Windows

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Easily modify the MAC address for your network card in Windows

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: November 13, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using Technitium

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Using Device Manager

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Editing the Registry

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

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Warnings

There might be a time when you want to change the MAC address of your network adapter. The MAC address (Media Access Control address) is a unique identifier that is used to identify your computer in a network. Changing it can help you diagnose network issues, browse outside a school or your organization's allowed list of sites, or just have a little fun with a silly name. This wikiHow article teaches you how to change a computer's MAC address in Windows 10 and 11.

Things You Should Know

Press "Win + X" to find Device Manager and click it.
Right-click your network adapter and select "Properties > Advanced."
Select "Network Address/Locally Administered Address" and change the value to your other MAC address.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using Technitium

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Go to https://technitium.com/tmac/ and download the software. Using this software, you don't need to edit anything that you might not be comfortable with!
You'll see more details for your network adapter at the bottom of the window.

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3
Enter a new MAC address under the "Change MAC address" field. If you don't see this, make sure the Information tab is active.
- Click "Random MAC address" if you don't know one and the field will fill automatically.
4
Click Change Now!. You'll see this button become interactable once you enter a new MAC address.
- You can easily return to your original MAC address by clicking the Restore Original button.^{[1]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Device Manager

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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.
- To find it easily on newer Windows computers, press Win + X and click "Device Manager".
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.
- If you are not sure which adapter you are using, see Step 1 of the second method to find your device's Description.
The network adapter's Properties window will open.
You'll see this tab along the top of the window.
5
Select the "Network Address" or "Locally Administered Address" entry. The wording will depend on the type of network adapter you have.
- Selecting it will reveal options on the right side of the window.
- Not all adapters can be changed this way. If you can't find either of these entries, you need to use one of the other methods in this article.
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".
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.
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.^{[2]
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Editing the Registry

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1
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).
- 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).
- 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
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.
- Making incorrect changes to the registry can cause your system to malfunction.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Expand it by clicking the arrow.
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.
For example, if the "0001" folder matches your device, right-click on the folder. Select New → String Value. Name the new value "NetworkAddress".
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
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:
- D2XXXXXXXXXX
- D6XXXXXXXXXX
- DAXXXXXXXXXX
- DEXXXXXXXXXX
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.
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.^{[3]
X
Research source}

Community Q&A

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Question

How do I know which MAC addrress can I use and is it safe ? Should I do a system backup ?

Community Answer

There are many MAC addresses in the world, so the chances of having the same one on the same network are slim. Don't worry about it unless you have changed two devices to that MAC address. You don't have to do a backup because it's something that will reset if you delete the entry and then restart your computer.

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Question

If I change this MAC address, will it change the MAC address on my iPad and iPhone?

Allan Cramer

Community Answer

No, the MAC address is unique to each device. I'm not even sure you can change Apple MAC addresses, but if you can, you'll have to do that with each one.

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Question

If I delete the new registry entry I create, will the original Mac address be used again?

Community Answer

No, the Mac address that you set is permanent and you'll have to do a hard reset to get the original address back.

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Tips

You can also have funny address names because hexadecimal numbers use the letters A-F

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Warnings

Don't use a MAC address that is already in use, as this will prevent one of the machines from connecting to the network.

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