How to find the Ethernet Hardware address on a computer.

The Ethernet Hardware address is also referred to as:
- MAC Address (Media Access Control)
- Physical Address
- Hardware Address
- NIC Address

It consists of six sets of two-digit hexadecimal numbers.  These are usually
separated by dashes or colons, but may be separated by spaces.

For example:

  00:0C:12:AB:4F:78

Here's how to find it:

Windows 2000/XP
1) Open up a command prompt (Go to Start - select Run - type "cmd" in the text box).
2) At the prompt type:  ipconfig /all 
3) You'll see a number in the Physical Address field in the format of 00-00-00-00-00-00
4) Thats what we need.

Windows 95/98/ME:
1) Open up WINIPCFG (Go to Start - select Run - type "winipcfg" in the text
box).
2) Select your Ethernet card in the pull-down box.
3) You'll see a number in the Physical Address field in the format of
00-00-00-00-00-00
4) Thats what we need.

Macintosh OS 10.3 - Panther
1) In "System Preferences", select "Network".
2) On show pulldown, select your ethernet adapter.
3) Click on the "Ethernet" tab, look for the "Ethernet ID".
4) That's the number.

Macintosh OS 10-10.2
1) In "System Preferences", select "Network".
2) Select your ethernet adapter.
3) Under "TCP/IP" tab, look for the "Ethernet Address".
4) That's the number.

Macintosh OS9
1) Go to the Control Panel and select "TCP/IP".
2) Select File - More Info or (open apple - I).
3) Find the Ethernet Address.

Linux
1) At the command prompt type:  ifconfig
2) look for something of the form:  HWaddr 00:01:03:DE:9C:BA  




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Last edited:  5/24/2004
Glenn Schiferl