What Is A Mac Address And How To Find It On Your Device?

In this article, we will comprehensively examine What is a MAC address. Take into account that MAC address stands for Media Access Control Address. It is a unique identifying address that is assigned to a particular device. It directly connects with the wifi router, Bluetooth, or any other medium that uses an ethernet cable.

Mac Address is used for communication between devices within a network. It is a 12-character code that includes both alphabets and numbers. Sometimes, it is also mentioned as a physical address or hardware address. A random example of a MAC address is 2C:54:91:88:C9:E3. Many latest machines also have more than one MAC address which can be challenging to figure out and use. MAC lookup finds the MAC address in the MAC vendor database and tells which manufacturer originally manufactured the device.

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How to Find MAC Addresses on Different Devices?

In this section, we will find out what a MAC address is on different smart devices and how you can find it.

How to find a MAC Address on a Windows Computer?

First of all, you have to turn on your PC and click on the Start Button.
Then go to the control panel and click on Network and Internet.
You must open the Network and Sharing Center and choose the connected network.
Then click on details, and the MAC address will appear under the name of the physical address.

Another way of finding the MAC address on Windows is using the command prompt.

On the home screen, press the “Start” and “R” keys together.
Run Windows tab will appear, there you have to write “cmd” and click “ok”.
The command prompt will open.
You have to write “getmac /v /fo list”.
A list of all the network interfaces will be displayed.
The MAC address will be shown under the heading of physical address.

How to find a MAC Address on a Mac Computer?

Firstly, you have to click on the Apple menu on the home screen.
A list will appear from there, select “System Preferences”.
From the menu, click on “Network,” and all the connected networks will appear.
Select your network and click on “Advance”.
The MAC address will appear in the Hardware tab.

Another way to do this is:

Click on the network on the taskbar.
From the list, choose “Open Network Preferences”.
From there, select your network and press “Advance”.
The MAC address will appear in the Hardware tab.

How to find a MAC Address on a Linux Computer?

Click on the console window.
Write “ipconfig” in the space provided
The MAC address of your device will appear under the heading of HWaddr

How to find a MAC Address on a Chromebook Computer?

Open the home screen of your Chromebook
Click on time at the bottom
From there, click on the network
Then choose the network that you want to open
The MAC address will appear on the screen

How to find a MAC Address on an Android Phone?

There are two types of MAC addresses on Mobile Phones:

Device Mac.
Wifi Mac.

Device Mac.

Turn on your device and open the phone setting.
In the setting, select “About Phone”.
From there, tap on “Status” or “Hardware Information.
There you will find the “Wifi Mac Address”.

Wifi Mac

Open the settings of your phone.
Go to the connections setting.
Select the name of wifi connection.
Open gear and tap on view more.
You will find the MAC address on the screen.

How to find a MAC Address on Apple Devices?

Device Mac

You have to turn on your device and open the device settings.
Then tap on the general settings.
After that, open about section.
The Mac address will appear under the heading of Wifi address.

Wifi Mac

Open the device settings.
Then go to the Wifi setting.
Then tap on (i) next to your connected network.
The Mac address will appear as Wifi Address.

Difference between MAC and IP address

Here is a quick explanation of the difference between IP addresses and MAC addresses:

IP address

Stands for Internet Protocol Address.
Other names are logical address, internet address, and network address.
Identifies the connection of a device on the internet.
Set by the Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Can be changed.
Operates in the network layer.
4 bytes in 32-bits (IPv4) and 16 bytes in 128-bits (IPv6). Check whether your ISP assigned you IPv6 or IPv6 from what is my IP tool.
The address is only numerical.

MAC address

Stands for Media Access Control Address.
Other names are physical address, ethernet address, and hardware address.
It identifies a unique device.
Set by the manufacturers.
Fixed.
Operates in the data link layer.
6 bytes in 48-bits.
The address is alphanumeric.

Conclusion

Now you know what a MAC address is and how to find it. You can also add and remove specific MAC addresses on your router. It will only allow particular devices to access the internet connection. This method is known as MAC filtering. It prevents the intervention of any hacker or outsider. The change in an IP address will not affect the MAC address and device connection.