Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Windows Vista: Finding Your MAC Address

Every Ethernet network adapter has a unique MAC address associated with it. The MAC address is a long series of numbers (i.e.: XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX) that is used to identify your adapter on a network. The first half of the MAC address identifies the hardware vendor that created it the adapter, the second part is a unique address.

Sometimes you might need to know what the MAC address of your network adapter. To get this information follow the instructions below:
  • From the Start menu, select Control Panels.
  • Find the 'Network and Sharing Center', and open it.
  • Click the 'Manage network connections' on the left.
  • Find your 'Local Area Connection' (wired) or 'Wireless Network Connection'. Double-click it, and press the Details... button.
  • In the dialog that opens, look for a field called 'Physical Address'. This is the MAC address (i.e.: XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX).
It is worth noting that there is a lot of great information in this dialog not just the MAC address (i.e.: IP address, DNS, subnet mask, etc.) .

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