How to Change Your MAC Address on Linux – Guide
To change your device’s MAC address, you need to use the Linux command line. To do this, you will need to know the device’s MAC address. The MAC address is a unique identifier for a computer.
If you want to be able to receive data packets that were originally intended for another device on your network, you can change your system’s MAC address. This process is known as MAC spoofing. ..
There are a number of ways to change your MAC address on Linux, but finding a reliable and stable utility can be tricky. ..
Linux can spoof your MAC address, which can prevent you from connecting to the internet. To do this, you need to know how to spoof your MAC address.
What is a MAC address?
A MAC address is a unique hexadecimal identifier used to identify a device on a network. It is also known as the “physical address” of a machine as it is built into the Network Interface Card (NIC) of the device.
This is what a MAC address looks like:
From: BC 7d: 45: df
Each device has a unique MAC address during its manufacturing process. This is because MAC addresses are used to uniquely identify millions of devices connected to the Internet. ..
In the OSI network model, MAC addresses are used to send data to the correct device at the Data Link layer.
To change your MAC address on Linux, you will need to use the command line. To do this, you will need to type the following command: sudo nano /etc/macaddr Once you have opened the nano editor, type in the following code: #MACADDRESS=8:8:00:00:00:00 Now press CTRL+X to exit the nano editor and save your changes.
There are several reasons why you might want to change your device’s MAC address. Maybe you want to bypass security restrictions on a network, or maybe you want to mimic another device on the network to capture packets. ..
Linux tools can help you spoof your MAC address. ..
Using macchanger
If you’re having trouble connecting to your network, or if you just want to change your device’s default MAC address, Macchanger is the tool for you. It’s a terminal-based utility that makes the process easy and straightforward. ..
- Open a terminal window and type the following command: sudo apt-get install python-pip
- Next, type the following command to install pip: sudo pip install wheel
- Finally, type the following command to create a new Python project: sudo python -m venv myproject ..
sudo macchanger
Fedora, CentOS, or other RHEL-based distros offer a wide range of software options and features to choose from when building a computer. These distros are popular for users who want to stay up-to-date with the latest technology and software developments.
sudo dnf install macchanger -y
Installing Macchanger on a CentOS system is simple. ..
- Open a terminal and type “sudo pacman -S macchanger” to install the macchanger package.
- To change your Mac’s name, open the macchanger application and enter your new Mac’s name in the “New Name” field.
- Click “Update Profile” to save your new name and restart your Mac. ..
sudo pacman -S macchanger
You can choose not to have your device’s MAC address changed whenever it restarts by selecting No in the prompt.
sudo ifconfig You will need to know the network interface names for your device in order to practice. ..
On your computer, the network interface name for Ethernet is eth0. Likewise, for Wi-Fi, the interface name will be wlan0 or wlp3s0. ..
If your computer has a different name for its network interface than what is listed in this guide, you can easily identify the network interface names by looking at the labels on your system. Interface names starting with “w” will be associated with Wi-Fi, while interface names for ethernet will always start with “e”. ..
Address: Address:
Where interface is the name of the network interface you want information about, and the type of information you want to obtain.
macchanger -r 10.0.2.1
eth0:
This command changes the eth0 network interface to be a different one.
Macchanger will display the original address and the current (modified) address on output. If the address is not in the same location as when it was input, Macchanger will generate a new address for the user.
-mmacaddr=
This command changes the MAC address of the device to a custom address.
To assign a new MAC address to a network interface, you must use the custom-address command. ..
configure eth0 { macaddr “00:14:B8:C3:D4:C7” }
sudo macchanger -m 44: ee: bc: 6c: 76: ba eth0 -o eth0
With macchanger, you don’t need to remember your device’s original MAC address for future reference. You can easily reset changes back to default using the -p flag:
This command changes the eth0 network interface to be a different one.
To view the IP address of a device, use the ip command. To find out its network adapter’s IP address, use the ifconfig command.
While macchanger is easy to use and suitable for beginners, advanced Linux users who want more control over the operation may prefer to use the ip command. ..
MAC address: Before modifying the MAC address, make sure you have written down the original MAC address. After changing the MAC address using the commands mentioned below, there is no option to revert to the original address automatically. You will have to manually change the modified address to the original MAC.
To change your device’s MAC address, you will first need to turn off the network interface. ..
sudo ip link set dev eth0 down and then reboot
Then change the original MAC to a custom address as follows: Then change the original MAC to a custom address as follows: Then change the original MAC to a custom address as follows:
sudo ip link set dev eth0 up
To restart the network interface, use the following command: ip. ..
sudo ip link set dev eth0 up
If the command worked by typing ip addr in the terminal, it was successful.
To change the Linux address of a Mac, use the “ip link” command. ..
An alternative form of MAC spoofing is using the ifconfig command. Ifconfig stands for Interface Config and can be used to manage network interfaces.
To change your physical address on your computer, you will need to shut down the interface and then use ifconfig.
sudo ifconfig eth0 down
To assign a custom MAC address to an interface, follow these steps: ..
If you want to change the network adapter on your computer, you can do it by using the ifconfig command. This command will show you all of the network adapters on your computer. You can select one of them by using the name or number that is shown.
ifconfig eth0 up This will restart the network interface. ..
This command will turn on eth0 in the system and allow you to access it.
To change the MAC address of a wireless interface (wlan0), just replace the name of the wireless interface with the MAC address of the device that is using that interface.
The command “sudo ifconfig wlan0 hw ether 44:ee:bc:6c” will set the wireless network interface to use the wireless network with the address 44:ee:bc:6c. ..
Final note
How to Change Your MAC Address on Linux If you have a computer that runs Linux, you can change its MAC address. This is a unique identifier that helps your computer identify itself and communicate with other devices. To do this, you need to know the MAC address of your computer. To find your computer’s MAC address, open a terminal and type “man mac”. This will show you the list of all the computers on your network. The first column is for the name of the machine, followed by itsMAC address in hexadecimal. For example, if your machine is called “MacBook”, the first column would be “00:14:B2:C8” (note that this number can be any number between 0 and 255). The second column is for how many times this machine has been used on your network. If it has been used more than once, it will have a number in parentheses after it. The third column is for how long this machine has been running on your network. If it has been running for less than 10 minutes, it will have a number in parentheses after it. Finally, there are some numbers in brackets which are special; these are the IP addresses of machines on your network which have that particular MAC address (e.g., “10::1”).
