Background Knowledge
A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces (network cards/NICs) for network communications. For the most part we don’t need to know what the MAC address is but at times it is necessary to know for instance when one wants to create a DHCP reservation.
Solutions
Note: In each solution one must know what your network interface device name is, in order to get the correct MAC address .
Linux/Unix – Command Line
Using the following command look under the network interface device name and just after “HWaddr” you will see your MAC address.
The alternative would be using the following series of command to only return the MAC address for a given network device name.
1
| # ifconfig eth0 | grep HWaddr | awk '{print $5}' |
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) – GUI
- Go to the menu Applications > System Tools > Network Tools.
- Under the “Devices” select a “Network device”.
- Under Interface Information you will see the MAC address after “Hardware address”.
Windows NT/2000/ME/XP/Vista/7 – Command Line
After running the below command look under the network device name and then just after “Physical Address” you will see the MAC address.
Windows 7 – GUI
Open the Network and Sharing Center > Local Area Connection > Details > Physical Address.
Mac OS X – GUI
- Go to “System Preferences…” from the Apple menu.
- Then select “Network.”
- Double-click on “Airport” or “Built-in Ethernet” depending on how you access the Internet/network.
- Your MAC Address will be shown under “Airport ID” or “Ethernet ID”.
Mac OS X – Command Line
Use the same method shown above under “Linux/Unix”.
Source: Wikipedia – MAC address
Source: Working with MAC addresses
Source: How to Find the MAC Address of Your Computer