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How to Change MAC Address in Linux?

by | Monday, 17th Aug 2009 | 4 Comments | Share

Many times we do things over our network which gets us banned or suspended from the network. Common reasons might include massive torrent downloads, bypassing protections, erratic logins as multiple users etc. These situations are quite annoying.

Basically, in windows your identity on the network is your IP address, your computer name and your MAC address. For Linux it is just the IP address and the MAC address.

So all you need to do, is change your IP address, your MAC address and hop back in. The IP address can be changed from a GUI, but there is no GUI to change the MAC address. Here is an easy way to change your MAC address from the terminal in four easy steps.

  1. Key in sudo ifconfig eth0 Here eth0 is my ethernet network controller. This command displays the hardware information of your ethernet controller.
  2. Next, enter sudo ifconfig eth0 down,this command turns off your ethernet.
  3. Now, change your MAC address with sudo ifconfig eth0 hw ether AA:MA:CA:DD:RE:SS Here replace “AA:MA:CA:DD:RE:SS” with a valid mac address.
  4. Finally, turn back your ethernet on by entering sudo ifconfig eth0 up

That is all. You are back on the network.

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Chinmoy Kanjilal is a FOSS enthusiast and evangelist. He is passionate about Android. Security exploits turn him on and he loves to tinker with computer networks. He rants occasionally at Techarraz.com. You can connect with him on Twitter @ckandroid.

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The author of this post can be contacted at chinmoy@techie-buzz.com

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  1. Glass Beads on August 17th, 2009 at 11:20 am #

    i dont know how to use linux and mac but, thanks for this info. Might experience some linux or mac someday so this is helpful

  2. Chinmoy on August 17th, 2009 at 4:00 pm #

    sure. The same can be done on windows as well if you need it.

  3. Samuel on August 22nd, 2011 at 4:07 pm #

    I read that the mac address can also be changed using just the ip command from the cml. It would be issued link ip link show eth0 to display the mac address.

    Then shutting it down with ip link set dev eth0 down.
    Changing the mac ip link set dev eth0 address XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
    Restarting it ip link set dev eth0 up