How do I find out the MAC that's Hardcoded to a NIC

[Caveman]

Hoping someone can answer this basic question ASAP... thanks...

 

[thorin]

When you do an ipconfig /all it's the string listed beside "Physical Address"

c:\> ipconfig /all
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : montage-dmc.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : FE575C-3Com 10/100 LAN CardBus-Fast Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-01-02-79-45-23
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.18.120.109
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.18.120.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.18.120.10
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.18.120.10
10.18.121.10
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 10.18.120.10
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 10.18.121.10
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, September 28, 2004 8:31:41 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, September 29, 2004 8:31:41 AM

Note in Win 9x this is called "Adapter Address". Also if you can't copy from your command prompt window then just output it to a text file and copy it from the text file using notepad (ipconfig /all > c:\ipconfig.txt)

Thorin

 

[Caveman]

THANKS! Is this the best way to ID a machine? I'd assume this phyical (MAC?) address is best since it is hardcoded into the computer and that other addresses don't tell you much since they can be dynamic?

Thnaaks again for the help...

 

[thorin]

Well it depends what you're trying to accomplish. Yes it's a fairly reliable way to ID machines but what if someone swaps NICs or your mobo with integrated NIC dies and gets replaced. etc...

You can always statically assign IPs. nbtstat can also be very helpful identifying machines and who is logged in to them. You could also choose to enter useful information in the computer description when you setup the network info of the comp (assuming window).

Thorin

 

[Mday]

The MAC or physical address is not "hardwired" into the computer. It is a characteristic of the NIC or network interface card, or network card. And even then, it is not hard wired. It is encoded in the firmware which CAN BE CHANGED.

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: Mday
The MAC or physical address is not "hardwired" into the computer. It is a characteristic of the NIC or network interface card, or network card. And even then, it is not hard wired. It is encoded in the firmware which CAN BE CHANGED.

Plus some network devices like DSL and Cable Modems allow for MAC Address cloning.

Thorin