MAC addresses are the unique numbers assigned to every network card installed on computers and other network devices. It should be unique across vendors and systems.
If you’re reading this post, then you probably know a thing or two about systems MAC addresses. If you don’t know what a MAC address is, then you can read but you probably shouldn’t implement the steps below.
This brief tutorial is going to show students and new users easy way to change Ubuntu systems MAC addresses. There are many reason one might want to change a system MAC address. A common one is to give a system a new identity on a given network.
I resolved a very strange issue a few years back by changing the system MAC address. I was troubleshooting a system that kept coming up on a network with duplicate IPs from the DHCP server. I researched but couldn’t see anything that was causing the issues.
I went through the usual sysadmin tricks to get the system up with a different IP, but to no avail. The way I ended up resolving the issue was to change its MAC address and the DHCP server assigned a different IP, which then fixed the issues.
So, if you find yourself in similar situations, changing the system MAC address might help.
To change a Ubuntu system MAC address, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Install MAC address change package.
First you must install MAC address changer package on the system you’re changing its MAC address. You can install the package by running the commands below
sudo apt-get install macchanger-gtk
Step 2: Change the systems’ MAC address
To change the machine’s MAC address, run the commands below
sudo macchanger-gtk
That will open the MAC changer tool. The package is a front-end MAC address changer. It also lets you view your current MAC address. To change the current one, select the Option and the network interface you wish to change.
Then click Change MAC
Doing that will change the MAC address of the system and show you the new one.
That’s it! Enjoy and hope you come back soon.
You may also like the post below: