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Change network card MAC address in Windows 10

Every network adapter you have installed in your PC, laptop or tablet has a physical address called the "MAC address". The MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to each network interface for communication on the physical network segment. There are a number of situations when you need to change your network card's MAC address in Windows 10. Let's see how it can be done.

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First of all, you might want to know your current MAC address. This can be done quickly as follows:
  1. Open a new command prompt instance.
  2. Type the following:
    ipconfig /all

    Windows 10 ipconfig all

  3. In the output, see the Physical address value:Windows 10 ipconfig all output

You might want to change it to diagnose network issues. Also, the MAC address can be used to track your location if you have Wi-Fi enabled on your device. These are two common reasons you might want to change it.

Here is how it can be done.

First, you should check out your network card's properties in Device Manager. Some network adapters come with a special MAC address option in the user interface in Device Manager to change it.

  1. Press Win + X shortcut keys together or right click the Start button to open its context menu.
  2. Select the Device Manager item:Windows 10 open device manager
  3. Navigate to Network adapters and find your adapter there. Double click it to open its properties:NIC properties
  4. Switch to the Advanced tab. There, look for a parameter named "Network address" or "MAC address" or "Physical address". If your adapter supports this feature, you should get something like this:Windows 10 mac address option

There, you can specify a new MAC address value.

If your adapter doesn't support this feature, you can try to change it with a Registry tweak.

  1. Open Registry Editor.
  2. Go to the following Registry key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002bE10318}

    Tip: You can access any desired Registry key with one click.NIC reg keys

  3. Here, look for subkeys named 0000, 0001, 000x. They represent network adapters installed in your device. Check the parameter named "DriverDesc" under each subkey to find the right adapter:NIC DriverDesc
  4. Now, look for the parameter named "NetworkAddress". It should be a string value. If it exists, Windows will use its value data instead of the hardcoded MAC address in the hardware.
    If the parameter does not exist, you can create it yourself and set its value to the new MAC address. I'll use this value: "002408B2A2D2".Windows 10 create NetworkAddress parameterWindows 10 create NetworkAddress parameter 2Windows 10 change network card mac address
  5. Now, disconnect the adapter from the network. Go to Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center:Windows 10 CP nework center
  6. On the left, click Change adapter settings:Windows 10 CP nework center change adapter settings link
  7. In the newly opened Network Connections window, right click your adapter and select "Disable" in the context menu:Windows 10 disable adapter
  8. Now, right click the adapter and enable it from the context menu:Windows 10 enable adapterThis will apply your new MAC address directly:Windows 10 new mac address Windows 10 new mac address 2

That's it.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

7 thoughts on “Change network card MAC address in Windows 10”

  1. Worked for me when the new mac address started with “12”. It didn’t work when I used the address above starting with “00”. I picked up that from another website. Thanks for helping me to get there.

    1. I want to change my pc mac address to android phone mac address. but it is not accepting. it is only working for the one starting with 12 as in your case

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