Need to find computer name from MAC address


Recommended Posts

Ok so here at the company i work for we have determined that someone has been doing things they should not with the computers and all i had was an ip address and a MAC address and i have tried ARP and NBTSTAT and i am unable to get the computer name from either of the numbers is there another way that i can find the computer name from either the IP address or MAC address.

Depending on your network setup you could also Browse the computer using a domain admin account etc.

Just go to any computer and type \\ipadd\c$ in the address bar of explorer.

This should let you browse the mydocuments folder which should give you enough information to figure out where they are.

http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/ may help you at least determine what kind of device it is.

You really have no WINS, DNS, or DHCP servers? most logs here are small and will often tell hostname requesting the info.

Do you have managed switches to set up port mirroring or if connected to a hub or at least if managed. Disconnect them or thier lan segment as last resort.

You can sniff the traffic.

If you can't get the Hostname using a NBTSTAT -a xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (replaces x with ip) then the box is either firewalled. Does not respond to because it isnt a PC might be like a router, switch , printer etc.

try http or https to the hosts IP

attempt to telnet to it

try SSH to it.

lastly GO look for strange devices or PC

is your dhcp server a box (computer, windows, linux) or a router (cisco, netgear, etc.)?

If its a windows or linux box, you can look up the host name in the dhcp scope. If you have absolutely no idea what the box is, or who it is, then run nmap on it to see what ports the machine has open and what the make of the network card is. usually that might point you in the right direction.

if all else fails, kick them from the network or quarantine them, and first person who comes and bitches about it, is the culprit.

We know that it is a Dell computer, We know that it has to be wired in (our wireless network has a different IP set) and we know what the MAC address is. Also we know there is no current computer on the network that has the ip address that it had when it was causing problems. I think i might just have to go from computer to computer and check their mac addresses.

  littleneutrino said:
We know that it is a Dell computer, We know that it has to be wired in (our wireless network has a different IP set) and we know what the MAC address is. Also we know there is no current computer on the network that has the ip address that it had when it was causing problems. I think i might just have to go from computer to computer and check their mac addresses.

Block the MAC and see who complains they can't access the network.

"to go from computer to computer and check their mac addresses. "

Why is that? And why do you need the name? Are you switches not managed? On a managed switch you can always track down what port a mac address is connected too.. Even if the cheapest smart switches support this.

For example from $80 my home gig switch!

post-14624-1247153123_thumb.jpg

Ports with more than one mac address on them have downstream switches connected, etc.

finding what port a mac is connect to on cisco swith is as easy as

show mac-address-table | inc partofmacaddress

Once you no the port -- go to that port and follow the wire and you have your computer ;)

  fAlCoNNiAn said:
...

if all else fails, kick them from the network or quarantine them, and first person who comes and bitches about it, is the culprit.

  GreyWolfSC said:
Block the MAC and see who complains they can't access the network.

Great minds think alike.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • If that were the reason then Edge would be the most popular desktop browser instead of Chrome. If people can skip Edge and manually download/install Chrome, they can do it with Firefox, too.
    • Good Bye and thanks for the fish
    • yeah i did some research and it seems they removed (or didn't carry over) the ability to change desktop icon fonts.....hopefully they bring it back for you soon...and yeah it also seems the ability to change the font has also been removed unless you adjust through registry or win aero.    if you haven't already, maybe trying to "adjust cleartype text" may help you. i tried running through it and noticed there were some bold font styles.   welcome (or bye haha) to windows 2025 btw!  
    • That'll be it for my 2018 Mac mini then. There is, of course, OpenCore Legacy Patcher . . .
    • Support cost cutting and nudging people to upgrade for profit. Pure and simple. Nothing as noble as hardware actually becoming "obsolete" about most of the hardware requirements from Apple, Microsoft, or Android companies either. iMac 2017 with AMD running legacy Core still have native GPU support in macOS 15 and run perfectly fine. Doesn't even need any fancy patching outside of the minimum patching needed to get macOS 15 on the system to bypass Apple system requirements aking to running windows 11 on a PC that doesn't match the arbitrary CPU generation requirements that make you bypass them too. You can usually tell if hardware is truly in the realm of "obsolete" if you are having a hard time finding a major Linux distro that'll install on it.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      abortretryfail earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      Mr bot earned a badge
      First Post
    • First Post
      Bkl211 earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Year In
      Mido gaber earned a badge
      One Year In
    • One Year In
      Vladimir Migunov earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      487
    2. 2
      +FloatingFatMan
      256
    3. 3
      snowy owl
      243
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      222
    5. 5
      +Edouard
      191
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!