BUG - Unable to change MAC address In Windows 7 32bit

[Prt Scr]

Jusr to let anyone else who is having this issue know theyre not alone.

Plenty of people across the net have reported this to MS, i have since Beta, and we have all been ignored by MS so far.

More proof that nothing has changed at MS...............

Anyhoo, if you cant change your MAC under Windows 7 32bit (64bit apparently is working), then welcome to the club.

Maybe in 4 or 5 months when SP1 hits, we, the ignored and forgotten may actually be able to connect to the internet........

For the time being, im just sitting back in XP and watching the bug list for windows 7 grow.

If theres any justice, MS has finally signed their own death warrant with yet another hurried and bug-laden product.

[Panda X]

If theres any justice, MS has finally signed their own death warrant with yet another hurried and bug-laden product.

Because you can't change your MAC address? ****ing fail.

[InterceptorX]

There shouldn't be any reason to have to SPOOF the MAC address to connect to the internet.

[Raa]

You can't "change" MAC addresses, that's not a bug. Stop hacking.

[Sigmatic.Minor]

There shouldn't be any reason to have to SPOOF the MAC address to connect to the internet.

Agreed ^

What are you trying to do? Steal hotel internet or someones wireless or something? lol Or have a funny router setup?

Not once in my work as a technician have I ever had to deal with a case where I had to change someones MAC address to (legally) access the internet.

[zivan56]

There shouldn't be any reason to have to SPOOF the MAC address to connect to the internet.

Umm, there are hundreds of reasons.

For example, my ISP requires that you register your MAC address before having internet service. Whenever I change network cards, I would have to call+wait for hours for them to update the MAC address if I didn't spoof it.

Likewise, a University I used to work with only allowed one networked device per person on the administrative network. It had to be changed manually in an enormous text file in order to be updated. It was official policy for people to spoof their first registered MAC address if they received a new computer.

Both of the above use fully switched network, so it would be impossible for someone to sniff it.

I could go on, but it is a very important feature of any networked OS.

[lt8480]

What is wrong with your current MAC address? blocked by your neighbours :p ? im joking but is there any real reason to change it.

For example, my ISP requires that you register your MAC address before having internet service. Whenever I change network cards, I would have to call+wait for hours for them to update the MAC address if I didn't spoof it.

Likewise, a University I used to work with only allowed one networked device per person on the administrative network. It had to be changed manually in an enormous text file in order to be updated. It was official policy for people to spoof their first registered MAC address if they received a new computer.

ISP requires registering your MAC address? bizarre.

"official policy for people to spoof their first registered MAC address if they received a new computer" - well if its official there's pretty much no point implementing the rule in the first place.

[Alex2190]

Are you serious? This isn't a bug, all network devices come with a MAC address hard-coded from the factory. I don't know what you're doing but whatever it is it's wrong.

[Sigmatic.Minor]

For example, my ISP requires that you register your MAC address before having internet service.

Serious? Thats pretty stupid.. I mean, I can think of SOME good reasons... But thats still overall a stupid system to have..

Is that common over there? No ISPs do that here in Australia, and I hope they don't start doing it soon.

And you make it sound like you change network cards every few days, why not get a decent one, register it, and stick with it?

[majortom1981]

Why are you not doing this through your router?

[lt8480]

Unless there is a limit on the number of MAC addresses you can register - give them a ring and start registering every single possible combination - see how many they enter before they get fed up and tell you not to bother any more :p If there is no limit stated anywhere their system will most likely stop accepting after so many - if they tell you you cannot registered any more - request to cancel your account without penalty and move to a better ISP.

[Sigmatic.Minor]

Why are you not doing this through your router?

Good point.

Nothing to lose by doing that?

[Digitalx]

I'd say change your ISP then.

[zivan56]

ISP requires registering your MAC address? bizarre.

"official policy for people to spoof their first registered MAC address if they received a new computer" - well if its official there's pretty much no point implementing the rule in the first place.

For a fully switched wired network, it is important for security. Nobody can get your MAC address apart from gaining physical access to your computer. If they do this, then it is your responsibility. Only the first router knows your MAC address in both cases, hence the reason it is used to identify the user.

[cybertimber2008]

Nobody can get your MAC address apart from gaining physical access to your computer.

Oh.... you have a lot to learn.

1) Routers (both that cheap linksys all the way up to the $20k cisco) store tables of MAC addresses

2) Every IP frame set across the network has a MAC address that is easily readable

3) Its pretty easy to do a net discover (or ARP) to see the MACs of every NIC on a network.

Srsly, go to command and type "arp -a". Even shows my VMs which are under a different subnet.

And all you have to do to get a MAC you don't already have in your ARP table is to ping it. Even if it doesn't respond (like in a network that blocks ping), it will get its MAC.

[Sigmatic.Minor]

For a fully switched wired network, it is important for security. Nobody can get your MAC address apart from gaining physical access to your computer. If they do this, then it is your responsibility. Only the first router knows your MAC address in both cases, hence the reason it is used to identify the user.

Wireshark? Only takes one command to find MAC address on a wired or wireless network.. MAC filtering is nowhere near as secure as some people think these days..

[Mr. Gibs]

For a fully switched wired network, it is important for security. Nobody can get your MAC address apart from gaining physical access to your computer. If they do this, then it is your responsibility. Only the first router knows your MAC address in both cases, hence the reason it is used to identify the user.

Um a simple packet sniffer (like wireshark) will give you the list of macs connected to the router...

[zivan56]

Serious? Thats pretty stupid.. I mean, I can think of SOME good reasons... But thats still overall a stupid system to have..

Is that common over there? No ISPs do that here in Australia, and I hope they don't start doing it soon.

And you make it sound like you change network cards every few days, why not get a decent one, register it, and stick with it?

Well for most ISPs that don't require a modem, it is. How else would they know who is using the Internet and who to charge? Even cable and non-authenticated DSL require the same thing. It's just that they require you to register the cable/DSL modems MAC address and not your own. Which is basically the same protocol.

My building is pretty old...newer installs have per port accounting; which allows for not registering. However, since you are limited to 2 IP addresses, they still require you to register the two you want. If they didn't have it, I could use a network card that supports dozens of virtual ethernet cards and get as many public IP addresses as I want.

So it's pretty smart actually.

[AltecXP]

1. Your ISP is stupid, I only ever had to register a modem MAC. Why does your ISP not just give you a ID/PW to authenticate? Thats simpler by a LOT.

2. Your University is stupid, Mine allowed 4 MAC addresses per student and the student could add or remove and MAC's they wanted any time via a website.

[lt8480]

Anyway to answer you question google in 2 seconds:

This supposedly works in Windows 7... (but I have read people doing it "the normal way" as they did in vista and XP but only certain mac address formats appear to be working and depending on if you device supports it).

http://www.gorlani.com/publicprj/macmakeup/macmakeup.asp

[Sigmatic.Minor]

Check google first next time btw:

Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings > right click on adapter name, then Properties > Configure > Advanced tab > Network adress

By default, "Not present" value it's on. Just click on the blank field and write the MAC address you want (without the lines, eg. 00FB0R...).

I found that on the first page after one search - just tried and it worked for me.

[zivan56]

Oh.... you have a lot to learn.

1) Routers (both that cheap linksys all the way up to the $20k cisco) store tables of MAC addresses

2) Every IP frame set across the network has a MAC address that is easily readable

3) Its pretty easy to do a net discover (or ARP) to see the MACs of every NIC on a network.

Srsly, go to command and type "arp -a". Even shows my VMs which are under a different subnet.

Wireshark? Only takes one command to find MAC address on a wired or wireless network.. MAC filtering is nowhere near as secure as some people think these days..

Um a simple packet sniffer (like wireshark) will give you the list of macs connected to the router...

Wow, no offense guys, but you need some networking 101.

Your MAC address is only sent between your port and the router in these setups. The router does per port isolation, and doesn't provide any switching between the ports. Instead, it take the IP layer stuff, copies it to a new frame, and sets the source MAC address to its own and sends it upstream. There is no way for anybody else, apart from the people managing the router, to capture your MAC address.

According to that logic, I can get your local PCs MAC address from the WAN port of your regular Linksys router :rolleyes:

1. Your ISP is stupid, I only ever had to register a modem MAC. Why does your ISP not just give you a ID/PW to authenticate? Thats simpler by a LOT.

2. Your University is stupid, Mine allowed 4 MAC addresses per student and the student could add or remove and MAC's they wanted any time via a website.

1. And what modem would I register? I don't have a modem nor do other people that use the same ISP. It is Ethernet to home. :rolleyes:

2. Did I not say administrative network? I have NFI what the student network is like, I didn't deal with it.

[Sigmatic.Minor]

We don't need networking 101 simply because your UNIs setup is different and we didnt use our mind powers to assume thats how its configured.

I've worked with Australia's Department of Commerce in support before, and even their network is vunerable to things like wireshark to find a MAC address, and yes I used it once, And that was done by turning on a laptop, and shoving an ethernet cable from it into the wall port, not having direct access to the router. So don't try and tell me its not possible.

It all depends on the router, network in general, and its configuration.

[Frylock86]

This isn't a bug. It's hacking. And depending on what you are planning to do, could be considered illegal.

[carmatic]

huh... i had a motherboard with builtin gigabit lan ... it let me change the mac address in the bios?? i was under the impression that it has nothing to do with the OS at all...