Network: MAC Address

By Xah Lee. Date: 2025-02-12.

MAC Address (aka Hardware Address, Physical Address)

Each Network Adapter has a ID, called MAC address (aka hardware address, physical address). This ID is burned into the hardware. (“MAC” is abbreviation for “Media Access Control” (the name is historical).)

MAC address is a 48 bits number. Usually written as 6 groups of 2 hexadecimal digits. e.g. 8d-cc-58-ab-db-b8.

How to find the MAC address of the Network Adapters on my machine?

Linux: Type ip link or ifconfig -a
Windows: Type ipconfig /all