How to Get Mac Address

Do you need to find the MAC address of your device? The MAC address, also known as the Media Access Control address, is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces.

It is essential for networking purposes and can be useful in various scenarios. In this tutorial, we’ll explore different methods to obtain the MAC address on a Mac computer.

Using System Preferences

If you prefer a graphical user interface approach, you can easily find your MAC address through System Preferences.

1. Click on the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen and select “System Preferences. “

2. In the System Preferences window, click on “Network.

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3. Select your active network connection from the list on the left-hand side.

4. Click on the “Advanced” button in the bottom-right corner.

5. In the new window that appears, navigate to the “Hardware” or “Ethernet” tab. Here you will find your MAC address listed as “MAC Address,” “Ethernet ID,” or similar.

Using Terminal

If you prefer using a command-line interface, Terminal provides a quick and efficient way to retrieve your MAC address.

1. Launch Terminal by searching for it in Spotlight or locating it in the Utilities folder within Applications.

2. Type “ifconfig | grep ether” (without quotes) and press Enter. This command will display information about all active network interfaces on your Mac, including their respective MAC addresses.

You should see output similar to this:

en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        ether 00:11:22:33:44:55 
        inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fefa:dde4%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4 
        inet 192.168.1.100 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.255
        nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
        media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
        status: active

In this example, the MAC address is listed next to the “ether” keyword.

Using Network Utility

Mac computers also come with a built-in Network Utility that provides information about your network connections, including the MAC address.

1. Open Spotlight by clicking on the magnifying glass icon in the top-right corner of your screen or pressing Command + Space.

2. Type “Network Utility” (without quotes) and press Enter to launch the application.

3. In the Network Utility window, click on the “Info” tab.

4. Select your network interface from the list on the left-hand side.

5. Your MAC address will be displayed as “Hardware Address.”

With these methods, you can easily find your MAC address on a Mac computer. Whether you prefer using System Preferences for a graphical approach or Terminal and Network Utility for command-line utilities, obtaining this unique identifier is just a few clicks away!