How To Find My Device Mac Address

Identifying devices on a network tin can be difficult. Well-nigh systems allow their owners to name them, which is why yous'll ofttimes find "John Doe's PC" or "Jane Doe's iPhone" on a given Wi-Fi network, but those names can't exist trusted because they're easy to alter. A better way to make sure you've correctly identified a given device is to check its media access command (MAC) address. You may need this data for several reasons, including creating a whitelist of devices that are immune access.

Manufacturers assign MAC addresses to unlike network adapters such as Wi-Fi radios and Ethernet controllers while they're being made then any device with connectivity has at to the lowest degree 1.

And different the names people give their devices, these identifiers are supposed to exist permanent. (In that location are ways to spoof MAC addresses, merely it's more difficult than renaming "John Doe's PC" to "JD's Laptop.") There's only i problem: It tin can also be harder to detect your device's MAC address.

Luckily there are several means to find a given system'south MAC address(es) in Windows eleven or 10: The built-in Settings app, Control Panel and PowerShell all make finding that unique identifier a niggling simpler.

How to Notice a MAC Accost in Windows eleven Settings

Settings is Windows 11's and 10'due south one-finish shop for the most normally accessed, well, settings. The options presented hither aren't comprehensive, but the app can tell the states our MAC accost.

one. Navigate to the 'Network & internet' folio in Settings. The fastest mode to exercise this is to right-click the Start bill of fare and select Network Settings from the popular-up carte du jour. You can too search for Settings, open the app, then click "Network & internet" in the sidebar.

MAC Address in Windows 11 — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

2. Open up the Ethernet sub-menu if yous're looking for the Ethernet MAC address and go to step 3.

If you're looking for the Wi-Fi adapter MAC address, click Wi-Fi

Then select Hardware properties.

3. Look for 'Physical address (MAC)' at the lesser of the page. Sometimes this setting is on-screen every bit soon as the Ethernet or Wi-Fi / Hardware properties sub-menu is opened, but if information technology's not, curlicue downwardly. The MAC accost volition exist listed there as six alphanumeric pairs separated by hyphens.

Finding a Windows 11 device'southward MAC address in Control Panel

Windows eleven and 10 earlier it don't necessarily make it easy to find the legacy Control Panel, but the Settings app'southward predecessor offers more than options and could be more familiar to advanced users.

1. Open Command Panel. The quickest way to do this is via the Beginning bill of fare'due south search tool.

ii. Open the Network Sharing Center. This is about easily accessible via the "View network status and tasks" link nether the "Network and Internet" heading.

3. Select your connection type. Network Sharing Center should display your current internet connection type (Ethernet in our example) as a clickable link. Click it.

4. Click the 'Details…' button. A window should appear with information about your connectivity options, current download speeds, etc. Click on the "Details…" push.

5. Await for 'Physical Address'. Windows 11 doesn't identify the MAC address past proper name in this window, only the "Physical Accost" entry should be correct, and is supposed to match the data provided via the Settings app and our next method.

Finding a Windows 11 device's MAC address via PowerShell

Microsoft ships its cross-platform command beat out and scripting language, PowerShell, with Windows eleven past default and so people tin perform common tasks without pointing and clicking.

one. Open PowerShell. The quickest mode to practice this is to right-click the Get-go menu and select "Windows Final" from the popular-upward menu. (There'southward as well an admin version of the tool, simply that's overkill for our needs.) It can as well exist found past searching for PowerShell.

two. Enter the following command without quotation marks: "getmac /v". The "getmac" portion of the command returns information well-nigh our hardware's Physical Address and Transport Name, while the "/v" modifier tells Windows eleven to return verbose data, which means it volition too provide the Connexion Proper name and Network Adapter results.

3. Look for 'Physical Address'. Windows eleven omits any mention of MAC address, probably considering the command makes it clear that's what we're after, just "Physical Address" should once more contain six pairs of alphanumeric characters separated past hyphens.