How to Spoof your MAC Address in Mac OS X

Jan 17, 2008 - 159 Comments

terminal A MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to your network card, and some networks implement MAC address filtering as a method of security. Spoofing a MAC address can be desired for multiple reasons, and it is very easy to spoof your MAC address in macOS Monterey 12, macOS Big Sur 11, macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave 10.14, macOS High Sierra, Sierra 10.12, El Capitan, Yosemite 10.10, Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, OS X 10.8, and OS X 10.9. For the purpose of this article, we are going to assume you want to spoof your Mac’s wireless MAC address, meaning your wi-fi card.

Without further ado, here’s a three step process on how you can spoof and change the MAC address in macOS and Mac OS X.

1: Get the Current Network Interface

Some Macs use en0 and others en1 for wi-fi, you can quickly determine which is the case on your Mac by holding down the OPTION key and clicking on the wi-fi menu item to see the interface.

2: Retrieving your current MAC address

You’re going to want your current wireless MAC address so you can set it back without rebooting. Launch the Terminal app and type the following command:

ifconfig en1 | grep ether

You’ll know see something like:

ether 00:12:cb:c6:24:e2

And the values after ‘ether’ makeup your current MAC address. Write this down somewhere so you don’t forget it. If you do, it’s not the end of the world, you’ll just have to reboot to reset it from a change.

Note, it’s possible that your Mac has the wi-fi card on en0 or en1, so you may need to adjust the string according to your network interface as detailed above.

Spoofing a MAC address in MacOS

To spoof your MAC address, you simply set that value returned from ifconfig to another hex value in the format of aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff. You can generate a random one if need be.

For this example, we will set our wireless MAC address to 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 by issuing the following command:

sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6

If the wi-fi interface is en0 the command would be like this instead:

sudo ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

The sudo command will require that you enter your root password to make the change.

Again, you need to make sure your network interface is identified correctly, so if you run into any issues you can confirm that wi-fi is using en1 or en0.

Verifying the Spoofed MAC address worked

If you want to check that the spoof worked, type the same command as earlier:

ifconfig en1 | grep ether

Now you will see:

ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6

Meaning your MAC address is now the value you set it to. If you want to further verify the spoof, simply login to your wireless router and look at the ‘available devices’ (or attached devices) list, and your spoofed MAC address will be part of that list.

If you want to set your MAC address back to its real value, simply issue the above ifconfig commands with the MAC address that you retrieved in step 1. You can also reboot your Mac.

Enjoy!

Note: Reader Dee Brown points out the following, which may help with some users having difficulties: “running 10.5.6 you need to do the trick to disassociate from the network. ****DO NOT TURN AIRPORT OFF****. What you will have to do is click your airport and click join network and enter some bogus name as the network ssid. Then while it’s trying to connect click cancel.At this point you may spoof using the sudo ifconfig en1 ether command”

other readers point out that Dee Brown’s trick works in 10.5.7 and above too. Thanks Dee!

Update: If you’re still having problems with MAC address spoofing in Leopard or Snow Leopard, the above method still works but try disassociating with any wireless network BUT keep your wireless Airport on (as mentioned above) – an easy way to do this is to type the following in the command line:

airport -z

Note that you have to have the ‘airport’ command setup to work for users, you can do that by copy and pasting this command into the Mac Terminal:

sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport

Once disassociated from the network you should be able to spoof your MAC address as usual

Updated 2/28/2012: For Mac OS X Lion, the Airport interface is now called “Wi-Fi” and thus the command to spoof a MAC address in OS X 10.7, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and OS X Mavericks, is:

sudo ifconfig en0 Wi-Fi aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

For some computers Wi-Fi may be the interface but you spoof by specifying “ether” instead.

sudo ifconfig en0 ether aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

Remember to disassociate from any network beforehand with “airport -z” while keeping the card active. If you continue to have problems or receive a “bad value” message, try turning the wireless NIC off and on again using the following:

sudo ifconfig en0 down

Now re-enable the NIC:

sudo ifconfig en0 up

Then proceed to spoof the MAC address:

sudo ifconfig en0 ether aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

Reenabling the network card may cause it to join the last available wireless network.

The MAC address should stay spoofed until reboot, but you can always check what your MAC address is in the GUI or command line with networksetup -listallhardwareports if you’re curious about the current status.

.

Related articles:

Posted by: William Pearson in Command Line, Mac OS, Security, Tips & Tricks

159 Comments

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  1. nirav says:

    thx bro it worked for me….

  2. Rob says:

    Does anyone have tried MacSpoofer ? I have tried that to change MAC address without using Terminal, and in fact it changes, but then, Wifi refuses to get same local IP address as before of making the change, so I am not able to connect to internet unless reboot the system to get restore original MAC. Is there anything I need to do on MacSpoofer ?

    Many thanks

  3. Ryan says:

    Easy way to do this quickly for those who don’t know how- creates shortcut on desktop.

    1. Type this into terminal:

    sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/local/bin/airport

    2. Open textedit and put this in:

    sudo airport -z
    ip=$(ifconfig en0 | grep ether)
    echo “CURRENT IP “$ip
    new=$(openssl rand -hex 6 | sed ‘s/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//’)
    echo “NEW IP “$new
    sudo ifconfig en0 ether $new
    cur=$(ifconfig en0 | grep ether)
    echo “IP IS NOW “$cur
    sudo ifconfig en0 up

    3. Save on desktop as spoof.command
    4. Open file whenever you need to change IP

    Basically this shell disconnects you from wifi, changes the mac and reconnects you. Very quick – takes less than 10 seconds each time :)

  4. Troubled Gamer says:

    Hey guys, I have a small issue when trying to change the mac address of en1 ether. I’m using the thunderbolt to ethernet adaptor and discovered that it has a different mac address than when using wifi. When trying to connect through the ethernet I get a parental control message (Linksys). I know if i change the mac address this will bypass it, but by performing all different sorts of methods above, including dissociating, trying different mac addresses, and so on. When I enter the command it goes right through, not asking for a password tho I’m using sudo ifconfig en1 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    When I enter the command to view the mac address it still reads the the old address. Its only with en1 ether as I can change everything in en0 and en1 wifi with no issue. Am I missing something? Please help? P.S. it needs to be en1 ether that has to be changed or is their a way to use the en0 ether address when using my thunderbolt to ethernet adaptor through my macbook air.

  5. There’s an Open Source tool which makes this easier. https://github.com/acrogenesis/macchanger

  6. Jessica Fan says:

    Hey! So I don’t know if anyone said this already, but I noticed that the above commands wouldn’t work unless the second nimble on the mac address was either a 2, 6, A or E.

    So, for example:
    sudo ifconfig en0 ether 49:a1:02:48:0b:42
    didn’t work for me but
    sudo ifconfig en0 ether 42:a1:02:48:0b:42 did!

  7. hassan says:

    what is root password?

  8. Henry says:

    This tells you what to do but not how to do it. The writer assumes that the reader’s knowledge base is sufficient to fill in the gaps. 0/10

  9. Joe says:

    Thanks! :)

  10. xosiris says:

    Hi there,

    I followed your manual and successfully changed the ether address visible through “ifconfig en1” (Wifi interface on a MBP running Lion).

    In “networksetup -listallhardwareports” I still see the old MAC address though. And when I try to connect to any access point I get numerous “Connection timeout”s

    Any hint what I could still try? Even https://github.com/feross/SpoofMAC failed :-/

  11. Feross says:

    If you want to spoof your MAC address on OS X more easily, you should use SpoofMAC, a free open-source tool to make this all a lot easier.

    Simply run “spoof-mac set 00:00:00:00:00:00 en0” to change your MAC address to anything you want. It automatically handles all the “airport -z” funny business for you.

    Get it here: https://github.com/feross/SpoofMAC

  12. O says:

    My mbp running snow leopard won’t let me change my MAC address to fu:ck:yo:ua:dm:in :(

    it gives error

    ifconfig: ioctl (SIOCAIFADDR): Invalid argument

    but 00:00:00:00:00:00 works

    what do?

  13. john says:

    Just to be clear…though the changed MAC address does NOT reflect in my System Preferences, if it DOES reflect in the terminal for en0 and en1 I am good to go?

  14. […] received a few questions about this recently because the process of changing (sometimes called spoofing) these addresses has changed slightly from version to version in Mac OS X. With that in mind, we […]

  15. Annie says:

    My step father blocks my internet during day and only allows me to access the internet for a 2 hour period in the evenings. Will spoofing my mac address allow me to have access to the internet? He blocks only my laptop and iPhone, no one else in the house gets this treatment.

    I am running 10.6.8 if that means anything.

    • l0pht says:

      First of all check your fathers MAC-Adress
      (if you have access to his Mac/PC).
      If he’s using a Mac, open “Terminal” enter “ifconfig en1 | grep ether” write the MAC-Adress down.

      Now go to your Mac and follow these steps:

      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      John C.

      Here’s my simplified version:

      ifconfig en1 | grep ether
      ^^^ Check Current Mac Address

      sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z
      ^^^ Disconnect from Networks

      sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:00:00:00:00:00
      ^^^ Set New Mac Address – FILL IN THE NUMBERS YOU WROTE DOWN.

      ifconfig en1 | grep ether
      ^^^ Check Current Mac Address

      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

      If the ifconfig shows you exactly the numbers you filled in, you are finished.

      As long as you don’t shut down your Mac, it will look for the network, as you are your fathers PC/Mac.
      You should being able to have now internet access all the time.

      I hope i’m right, you can do this also with the MAC-Adress of your siblings.
      If you want to figure the MAC-Adress on a Windows-PC just open “cmd” and enter “ipconfig /all”. Now have a look for the “physical adress”.

  16. neo says:

    Tried this on OS Lion. The ether command returns the new mac address… however when i connect to a network only connection timeout ereor comes… any ideas?

  17. Donnie Ringeisen says:

    I do believe all the ideas you have introduced for your post. They’re very convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are too brief for beginners. Could you please prolong them a little from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.

  18. Derek says:

    Change “airport” to “Wi-Fi” for Lion

  19. Adam says:

    This doesn’t work under Lion for me:

    #!/bin/bash
    #
    export PATH=/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
    #
    #echo ” ”
    date
    /usr/sbin/airport -z
    counter=0
    clear
    #
    MAILVAR=`date`
    NUM_FILE=/tmp/Num_File
    OLD_ETHER=`ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk ‘{print $2}’`
    #
    #

    if [ ! -f ${NUM_FILE} ]
    then
    touch ${NUM_FILE}
    echo “0″ >> ${NUM_FILE}
    fi
    #exit_num=`cat ${NUM_FILE}`
    exit_num=0

    GET_HEX ()
    {
    if [[ ${VAR} -lt 10 ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=`echo ${VAR}`
    fi

    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “10” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=a
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “11” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=b
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “12” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=c
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “13” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=d
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “14” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=e
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “15” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=f
    fi

    # echo “${HEX_VALUE}”
    }

    Make_Random_Hex ()
    {
    for i in {1..6}}
    do

    VAR=$((RANDOM%15))
    GET_HEX

    FULL_HEX=`echo ${FULL_HEX}${HEX_VALUE}`

    VAR=$((RANDOM%15))
    GET_HEX

    FIX_I=`echo ${i} | awk -F\} ‘{print $1}’`
    #echo $FIX_I
    if [ ${FIX_I} -eq 6 ]
    then
    FULL_HEX=`echo ${FULL_HEX}${HEX_VALUE}`
    else
    FULL_HEX=`echo ${FULL_HEX}${HEX_VALUE}:`
    fi

    done
    }

    Make_Random_Hex

    echo “The new randomised Mac Addr we want to change to = ${FULL_HEX}”

    NUM_VAL=`echo “${FULL_HEX}” | tr ‘:’ ‘ ‘ | awk ‘{print $1}’`
    TESTED_VALUE=kk

    if [[ ${exit_num} -eq 0 ]]
    then
    while [ ${exit_num} -eq “0” ]
    do
    ifconfig en0 ether ${FULL_HEX}
    #/bin/sleep 0.2
    VALUE=`ifconfig en0 | grep ether`
    TESTED_VALUE=`echo ${VALUE}| awk ‘{print $2}’ | awk -F: ‘{print $1}’`
    echo “THE_NEW_NUMBER_WE WANT = ${NUM_VAL} THE_TESTED_VALUE = ${TESTED_VALUE}”
    echo “`tput cup 0 1`”

    if [ ${NUM_VAL} = ${TESTED_VALUE} ]
    then
    echo “`tput cup 5 1`”
    ifconfig en0 down
    sleep 8
    ifconfig en0 up
    sleep 8
    NEW_ETHER=`ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk ‘{print $2}’`
    echo “The OLD ethernet mac = ${OLD_ETHER}”
    echo “The NEW ethernet mac = ${NEW_ETHER}”
    exit_num=1
    echo “1″ > ${NUM_FILE}
    exit 0
    fi

    done
    fi

    if [ ${exit_num} -eq “0” ]
    then
    (( counter = ${counter} + 1 ))
    if [ ${counter} -eq 356 ]
    then
    /Users/graeme/KSH-Scripts/test.ksh
    #Spiner=XXXX
    fi
    fi
    adammbair13:/ adam$ sudo ./test.ksh
    Sat Sep 24 02:01:49 PDT 2011
    ./test.ksh: line 7: /usr/sbin/airport: No such file or directory

    .”test.ksh: line 66: [: -eq: unary operator expected
    “/test.ksh: line 66: [: -eq: unary operator expected
    ./test.ksh: line 66: [: -eq: unary operator expected
    ./test.ksh: line 66: [: -eq: unary operator expected
    ./test.ksh: line 66: [: -eq: unary operator expected
    .”test.ksh: line 66: [: -eq: unary operator expected
    “The OLD ethernet mac = ”ddr we want to change to = e4:d9:36:93:a7:9a:”
    “The NEW ethernet mac = ” string2
    adammbair13:/ adam$ string1
    tr [-Ccu] -s string1
    tr [-Ccu] -ds string1 string2
    “THE_NEW_NUMBER_WE WANT = THE_TESTED_VALUE = ”

  20. […] Spoof your MAC address in OSX Lion and Snow Leopard – Quick 3 Step Guide. […]

  21. Mulder says:

    Sorry, but this doesn’t work for the Ethernet MAC address, although it used to on 10.4.11. I can change it, but then I can’t connect to any web page, and if I reboot, it’s changed back to the actual MAC address.

    That doesn’t help anyone, especially those that don’t have WiFi, and cannot upgrade to any other version of Mac OS X.

    Spoofing is especially helpful for those who print coupons on the web, since most of the vendors use a system from Fox (as in Fox News) that requires the installation of some software, and then use Java to keep you from saving the file as PDF, and log your MAC address to prevent you from printing more than two coupons.

    It would be nice to have a way to spoof the Ethernet MAC address that works again, by letting you load web pages after you’ve done it.

  22. Master ksh Coder says:

    Geez guys.

    I read all of the above.. it is simple
    just run the code below in a terminal.. all will be solved.
    ..

    enjoy

    How to use it.. type==> sudo ./test.ksh

    Code below.(save the file as test.ksh)
    ————————————————–
    #!/bin/bash
    #
    export PATH=/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin
    #
    #echo ” ”
    date
    /usr/sbin/airport -z
    counter=0
    clear
    #
    MAILVAR=`date`
    NUM_FILE=/tmp/Num_File
    OLD_ETHER=`ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk ‘{print $2}’`
    #
    #

    if [ ! -f ${NUM_FILE} ]
    then
    touch ${NUM_FILE}
    echo “0” >> ${NUM_FILE}
    fi
    #exit_num=`cat ${NUM_FILE}`
    exit_num=0

    GET_HEX ()
    {
    if [[ ${VAR} -lt 10 ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=`echo ${VAR}`
    fi

    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “10” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=a
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “11” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=b
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “12” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=c
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “13” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=d
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “14” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=e
    fi
    if [[ ${VAR} -eq “15” ]]
    then
    HEX_VALUE=f
    fi

    # echo “${HEX_VALUE}”
    }

    Make_Random_Hex ()
    {
    for i in {1..6}}
    do

    VAR=$((RANDOM%15))
    GET_HEX

    FULL_HEX=`echo ${FULL_HEX}${HEX_VALUE}`

    VAR=$((RANDOM%15))
    GET_HEX

    FIX_I=`echo ${i} | awk -F\} ‘{print $1}’`
    #echo $FIX_I
    if [ ${FIX_I} -eq 6 ]
    then
    FULL_HEX=`echo ${FULL_HEX}${HEX_VALUE}`
    else
    FULL_HEX=`echo ${FULL_HEX}${HEX_VALUE}:`
    fi

    done
    }

    Make_Random_Hex

    echo “The new randomised Mac Addr we want to change to = ${FULL_HEX}”

    NUM_VAL=`echo “${FULL_HEX}” | tr ‘:’ ‘ ‘ | awk ‘{print $1}’`
    TESTED_VALUE=kk

    if [[ ${exit_num} -eq 0 ]]
    then
    while [ ${exit_num} -eq “0” ]
    do
    ifconfig en0 ether ${FULL_HEX}
    #/bin/sleep 0.2
    VALUE=`ifconfig en0 | grep ether`
    TESTED_VALUE=`echo ${VALUE}| awk ‘{print $2}’ | awk -F: ‘{print $1}’`
    echo “THE_NEW_NUMBER_WE WANT = ${NUM_VAL} THE_TESTED_VALUE = ${TESTED_VALUE}”
    echo “`tput cup 0 1`”

    if [ ${NUM_VAL} = ${TESTED_VALUE} ]
    then
    echo “`tput cup 5 1`”
    ifconfig en0 down
    sleep 8
    ifconfig en0 up
    sleep 8
    NEW_ETHER=`ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk ‘{print $2}’`
    echo “The OLD ethernet mac = ${OLD_ETHER}”
    echo “The NEW ethernet mac = ${NEW_ETHER}”
    exit_num=1
    echo “1” > ${NUM_FILE}
    exit 0
    fi

    done
    fi

    if [ ${exit_num} -eq “0” ]
    then
    (( counter = ${counter} + 1 ))
    if [ ${counter} -eq 356 ]
    then
    /Users/graeme/KSH-Scripts/test.ksh
    #Spiner=XXXX
    fi
    fi

  23. Pax says:

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the trick to get free Dropbox space, right ?
    As I didn’t want to mess in OSX I used random MAC adresses before booting on a VM of Ubuntu via Parallels. Parallels lets you randomize a MAC adress in the pref of the VM. The only thing you gotta do, is doing it while VM is OFF, and you gotta reboot the VM each time you randomize.

    Reply if unclear.

  24. Reed says:

    After some web searching and trial and error I have figured out how to spoof both ethernet and airport MAC’s for 10.5.8 on my Macbook Pro. Airport must be on but disassociated as explained in previous posts. Ethernet works while you are on or offline, though if online, you will lose connection since your network settings have changed.

    For clarification, the first 2 commands show the preset MAC addresses (I obviously censored mine, but you get the idea). Next I spoof the adresses and confirm it worked as I go. First is the ethernet (en0) and then airport (en1).

    MacBook33-2:~ mycomp$ ifconfig en0 | grep ether
    ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    MacBook33-2:~ mycomp$ ifconfig en1 | grep ether
    ether yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy
    MacBook33-2:~ mycomp$ sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa
    Password:
    MacBook33-2:~ mycomp$ ifconfig en0 | grep ether
    ether aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa
    MacBook33-2:~ mycomp$ sudo ifconfig en1 ether ee:ee:ee:ee:ee:ee
    MacBook33-2:~ mycomp$ ifconfig en1 | grep ether
    ether ee:ee:ee:ee:ee:ee

    Hope this helps someone out there.

  25. a says:

    > success on 10.6.5.
    > not all mac ranges work.
    > not sure 5 pair fail is needed.
    > all 00 mac may not work for some.

    •> sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport
    ••>sudo airport -z
    •••>sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:00:00:00:00
    ••••>sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:00:00:00:00:09
    •••••>ifconfig en1 | grep ether

  26. Vinicius says:

    Hi, I did what’s on the page, and pops two numbers like this:
    ether 00:1f:5b:3a:a4: 44
    ether 00:1f:5b:3a:a4:45

    could someone help me, what is the correct mac address
    may be by e-mail (vcantalejo@msn.com)

    Thanks
    Vinicius

  27. OseX says:

    If I type in terminal the following:

    [localhost:~] peter% sudo ifconfig en0 ether 123.123.123.123

    with the 123.123.123.123 being just an example (not real in my case), but truly being the public IP address shown at http://whatismyipaddress.com

    I get an error:

    ifconfig: ioctl (SIOCAIFADDR): Invalid argument

    What did I wrong?
    Thanks.

    • W says:

      The MAC address is your machines physical address, whereas your IP address is the address of your computer on a network. Spoofing a MAC address won’t change your IP, and vice versa.

  28. ref2003 says:

    sudo ifconfig en0 ether xxxxxxxxxxxxx

    worked like a charm for me on 10.6.6

    first attempt!

    Thanks!

  29. Ose says:

    Related to this…

    How to change IP address (Mac OS X with cable-router)? I mean, the public IP address showing at http://whatismyipaddress.com

    Connection via cable: 50/3 Mbps
    Router Cisco EPC3825 EuroDocsis 3.0 Gateway
    Mac OS X 10.6.5 (Snow Leopard)
    Two Macs and a printer connected to the Cisco EPC3825 via Ethernet cables.
    WiFi usually off, but sometimes on.
    The cable ISP provides dynamic public IP, yet does not change it after rebooting Mac, rebooting router, resetting router or even unplugging router.

    I know that the public IP can be changed transforming the above cable-router into a cable-modem and then adding a neutral router, but what I am looking for is a way of changing the public IP using the Cisco EPC3825 alone.

    Thanks.

  30. Jumpot S says:

    Dear All

    I tried to change Mac Address but it ask me about password which i didn’t setup for password due to I brought from Apple Store and I use since out of the box.

    Would you please kindly help me to advice how I do for change Mac Address.

    Thank you in Advance.

    Best Regards,

    Jumpot S.

  31. dennis says:

    ###########################

    Nothing worxs for me :-(
    Can change mac address, but then cant reconnect to wifi.

    – Tried all the hints
    – disassoziating through command line
    – cancelled connecting to imaginary ssid.
    – also tried airportclown, macspoofer, xaaspoof

    ——————————————
    osx 10.6.4
    MBP1,3 15″ Santa Rosa
    C2D 2,4 GHz
    NV GT8600M / 256MB
    ——————————————
    FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7170
    Firmware# 29.04.29
    ——————————————

  32. […] to create a new MAC address for something like your router or cable modem. Of course you can also spoof your MAC address rather easily in Mac OS X if you want to use one of the generated addresses for that purpose […]

  33. IceStone says:

    My notebook has a Atheros ar928X wireless card. I can not change the mac address successfully. I think the reason is the airport driver for ar928X. Snow Leopard gain the mac address from the firmware on the card via airport driver. If we typing “ifconfig en1 XX:XX….”, the mac address in driver is not changed actually. So I think, if you cannot change your airport mac address , you maybe other drive for you wireless card. My notebook can change mac address in Win7 when I use OEM drive.

  34. I am having an issue with QuarkXpress 7.5 and having it run on system 10.6.4. From all the research I have done, the program crashes due to the firewire and its mac address. Is there a way to disable the firewire or to change its mac address. If so, please let me know. Thank you.

  35. v2i says:

    since the spoofing command “sudo ifconfig en1 00:::::” is temporary (meaning: if you restart your mac the original hardware mac-address will be the one used by your os settings again) your airport advanced settings will show the original one Drew.

    don´t worry ! if terminal shows the spoofed mac-address it is spoofed all right (:

  36. Drew says:

    I’m running OS X 10.5.8.

    I used the sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6 command in the terminal and when I check it with ifconfig en1 | grep ether I see the spoofed MAC address.

    However, when I go into my system preferences, go to airport advanced settings I still see my original MAC address listed under the ethernet tab.

    Is my address being spoofed? The terminal shows the spoof, but system settings do not.

    Thanks.

  37. phil says:

    I try MacSpoofer on 10.6;4 but I can t make a connection I have the message “connection time out” any ideas ?

  38. Jeff says:

    I’m able to change my mac but I still can’t get around a blocked site. I have charter internet and for some reason they block one site that shouldn’t be blocked in the first place. Any ideas?

  39. […] at this: How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X – OS X Daily i5 Hackintosh: MB: Gigabyte P55M-UD2 | CPU: Intel Core i5 650 | Ram: 4 GB DDR3 1333 Mhz | GPU: […]

  40. MacSpoofer says:

    With MacSpoofer you can spoof your MAC address very easy from the System Preferences, download it from http://www.macspoofer.com

    :o)

    • Rob says:

      Hi, just have tried your MacSpoofer to change MAC address, and in fact it changes, but then, Wifi refuses to get same local IP address as before of making the change, so I am not able to connect to internet unless if reboot the system. Also, how can I contact you at your website ? (since I can not find any “contact” section)

      Many thanks

  41. […] iPhone, from being able to access certain restricted networks with MAC address filtering to even spoofing a Macs MAC address in order to use WiFi that’s intended for iPhone and iOS devices only (such as the CLEAR iSpot […]

  42. Frickalik says:

    AIRCLOWN DOES NOT WORK FOR 10.6.4
    Youll have to wait for a new version.

    Thanks to Chromeo for the actual directions. I just reposted and cleaned it up a bit.

    ^^directions above

  43. Frickalik says:

    Since everyone scrolls all the way to the bottom and doesn’t look through other comments.
    I am on 10.6.4 and spoofing my MAC address right now.

    Do THIS:

    sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport

    then

    sudo airport -z

    and you are dissociated.
    (If this does not work, go to the Airport icon, click join other network and type in some random SSID. It will say Connection failed and you are not connected )

    Then set your MAC address to what you want:

    sudo ifconfig en1 ether 11:22:33:44:55:66

    Then Check if it worked.

    ifconfig en1 | grep ether

    These steps worked on 2 separate Macbook’s. With reboots. Note that after reboot that these steps will have to repeated. If there is a note of “access denied” Throw a sudo in front of the command. If “airport” is not found. Please read “NOTE” in original directions which will tell you what the command is… but i didnt have a problem with these directions.

    To find local Wifi spots and MAC addresses of clients
    Use KISMAC
    http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17199

    Open, go to preferences>Drivers>
    Use scroll down menu and select Apple Airport blah blah PASSIVE mode and add.
    Go back. Scan. double click your gateway protected hotspot and see your wifi clients MAC addresses :)
    *NOTE THAT THIS IS FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY, NOT FOR VULNERABILITY EXPLOITATION*

  44. Mick says:

    So I tried AirportClown (there is a newer version than via your link) and it says it worked. Indeed, if in a terminal window I do:
    ifconfig en1 | grep ether
    then I also see that it worked. However, in the network preferences it stubbornly continues to see 7 use the actual hardware mac address of my late 2009 MacBook Pro’s WIFI (I’m running 10.6.4). I’ve heard the AirportClown method worked under 10.6.2, then it broke for 10.6.3 and was fixed, and now it’s broke again for 10.6.4 :-(.

    Anybody out there know how to fix this!

  45. Lucas C says:

    Thanks !!

    Follow the AirPortClown link for dl, it make my life easier ! :)

    http://hotfile.com/dl/45427324/3906eb6/AirPortClown.zip.html

  46. Feanne says:

    Thank you so much for this helpful tip! I had to use this when I moved my modem from my old computer to my new computer. For some reason, my modem would only work with my old computer.. I had to spoof the old computer’s MAC address on the new computer to get my modem to work with the latter.

  47. Sri says:

    hi
    spoofing the airport mac address closes the ports in transmission..is there any way to open them

  48. Bapi says:

    Thanx again,CUPS
    plz let me know (the steps) how can i do it ( spoofing ) , cloning mac address to airport express.

    thanx in advance

  49. Bapi says:

    Hi Dee Brown!
    The tutorial is fine. I have 1 problem, hope to get solution from you. I have an optical internet connection(wire) which the ISP configured with my macbook (ethernet port), which means i can only use that macbook. Now i have 2 macbook and i wanna use both of them via WLAN.
    so is it possible to clone the assigned MAC address into the Airport express so that i can use both of my macbook via wireless ?
    Plz help

    Thanx in advance

    • cups says:

      Why don’t you just get a wireless router?

      • Bapi says:

        Thanx Cups

        but the problem is that they configured using the MAC adress. now is it possible to clone MAC adress on Airport Express ( coz as far i know its not possible in airport express)
        so, i wanna know if sumbd knows any trick to do so. ????

        thanx in advance

        • cups says:

          of course you can spoof to whatever MAC address you want, even the same as another machine, but you may run into conflicts.

  50. Fernando says:

    Spoofing will only work if a) airport is running; and b) airport is disassociated from any network.

    Use terminal to submit the following, and the airport icon on the upper-right hand corner will grey out.
    sudo airport -z

  51. What Eva says:

    Yeah, this doesn’t work. The en1 MAC address doesn’t change, regardless of the status of your wireless connection.

  52. That didn’t last long. The AirPortClown revision doesn’t run on 10.6.3. I get an error “ifconfig: can’t set link-level netmask or broadcast”

  53. I’m finally getting success with this with the revision to AirPortClown that can be downloaded directly here:
    http://www.multiupload.com/5GK5RBR5I0

    It was posted by Alfred D in this thread:
    http://blog.funkensturm.de/2010/01/22/airportclown-simple-mac-address-spoof-for-snow-leopard/

    I’m running this on a MacBook Pro 13″ Unibody with 10.6.2.

    To be clear, this changes the MAC Address *and* then I am able to connect to a WiFi network. Prior to this, the MAC address would change, but I would be unable to connect.

  54. Mahmut says:

    Also, when I ping myself on en1 or en0 it comes back with default ethernet.

  55. Mk says:

    Johnason your app still no work, changing mac it’s not a problem but then I can’t connect on anywhere

  56. mik says:

    I wish I could resolve this error in airport

  57. Jakob says:

    running 10.6.2 and I got the same issue:
    I’m able to change my MAC address using “sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:11:22:33:44:55” (with and without “sudo airport -z” as described above) but afterwards I can’t connect to wireless networks anymore. I’m getting timeout errors and I need to reboot before I can successfully reconnect to my wireless network.
    any ideas?

  58. WaterCooled says:

    echo_host : Still not working for me. Lucky you. Maybe for 10.6.3.

  59. […] How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X – OS X Daily […]

  60. mik says:

    I have some problems with a white Macbook.
    On the imac it’s all ok but not here.
    I tried to dissociate the airport but I get an ! so when I change the MAC airport won’t connect anymore.
    Any help?

  61. jc says:

    @echo_host

    thanks for the updates… here are my questions

    1. after you did that, what does it show in
    system preference->network->Airport->ethernet? new or original Mac address
    2. after you reboot your computer, do you need to do this again? i guess the spoof Mac address is for the current session only, right??

  62. echo_host says:

    Im running 10.6 and noticed that nothing was working, in apps or in terminal. I found out you need to disable the airport by trying to join a non existent network, then pressing cancel. Then doing the commands to change the en1 mac. Its working on my macbook pro right now. Very happy there is a fix.

    Proven working fix is on this site:

    http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/changemac

  63. jc says:

    here is the update to what i posted on feb 4…

    i typed ‘sudo ifconfig en1 lladdr 00:25:11:4f:33:22’

    now i see 00:25:11:4f:33:22 in my wireless router under attached devices, however, i still see the OLD mac address in system preference->network->Airport->ethernet ??

    can anyone explain this??

    • tf says:

      I am also curious about this. I used another computer connected to my router to look up my computer’s MAC address and the spoofed one showed up. But the fact that it doesn’t change in system preferences->network still bothers me.

  64. jc says:

    hi Chromeo…

    i tried your steps, see below, and it seems to work. however i have a couple of questions…

    –> sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport/usr/sbin/airport
    –> sudo airport -z
    –> ifconfig en0 | grep ether
    ether d4:9a:21:03:26:5e

    1. when i look system preferences->network->airport->ethernet, is still shows
    my original Mac Address. is this normal?
    2. after i rebooted the machine, the Mac address remains as the new one. is
    this because this has been set permanently? the only way to go back to
    the original Mac Address is issue this comment again
    — sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr 00:00:00:00:00:00

    thanks!!
    3.

  65. Kevinkoehl says:

    Also, when I ping myself on en1 or en0 it comes back with default ethernet.

  66. Kevinkoehl says:

    Question, when I try these commands and various combinations of them: en0 etc., it doesn’t seem to apply. When I grep ether it tells me what i input, but when I check system preferences it’s the same ethernet. I’ve tried this command in root and superuser. Help please?

  67. Snerre says:

    Sorry guy`s… It`s working fine at 10.5.8.

    I just wrote ipconig the first time…

    Perfect! ave a nice day….

  68. Snerre says:

    Does anyone how to spoof whit MacBook Pro 10.5.8 ? It doesnt work this articel for 10.5.8 on my Mac…

    Please post an answer…. Tanks everybody…

  69. Stella says:

    Hey everyone I tried the samething with my 10.5.8 but now I cannot Connect my wireless network, I don’t know what I am doing wrong

  70. Amazed says:

    Credits goes to Chromeo it works perfect, thanks a lot bro.

    @peter you wrote the command wrong it’s airport and not airpot
    @shadow and macdet there’s no wifi prob, you have to use the sudo command as WaterCooled said.

    MacBook unidoby 13, SnowLeopard 10.6.2

  71. macdet says:

    some probs here— maybe an only an wifi prob?

  72. Peter says:

    I have changed the MAC address, but after it I can not connect to the wifi network at all.

    Any idea?

    By the way the command airpot -z did not work for me. There is a file, but bash says: command not found.

  73. WaterCooled says:

    “sudo ifconfig en1 ether 11:22:33:44:55:66”.
    use “sudo” before every command requiring admin authorizations.

  74. shadow says:

    Last login: Mon Dec 28 06:36:37 on console
    unknown-00-21-xx-e2-xx-40:~ shadow$ sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport

    WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
    or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
    typing when using sudo. Type “man sudo” for more information.

    To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

    Password:
    unknown-00-21-xx-e2-xx-40:~ shadow$ sudo airport -z
    unknown-00-21-xx-e2-xx-40:~ shadow$ ifconfig en1 ether 11:22:33:44:55:66
    ifconfig: ioctl (SIOCAIFADDR): permission denied
    unknown-00-21-xx-e2-xx-40:~ shadow$

    same sh*t, nothing happens…

  75. shadowfixer says:

    shadow – you are doing everything right apart from typing ‘airport -z’

    type ‘sudo airport -z’ and your problem is fixt!

  76. shadow says:

    Hello dear Mac Users :) I was trying to do exactly what said Chromeo. But nothing. I will try to explain what i’m doing.
    1) Open Terminal.
    2) Paste “sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport” (without quotes).
    3) Enter. After that I have message: “ln: /usr/sbin/airport: File exists”.
    4) Then typing airport -z.
    5) Enter. After that I have message: “root required to disassociate”
    6) Then “ifconfig en1 ether 11:22:33:44:55:66”.
    7) Enter. After that I have message: “ifconfig: ioctl (SIOCAIFADDR): permission denied”
    P.S. I have latest firmware of the airport (2009-002 v1.0). Help please.

  77. Jacob Riggan says:

    I have Snow Leopard (10.6.2) followed the directions to the letter, and it worked fine. i also notice is still listed in System Preference as the one hard wired to the logic board. i guess that a good thing. ;)

  78. Chromeo says:

    Everyone, this definitely still works because I am spoofing my MAC right now in Snow Leopard. Follow the instructions carefully, make sure you DO NOT split this command into 2, it looks like two lines in the article for some fontsizes but as the author says it is one command string to the paths, you are linking the airport application to /usr/sbin so you can use it by just typing ‘airport’ or as one commenter said ‘sudo airport -z’ since you need the admin privilege to run it.

    Breaking down that command is this:

    sudo ln -s (create the link)

    /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport (the path to the airport utility)

    /usr/sbin/airport (where the link ends up so you can just type airport)

    but it is all in one! DO NOT forget this! sudo ln -s path destination is the format!

    then sudo airport -z and you are dissasociated….

    The secret is doing that properly, because you HAVE TO DISASSOCIATE from the network but still have Airport enabled!

    Trust me this works, doing it now by following exact instructions above. I have to spoof my MAC address nearly every day to get my MacBook Pro to be able to use the ATT hotspot at Starbucks (register on iPhone, spoof iPhone MAC, walla you have free WiFi at Starbucks)

  79. WaterCooled says:

    An Airport update…And nothing changed.

  80. Cyberfunk says:

    Hey, I’m running 10.6.2. and I still haven’t figured anything out.. about how to make this work. I’ve tried everything recommended here with the only result that my macbook refuses to associate with a network when I do the MAC address change.

    I remember there was a airport driver extension hack a while back that would change it manually in the driver because there wasn’t another way… this is before you could assign it with airport -a , which apparently doesnt work anymore . Does anyone know if you can still use this trick ?

  81. WaterCooled says:

    Does 10.6.2 change anything to anybody?

  82. AsTeR says:

    Hello,

    This works fine but only for “en0”, the command is useless for “en1” even if using “airport -z”.

    Unfortunately the one i would like to change is “en1″… Please help !

  83. Mentalfloss says:

    I have been watching these comments ever since snow leopard release. I thought I’d add my two cents in.

    First off I know many of the readers need this command so they can set their MAC to an acceptable range for their network. My laptop already works in my network, I am using the command as a quick way to reset my IP.

    I have had success under 10.6.1 using the “airport -z” to disassociate my airport completely. (I had to use “sudo airport -z”). I then used the above command to switch MAC. I then am able to connect to my network just fine.

    Also of note, after connecting to the network and running “ifconfig en1” (the grep part is not needed, just running “ifconfig en1” gives more information on your status) I get my personalized MAC address returned. However, when looking under System Profiler or Network Utility my original MAC is still listed.

    This doesn’t concern me though since my goal was achieved, a new IP is assigned. Dunno how this affects the crowd of folks that need a certain range in order to connect in the first place.

  84. I’ve pretty much given up too. I carry a spare external portable drive that I can use when I need to. But it sucks to reboot and not use my normal system. I’ve bookmarked this site and will test and come back when Apple releases 10.6.2 or any other patch.

    In the meantime, we should be vocal about this and make sure Apple knows that this is a problem for those of us who need to troubleshoot or gain access to secure networks that require us to use a specific MAC address range. For some of us, it may mean not being able to use a MacBook or MacBook Pro anymore.

  85. stang says:

    In response to Cool P and his question on if someone knowing your mac address will make you vulnerable to being hacked. The answer is no. The mac address is used to identify that device on the network. The main reason for spoofing (for me at least) is for network troubleshooting.

  86. Cool P says:

    Can your Mac be hacked if someone knew your airport mac address? Just need to know, this is my reason for Spoof. I advice on this matter.

  87. bluefish says:

    Well, I’ve given up waiting and have returned to Leopard. I figure I’ll just wait till Snow Leopard adapts it, cause mac address spoofing has more value to me than snow leopards minute upgrades. That being said, i’ll be sure to post if I find something useful (on the web).

  88. daemon says:

    I’ve had success using the above method in Snow Leopard. This is on a late 2007 MacBook.

  89. Mad Doctor Hrothgar says:

    I’m in the same boat, Airport won’t associate in 10.6.1 to either an 802.11a (who knew those were still around?) or 802.11b unsecured network.

    I suspect that some part of the OS’s behind-the-scenes airport magic uses the address maintained by ifconfig (where-ever it’s stored), while other parts use a cached value (recorded before the command-line change), and the mismatch between them causes the network association to fail.

    Has anyone using 10.6 tried the startup script posted by Jose Vigenor above? Maybe setting the MAC address before airport loads would be effective.

    Of course, the *correct* solution is to get my IT department to revoke whatever ridiculous MAC-filter they’ve put in place and forgotten about, but I had hoped I could skip ahead of bureaucracy’s sluggish pace.

  90. ceevo says:

    For what it’s worth, I was able to change my LAN address and DHCP an address. Am very interested to hear how to get the wireless working again. -ceevo

  91. GAMESTA says:

    OK. I am still having the same problems as bluefish. I did it the way the update at the bottom of the instructions sad with using airport -z and all that. From the command line it looks good but the Airport is inoperable.

    I hardly believe Appl disabled the feature without disabling the actual command. If the command is there, it should work. I think they didn’t test this and now they are like WTF.

    As we all know, Snow Leapord Airport issues are viral on the interwebs. If the above instructions actually work for someones Airport wireless and not for the rest of us, I have hope it will work but I haven’t seen one testimonial of someone who has actually had success changing the MAC address of their Airport wireless with Snow Leopard. Major bug IMO.

    Once I do achieve success, I will put it everywhere so others will know.

  92. Ezequiel says:

    I changed my mac adrress but now in my router configuration I appear with the old Mac address and with the new one. I’m sure that what i’m looking at is MY MAC and not the router’s mac. So i’m taking 2 ip’s of my range in my wlan like this:
    maceze 192.168.1.101 00-e2-e3-e4-e5-e6
    maceze 192.168.1.103 00-25-00-47-d7-ef

    How can I delete one of them?? thank you

  93. Just an unfortunate update…In 10.6.1, I’m still experiencing the same thing as mentioned before, and detailed by bluefish.

    That is, I can change my MAC, but then can’t connect to any network. This is on a MacBook Pro that I could spoof my MAC on any version of 10.5.x.

    Please help us.

  94. bluefish says:

    I am having the same problem as Kevein Edwards. I had been spoofing my MAC address on Leopard (all releases) without any problems using the tutorial command of ‘sudo ifconfig en1 ether XXXXXXXX’.

    Having upgraded to Snow Leopard, this command now seems to be broken. When I change my MAC address using the same command, it breaks the wireless. By this I mean that I cannot join ANY networks (all I get are timeout errors). When I go to System Prefs>Network>Airport>Advanced, there is now a line added at the bottom “Airport ID.” Typing the ‘ifconfig en1 | grep ether’ command, it returns the value I entered.

    When I change my MAC address back to the one listed, the wireless returns to normal operation. I am guessing that the new release has disallowed spoofing, but I am not sure. I remember that I cannot change my ethernet port (en0) because it supposedly has a hardware lock, but the wireless card never had this issue. It seems that this is too new of an issue to have received attention (found nothing on google). Does anyone have any idea of a way to bypass this new software change?

  95. I used to be able to spoof my MAC address with Leopard on my MacBook Pro either through the terminal, via AppleScript, or with the freeware app ChangeMAC. Now with Snow Leopard (10.6.0), I can change the MAC address, but once I do, I can’t connect to any wireless router. I’ve tried all of the above methods, which worked before, but nothing seems to help…including turning it off/on (for the I.T. Crowd fans).

    I sure hope someone can figure this out. MAC spoofing makes my life a lot better.

  96. ps says:

    Folks! Mac spoofing of ethernet (en0) works on Snow Leopard.
    I was able to spoof mac address on en0 (ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx….).
    There were some problems with DHCP, I couldn’t get the IP though – I don’t know, maybe it was a problem with my router or something, maybe I have to re-set the dhcp client on macosx. Now, I don’t have time to check further, however, it gives hope that ethernet spoofing works again (people say it worked in Tiger w/o problems).

  97. Halo says:

    I’d like to spam!

  98. Fox Mulder says:

    This echos what others said:

    —————-

    Due to a bug in OS X 10.5.6+, the built in mac-address spoofing
    function requires the following work around:

    To determine your old mac-address:

    ifconfig en1 | grep ether

    Do not ‘Turn Airport Off’, instead deactivate your wireless card by:

    Click ‘Join Other Network…’ and enter a fake SSID. Allow it to
    attempt a connection and then go ahead and cancel the request. Your
    card is now deactivated allowing us to proceed with the following
    command:

    sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:11:22:33:44:55

    Confirm using:

    ifconfig en1 | grep ether

    Saw this on: http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/changemac

  99. Stewart says:

    Worked for me in Mac OS X Leopard v 10.5 but I used this command:

    sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

    I don’t really know what the difference is, ether vs lladdr but that is what the ifconfig grep command gave me so that’s what i did and it worked to spoof my mac address.

    thanks!

  100. Sam J says:

    Just updated to 10.5.8 this arvo and immediately afterward found a hotspot that doesn’t like my machine. Seems the ifconfig command returns fine but the MAC doesn’t change even with the disassociate trick.

    If this is apple being bitches again and trying to tell me what I can and can’t do with my hardware I reckon I’m going to call it a day and move to windows 7 next refresh.

    Sam

  101. ChrisMaxwell says:

    Couldn’t make it work with the above instructions on my MBP early 2008 running OS X 10.5.7 (or the previous).
    Went out on a limb, bought a USB ethernet dongle (TreneNet TU2-ET100). Thought perhaps I could spoof it, using a different driver.
    No luck when I plugged it in, so I downloaded driver from TrendNet.
    http://www.trendnet.com/products/proddetail.asp?prod=150_TU2-ET100
    (Went to downloads, grabbed the universal zip)
    No luck with the TRENDnet dongle…
    BUT NOW SPOOFING MY INTERNAL ETHERNET (en0) WORKS!
    Not sure what happened. It works while the internal interface is up and running!

    11:24:49 { ~ }-> ifconfig en0 | grep ether
    ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e1
    11:24:59 { ~ }-> sudo ifconfig en0 ether 00:b4:c0:e1:e1:e0
    11:26:03 { ~ }-> ifconfig en0 | grep ether
    ether 00:b4:c0:e1:e1:e0

    wow.

  102. Jolindien says:

    Hello,
    Dee Brown’s trick works perfectly on 10.5.7 with airport.
    but is also a trick for ethernet (i.e en0)?
    Thx

  103. sjdude says:

    Whoops, screwed up the summary. Please add:

    3.1 Choose “Cancel” to leave en1 “on” but not associated

  104. sjdude says:

    Dee Brown’s trick works like a charm on Leopard 10.5.7. Summary, assuming you want to do this on a wifi connection:

    1. Do not turn off airport
    2. Choose “Join other network…” from the airport menu
    3. Enter a bogus network name, e.g. fubar
    4. In a terminal window, enter: sudo ifconfig en1 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx: (your new MAC)
    5. Choose the network you wish to join from the Airport menu

    After step 4, if you want to verify you’ve really changed your MAC address, enter this into a terminal window:
    ifconfig en1

    and look for the “ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:” value and it should match what you entered.

  105. Adam says:

    Make sure that you are connected to the network interface that you would like to spoof for it to work. i.e. if I wanted to spoof my MAC address on the en1 (airport protocol), I would need to turn wifi on BUT not connect to any network then continue with the terminal process.

  106. Joe says:

    Yup, use Dee Brown’s trick.

  107. Spudz76 says:

    In Linux (yes, not OS X, but still UNIX style) the interface must be “down” first otherwise it’s considered to be in use and can’t be changed – so try this:
    sudo ifconfig en0 down
    sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    sudo ifconfig en0 up

  108. Benjamin says:

    @Kroaken: Use Dee Brown’s trick.

  109. Kroaken says:

    Doesn’t work in 10.5.7 :/ mac spoof not working 10.5.7

  110. Kroaken says:

    Doesn’t work in 10.5.7 :/ mac spoof not working 10.5.7

  111. MR says:

    Works like a charm on 10.5.6 thanks to dee browns’ trick :)

  112. dee brown says:

    running 10.5.6 you need to do the trick to disassociate from the network. ****DO NOT TURN AIRPORT OFF****. What you will have to do is click your airport and click join network and enter some bogus name as the network ssid. Then while it’s trying to connect click cancel.At this point you may spoof using the sudo ifconfig en1 ether command

  113. Usman Ismail says:

    for leopard

    sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr 00:00:00:00:00:00

  114. Kevin says:

    Thanks for sharing!
    But it doesn’t work on my macbook 10.5.6…
    Kind regards,
    Kevin

  115. Cherooo says:

    Thank you for your articles

  116. iBook G3 says:

    I’m having trouble spoofing my MAC.
    I’ve done the right commands, and my original MAC address keeps coming back, well, the MAC address didn’t change in the first place. I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem, some tips would help. Also, I’m running Mac OS X 10.4.11
    Thanks.

  117. femagra says:

    Looking for information and found it at this great site…

  118. Brian Allen says:

    @ Inspector Clouzot

    Spoofing your can be done for various reasons. Any Internet Service Providers can be expecting a specific MAC address prior to providing an IP address. You can using spoofing to provide the expected MAC address.

    Where I work, they have a service issue which is caching my old MAC address and it prevents me logging in the next day if they service doesn’t drop my old connection. With a quick spoof of an MAC address, I can connect without waiting on IT to fix their problem.

  119. Inspector Clouzot says:

    Hmmm, why would I want to spoof my MAC address in the first place? What advantages to that and in which situations? Thanks…

  120. pha says:

    Very helpful thanks!

  121. RancidFerret says:

    I’m new to Macs, so I could be doing something wrong, but…
    Every time I try to do the “sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6” command it doesn’t work. I enter the password correctly, but when I check the mac address after with the “ifconfig en1 | grep ether” command it returns my default mac address.

    I am on OSX 10.5.4 so it could be an issue with this release of Leopard. Has anyone else on 10.5.4 gotten it to work?

  122. Murphy Mac says:

    Thanks guys. I’m in a hotel with my iPod touch and a laptop. Now I can use both on the property wifi. Thanks for filling a need the hotel should help with.

  123. AdamB78 says:

    Correction in the MACADD file (at least for Leopard)


    ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx (xx in your vmx file)

    instead of that other ifconfig command.

    Got it from this thread:
    http://pcwizcomputer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=32

  124. spacec0w says:

    Jose Vigenor or anyone else that knows about these things

    Trying to follow his intstructions I get this error when trying to make the MACADD directory. Any ideas? Have Mac OS X 10.5.3, Powerbook G4 1.5Ghz

    Macintosh-3:startupitems chris$ mkdir MACADD
    mkdir: MACADD: Permission denied

  125. SubliminalMac says:

    Dude, How does that “show how mac address filtering is so weak”? You would have to know the allowed mac addresses in the first place to put it in, and wouldn’t you have to be on the network or physically use the computer to know…

  126. ps says:

    (this post can be duplicated as the first submit attempt end up with some database errors, sorry if this is the case)

    I’ve got Macbook w/ Leopard 10.5.3 – and I can confirm that
    mac spoofing using ifconfig still doesn’t work with Leopard on ethernet i-face.

    Akbarfoto says that it does work on powerbook,
    so it might be the driver that does not support such
    operation. Maybe it would be possible to use the old driver from Tiger in Leopard?

    2nd thought: Has anyone tried to use USB LAN adapters to spoof MAC address?

  127. akbarfoto says:

    i can confirm that en0 (lan) work with leopard. i guess it work on older mac such as powerbook, but not macbook. i use the “sudo ifconfig en0 lladdr”

    System Version: Mac OS X 10.5 (9A581)
    Kernel Version: Darwin 9.0.0
    Boot Volume: external
    Boot Mode: Normal
    Computer Name: PowerBook G4 12″ – 867 MHz

  128. Math says:

    Some correction on the StartupParameters.plist
    ————–

    {
    Description = “HomeMade boot param”;
    Provides = (“MACADD”);
    Requires = (“Network Configuration”);
    OrderPreference = “None”;
    }
    ———-

    So far it is not working with en0 (LAN), but works fine with en1 (Wireless)
    under leopard 10.5.2

  129. Jose Vigenor says:

    Mac OS X : How to Set the MAc Address During Startup

    Follow these steps to create a script that sets the MAC Address each time the computer restarts:

    1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/).
    2. Type: cd /Library
    3. Press Return.
    4. Type: mkdir StartupItems
    5. Press Return. (If you encounter an error, continue to step 6.)
    6. Type: cd StartupItems
    7. Press Return.
    8. Type: mkdir MACADD
    9. Press Return.
    10. Type: cd MACADD
    11. Press Return.
    12. Type: pico MACADD
    13. Press Return.
    14. In the pico editor, paste in the following text.

    Begin copying below this line.
    ——————————————————————————–

    #!/bin/sh

    . /etc/rc.common

    ##
    # Configure a network interface MAC Address setting
    ##
    #
    # This script will set the MAC Address setting for the specified interface(s)
    #
    # The name of the interface (ex. en0) must be edited to match the interface
    # to which the MACADD setting should be applied
    #
    ##

    StartService ()
    {
    ConsoleMessage “Configuring MACADD”

    ### uncomment lines and change the value following ‘MACADD’ as appropriate mac address

    if [ “${MACADD:=-NO-}” = “-YES-” ]; then

    # /sbin/ifconfig en0 lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
    # /sbin/ifconfig en1 lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

    fi

    }

    StopService ()
    {
    return 0
    }

    RestartService ()
    {
    return 0
    }

    RunService “$1”

    ——————————————————————————–

    End copying above this line.

    15. Uncomment the /sbin/ifconfig line(s) to set the MACADD for a particular interface.

    Note: Removing the number sign (#) from the beginning of a line uncomments it. Typically, en0 is the interface name for the Built-in Ethernet port and en1 is interface name for the AirPort Card. This is not always the case, though. To confirm that a network port is associated with a particular interface name, open the Network Utility (/Applications/Utilities/), and click the Info tab.

    16. When you have finished customizing the file, save it (press Control-O), press Return, and exit pico (press Control-X).

    17. Type: chmod 755 MACADD

    18. Press Return.

    19. Type: pico StartupParameters.plist

    20. Press Return.

    21. In the pico editor paste in the following text.

    Begin copying below this line.

    ——————————————————————————–

    Description
    Can set MACADD
    OrderPreference
    None
    Provides

    MACADD

    Requires

    Network Configuration

    ——————————————————————————–

    End copying above this line.

    22. When you have finished customizing the file, save it (Control-O), press Return, and exit pico (Control-X).
    23. Type: chmod 755 StartupParameters.plist
    24. Press Return.
    25. Type: sudo pico /etc/hostconfig
    26. When prompted, enter your password.
    27. Press Return.
    28. In the pico editor, add this line at the bottom:

    MACADD=-YES-

    29. Save it (Control-O), press Return, and exit pico (Control-X).

    When you restart the computer, MACADD is set for the interface that you specified.

    Notes

    1. The MACADD will be reset after changing a Location, waking the computer from sleep, or changing the state of the network interface. To use the script again without having to restart, enter the following command:

    sudo SystemStarter start MACADD

    2. If you experience any issues or wish to not set MACADD during startup, you can turn off the new script by changing the MACADD line in /etc/hostconfig to:

    MACADD=-NO-

  130. James Wu says:

    en0 can’t not modify after version 10.5.x

  131. Horuden says:

    Is there anyway to make the new address stick after I reboot?

  132. […] mac – source link | win/*nix source […]

  133. Poptarts says:

    Changing or spoofing does not seem to work on the en0 (wired ethernet) of MacBook Pros even in 10.5.2. Does anyone know a way to resolve this issue?

  134. […] How to spoof your MAC address in Mac OS X – OS X DailySpoofing a MAC address can be desired for multiple reasons, and it is very easy to spoof your MAC address in both Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5. […]

  135. James Nevara says:

    Changing the above command to en0 worked for me in Mac OS X 10.4.11, I don’t have Leopard so I can’t verify:

    sudo ifconfig en0 ether 00:e2:e3:e4:e5:e6

    You can check if it worked by doing ifconfig, and your ethernet MAC address will be identified as that address

  136. ks says:

    Doesn’t work with ethernet connection. Works for my wireless. Any ideas how to get this to work for ethernet en0?

  137. Nando Vieira says:

    Allaire, I need to use the ethernet connection because is the only one that’s available (at work, there’s no wireless). The command you sent still doesn’t work on Leopard.

  138. Allaire says:

    I think you can spoof an ethernet address by doing sudo ifconfig en0 ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

    I find the wireless a lot more useful, and it shows just how weak the mac address filtering is as a security implementation on any network

  139. Nando Vieira says:

    Is there any way to spoof the ethernet (en0) MAC Address? Used to work on Tiger, but stopped working after I upgraded to Leopard.

    • John C. says:

      Here’s my simplified version:

      ifconfig en1 | grep ether
      ^^^ Check Current Mac Address

      sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z
      ^^^ Disconnect from Networks

      sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:00:00:00:00:00
      ^^^ Set New Mac Address

      ifconfig en1 | grep ether
      ^^^ Check Current Mac Address

      • Petar says:

        Hello,
        I did it, but there is a problem – when I verify the new mac address there is nothing done, the MAC address is the original. I’m using OS-X 10.4.11 and external wi-fi card (RTL) and Realtek WLAN Client Utility.

        Can you help me?

        Thanx a lot!

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