by Abigail Abanilla

Created on: February 06, 2011

A MAC Address is a unique identifier of a certain network device. It is used mostly, in terms of identifying a computer on a network. Although some rely on IP address to identify a device, it's more efficient to use the MAC address in cases when the IP address is assigned automatically. Auto assigned IP addresses or DHCP IPs are not permanent addresses as opposed to a MAC Address.

In this article, we will learn how to find the MAC address of a network device on a PC. Most PCs now come with at least two network devices: The Ethernet Card (LAN) and the Wireless Card (WLAN). There are many ways to find the MAC address on a Windows system. The easiest way is on the command prompt. Command prompt is a built in windows program which can be accessed on the program list. Below are the steps on how to find the MAC Address using the command prompt on different Windows Systems.

Windows XP / 2000

1. Go to "START".

2. Click on "Programs" and go to "Accessories".

3. Click on "Command Prompt".

4. Here you will have the command prompt window open, which is usually black in color.

5. On the command line, type "ipconfig/all" and press "Enter"

6. Look for "Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection", and below it, look for "Physical Address". This is now the MAC Address of the Ethernet Card (LAN) of the PC. Which is in the format of 00-00-00-00-00-00.

Windows Vista / Windows 7

1. Go to "START".

2. Click on "All Programs" and go to "Accessories"

3. Right click on the "Command Prompt" and click on "Run as Administrator". (We have to do this because of the UAC feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7)

4. Here you will have the command prompt window open.

5. On the command line, type "ipconfig/all" and press "Enter".

6. Look for the same information mentioned above on Windows XP / 2000

Now, that's not the only way to find the MAC Address of a network device. That's just a quicker way to do it. Below are steps on how to do it, the long way.

Windows XP

1. Go to "START".

2. Go to "Settings" and then "Control Panel"

3. Look for "Network And Internet Connections" and click it. (If you don't see this, proceed to step 4)

4. Look for "Network Connections" and click it.

5. The next window will show you the network adapters of the PC. Here you will find either, Local Area Connection or Wireless Network Connection. The following steps can be applied to both devices.

6. Right click on Local Area Connection (Or Wireless Network Connection) and Go to "Status". (Status will only be highlighted or enabled if you are connected to the network using the network device you are clicking on. Say, you're connected to the internet using your Ethernet Card, then you can click on STATUS.

7. Click on "Support" tab and go to "Details".

8. The next window will display the connection details of a certain device. Look for "Physical Address".

Note: If your adapter or network device is not connected, go to "Properties" instead of status and hover your mouse over 

Windows Vista

1. Go to "Start" and go to "Control Panel".

2. Click on "Network And Internet". (if you don't see this, proceed to step 3)

3. Click on "Network And Sharing Options".

4. On the left pane, under tasks, click on "Manage Network Connections".

5. This window will look like the one on step 5 above (Windows XP).

6. Right click on the adapter (Either LAC or WNC) and click on STATUS. Then go to "details" and look for Physical Address.

Windows 7

1. Repeat Windows Vista steps 1-4. But instead of "Manage Network Connections", look for "Change Adapter Settings".

2. Continue with Windows Vista steps 5-6.

The above steps are the easiest ways to find the MAC Address of a network device on a PC.

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