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What is a MAC Address?

A MAC address, a network device’s physical address, is a sequence of 12 digits and characters that uniquely identifies a computer or other network device when connecting to the network.

This unique address is assigned to the network card during manufacturing, and is effectively its “ID card”.

A MAC address may take on a range of formats, as in the following examples:

0001a2b3c4d5
0001.a2b3.c4d5
00-01-a2-b3-c4-d5
00:01:a2:b3:c4:d5

Determining Your Computer’s MAC Address

You are required to provide your departmental administrator or administration desk with your computer’s MAC address, when registering the computer for network services provision. You will also need this address to identify your computer when resolving problems or malfunctions with the assistance of the IT ServiceDesk.

Determining the MAC Address in Windows

  1. Select the Run command in the Start menu
  2. Enter cmd in the relevant field and press Enter
  3. Enter the command  getmac /v in the window that appears and press Enter
  4. Data will be displayed, including the MAC address, which will appear under the Physical Address column.

For your information, should your computer be equipped with a wireless network adapter (or an additional Ethernet network adapter), numerous physical addresses will be presented.

Determining the MAC Address on Macintosh Computers

For wired connection:

  1. Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu
  2. Access the Network preferences section
  3. Verify that Ethernet is selected in the left-hand side of the window that appears, and click Advanced in the lower right-hand side of the window
  4. Access the last tab titled Hardware. The MAC address will appear on the first line.

For Wi-Fi connection (WIS_Secure or MATLAB):

  1. Launch System Preferences from the Apple menu
  2. Access the Network preferences section
  3. Verify that Wi-Fi is selected in the left-hand side of the window that appears, and click Advanced in the lower right-hand side of the window
  4. Access the last tab titled Hardware. The MAC address will appear on the first line.

Determining the MAC Address in Linux

  1. Launch a terminal window and enter the command /sbin/ifconfig
  2. Upon running the command, a data list will be presented, including the MAC address assigned to the device, which will appear next to the HWaddr (short for Hardware Address) heading

Determining the Hard Drive (Vol C:) Serial Number (for Windows Computers Only)

On a command line prompt, enter the vol c: command and press Enter.

The hard drive's 8-digit serial number will appear (in the format 0000-0000).