How To Find MAC Address On Windows 10

There are billions of systems operating at once in the world wide web and not to forget smartphones, IoT devices, modems, routers, switches, automation devices. Which means there is a lot of data traffic per second around the globe. The data transfer has to be constant and perfectly separated for each system. Hence, every system has to be uniquely identified over the web for proper data transmission. If the unique identification of every system wasn’t available, It would’ve been impossible to transmit the data on the correct system and this issue is solved by providing every system with a unique MAC address.

What is a MAC address?

“MAC” stands for (Media Access Control). A MAC address is basically a unique identification number of your hardware. A unique MAC address is provided to each system via the network adapter used in the system to connect with the Internet. This “MAC address” provides a singular identity to your system. Hence, your system can be easily pinpointed via the MAC address and the data you requested on the internet can be sent to your system precisely.

MAC - Media Access Control Address Format

Why MAC address is required?

As it is mentioned above, the system must have a unique identification code to communicate with the world wide web. But there are some more reasons which make the existence of a MAC address inexorable.

  1. DHCP servers require a MAC address to identify your system and provide a valid IP (Internet Protocol) address which is crucial to establish an I/O connection with the web.
  2. Various wireless access points (WiFi) require a MAC address to provide access control. Hence, only the known devices can access the wireless access points as their MAC address is verified before establishing a connection.
  3. Various “network switches” used all over the internet always read and store the list of MAC addresses which have been provided to them at every port. Hence, these switches only forward packets to the feasible system which requested to access the data packets.
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How To Find MAC Address on Windows 10?

At a certain point, you must have found yourself in a situation where you have to put your MAC address to complete a particular task in your system. The most common cause would be the installation of some High-End software like AutoCAD, Creo Etc which requires your MAC address to generate the license key for your purchased product. As your MAC address is completely unique and exclusive, the license key generated according to your MAC address can’t be used on any other system.

Most of the time, the software will automatically grasp your MAC address and carry on with the procedure without bothering you. But, sometimes, the installer will ask you to manually put your MAC address in case you are conducting an offline installation, but don’t worry. In this article, we will explain how you can easily find the MAC address of your system to use it for your desired purpose. Follow the complete article to acknowledge various tested methods available to find your MAC address.

[Note: Make sure you don’t share your MAC address with some stranger or some untrusted third-party application as it is harmful in terms of security.]

Method 1: Finding the MAC address using system settings

This is fairly a simple method to find your MAC address. All you have to do is follow the steps provided below:

  1. Press “Windows key + I”. This will open the system settings. System settings
  2. Now, select “Network and Internet” option provided in the setting. This will open the Internet settings of your system.
  3. Now, If you have a Wifi connection (i.e., Wireless) select “Wifi” option. This option will only show up if you have a working Wifi receiver in your system. Otherwise, click the “Ethernet” option as shown in the image below. You will also notice that your current connection type is already mentioned under “Network status”.
    Network and Internet settings
  4. After you click the “Ethernet” option, you will see the list of all your active ethernet connection. If you have multiple ethernet connections, choose the one which you prefer on daily basis.
    Ethernet network selection
  5. Now, after you click your preferred ethernet connection, a window will open which will display your ethernet properties. In the lower right corner, you will find the technical properties including your MAC address.
    MAC Address in properties
  6. From here, you can copy your MAC address and paste it where it is required.
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Method 2: Using the command prompt to find the MAC address

As the title suggests, you can use the command prompt to find your MAC address. Follow the steps provided below to find your MAC address by using the command prompt:

  1. Press the “Windows key” to open the start menu and type “Cmd”. Right click on the “Command prompt” option and select “Run as administrator” to run the command prompt with administrator privileges.
    Command Prompt as Administrator
  2. This will open the command prompt as shown in the image below.
    Command Prompt Window
  3. Once the command prompt is opened, copy the command provided below and right click in the command window. Press “Enter” to execute the command.

    getmac /v

    Command used in command prompt

  4. After you execute the command, the command prompt will display the MAC address of your system’s network adapter.MAC address found using Command prompt
  5. Now to copy the MAC address, simply select the address by pressing the left click and dragging the cursor over the address. After that, press right click. The MAC address will be copied to your clipboard and you will be able to paste it wherever you desire.

Method 3: Using the control panel to find the MAC address

If you haven’t already found your MAC address by using the above two methods, you can follow this method to obtain your MAC address:

  1. Open “Control panel“.
  2. Set the “View by” category to “Large icons”. After that, select “Network and Sharing Centre
    Network and Sharing center option in control panel
  3. In the Network and Sharing Centre window, click on the “Change adaptor option” provided in the upper left corner.
    Change adapter settings option
  4. Here, you will see multiple network adaptors being used on your system. Select the one you prefer and double-click on it. This will open the “Ethernet Status” window.
    Network connections available in Network sharing center
  5. Here, click on the “details” button. This will show you network connection details.
    Ethernet Status
  6. In the “Network connection details” window, you will find your MAC address as shown in the image below.
    MAC address found using Control panel
  7. You can directly copy the MAC address from here and paste it wherever you desire.

There are plenty of other ways like your router connected client list page, third-party tools and the sticker at the back of your system can get you the MAC address.



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