How do you change your Airport or Ethernet MAC address in Mac OS X 10.6?

Posted by Dave Gallagher on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Dave Gallagher
Published on 2011-01-12T15:35:10Z Indexed on 2011/01/30 15:27 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 413

Filed under:

osx-snow-leopard

|

macbook

|

mac-address

|

airport

|

ifconfig

I have a MacBook Pro and would like to set a custom MAC address for either my Airport WiFi card, or Ethernet port. In older versions of Mac OS X, you could do it like this:

$ sudo ifconfig en0 ether 00:11:22:33:44:55      // Ethernet
$ sudo ifconfig en1 lladdr AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF     // Airport

For it to work on Airport, you'd have to power it on (e.g. $ sudo ifconfig en1 up), ensure it's not connected to any wireless network, and execute the command. I'm aware such a change won't propagate across reboots.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work on Mac OS X 10.6.6 anymore. Apple appears to have removed the functionality (the command fails silently). Does anyone have any idea how to do it? Thanks for any help you can offer! :)

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about osx-snow-leopard

Macports Apache not starting at Mac osx snow leopard boot

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Macports Apache2 not starting at Mac Osx snow leopard boot. I've done the launchctl load command, the symlinks point to my /opt/local//etc/LaunchDaemeons/org.macports.apache2/org.macports.apache2.plist, but it never starts. I can start it manually, works fine after that. Just wont load on startup… >>> More
Unable to enable FTP access of Mac OSX Snow Leopard

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
When I try to enable the FTP service in the preferences (File Sharing-Options-Share Files and Folders Using FTP) the check box enables and then disables again. The console is giving me the message : 16/04/2010 12:14:20 com.apple.coreservicesd[51] sh: launchctl: command not found This indicates… >>> More
Macports Apache not starting at Mac osx snow leopard boot

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Macports Apache2 not starting at Mac Osx snow leopard boot. I've done the launchctl load command, the symlinks point to my /opt/local//etc/LaunchDaemeons/org.macports.apache2/org.macports.apache2.plist, but it never starts. I can start it manually, works fine after that. Just wont load on startup… >>> More
osx snow leopard freezes

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi I got this error: Timexxxx In 'CFPasteboardCopyData', file /SourceCache/CF/CF-550.13/AppServices.subproj/CFPasteboard.c, line 1951, during lock, spin lock 0x15457a0c8 has value 0xf0000000, which is neither locked nor unlocked. The memory has been smashed. My Mac freezes except the mouse and… >>> More
OSX Snow Leopard hangs after login

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
After restoring from backup following filesystem corruption my user account hangs after login (After entering my password the login window disappears and all I get is the background and a mouse pointer, no spinning wheel of death etc ..) I can login as a different user and then logout and login as… >>> More

Related posts about macbook

Bluetooth DUN Tethering fails

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have an HTC Desire HD, with Android Froyo (2.2) and PDANet installed. I am using Ubuntu 10.10. I cannot tether it over Bluetooth either with Network Manager or BlueMan. (note, I installed Blueman only after failing with NetWork manager, and I even tried the last version from the PPA). With both… >>> More
Macbook Pro - Randomly sleeps and won't wake up

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
All, I have a Macbook Pro 13" (mid 2009) that has had a long time issues which seems to be getting worse. Occasionally, I will go to wake the computer with the keyboard and can't wake it. The HDD spins up, the light on the front of the computer stops blinking, but as soon as it seems like the display… >>> More
Restore using time machine from an macbook to an macbook pro (first intel)

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hello.. My girlfriend have Macbook 10.6.3, the first plastic version. the screen broke an its at service store now. In the mean time, i have tried to restore from hers TM backup to my old macbook pro 10.6.3 (the first intel version). Everything seems to work out fine, but when its finish, it says… >>> More
C# development with Mono and MonoDevelop

as seen on Developer IT - Search for 'Developer IT'
In the past two years, I have been developing .NET from my MacBook by running Windows XP into VM Ware and more recently into Virtual Box from OS X. This way, I could install Visual Studio and be able to work seamlessly. But, this way of working has a major down side: it kills the battery of my laptop…… >>> More
Fan speed monitor Software for Macbook Pro Unibody on Windows

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I've tried multiple temperature monitor and fan speed software on my Macbook Pro Unibody under Windows 7 64-bit RC. None of them can report the fan speed. Currently I'm using SpeedFan which reports the CPU temperature of each of the two cores, but is not able to detect or interface with the Fans.… >>> More