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Get the MAC address for your network adapter


By Ed Bott


Every network adapter has a unique physical identifier, called a Media Access Control (MAC) address (MAC, in this case, has nothing to do with Apple's Macintosh.) assigned by the hardware manufacturer. A MAC address is 48 bits long and is written as a sequence of 12 hexadecimal digits: D4-81-D7-12-34-AC, for example.


Most of the time, the MAC address is an irrelevant detail. But there are occasions when you'll need to look it up, such as when you want to define a list of devices that are allowed to connect to a wireless access point. MAC address filtering isn't a security panacea, because it's easy to spoof the MAC address for a device. But it's enough of a roadblock to prevent casual access.


In Windows 10, you'll find the MAC address of your network adapter in Settings > Network & Internet. For a wireless adapter, click Wi-Fi, then click Hardware Properties. For a wired adapter, click Ethernet, then click the name of the adapter at the top of the page. In both cases, the MAC address is at the bottom of the list.

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