How do I find the MAC Address on my Wireless Access Point?
14
people have this question
I have this question, too!
Tell me when someone answers.
The more people who ask this question, the more it gets noticed.
The more people who ask this question, the more it gets noticed.
The best answer from the company
-
There are a number of ways to find the MAC Address of your Wireless Access Point.
First, a MAC Address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) is essentially unique identifier for any device with a network adapter. It will look something like this "12-34-56-78-9A-BC". Each "octet" should have two characters.
There are a number of ways to find the MAC address of your Access Point.
1) A lot of the manufacturers will print the MAC Address on the bottom of the router. Flip it over and see if its there.
2) You can log into most Access Points and they will display it typically under something like the "Wireless" section of the Administrative tool
3) If those fail or you can't find it, you can use software like NetStumbler (http://netstumbler.com) for Windows or iStumbler (http://istumbler.net) for Mac. These tools will show you a list of all of the nearby Wireless Access Points with their SSID, MAC Address and a few other properties. Mark down the MAC Address associated with your Access Point.
NOTE: Most Wireless Access Points have two MAC Addresses -- one for the wireless adapter and one for the internal network adapter. Typically the wireless adapter will be the higher number. So if you see two and don't know which is which, go with the higher one.
Hopefully these methods will help you. Feel free to post a reply with what worked / didn't work for you.
Thanks again for your support!
The company and 4 other people say
this answers the question
-
Inappropriate?There are a number of ways to find the MAC Address of your Wireless Access Point.
First, a MAC Address (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) is essentially unique identifier for any device with a network adapter. It will look something like this "12-34-56-78-9A-BC". Each "octet" should have two characters.
There are a number of ways to find the MAC address of your Access Point.
1) A lot of the manufacturers will print the MAC Address on the bottom of the router. Flip it over and see if its there.
2) You can log into most Access Points and they will display it typically under something like the "Wireless" section of the Administrative tool
3) If those fail or you can't find it, you can use software like NetStumbler (http://netstumbler.com) for Windows or iStumbler (http://istumbler.net) for Mac. These tools will show you a list of all of the nearby Wireless Access Points with their SSID, MAC Address and a few other properties. Mark down the MAC Address associated with your Access Point.
NOTE: Most Wireless Access Points have two MAC Addresses -- one for the wireless adapter and one for the internal network adapter. Typically the wireless adapter will be the higher number. So if you see two and don't know which is which, go with the higher one.
Hopefully these methods will help you. Feel free to post a reply with what worked / didn't work for you.
Thanks again for your support!
The company and 4 other people say
this answers the question
-
Inappropriate?just a correction: each member of the _sextette_ should consist of two characters.
Before actually counting the number of the characters in your example, I was looking for some 16-character code - in vain, of course. So, an ensemble of six should be called sextette (or: sextet). :) -
thank you. i came here to post the same comment. aargh! -
Inappropriate?I believe Ryan is referring to the octet used in computer terminology meaning one byte or 8 bits. In other words, the number 156 in binary would be "1001 1100." The same number represented in hexadecimal would be "9C." Those two hexadecimal (0-F) characters "9C" make up the octet. There are six octets in a MAC address.
-
then, that should have been explained/clarified in the instructions. :-) some of us do pay attention to words, and the word "octet" has a standard meaning. if it's used in a non-standard (or context-specific) manner, that should be explained! -
Inappropriate?For those running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, just Option-click the AirPort symbol in the menu bar. The MAC address will appear right beneath the name of your wireless network (like 12:34:56:78:9a:bc).
I’m feeling lucky
4 people say
this answers the question
-
WOW! Brilliant tip man! -
brilliant but see below, you need to add another "0" in the front to make it work. -
Inappropriate?It's necessary to note that the information provided while option-clicking does not display 00 as an octet. On the bottom of their Airports, Apple lists the MAC address as 00:1A:2B:3C:00:4D. However, the information provided via Airport in the menu bar will list the same address as 0:1A:2B:3C:0:4D. I believe Skyhook Wireless needs the octet form "00" instead of Apple's address information of "0."
1 person says
this answers the question
-
you may also need to add a zero before the last "couplet." i'm on leopard, and both the first and last couplets were single digits (i.e., 1:xx:xx:xx:xx:1). i had to add a "0" before each of them for the address to be accepted (i.e., 01:xx:xx:xx:xx:01).
based upon the comment here, regarding adding a zero to the first digit, i made an educated guess that this was the correct thing to do for the last one. the form would not accept my entry otherwise. -
Inappropriate?Hugin777, can you tell me how to find the MAC address for my wireless network on Tiger? I don't have Leopard or Airport. Would appreciate your help. Thanks
-
Inappropriate?Cindy, just follow Ryan's general advice above...
If that doesn't work, please state which wireless router you have. Or upgrade to Leopard ;-) -
Inappropriate?Ok my cable modem plugs into my airport extreme both have MAC addresses, which one do I register?
-
Inappropriate?You should register the MAC address for the wireless device. In your case the AirPort (I assume your cable modem doesn't have wireless capabilities).
-
Inappropriate?The download page at netstumbler.com is "404 not found" any other solutions?
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?I put in my MAC address, the "Submit Point" web page says invalid address ?
00-11-95-0b-75-xx (not really xx, just I'm paranoid) -
Inappropriate?does it really matter if yu submit a Mac adress like
00:12:A3:45:BC:67 or 00-12-A3-45-BC-67
Thank you :)
-
I just submitted my base station's MAC address using colons instead of dashes, since that's the format that AirPort Utility reports the MAC address in, and I didn't feel like rewriting it manually. (Yes, I know, lazy.)
I got an e-mail back saying that they got my submission and were processing it. Presumably they would have rejected it right away if the format were something they couldn't handle.
That said, I really wish a Skyhook Wireless employee would answer this definitively. -
It doesn't matter - I've submitted in both formats and had them accepted. Just FYI: it took a full week before my AP showed up in Loki. -
Inappropriate?In Tiger, if you open Internet Connect (go to the Airport symbol in the menu bar, click on the symbol to open the menu and select "Open Internet Connect . ."), the Airport tab displays and shows the Base Station ID, which I assume is the MAC address.
I’m happy
-
Inappropriate?In Network Preferences under Airport it shows the wireless adapter address too.

(in this case the AP *is* my iMacs built in wifi sharing the ethernet connection)
I’m happy
-
Inappropriate?The config page for my router says it has two mac addresses. One is the LAN mac address, which is the same one that shows up on my computer. The other one is the Internet mac address. I am fairly certain that the LAN mac address is the one I need to use, however it is the lower number of the two, which contradicts what was previously stated.
-
Inappropriate?Thanks for the info. However, Skyhook says the MAC address I found on the bottom of my router (which matches the one displayed in my admin page for the router) is invalid. I live in Switzerland. Does that have anything to do with it?
-
Inappropriate?For Mac users, simply open System Profiler (via the Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info, or /Applications/Utilities/System Profiler.app), then go to Network > Locations and you will find all the Mac Addresses - including Airport - listed in the sextet format Ryan is referring to (see image).
I submitted my address a few weeks ago and was thrilled when I turned on my iPod Touch today - I am now found! :)
-
Inappropriate?For those on Vista, you might want to try Vistumbler (http://www.vistumbler.net/).
Also, on the iPhone/iPod, you can install the free application called WiFinder which will allow you to see what networks (and their MAC addresses) are visible from your device.
1 person says
this answers the question
-
Thank you for your help and support Mr. Jones.
Loading Profile...



EMPLOYEE










