Download Macchanger

Macchanger is a Linux utility developed by Alvaro Lopez Ortega for viewing/manipulating the MAC addresses of network interfaces. Macchanger, or also by its official name MAC Changer, is an open source GNU/Linux utility.

It is very easy to use and handy to anyone who needs to do analysis, testing, or other activities with network adapters.

Is Macchanger free?

Yes, Macchnager is free of charge. The source code can be downloaded from the project website and was released under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Does Macchanger come as part of the UBUNTU core?

No, Macchanger is external application and needs to be downloaded and installed first. You can do so by executing the following line of code in your Ubuntu terminal:

sudo apt-get install macchanger

This will download Macchanger and install it. Once you have Macchanger installed, you can start using it.

How do I use Macchanger?

Using Macchanger is very simple. It takes only a few command lines to change your MAC address. (For more details about MAC addressing, see this page: Wireless security: MAC addressing.)

Before you change your MAC address, it is a good idea to make a record of your existing MAC address. You can view your network adapter MAC address by executing the following command:

ifconfig

This will show you a list of your network adapters. Take a note of your existing MAC address. Before you can change your MAC address, you need to bring down your network adapter. You can do so in Ubuntu by executing the following code:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop

or alternatively

sudo ifconfig [adapter_name] down

You can find your adapter name in the iwconfig screen. If you attempt to change your MAC address without bringing the adapter down first, you will likely get the following message:

ERROR: Can't change MAC: interface up or not permission: Device or resource busy

Finally, the following example shows how to change the MAC address:

sudo macchanger -m 12:34:56:12:34:56 [adapter_name]

After you are done changing your MAC address, you need to bring the adapter back up.

sudo /etc/init.d/networking start

or alternatively

sudo ifconfig [adapter_name] up

Easy as that.

How do I verify my spoofed MAC?

Now you can verify your new MAC address by typing and executing the ifconfig [adapter_name] command. The ifconfig screen will display output similar to the following:

james@tulen:~$ sudo ifconfig wifi0
wifi0     Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-19-51-01-05-42-E0-E3-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00 
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS PROMISC ALLMULTI  MTU:2346  Metric:1
          RX packets:244607 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:11299065 (10.7 MB)  TX bytes:26 (26.0 B)
          Interrupt:21 Base address:0xe000 Memory:d7dff000-d7dfffff

james@tulen:~$ sudo macchanger --show wifi0
Current MAC: 00:19:51:01:05:42 (unknown)

Nevertheless, this verification is not always reliable. You can run into a situation when the MAC address provided by the Macchanger command will be different from the one you get in ifconfig.

I would like to see a print screen...

Here you can find a print screen of Macchanger and how it is used:

This print screen shows how to easily change MAC address.

What is the syntax for MAC changer?

Macchanger accepts the following options:

-h, --help        Show summary of options. 
-V, --version     Show version of program. 
-e, --endding     Don’t change the vendor bytes. 
-a, --another     Set random vendor MAC of the same kind. 
-A                Set random vendor MAC of any kind. 
-r, --random      Set fully random MAC. 
-l, --list[=keyword]   Print known vendors (with keyword in the vendor’s description string) 
-m, --mac XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX  Set the MAC XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Ready to download Macchanger?

Where can I download Macchanger?

Macchanger can be downloaded at the following website:

http://www.alobbs.com/macchanger
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/macchanger/macchanger-1.5.0.tar.gz

Check the author website for the most current version before you install it.

Is there a similar tool for Windows?

Yes, we can suggest reading about the Macshift tool.