Windows XP - How to Determine Your Computer's Media Access Control (MAC) Number

The media access control (MAC) number is a unique number encoded into the network interface on your computer. Every ethernet network interface manufactured in the world has a unique number assigned to it.

In Windows XP, perform the following steps to determine the MAC number for each network interface device in your computer:

1. Click Start and from the menu that appears select "Run"

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2. In the dialog box that appears, type "cmd" without the quotes and then press "OK".

3. You will now see a window with a DOS command prompt. At the command prompt, type "ipconfig /all" without the quotes and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.

4. You will now see the network configuration for each of the network interface devices in your computer. If you have more than one network device such as a wireless network interface and a standard ethernet port on your computer, you will see the configuration information for both of the devices. The MAC number for each network interface device is labeled as "Physical Address". So to determine the MAC number for each network interface in your computer, simply search for the setting labeled "Physical Address" for each of the network devices listed in the window. If may need to scroll back up to see all the settings if you have many network interfaces in your computer.

5. After you are done noting the MAC numbers, type "exit" without the quotes at the command prompt and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.