What is Hardware Address?
Hardware address is a unique identifier of a network interface card (NIC, a.k.a. Ethernet card), the piece of electronics in a computer that the network cable is plugged into, usually using a jack on the back of the computer. This is built into most Macs, laptops and pinters. In many PCs, some Macs and laptops the NIC is an add-on card.
The hardware address is used to identify the machine on the network so an IP address can be assigned to it by a server. Therefore, it is required for all IP requests.
FYI: hardware address is also called a MAC number which is not
to be confused with a Mac — it’s an acronym for Media Access
Control. Other names are: physical address, ethernet id, network
interface address, adapter address.
Hardware address appears in the following form:
XX XX XX XX XX XX or
XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
where X is a hexadecimal number. It can be written down with punctuation characters:
00 02 B3 0A 1D EF
00-02-B3-0A-1D-EF
00.02.B3.0A.1D.EF
or as continuous string:
0002B30A1DEF
How to find your hardware address depends on the operating
system you're using. Please refer to the instructions below.
Windows NT/2000/XP
To obtain the Ethernet address on a PC using Windows NT or
Windows 2000, click the START button go to the RUN menu
item; type COMMAND in the RUN box. This will bring up the
DOS command prompt window. Within that DOS window type
IPCONFIG/ALL, the adapter address should be listed as Physical
Address.Make sure that you are looking at the readout of your
actual Ethernet adapter NOT the dial-up adapter!
Windows95/98
To obtain the hardware address on a PC running Windows 95 or
Windows 98, click the START button go to the RUN menu item,
type WINIPCFG in the RUN box. A new window will open in
which you will see all the IP information. The hardware address is
listed as Adapter Address. Make sure that in the drop-down
menu your actual Ethernet adapter is selected NOT the
Dial-Up adapter!
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Printers
There is no universal way of finding out the printer's hardware address . Here are few tips:
Most printers are capable of printing a test page with all printer's technical information. The procedure varies between brands of printers. In case the newer HP printers use the Menu button on the printer's panel to go to the Information menu, then use the Item button to select Print Configuration and press the Select button to print the page and the printer will produce two or more detailed information pages. Look on the first page under Jet Direct EIO section for Hardware Address. If you have an older or other brand printer check the manual, if you still have one, or check the vendor's support web page.
If the printer is still in the box you may be able to find the hardware address on a specs label.
On some printers there may be a sticker on the back near the Ethernet port with the Hardware Address.
