CIS Home > Networking > WHOI Wireless Networks > Finding Your Hardware Address

About Hardware Addresses

When you register a machine for use on the WHOI wireless network, you are actually registering a hardware address. A hardware address, also known as a MAC address or a physical address, is a unique identifier for a network wireless interface card. The hardware address is a 12-digit hexidecimal number (base 16 numbers using the digits 0-9 and letters A-F).

The following instructions should explain how to determine your hardware address. If you are unable to determine your hardware address or need any further assistance, contact the helpdesk. It is very important that you supply the hardware address for the wireless interface on the computer you wish to connect to the WHOI wireless network. Be sure not to give the hardware address for the wired Ethernet connector or an address from the computer you are using to complete the registration if it is not the one with the wireless interface.

Pre-register for wireless access

Determining Your Hardware Address

Windows | Mac | Linux | Other Operating Systems

Windows XP and 2000
  • Make sure your Wireless interface is enabled.
  • Click on Start, then Run and type cmd in the text box.
  • Type ipconfig /all and press Enter.
  • Make sure you are looking at the information for the wireless ethernet adapter and not the dialup or LAN adapter. The 6 pairs of alphanumeric characters separated by '-'s listed next to Physical Address: is your wireless hardware address.
  • In the example shown here the address to register is the one for the D-link AirplusWireless adapter and is 00-0D-88-AA-EB-0F

Windows 98, Me, and NT Please contact CIS for assistance

Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) and 10.2 (Jaguar)
  • Open System Preferences from the Dock or the Apple menu.
  • Select Network preferences.
  • Set the Show: pull-down menu to AirPort.
  • Select the AirPort tab.
  • The 6 pairs of 2 alphanumeric characters separated by ':'s listed next to Ethernet ID is your hardware address.
  • In the example shown below, the address to register is 00:30:65:1c:25:80
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MacOS 8 & 9 Please contact CIS for assistance

GNU/Linux
  • From a shell, type: /sbin/ifconfig -a
  • Make sure you are looking at the appropriate ethernet device (likely eth1). The hexadecimal number listed next to HWaddr is your hardware address.