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How to find MAC Address of a PC without powering it on?

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By definition, you're stuffed. Sometimes the MAC address is labeled on the NIC. You could try reading it. – user12575 Jan 20 '11 at 11:08
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migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 24 '11 at 10:05

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5 Answers

up vote 9 down vote

A couple other possibilities, if the MAC address isn't physically printed on the hardware or you don't have physical access to the hardware:

  • If the machine has been powered on recently and you know the IP address that it was using, you might be able to find its MAC address in the ARP cache of other devices on the same network segment.

  • If it was using a DHCP-assigned IP address and you have access to the DHCP server, it should have records of what IP addresses have been given out and the MAC address that each was given to.

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So how do you get to the ARP cache of another PC say? – paulmorriss Feb 4 '11 at 8:33
@paulmorriss You need to have access to that other PC while it is powered on, and fairly shortly after the target system has been powered off. From there, commands vary per OS but in Windows arp -a XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX should do it (replace X's with the target systems last-used IP address). – Iszi Rory or Isznti Feb 14 at 2:45
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up vote 6 down vote

It is usually listed either on a sticker on the back of the PC (if the networking card was included with it), or on the networking card itself.

If neither of those work, you're out of luck and will have to boot the PC, or move the card into another PC and boot that to find out.

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If the NIC is integrated with the motherboard, it will still be listed on or around the NIC socket. – mickburkejnr Jan 24 '11 at 10:09
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up vote 1 down vote

You may find it in the arp -a cache or in the DHCP server if the lease time is not expired. Btw you could try to turn on pc by Wake On Lan, if you haven't physical access.

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up vote 0 down vote

The MAC address is sometimes printed on the box that the computer came in, too.

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up vote 0 down vote
  1. Written on the NIC if it's an external Card
  2. In some cases the MAC is written on:
    • A tag attached to the machine
    • Above the Machine
    • In the side cover of the machine (inside)
  3. If your Deploying this machine over the network and need the MAC address start the machine and press F12 the Physical address( MAC Address) will appear
  4. Of course if you do turn it on go to command prompt and type in ipconfig /all
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