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I am unable to locate the MAC address in a new computer with Windows 7. I've tried ipconfig /all in the console to which I got no items match your search. I also tried getmac. A screen flashed very briefly with what appeared to be the information, but it was not there long enough to read.

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5 Answers 5

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You have probably typed that into the Start Menu search dialog, which does execute the command but doesn't show it as the command prompt window disappears as soon as the command has been executed. This is the normal bahavior of command prompt applications, they close as soon as it is done.

In order for the command prompt to stay, you have to run those commands through the command prompt. The command prompt doesn't disappear after execution of a program; so, you can see the output as a result.

  1. Click the Start Button or press the Windows key.

  2. In the start menu search, type cmd.

  3. Hit Enter to execute the command prompt, or click on the cmd entry that appears.

  4. Type in ipconfig /all or getmac and it should execute both commands and the window will remain open such that you can see the output.

Note: getmac is great for just mac addresses ipconfig is good for ip addresses and ipconfig /all is great for IP address and a lot of other useless info (like unused connections)

to use getmac

  1. type cmd in the search box and press enter or run window (windows logo + r)
  2. then type getmac (no ipconfig necessary, in fact that wont work) and let it run (it may take a few seconds to rertrieve the info)

if you use ipconfig and ipconfig dose not have enough info use ipconfig /all

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42

A simple way to get the MAC address(es) of your network adapter(s):

On a command prompt type

getmac

Example:

getmac mac address of network adapter

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  • 3
    +1. I was not aware about this one. I always use ipconfig /all, but this is a lot easier. Feb 21, 2010 at 21:59
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    I think that the ethernet address will typically be first, and the wifi address will typically be second. Sep 1, 2010 at 21:35
  • 15
    Also, if you use getmac /v then it will show the name of the adapter and the connection state. Much easier if you have multiple network adapters, especially if you have some virtual ones from virtual machine software.
    – TuxRug
    Oct 10, 2010 at 23:40
  • Does it work for interfaces that aren't connected? For some reason (or unreason ;-p), ipconfig never shows me the MACs of interfaces that are not connected. This may be the solution I'm looking for. Jun 19, 2013 at 19:46
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For Windows Vista and Windows 7, in the control panel:

Open the Network and Sharing Center > Local Area Connection > Details > Physical Address.

Network and Sharing Center MAC address

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  • 2
    Annoyingly only accessible when connected, as is the MAC from ipconfig – a pain when I need the MAC of windows machines before they connect. Jun 19, 2013 at 19:46
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You can also locate the MAC address using VBScript:

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select MACAddress from Win32_NetworkAdapter where DeviceID=1")
For Each objItem in colItems
    Wscript.Echo "MAC Address: " & objItem.MACAddress 
Next
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  • 3
    getmac does the same thing and is built into Windows.
    – MDMarra
    Nov 9, 2009 at 12:07
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    that's not called reinventing the wheel. That's called "there are many ways to do things". vbscript works almost in every version of windows , including Win9x. getmac is not available in every version.
    – user31894
    Nov 10, 2009 at 1:38
  • Well, it's a Window 7 question, so why bother writing a whoooole script when you can just type a command?
    – TFM
    May 22, 2010 at 10:03
  • @TFM: Because the script can give you the MAC address only, while getmac requires output parsing... Feb 24, 2012 at 22:11
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    @TFM: That and WMI can be used over the network natively, without having to "reinvent the wheel" with SSH/psexec/WS-Remoting. Just change strComputer. Feb 24, 2012 at 22:13
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You can use the Get-NetAdapter PowerShell cmdlet.

It displays a nice table that identify each network interface with its MAC address.

enter image description here

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  • 1
    Only for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.
    – harrymc
    Apr 10, 2014 at 20:14
  • What is the minimum required version of PowerShell? Jun 19, 2016 at 21:24
  • AFAIK the cmdlet was introduced in Windows 8.1. Upgrading PowerShell won't install it on older systems. Jun 21, 2016 at 14:02

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