MAC Address Router: How to Find it?

IP addresses are assigned to every Internet-enabled device, from your smartwatch to your smart air conditioner. There’s another unique address, like an IP address, and networking and computing devices get them assigned at the manufacturing time – This is called a MAC address.

Your Windows PC, macOS, Android phone, iPhone, iPad, tablet, smartwatch, or even routers have MAC addresses. For instance, if your computer acquires multiple network adapters, there will be different MAC addresses for each network. You might be curious to know what your router’s MAC address is.

Let’s check where you can find your MAC address router and what it means.

MAC Address Router: A Brief Discussion

As you already know, every device connecting to the internet possesses a Media Access Control or MAC address. The prime difference between an IP address and a MAC address is that MAC addresses are unique, and they never change, like IP addresses. A MAC address denotes the physical address for the wireless or Ethernet adapter.

A MAC address is a set of 12 hexadecimal digits. But, now the question arises – How does any device’s MAC address help a user? Well, you can create a whitelist of devices through their MAC addresses. This ensures that all those devices can use a specific network or bandwidth according to your internet-usage rules.

Similarly, you can add particular MAC addresses to a blacklist if you want those corresponding devices out of a specific network. You can block devices through their MAC addresses. Thus, a MAC address is proven to be useful for users.

How to Find Your Router’s MAC Address?

Unsurprisingly, your router can also come with a MAC address. Finding your router’s MAC address might vary from one router to another. However, finding a router’s MAC address is not difficult, and you can use a general method. Make sure that you have connected your computer to the router.

In addition, you can prefer a wired or wireless option for a connection. Ensure that you have a strong and stable internet connection. Afterwards, you can proceed with the following methods:

Check the Router

Start with the easiest process of finding your MAC address router. The router itself might come with a label or tag on it. Look for the sticker or label on your router. 

Now, that sticker might have the following information such as:

  • Default network name or SSID
  • Default Wi-Fi password
  • IP address
  • MAC address

Remember that MAC addresses consist of 12 digits like 2C:54:91:88:C9:E3, whereas an IP address looks like 192.168.0.1. Remember the differences while distinguishing between a MAC and an IP address.

In case you couldn’t find the sticker on your router, you can check out the instruction manual of the router. On the other hand, all this information might be printed on the router’s box. If you still have your router’s original box or user manual, check them out, or else, we have to move on to the next method.

Use the Router’s Web-Based Admin Panel

Perhaps, you might not have found your MAC address router from its sticker, box, or user guide. However, you still have the chance to find out the MAC address router. You must have connected your modem to your router through an Ethernet cable. Additionally, we assume that your computer receives stable wireless signals from the router.

Now, explore an internet browser on your computing device. Type in the URL to your router’s admin page. Alternatively, you can enter your router’s private IP address and fetch the router’s control panel. You can even launch the dedicated router application or firmware associated with your router.

Ensure that you enter the right username and password to log into the web-based admin interface of the router. Once you log in, look for settings that might show you the MAC address of your router. Every router’s admin panel is different, and hence, you have to keep patience and find your MAC address router.

You can check out Network Settings or About This Device sections. Users have reported that these sections are most helpful in locating your router’s MAC address.

How to Find Your Computer’s MAC Address?

Locating computers’ MAC addresses will be beneficial if you want to block or blacklist any of the computer’s access to your router. You have to mention that particular computer’s MAC address in the specified blacklist of the router’s admin panel. 

Here’s how you can find your Windows or Mac computer’s MAC address:

Using Windows PC

You have to launch a Command Prompt window on your computer. Hit the Start button and look for CMD. Open the Command Prompt window and run the following command: ipconfig/all. Press Enter, and the Command Prompt will show all the available information.

What’s the real MAC address of your Windows computer? Navigate to the ethernet adapter section, and its physical address is your PC’s MAC address. Alternatively, you can secure the MAC address from your device settings.

Navigate to the Network & Internet section under System Settings. Choose the Ethernet option and hit the connection name. Look for the physical or MAC address by scrolling down.

What if it’s a Mac Computer?

Click the System Preferences and choose the Network option. Select the Ethernet adapter from the inspector panel. After that, you must hit the Advanced followed by the Hardware option. Here, you will notice the MAC address.

On the other hand, you can go to the ‘About this Mac’ option through the Apple icon. Click the System Report and click the Hardware tab. Go for Ethernet Cards and hit the ‘MDNS offload capable’ option to learn about your device’s MAC address.

Wrapping up…

If you own a Linux computer, go to its Settings. Select Network and hit the wired option to reveal the physical or MAC address. Hopefully, this guide was useful for finding out MAC address routers and other devices. MAC addresses help in restricting bandwidth or applying different parental controls. Check out your router’s MAC address today!

Taylor Green
Taylor Green
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