I don't know how it works in the real world but that wouldn't work at most universities. Unless your ethernet card address is registered and active in the IT database the DHCP server won't recognize your machine no matter what you do. <br><br>I guess it prevents non university people from leeching off the schools big pipes but it sure is a pain when you get a new machine. All the IT dudes need to do is paste my ethernet address into a text box and hit enter and its all done. Average time it takes to get it done.... 2-3 weeks. <br><br>

I guess the company I support is in that 1%. They want complete control of their network. So you can not place any device on the network with out telling them what it is. They do surprise audits to ensure they know what is on their network. They are truely a pc house.<br><br>

Southern New Hamshire University - connect a Mac and you're on the net. No registering MAC addresses.<br><br><br><br>[color:blue]Quitters never win, winners<br> never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.</font color=blue>

and btw, you can change the ethernet MAC address on most computerrs to whatever you want, so it's not that great of a security feature.<br><br>Anybody that wants to tap into their 'false sense of' security just has to sniff a couple packets, find a valid MAC address and change their computer to it. Or just use a linksys router that can spoof MAC addresses as well.<br><br><br><br>[color:blue]Quitters never win, winners<br> never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.</font color=blue>

Really??? Do tell! How do I do it? <br><br>

heh, heh, after I wrote that I thought I'd try it out with my iBook.<br><br>ifconfig en0 ether 11:22:33:44:55:66<br><br>should be the command, but it looks like I spoke to soon, the Mac doesn't seem to change the MAC address with that command. looks like it's hardware dependant (only if the Network card supports it)<br><br>of course, I went a played some more, and now I gots to to reboot the iBook cause it lost the ether connection completely <br><br>[color:blue]Quitters never win, winners<br> never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.</font color=blue>

Get a cheap router and spoof the address, Trog.<br><br>By the way, my school doesn't keep tab of the MAC addresses either, so I regularly take my laptops in and plug 'em right into the network with no problems.<br><br> Alas, poor Yorick. -- Hamlet

I'll be incredibly impressed if you can do that. I'm under the impression that it is sort of like your machine's serial number, part of the hardware.<br><br>It seems like you sometimes hear about hackers, virus makers and kiddie porn aficionados getting caught because they've finally tracked something down to a particular machine via the number on its ethernet card. You can jump IPs and ISPs easily, but there is only one number per ethernet card. At least I think... next time I drop by JC will have changed his. <br><br>Yeah, I guess I could get a router and bypass the IT folks when a new machine comes in, but its the universities' machines not mine. I should probably just do it their (slow) way. <br><br>

looks like it's dependant on the device driver. My linksys wireless card on my laptop can change the MAC address. Usually the MAC address is burned in at manufacture to ensure every ethernet device is unique. This is a convenience for ethernet low level protocols, not a security thing. The driver reads the number and outputs it, but if your driver supports it, you can change it to whatever you want.<br><br>Actually there really is no use I can think of, except for spoofing 'gimicky' security measures like your university or cable modem ISPs that want to limit the number of machines connecting to their modem.<br><br>The MAC address is a low level address used only on ethernet, so once it goes to frame relay, etc. (the stuff the connects up the internet) the MAC address is lost. So there is no way to get somebody's MAC address across the internet.<br><br>And getting a little router in your office all you have to do is register the router's MAC addy and you can connect any computer you want. So your university is just creating a make work project for themselves.<br><br><br>[color:blue]Quitters never win, winners<br> never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.</font color=blue>

Networking the two would at least solve the file transfer problem. I'd set up windows sharing on the Mac. It's some kind of proprietary in house mail so the PC is needed to transfer the file. I plugged into the Network and saw all sorts of machines available, so a hub would work, she has only one outlet in the wall at her cubicle.<br><br>I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thanks.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Reboot on 07/10/03 00:20 AM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>