How To Change MAC Address in Linux

How To Change MAC Address in Linux

In this Linux tutorial post, we will show you the step-by-step guide to changing MAC address in Linux based operating system.

How To Change MAC Address in Linux

We need to install tools to change MAC addresses in Linux. Run the following command to install macchanger and net-tools packages.

For CentOS-based systems:

sudo yum install macchanger net-tools

For Arch-based systems, use the following command:

sudo pacman -S macchanger net-tools

sudo apt install macchanger net-tools

We will show you two methods to change the MAC address in Linux-based operating systems.

Method 1:

Change the MAC Address In Linux Permanently

First, run the following command to list all the network devices in Linux and you also need to note down the interface name using the following command:
ifconfig

Run the following command to see the current MAC address of the network interface:
sudo macchanger --show <interface_name>

Run the macchanger tool with the following command to change the MAC address permanently:
>sudo macchanger -r <interface_name>

If you want to assign a particular MAC address in Linux then run the following command by specifying the MAC address.
sudo macchanger --mac=<mac_address> <interface_name>

Create a /etc/systemd/system/changemac@.service systemd file so that you can get a new MAC address each time you boot into the system.
sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/changemac@.service

Then, paste the following text inside the changemac@.service file:

[Unit]
Description=changes mac for %I
Wants=network.target
Before=network.target
BindsTo=sys-subsystem-net-devices-%i.device
After=sys-subsystem-net-devices-%i.device

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/macchanger -r %I
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Now, run the following command to enable the service:
sudo systemctl enable changemac@<interface_name>.service

How to Change the MAC Address Temporarily In Linux

First, run the following command to list all the network devices in Linux :
ifconfig

Now, run the following command to disable the device’s connection to the network to change its MAC address in Linux.

sudo ifconfig <interface_name> down

sudo ip link set dev <interface_name> down

Use the following command to change the MAC address in Linux.

sudo ifconfig <interface_name> down hw ether <new_mac_address>

Run the following command to enable the device.

sudo ifconfig <interface_name> up