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How To Get IP Addresses And MACs On Windows PCs

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Written by Tech Notes
Category: Windows
Published: 23 December 2016
Windows XP   Mac   PCs   Machine Address Code   Media Access Control   IP Addresses   IPAs   ipconfig   MSDOS Command Window   CMD  

How To Get IP Addresses And Machine Address Code (Media Access Control) Numbers On Windows Computers.

First a note about meaning of MAC and IPA (IP Address):

  1. MAC stands for Machine Address Code, but more and more, I suspect due to programmers usage, MAC has been associated with the term Media Access Control instead.  Both phrases seem to be referring to the same thing, but Media Access Control seems to be more from a programmer's point of view and Machine Address Code more from the physical and engineers point of view.  MAC is also referred to as the Physical Address.

  2. Usage of IP to incorrectly refer to IP Address has spread like a virus and people ignorantly use it due to not understanding that IP stands for Internet Protocol and probably also due to being lazy.   There are many, many other protocols, and IP is just one of them. It is incorrect usage to use IP to represent IP Address.  So, please do not refer to IP Address as just IP and if the environment allows when others use it incorrectly, then correct them.  Also, typically, when people say IPA, they are referring to IPv4 and not IPv6 address.


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These steps can be used on any version of Windows I believe; may it be a decade or two back or forward from the writing of this article.  With the assumption that Windows systems will continue to allow command prompt and ipconfig commands usages.

Steps

  1. On a Windows system, go to Start, click on Run and type CMD and OK button or Enter key.   Alternatively, Start and type CMD.  Alternatively, search for Command or CMD.  You will get a window that has a black background and a command prompt waiting for an command entry.

  2. Type into the black window, "ipconfig /all", and push Enter key on keyboard.

  3. Reading the information, you will see a row(s) for IP Address(es) [IPA(es)] and a row for Physical Address (MAC).  If you have more than one network connection, such as an Ethernet, or Wireless, or Tunnel, or various kinds of software generated interfaces, then you will see more than just one IPA or MAC.

    EXAMPLE:
    Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

            Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : highspeeddsl.bizact.com.
            Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
            Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-AF-0B-77-19-E6
            Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
            Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
            IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.154.55
            Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
            IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::20f:b0ff:fe79:91d7%4
            Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.154.1
            DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.154.1
            DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.154.1
                                                fec0:0:0:ffff::1%4
                                                fec0:0:0:ffff::2%4
                                                fec0:0:0:ffff::3%4
            Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 22, 2016 8:46:30 PM
            Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, December 29, 2016 8:46:30 PM

    Ethernet adapter PdaNet Broadband Connection:

            Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
            Description . . . . . . . . . . . : PdaNet Broadband Adapter
            Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-26-DB-19-24


    Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

            Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
            Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN
            Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-17-B6-32-28-43
            Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
            Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
            Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 192.186.201.101
            Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
            IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::214:a5ff:fe23:1834%10
            Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.201.1
            DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.8.8.8
                                                8.8.4.4
                                                fec0:0:0:ffff::1%3
                                                fec0:0:0:ffff::2%3
                                                fec0:0:0:ffff::3%3



  4.  In the above example, you are most likely looking for IPv4 IPAes, and those would be the 192.168.154.55 and 192.186.201.101 addresses.  The "Ethernet adapter PdaNet Broadband Connection" interface did not have an IPA because it was disconnected.  The MACs would be the the number at the end of each row that says Physical Address: 00-AF-0B-77-19-E6, 00-AF-0B-77-19-E6, and 00-17-B6-32-28-43.  Another format for a MAC is 00:AF:0B:77:19:E6.  The other Physical Addresses (such as fe80::214:a5ff:fe23:1834%10) listed are IPv6 (Internet 2)

 

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