How to Clone Your Computer MAC Address to a Router

by C. Taylor
You can trick your ISP to allowing your router access by cloning your computer's MAC address.

You can trick your ISP to allowing your router access by cloning your computer's MAC address.

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Some Internet service providers claim their system is incompatible with routers, but that's not entirely true. What they mean is their system does not recognize the router's MAC address, which is the unique identifier for network hardware. Their system does recognize your computer's MAC address, so you can "clone" that make address to the router. This makes the ISP think it's communicating directly with your computer, when it's actually talking with the router.

Step 1

Click "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories," and then "Command Prompt."

Step 2

Type "ipconfig /all" in the Command Prompt window. Look for the listing "Physical Address" under the header "Ethernet adapter..." This is your MAC address, which has the alphanumeric format "00.00.00.00.00.00"; you may see hyphens or colons instead of periods between the digit pairs.

Step 3

Open your browser and enter your router's IP address, which is listed in the router's manual. If you cannot find the manual, try "http://192.168.0.1," "http://192.168.1.1," "http://192.168.2.1," "http://192.168.254.254" or "http://192.168.123.254."

Step 4

Enter your username and password for the router. The default username and password are listed in your router's manual. If you cannot find the manual, try "admin" for the username, and "password," "admin" or leave the field blank for the password. This will grant access to the router's administrative setup.

Step 5

Click "Setup" or "Advanced." Look for "MAC Address Clone" or "Spoof MAC address."

Step 6

Click "Enable," if the option is there, and "Clone Your PC's MAC" or "Spoof MAC." Some routers will automatically fill in the appropriate MAC address, but others require manual input. If yours is the latter, then enter the MAC address you found earlier, and click "Save settings."

Step 7

Reboot your router if asked to do so. If this process is not automated by the router software, you can simply unplug it for a few seconds and plug it back in. Your computer's MAC address should be successfully cloned.

About the Author

C. Taylor has been a professional writer since 2009. He has written for online publications and the "Journal of Asian Martial Arts." Taylor specializes in martial arts, traveling, sciences and computer repair. He received a Master of Science in wildlife biology from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Arts in biological sciences from the College of Charleston.

Photo Credits

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