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#1 2017-03-04 03:22:00

mrschu
Member
Registered: 2017-03-04
Posts: 4

[SOLVED] MAC address changes when not connected to a network

Hello,

I have tried to reseach this issue however I have came up short. If this is in the wrong section or a duplicate please let me know, I will change what I need to.

About a week or so ago I switched to Arch. Best thing I have done. The Wiki rocks. With that said I am a bit puzzeled about something.

Today I tried to conenct to a wifi network that used access control. Knowing I needed my MAC I typed "ip link show wlp3s0" and used the address. Entered it in and nothing. I went into my network manager and looked at a saved wifi network and noticed a different MAC. I used this MAC for the access control and everything worked as it should. While connected to the network I typed "ip link show wlp3s0" again and got the MAC I entered into the router. I disconnected from the network and again typed "ip link show wlp3s0" and got yet a different MAC. I became rather puzzeled and intrigued so I tried so other things. I reconnected to the network then typed "ip link set wlp3s0 DOWN" typed "ip link show wlp3s0" and got the MAC I entered into router again. I disconnected ran the command and again got yet another MAC address.

This raises three questions I am curious about.
1.) why does my MAC change when not connected to a network and the MAC displayed is not the one of the card?
2.) How does one obtain thier MAC address since the why I am using is not correct?
3.) Am I over looking something very obvius?

I am using Network Manager with the default iproute2 from the core repo. I am up to date as of 1822 2017-03-03.

Thank you for the help!

Last edited by mrschu (2017-03-12 00:07:10)

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#2 2017-03-11 22:32:36

Sahaq
Member
Registered: 2017-03-11
Posts: 1

Re: [SOLVED] MAC address changes when not connected to a network

I have the exact same problem.

Simply put, unless I have an active WiFi connection, I can't see my correct MAC. Noticed it today when I tried to connect to an ACL-enabled network.

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#3 2017-03-11 23:24:43

mrschu
Member
Registered: 2017-03-04
Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] MAC address changes when not connected to a network

So I have done some more digging. Aftering reading more about iproute2 I determined it was not the issue. I stopped the Network Manager service, ran ip link show command and it shows my correct MAC. Started the service again and I get a different MAC. I will have to look into the Network Manager documentation a bit more to find out why it does this. It is rather quick to stop the service get the MAC then start it again.

Last edited by mrschu (2017-03-11 23:25:58)

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#4 2017-03-11 23:49:31

damjan
Member
Registered: 2006-05-30
Posts: 452

Re: [SOLVED] MAC address changes when not connected to a network

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#5 2017-03-12 00:03:04

mrschu
Member
Registered: 2017-03-04
Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] MAC address changes when not connected to a network

Well we can chalk that up as solved. Change Network Manager's config file (NetworkManger.conf) by adding

[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no

and it will no longer do it. The rest of the article is good read also.

I will keep it changing since I know my MAC now though.

Thanks damjan!

Last edited by mrschu (2017-03-12 00:03:27)

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