What is a MAC Address?
Every network interface card (NIC) ever manufactured—whether it is a Wi-Fi chip inside a laptop, an Ethernet port on a desktop, or a Bluetooth receiver—has a Media Access Control (MAC) address. This is a unique, 12-character hexadecimal physical identifier (e.g., 00-14-22-01-23-45) permanently burned into the hardware at the factory.
Unlike an IP address, which changes every time you connect to a different router, your MAC address never changes.
System administrators frequently need to know the MAC address of employee laptops to set up secure DHCP reservations, bypass restrictive corporate firewalls, or enable MAC address filtering on Wi-Fi routers. While you can hunt through the graphical Windows 11 Network Settings to find this string of letters and numbers, the fastest and most reliable method is using the getmac command.
Step 1: Open the Command Prompt
Because the getmac command simply queries the hardware for read-only information, you do not need administrative privileges to run it.
- Press the Windows Key, type
cmd. - Press Enter to open the standard Command Prompt.
Step 2: Find Your Local MAC Addresses
To instantly output a list of all MAC addresses associated with your current computer, simply run:
getmac
The terminal will output a simple, two-column list. The left column shows the Physical Address (your MAC address). The right column shows the Transport Name (the obscure Windows registry path for the network adapter).
If you see a MAC address listed with Media disconnected next to it, it means that specific hardware port (like your physical Ethernet port) is currently unplugged from the wall.
Step 3: Creating Readable Output
If your laptop has Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and two virtual VPN adapters installed, the standard getmac output is very confusing. It just shows five random MAC addresses, and you have no idea which one belongs to the Wi-Fi card.
To solve this, use the /v (verbose) flag.
getmac /v
This expands the output into four columns. Most importantly, it adds the Connection Name (e.g., “Wi-Fi” or “Ethernet”) and the Network Adapter brand name (e.g., “Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201”). This allows you to instantly identify exactly which MAC address you need to give to your IT department.
(Note: If the table formatting looks messy on your screen, use the /fo list flag to format the data as a clean, vertical list instead of a horizontal table).
Step 4: Querying Remote Computers
If you are an IT administrator, you do not need to walk over to an employee’s desk to find out their laptop’s MAC address. If you are both on the same Active Directory domain, you can query their hardware remotely over the network using the /s (server) flag.
getmac /s DESKTOP-SALES-04 /v
This command silently queries the computer named “DESKTOP-SALES-04” and prints its Wi-Fi and Ethernet MAC addresses directly onto your screen.
If the remote computer requires different credentials, you can pass an administrator username using the /u flag (e.g., getmac /s 192.168.1.50 /u DOMAIN\AdminUser /p Password123).