Yesterday, I received a mail from Larry who wanted to know how to find the hardware address for his wireless device. We have previously answered this question, but I found another way to find a hardware address that I wanted to let you know of.
I am going out of town and will be on a wireless that needs my “Wireless Hardware Address in order for me to log on or sign in. Please tell me how to get that info in Windows 7.
What is an hardware address?
A hardware address is a simple address assigned to the hardware interface of your PC. It usually looks like this one:
48-5B-39-36-D3-2B (a typical hardware address)
A pair of six numbers and letters divided by a hyphen.
Are a hardware address and MAC address the same?
Yes, a MAC address and a physical hardware address are the same. Every network device has a unique MAC address (Machine Access Control address).
Finding the hardware address: Check the device
First of all, you should know that you can often find the hardware address of a wireless device on the device itself or on the package it was delivered in.
If you can’t seem to find the hardware address try the second method below.
Finding the hardware address: Use the command prompt
1. Step Open a command prompt
2. Step Enter “getmac /v”
3. Step The command will list all network devices including their hardware address:
Now you only the name of your wireless LAN connection and then write down the hardware address.
Tip: This method will only work in Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you want to find your hardware address for a device in Windows XP or 2000, then try the command winipcfg or ipconfig -all. For more information read our guide: How to find your MAC address
If you have a Windows 7 related question, use our contact form and we’ll get back to you if we can find a solution in a timely manner.