Specifying MAC addresses in a wireless network

In order to keep the neighborhood riffraff from sniping my wireless internet access, I'm setting my wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) to allow only the specific MAC/Ethernet IDs of the wireless computers/iPhones/etc. in my household.
I use Airport Express to extend my wireless network, but I already have it set to the specific MAC address for my router. Do I need to add the Airport's WAN ID to the list as well?

Thanks for the reply! Actually, I already use the 128 Hex WEP password method, yet it still seems like my signal regularly experiences slowdowns at non-peak times. I have to unplug the power from the Linksys router and the cable modem every few days for about a minute or so. Is it possible for someone to snipe the wireless internet access even with the 128 hex WEP? does the router make a distinction between wireless network access (that is, access between all the Macs in my house) and wireless internet access?
You may be right- I may be making things too difficult. Honestly though, I seldom have anyone bring their computers into our house to connect to my wireless network.

Similar Messages

Hi. I'm trying to set-up the wireless access times in my Airport Utility. I need to enter the "Description" and the "MAC Address" of each wireless client before I assign access times. What are these? Thanks.

Hi. I'm trying to set-up the wireless access times in my Airport Utility. I need to enter the "Description" and the "MAC Address" of each wireless client before I assign access times. What are these? Thanks.

Let's say that an iPhone is one of the wireless clients that you want to allow access to the network.
The Description of this device is anything that you want to specify for easy identification purposes. For example, the Description might be something like......
Rex's iPhone
The MAC Address, also known as a Wi-Fi Address is a unique indentifiction number that is assigned to every device. The number will always follow this form:
xx : xx : xx : xx : xx : xx, where "x" could be a number or letter.
To find the MAC Address or Wi-Fi Address of an iPhone or iPad.....
On the Home screen.....
Tap Settings
Tap General
Tap About
Wi-Fi Address is the item that you want
If you have a Mac computer......you can find the MAC Address or Wi-Fi Address as follows:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Network
Click on Wi-Fi on the left
Click Advanced at the lower right
The Wi-Fi Address for the Mac is located at the bottom of the window
Other wireless devices usually have the MAC Address or Wi-Fi Address on the label on the back or bottom of the device

How to connect my mac to only one wireless network?

How to connect my mac to only one wireless network?

Do you mean that there are several wireless networks within range, and you don't want it switching between them?

WRT110 Can't connect MAC and PC to wireless network at the same time.

I installed a WRT110 router on my son-in-law's MAC sometime back and at the time configured it to have the MAC connected via Ethernet. My PC laptop worked fine with it in the wireless mode. Recently we changed the MAC to wireless newtworking and removed the Ehthernet connection. Now if the MAC connects to the wireless network first and then I attempt to connect with my PC laptop the PC cannot find the network and the MAC loses connection. If I shut my PC down the MAC will not find the network until it is put to sleep and reawakened. If the MAC is put to sleep my PC wil immediately find the network. If I first connect my PC and then awaken the MAC both work fine. I've checked all of the router's setup settings and they seem to be OK. I am not MAC savvy and my son-in-law is a neophyte at computers so we are really helpless when something doesn't work. Help will be appreciated.

I tried this setup change after reading another similar post. It didn't help. One thing I had wrong in the first post is that neither computer will connect to the wireless net after we experience the wireless failures until both are turned off, at least that is what happened after making the suggested changes. Is this a WRT110 issue? Seems there are quite a few posts similar to mine.
Bo2

Can't change MAC address of my wireless card on Windows XP

Dear Forum Members,
I have recently bought a notebook, Lenovo IdeaPad G550L (I haven't found section for the G series here on the forum) and would like to use its WiFi adapter (BCM4310 according to Everest) with explicitly changed MAC address. I installed the recommended driver, available from Lenovo's website, version 5.10.38.14. I tried the common way to change the MAC address, went to Control Panel -> Network Interfaces -> Broadcom Wireless Network Adapter -> Configure... -> Advanced -> Locally administered MAC address, and changed it to a different address (without ":" or any separator characters). Unfortunately this common solution won't work at all. Although, no error messages are produced when changing it (so it seems successful) my wireless router shows me the original MAC address of my integrated wifi card. Tried to restart my computer, my router, everything.
* Tried different drivers, downloaded a driver from HP which had a separate wireless configurator, Broadcom Wireless Utility. It worked like the driver from Lenovo (except this one hasn't got the utility), but I was still unable to change my MAC address.
* Tried a different driver from SoftPedia, version 5.10.79.14 (this is newer than Lenovo's), it didn't work either.
* Tried Nathan True's MACShift utility. It seemed to change the MAC address, but my router showed the original, so it didn't.
* Tried to look for official Broadcom drivers on www.broadcom.com but found nothing for BCM4310.
* Finally, I booted my alternative OS, the latest Ubuntu Linux, and used the kernel driver b43 for my wireless adapter. I tried to change my MAC address using the command ifconfig wlan0 hw ether .... and connected to my network. It worked, my router showed the changed MAC so the hardware (or the firmware) is capable of doing this by the right driver/firmware.
I tried to address Broadcom with the issue, sent them a letter like this post they replied that they are not competent, they wrote the following (I guess this was an automatically generated message because it got back in 10 seconds ) from [email protected]:
"As the chipset supplier, Broadcom provides driver support to our customers - the manufacturers of wireless devices - that ultimately provide products to end customers, such as wireless LAN vendors, cable modem vendors, and notebook providers. It is up to these manufacturers to provide product-specific drivers and software support to their end customers. Please contact the manufacturer of your wireless device for their current drivers"
Then I addressed Lenovo with the problem, their answer:
"Dear ******,
Thank you for contacting Lenovo, the makers of ThinkPad and ThinkCentre products. As I understand, you have purchased a Lenovo IdeaPad G550L and would like to use its WiFi adapter (BCM4310 according to Everest) with explicitly change MAC address.and you would like to know is there an official driver for Windows XP that allows you this basic feature like b43 in Linux. We apologize,Please do speak with our Idea pad technical Team at 877-453-6686 Option 1-2-1-2 for further assistance.
If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at 866-42-THINK (84465) option number 2. We will be happy to assist at that time.
Once again, thank you for contacting Lenovo.
Sincerely,
Lenovo Websales/CustServe"
So this means I should call them and spend extra money for phone bill of international calls because of their fault of providing a basic feature that is to be expected from every single wireless card in the market. Should I believe that a guide over the phone is more efficient than a step-by-step solution or a link to an alternative driver? I'm getting kind of disappointed. At least they have understood (or copy-pasted) my problem, dutch comfort though.
Any ideas? Anyone experienced the same problem and solved it? Is there an official (or even unofficial) driver for this device for Windows XP that allows me this basic feature (like b43 in Linux)?
Thanks in advance,
str4ngS

Yes, I have posted this thread to different forums after I realized that Lenovo "customer care" is not likely to help me out and even wirelessforums.org members couldn't come up with any ideas for days, that's why. I have already written that helper applications like SMAC (or etherchange or macshift) don't work, because they do the same thing in the system as I change it in the driver panel, so they use the same method which simply does not work.
Locked? Definitely not. If yes, why can I change the MAC of my adapter under Ubuntu Linux using b43 open-source driver if it's really locked? Or you mean it's locked from software, because Lenovo or Broadcom didn't want their users to change their MACs or they just forgot to release a fully-functional driver? Well, then I would like to have a driver in which it's not locked, because this is a basic feature of my adapter of which the hardware is capable.
I have already contacted Broadcom, see their (automatically-generated) answer in my initial post, but I will try to do that again with more foresight.

Connecting to a pc from my mac via airport express wireless network

I have successfully been able to access my mac from my Windows XP machine via my AE wireless network that I set up with my Mac. However, I am unable to do the reverse. I.e. connect to my PC from my Mac.
There seem to be two issues I need to figure out to make this work:
1. Firstly, the option to allow sharing for any of my Windows folders has been restricted because apparently I need to create a network first but I have a network and both the PC and Mac can access the internet, share a printer and see each other via this network so I don't understand what's wrong. Do I have to create a network from the pc side of things as well in order for this to work?
2. When I attempt to connect to the pc from my mac I do the following from Finder: GO >> "Connect to Server" then I type in smb://<ip address of the pc>. When the dialogue comes up asking for "Workgroup/Domain", "Name" and "Password" comes up I know I have the correct workgroup and I know the pc is there because it's full name is displayed but I'm not sure what to enter as "Name" and "Password". I assumed it was the username and password for the windows user on the pc whose files/folders I want to access but then I'm told the connection can't be made because the name or password isn't correct. I tried every user name and password I could think of in these fields--even the accounts for my mac--but they all give me the same response.
I'd appreciate it if someone could someone lend a hand.
Joey

Sorry, I don't know which articles you have already reviewed.
Sharing folders on the PC should be nothing more than enabling "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" option under Network options & then identifying which folders you want to share.
Other references to try:
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1164.html
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106471
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=19652

Can't connect PC and Mac to print via wireless network

I have the HP Office Jet All-In-One 6500. I've never been able to get both my Mac and PC to print wirelessly.
First, Mac worked fine wirelessly, then had to print via ethernet for PC. Then that quit working for PC. So I uninstalled printer drivers on PC, reinstalled and it works great printing via the network.
However, now my Mac -- my main computer -- wont print. It spends hours "connecting....." MacBook running Leopard OS 10.5.8.
Why can't both computers access this printer over the same wireless network? Absolutely NO settings were changed on my Mac from the time it worked, until now. Only thing I did was get the PC to work.
I've tried turning the printer off and restarting.... didn't help.
I bought this wireless printer so that both computers could use 1 printer.... I don't want to have 2 printers for my little office! Please help HP!

First, please look on the label underneath the router and let us know the exact model and hardware version of the router. Also check which firmware you are running on the router at http://192.168.1.1/ and verify that you are actually running the most current firmware. You can find out which is the newest firmware on the downloads page of the linksys website.
Second, is it possible that you used the Mac before to connect directly to the internet without the router? In that case it could well be possible that the Mac is still doing so, connecting to the internet itself, bypassing the router and thus terminating whatever internet connection the router established before (which the PCs were using).
Third, after being kicked out, please check the following in a command prompt window on the PCs ("Run..." and enter "cmd"). "ping 192.168.1.1" you should still get replies.
Fourth, what is the IP address and gateway address which the Mac gets when getting online?

Mac can't see wireless network - have checked other posts but no solution!

I have scanned many posts on this topic but have not seen my specific problem resolved, so I'm starting a new post. Here's all the facts and things I've checked.
Hardware Details
iMac 1.25 GHz G4
Airport Extreme card (shows up in system profiler)
Linksys 802.11g router
Network Details
WPA Personal
Have never had a problem using this network. 2 PC's an 2 Macs regularly connect. Right now one PC and my wife's MacBook Pro are using the network.
The iMac was seeing the network yesterday - today it can't even see it!
Per the advice from many helpful posters, I have checked that mac addressing is disabled on the router.
I have checked that appletalk is active on the iMac
I have restarted the iMac several times after applying various changes.
This is a very perplexing problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi kmacwilliam,
I am having a similar issues with yours, my MBP and MB couldnt not stay connect to the dlink router recently. But the PC's been working fine all the time. The wireless would drop and could not see the network again while my neighbours' networks were still displaying. Even restarting the MBP and router wont see my wireless network.
You can try these things and see if it works for you, it's worked for me for time being. Please post back the outcomes:
1. Delete any airport-related passwords in the "Keychain" so no airport passwords are stored
2. Shut down the iMac
3. Reset the PMU in your case for the G4 iMac, you may need to open your back case to reset it
3. Turn on your iMac and you should see the network again
I am suspecting this might be software issue, hope this works for you.

When using mac on a home wireless network it causes all PC's to lose internet access

When my Mac Books accesses the internet on our home wireless network it keeps all PC's from being able to acccess the internet. Is there a setting on my Mac that keeps this from happening?

Your ISP gave you an Address that looks like a random number. That goes only on the Internet-facing side of your Router. mine is something like 108.72.155.38. If you have your own Router, that number is NEVER the Manual IP Address of your Mac.
Your Router has a "strictly local" number to which all Internet-bound traffic is sent. Mine is 192.168.0.1 These are numbers at the bottom of a DHCP grouping., and almost always end in .1 Your Mac should never have this number as its OWN Number, but it may end up being listed as a Router Address. Typical numbers often start with 10. or 172 as well.
Your Mac should have a number similar to, but not identical to the other computers on your local network. Setting it to pick up a number (from your Router) via DHCP says, "just get a number and use it." That is often the best way to proceed.

Mac Pro "error joining wireless network", G5 and iBook OK?

Trying to connect to internet via wireless. The airport recognizes my WPA Personal password but still show "Error joining network", the airport bar is full but cannot connect to internet. The Network Panel says:
"Airport is connected to the network. Airport has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect to the internet"
Here's my setup, every firmware is up-to-date:
Mac Pro 2.66Ghz Dual Core Intel Xeon
OSX 10.4.10
Linksys BEFW11S4 V.4 (firmware 1.52.02)
Airport Extreme card (update to 2007-003)
In Network panel:
Airport- Automatic
TCP/IP- Using DHCP
PPPoE- no click
Appletalk- active
Proxies- manually
In Sharing panel:
Firewall- On
Internet Sharing- Off
I am 100% sure that the router is working because we have a G5 (10.4.1) and a iBook (10.4.9) in the house and there's no problem for both devices, both takes the password and connect to the wireless network no problem.
And one thing, when I go to the setup page of the router (192.168.1.1) and disable the WPA password security, the Mac Pro works perfectly. So whats the problem? It doesn't recognize the WPA?
Mac Pro 2.66Ghz Dual Core Intel Xeon Mac OS X (10.4.10)
Mac Pro 2.66Ghz Dual Core Intel Xeon Mac OS X (10.4.10)

First question: Is there a wireless card installed? It was optional on a 3,1.
Go to System Preferences - Network and see if you have AirPort listed on the left. It also may be turned off which you can fix there.

MAC Address for iPhone on Network?

In order to keep riffraff from sniping my wireless internet connection, I am setting my network connections to only allow the specific MAC addresses of the computers in my home to connect to the internet. Do I have to do the same thing to my iPhone? If so, where would I find the MAC address for my iPhone?

Settings/General/About/WiFi Address.

Different AP MAC address shown on wireless client logs

Hello Everyone,
I am really a rookie on wireless networks.
I am investigating an issue where people is unable to do wireless at 2 floors in a building. We are using LAPs.
I asked a person onsite to send me some logs from his Intel Proset tools. The report he emailed me shows no IP Address is being assigned to his PC.
I noticed that the AP MAC address on the logs he provided is lets say ##:##:##:2D:AC:61, I check on the WLC and the AP MAC address is actually
##:##:##:2D:AC:60
Is that an expected behavour, a known issue or something like that?
Your input will be appreciated.
Thanks,
David M.

David,
Yes, its the virtual mac. I actually blog in detail about this subject of the virtual mac. Read the below link and you will have your answer!
http://www.my80211.com/home/2011/5/2/wlc-how-cisco-virtualizes-the-base-radio-mac-address-on-the.html
If you find this helpful please kindly support the CSC rating system!
btw -- Welcome to the world of WiFi!

I'm having a problem connecting my BlueRay DVD player and other non-Mac devices to my wireless network. Is there a limit on the number of devices I can connect to my AirPort? I never have a problem connecting an Apple device (AirBook, iPad, etc).

I'm having a problem connecting my BlueRay DVD player and other non-Mac devices to my AirPort Express network. Is there a limit on the number of devices I can connect to the wireless network? I never have a problem connecting a new Apple product (AirBook, iPad) and even a basic laptop. Thanks for your help.

The AirPort Express Base Station (AX) can support up to ten (10) simultaneously connected Wi-Fi clients.

Can I connect my Mac to two separate wireless networks at the same time?

Need some assistance with some advanced wireless networking please....
Upstairs I have a D-link wireless router connected to the internet and wired to a couple of PCs. Downstairs I have a minimac linked to my hifi via an airport express. I have bought a D-Link DWL-G122 usb wifi dongle.
So I want the mini mac to connect to the airport express on one wireless network (strong signal) and to be able to connect to the internet on another network (weak signal) via the usb wifi /router.
But the airport software and the d-link driver seem to conflict and both try to take control of the two wireless devices.
Is there any way round this to be able to run one mac with two wireless network devices at the same time?
Thanks

While those with more experience may be able to correct me, I'm pretty sure that you can only connect to one wireless network at a time with your Mac Mini, unless D-Link provides their own proprietary software that bypasses the computer's Airport settings.
Using the AirPort hardware you can only connect to a single wireless network at any given time. However in this situation the 2 attempted connections are via USB and AirPort. Therefore this requires nothing special of the AirPort drivers or settings.
It does require that the Mac OS and applications have the capability to use either network connection (USB or AirPort) depending on what data they are trying to get. In general I understand how it is theoretically possible but I have no idea if you can configure OS X to do it.
...I believe one of the options when setting up the Airport Extreme Base Station is that you can extend a wireless network already in place.
True but the D-Link is not compatible with Apple's WDS therefore this is not possible in this situation.
If you have a newer Airport Extreme Base Station with a USB port on it...
FYI, every AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) has a USB port.
BTW, birky has indicated that he/she is using an AirPort Express (AX) not an AEBS.

Mac Mini rejoining preferred wireless network

I have a Mac Mini Aug 2011, i7 with all of the lastest updates, 10.7.2.
Whenever I reboot, it doesn't reconnect to the preferred hidden wireless network automatically. I have to go into Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar and manually and select my wireless network, and then it connects. There are no other locations or preferred networks that appear in the network preferences aside from my network. It receives signal with full strength since it is about 10 ft away from the Time Capsule.
I have several other Mac laptops around the house that connect to this same network with no problems. I don't wish to unhide my network, or remove encryption to solve this. I have seen this similar issue with MacBook Pros, but they suggest removing other preferred networks, or unhidding the network, which don't apply in my case.

Here's something that worked for me:
Network Preferences > Wi-Fi > Advanced > Prefered Networks >
If the network that you're trying to use is in that list, but does not reconnect on start up, delete it from the Prefered Networks list. Then let the Network preferences "re-see" your network and add it back to your prefereed networks list.
Remember to make your network Visible while letting your Mac see it, then turn visibility back off.
Hope this helps!

Specifying MAC addresses in a wireless network

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