How do I find my device's MAC address? (macOS)

Question

I have been asked to find the MAC address of my Apple computer for wireless configuration. Where do I look to find it, and what's a MAC address, anyway?

What is a MAC address?

The Media Access Control address (MAC address; no relation to Apple or Macintosh computers) is a unique identifier for computing devices on a network. A MAC address is somewhat like a serial number.

  • Every device that has an Internet connection must have a unique MAC Address. Modern computers will have two MAC Addresses: one wireless local area network (Wireless LAN) adapter and one Ethernet adapter.
  • MAC address is synonymous with Ethernet Hardware Address, Hardware Address, Physical Address, and Burned-in Address.

Solution

Here is the step-by-step for finding your MAC address on macOS.

  1. Select the Wi-Fi Icon at the top of the screen. When the drop-down menu appears, select Wi-Fi Settings...

Select the standard Wi-Fi icon from the panel at the top right of you screen. Then select 'Wi-Fi Settings...' from the bottom of the dropdown menu.

  1. In the Wi-Fi window, find the current connection and select Details...

Once the Wi-Fi Settings window has opened, select 'Details...' for the current connection.

  1. In the Details window, select Hardware

In the Details window that has opened, select 'Hardware' from the list on the left.

  1. At the top right of the Hardware tab, the MAC Address is visible.

The MAC Address is listed first in the 'Hardware' section

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