The school has a stupid way of handing out the Wifi network. We have to fill in a form specifying make/model/anti virus etc, and then we get given a code, linked to our login to the school data network that links to one machine.
I didn’t realise how it did this until Toby mentioned Mac addresses. Before, when I had Toby’s black Inspiron laptop, I had one code, and I had to get a new one once I swapped to his red XPS. Now that I have the Hackbook, I didn’t want to go back to him and ask for yet another code, so i google-ed around for a way to change the mac address (temporarily) of the Hackbook to be the same as the Inspiron.
It took a bit of searching, but in the end I found the exact post I was looking for: Changing Mac Address in Snow Leopard.
For those of you that just zoned out and don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, a MAC address, sometimes also refereed to as “physical address”, is a unique identifier assigned to every device, be it an iPhone or a laptop, that is connected to a network. Contrarily to the IP address, which can change dynamically, a MAC address is a bit like a serial number that is the same for the machine’s life, and is always unique. Here’s what it looks like : 01:23:45:67:89:ab.
To find out what is your AirPort card’s current MAC address, type this in the Terminal – found in Applications/Utilities/Terminal
ifconfig en1 | grep ether
Step 1: dissociate from all wireless networks
This means to disconnect all current wireless network connections while leaving AirPort enabled.
Open the Terminal and paste this command :
sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z
You will be asked for your password to execute this command.
The airport command is part of Apple’s Apple80211 framework. Essentially, it’s what connects you to Wifi networks. The -z option dissociates from any network.
Tip: You can set up a simpler access to the airport command by creating a symbolic link. To do this, paste the following command in the Terminal:
sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport
Next time, you will simply need to type airport -z to dissociate. You may also use airport -I to get information on your current connection.
Step 2: Change your MAC address
Once dissociated from the wireless network. You can change the MAC address with:
sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:00:00:00:00:00
You can of course enter what ever you want as long as it is in the correct format. You can verify with ifconfig en1 | grep ether that your address is changed.
Here’s where I put in the MAC address that was written on the bottom of the Inspiron notebook. Now, when I go to log in to the school Wifi, it thinks this little blue Dell is a big black Dell, and will work with the same login code as that one did. Fabulous!
To revert your MAC address back to its default, simply reboot your machine, as you don’t permanently want to have two laptops that think they are the same.. That would be a bad idea!
Clever stuff – what is the ratio of OS type at school? Are you the only Hackintosh user? Are there any Linux users?
I’ve only seen one or two with macs, and I don’t think many would understand hackintosh! A few were interested in mine today. And I think it’s safe to say noone would understand what Linux is!