consequences of changing one's MAC address?

Question

may i know what are the consequences of changing one's MAC address ,for example, in a way detailed in the following link

http://www.nthelp.com/nt6/change_ma...

Thanks

Answer 1

Well if you duplicate your MAC address with another on the network, you would screw up the network a bit. You might also have software that was registered using a combination of your hardware and MAC address to create a unique key so changing could affect some of your software licenses too. Windows XP activation might use that to build the ID you send for registration. Never tried it to know for sure though.

Answer 2

You can clone your MAC address but not actually change it. A MAC address is basically the product number in a certain format which distinguishes it from any other peice of hardware. Why would you even want to change it?

Cloning is used for adding a router to a network which has an ISP with a limit of one computer per connection. By cloning the MAC address into the router it fools the technology at the ISP into believing only one computer or network node is attached to the modem. This is really the only reason to clone an MAC address. Many ISPs will allow a number of computer and other network nodes on the connection at one time. My ISP allows four computers and any number of printers, entertainment products, including but not limited to, xbox, TiVo, stereo equipment, TVs, etc.

Good luck and have a great day!

Answer 3

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot change a MAC address, you can spoof it, but not physically change it. The manufacturers of your piece of hardware are give a range of MAC addresses to use during production. Hope this helps.