Unique hardware MAC Addresses are used to identify and manage individual assets on a network. This is to ensure that these assets comply with availability and discoverability requirements of the managing IT group. It is used to override the dock or dongle MAC address every time that it is connected to the network.Ĭomputers that are joined to a managed network often rely on Static IP Addresses. It is entered in the computers Basic Input Output System (BIOS). It uses a MAC address that is unique to the computer. This is a feature that Dell has called MAC Address Override or MAC Address Pass-Through. Pass-Through Media Access Control (MAC) address, also known as the Virtual MAC address or Auxiliary MAC address. There are many different reasons such as adding it to the approved list, but this article assumes you have a valid reason. It's basically like stealing cars – even those could get new fake serial numbers if the thief is clever.Note: This article does not deal with why you need to know this. The same goes for the serial number that's somewhere on a sticker (or even engraved) on your the machine. However, note that MAC addresses can be changed – so there's no guarantee a knowledgeable thief hasn't already changed it, at least if the hardware allows that. The serial number could also be on a warranty card, a sticker, et cetera. It should definitely be available somewhere in the material that came with the machine. I'd also suggest to look for the serial number of the laptop. In that case, you could check your modem configuration for the MAC address, or even your ISP registration forms. In some cases, if your computer directly connected to a modem, its MAC address was used to identify it to your Internet Service Provider.

However, it's possible the access point already 'forgot' your laptop, and it won't show it anymore.

This is because your laptop's MAC address is used as a unique identifier to tell the access point which IP address to assign. If you've ever connected to a WiFi access point, you might be able to find your MAC address in its logs (or DHCP lease table) accessible through the access point's configuration website. Apart from that, it'll be hard to find it elsewhere, although there are some possibilities. If you can find it somewhere in your documentation that came with the laptop, then you're lucky. It's not a unique identifier for various reasons (also explained in other answers here), but if you're lucky, you can trace back the laptop if it's ever found again. It belongs to your network adapter and is used by the MAC sublayer to identify your computer on a network.

How to find mac address on hp laptop