Change MAC address macOS 12 Monterey

change-mac-address-sequoia.md

Change MAC address in macOS Sequoia

I was unable to change the MAC address of the Wi-FI device on a MacBook Air (M1 2020) running macOS Sequoia due to the following error: ifconfig: ioctl (SIOCAIFADDR): Can't assign requested addres.

By running the commands in following sequence I was able to change it successfully:

1. Turn WiFi device off
2. Turn the WiFi device on again: networksetup -setairportpower en0 on
3. Change the MAC: ifconfig en0 ether <mac-address-here>
4. Run: networksetup -detectnewhardware

Following has been tested working on M4 macbook with macOS sequoia:

First, disassociate from the wifi AP you were connected to.

Run ifconfig to change the MAC:

sudo ifconfig en0 ether <your-desired-mac>

the command should run w/o error.

You can now see the newly set MAC address in:

sudo ifconfig | less # search en0 to quickly locate the interface 

Typically, the WiFi interface is en0. If not, you can get the correct interface when connected to an AP, during which ifconfig shows ip address that the desired interface is using, which is typically prefixed with 192.... With this, you can find the interface accordingly.

this gives me the same permission denied error as stated earlier in the thread...

this gives me the same permission denied error as stated earlier in the thread...

@limitay Considering you didn't use quote, are you trying my approach? If yes, do you have the WiFI switch disabled? The switch shouldn't be disabled, simply disassociate the AP you were connected to.

Thanks a lot!

this gives me the same permission denied error as stated earlier in the thread...

@limitay Considering you didn't use quote, are you trying my approach? If yes, do you have the WiFI switch disabled? The switch shouldn't be disabled, simply disassociate the AP you were connected to.

I have tried everything. All the commands. Trying to restart the mac to close anything that might be affecting it (little snitch). I tried with macchanger, but it does a infinite loop of errors.

this gives me the same permission denied error as stated earlier in the thread...

@limitay Considering you didn't use quote, are you trying my approach? If yes, do you have the WiFI switch disabled? The switch shouldn't be disabled, simply disassociate the AP you were connected to.

I have tried everything. All the commands. Trying to restart the mac to close anything that might be affecting it (little snitch). I tried with macchanger, but it does a infinite loop of errors.

@DHUB7376736 Have you disaccosiated the AP before issuing the "MAC addr changing" command?

Specifically, see my previous comment.

this gives me the same permission denied error as stated earlier in the thread...

@limitay Considering you didn't use quote, are you trying my approach? If yes, do you have the WiFI switch disabled? The switch shouldn't be disabled, simply disassociate the AP you were connected to.

I have tried everything. All the commands. Trying to restart the mac to close anything that might be affecting it (little snitch). I tried with macchanger, but it does a infinite loop of errors.

@DHUB7376736 Have you disaccosiated the AP before issuing the "MAC addr changing" command?

Specifically, see my previous comment.

If by AP you are referring to wifi, then yes. I tried: networksetup -setairportpower en0 off I have also done it manually. Maybe it just isn’t functioning at all for Sequoia.

On Sequoia 15.4.1 I get "ifconfig: ioctl (SIOCAIFADDR): Can't assign requested address" if I try to change the MAC address while the Wi-Fi is off. But it works fine immediately after Wi-Fi has been enabled, before it has connected to an AP.

I.e. this works on my machine:

networksetup -setairportpower en0 off ; networksetup -setairportpower en0 on ; sudo ifconfig en0 ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

(I stumbled on this Gist when from a Google search. Maybe this will help future Googlers - or even myself the next time I need to spoof a MAC address.)

@johan13 Thank you. That works for Wi-Fi, but not for Ethernet unfortunately. Still better than nothing though.