mac address odd 2nd number - error?

[Derek Broughton]

Smoot Carl-Mitchell wrote:

> On Fri, 2009-10-23 at 09:35 -0700, Eugeneapolinary Ju wrote:
>> google:
>> http://preview.tinyurl.com/mac-change-error
>> 
>> if I want to change the wlan0 mac address to e.g.:
>> 
>> 34:41:26:06:66:ac
>> 
>> I just can't, because it says:
>> 
>> SIOCSIFHWADDR: Cannot assign requested address
>> 
>> It gives error if the mac address has odd 2nd character. :D
>> 
>> ??? I didn't know that every 2nd character can't be an odd number :|
>> 
>> Why? :D
>> 
> 
> Why do you want to change the MAC address?  It is generally a bad idea
> to do this. For most network devices the MAC is set at the factory and
> cannot be changed (easily) for good reason.

Because you're using a VM?  Because your IT guys take a week to add a new 
MAC to the system, so you just want your current NIC to look like the old 
one (that no longer works, so can't possibly be in conflict.

There are numerous legitimate reasons why you would want to do this, which 
is why it _can_ be changed easily, and for good reason.  Even Windows users 
can spoof MAC addresses without much difficulty.

-- 
derek