Determine your hardware ethernet address (MAC address)

In order to register your laptop computer, you will first need to determine what your hardware ethernet address (MAC address) is. You may need to check the documentation which came with your computer or ethernet card. In addition, you can find the hardware ethernet address for the following operating systems in the ways listed.

To determine your hardware ethernet address, use the WINIPCFG command as described below.

1. From the Windows 95/98 desktop, click on the Start button at the lower left hand corner of your screen.
2. At the ensuing menu, select Run.
3. When prompted for a program to run, type in WINIPCFG and press the {Enter} key. The following screen will pop up:

   

4. NOTE: Make sure that your ethernet adapter is listed in the window ("Xircom CBE Adapter" in the picture above). If you also use a dialup adapter, then "PPP Adapter" may be displayed instead. In this case, press the down arrow and highlight your ethernet adapter.
5. The number you are looking for should be in the box labeled Adapter Address (in this example, the number is 00-80-C7-CF-83-A2).

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Windows NT

To determine your hardware ethernet address, use the IPCONFIG command as described below.

1. Open a Command Prompt and run ipconfig /all. Look for the label Physical Address. The number next to it is your hardware ethernet address. If you have a lot of protocols and network-related services, it might be pretty far down on the page.

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Windows 2000 and Windows XP

There are two ways to look up the hardware address:

1. Use the IPCONFIG command. Open a Command Prompt and run ipconfig /all. Look for the label Physical Address. The number next to it is your hardware ethernet address. If you have a lot of protocols and network-related services, it might be pretty far down on the page.

2. From inside My Computer, you can find the hardware address in the Manage | System Info | Components | Network | Adapter folder, shown as the "Mac Address."

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Windows for Workgroups with Microsoft TCP/IP

To determine your hardware ethernet address, use the NET utility. The only drawback to this utility is that you have to have the NetBeui protocol loaded under your network control panel. This protocol is commonly associated with Windows NT.

1. Open the MS-DOS prompt from Program Manager.
2. At the MS-DOS prompt, type NET DIAG /STATUS and press Enter.
3. When asked for a NetBIOS name, press Enter. Some network information will be displayed. Look for the line that starts with Permanent node name. The number after it is your hardware ethernet address.

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Macintosh with Open Transport

1. At the Macintosh desktop, click on the Apple icon at the upper left hand corner of the screen.
2. When the menu pops up, click on the icon labeled Control Panels. When the Control Panels window opens, look for an icon labeled TCP/IP. If you are currently viewing the control panels in a view other than Large Icons, you won't see this icon, and at that point just look for the label TCP/IP.
3. When you find the icon, double-click on it. You should see the following TCP/IP screen, or something similar:

   

4. Choose Get Info from the File menu to bring up the TCP/IP screen.

   

5. The address you're looking for is in the Addresses section, in the field labeled Hardware address.

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Macintosh with MacTCP

To determine the hardware ethernet address of a card using MacTCP, perform the following steps:

1. At the Macintosh desktop, click on the Apple icon at the upper left hand corner of the screen.
2. When the menu pops up, click on the icon labeled Control Panels. When the Control Panels window opens, look for an icon labeled MacTCP. If you are currently viewing the control panels in a view other than Large Icons, you won't see this icon, and at that point just look for the label MacTCP.
3. When you find the icon, double-click on it to open it. If you have an Ethernet card, then you should see an icon labeled Ethernet.
4. Once you have found the icon, hold down the Option key and click on the icon. Make sure you do not select the icon labeled EtherTalk. A 12-digit hexadecimal number should pop up underneath the icon label. That is your hardware ethernet (MAC) address.

Register your computer

Configure your computer to use DHCP

1. Click on the Start button, point to Settings, then select Control Panel. From within the Control Panel, double-click on the Network icon.

2. Select the TCP/IP adapter representing your Ethernet card, and click on the Properties icon:

   

3. If your laptop is already configured for a static ip address, write down the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway information and save it. This is the IP address information associated with the network connection your computer currently uses, and the address which your computer will acquire whenever you connect to your current subnet.

   

4. Set to Obtain an IP address automatically, then click OK.

   

5. You'll be prompted that you need to restart your computer before new settings will take effect. This procedure only needs to be done once. After the initial settings are in place, all you need to do for future use is attach the Ethernet cable from the port to your PC, and turn your PC on.

6. NOTE: If you were unable to locate TCP/IP from the Network Panel, as described above in step #2, follow the steps below to install TCP/IP software:

• Click on the Start button, point to Settings, then select Control Panel. From within the Control Panel, double-click on the Network icon.
• Click the Add button.
• Double click Protocol.
• Click on Microsoft located under the Manufacturers heading.
• Double click on TCP/IP located under the Network Protocols heading.
• Click the OK button. You will be asked if you want to restart your computer. Click the Yes button.

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1. Click on the Start button, point to Settings, then select Control Panel. From within the Control Panel, double-click on the Network icon.

2. Click on the Protocols folder:

3. Double-click on the TCP/IP item, which will take you to the Properties panel:

4. If your laptop is already configured for a static ip address, write down the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway information and save it. This is the IP address information associated with the network connection your computer currently uses, and the address which your computer will acquire whenever you connect to your current subnet.

5. Set to "Obtain an IP address from a DHCP server"; then "OK".

6. You'll be prompted that you need to restart your computer before new settings will take effect.

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1. Click on the Start button, point to Settings, then select Control Panel. From within the Control Panel, double-click on the Network and Dial-Up Connections icon.

2. Click on the Local Area Connection to bring up a Local Area Connection Status window. In the "Components Checked are used by this connection:" area, highlight "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" and click on the Properties button.

3. This will take you to the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties screen.
   • If your laptop is already configured for a static ip address, write down the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway information and save it. This is the IP address information associated with t he network connection your computer currently uses, and the address which your computer will acquire whenever you connect to your current subnet.

   • To acquire an address dynamically, select "Obtain an Ip address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically."

4. Select "OK" to close the window.

5. You'll be prompted that you need to restart your computer before new settings will take effect.

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1. This assumes that you have installed the additional TCP/IP stack from Microsoft.
2. Open the Network group under Program Manager.
3. Double click on Network Setup.
4. Double click on the Microsoft TCP/IP line.
5. Click on the check box labeled Enable Automatic DHCP Configuration.
6. A dialog box will appear asking Do you want to enable DHCP? Click Yes.
7. A Network Setup dialog box will appear notifying you that Windows Setup has modified your SYSTEM.INI file. Click OK.
8. A Network Setup dialog box will appear asking Restart windows now? Click on the Restart Windows button.

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Macintosh with Open Transport

1. From the Apple Menu, highlight Control Panels, and select TCP/IP.

2. In the TCP/IP control panel, set "Connect via:" to "Ethernet" and "Configure:" to "Using DHCP server":

   

   Note: Older versions of Open Transport (prior to version 2.0) may not display the "DHCP Client ID:" field. If you do see it, leave the field blank.

3. Under File Menu, click "Quit." When prompted, "Save" changes to current configuration.

4. Next time you restart your computer, if you are connected to a public access network port, your computer will obtain an ip address dynamically. You can verify the ip address you've been assigned by opening the TCP/IP control panel.