This page shows you how to determine your computer's ethernet adapter and IP addresses, two forms of information related to the ethernet (or network) card installed on your computer. Laptops manufactured in the last few years will likely have two separate ethernet adapters, one wired and one wireless. Each has its own unique address.
Every ethernet adapter has what's called a Media Access Control (MAC) address, also referred to as a hardware address or physical address. The address is a series of six pairs of hexadecimal digits that uniquely identifies a computer or device (such as a LAN printer) on a network. Each digit can be either a number from 0-9 or a letter from A-F (letters are not case-sensitive). The address is sometimes separated by hyphens or colons (e.g., 00-80-C7-CF-83-A2, 00:80:c7:cf:83:a2).
Your IP address is your computer's unique address on the Internet. The address is represented as four numeric segments separated by periods. When connected to the Lehigh network, your computer is assigned an IP address in the form 128.180.xxx.xxx.
For instructions on determining both addresses, follow the link for your operating system:
How to determine your computer's ethernet adapter information in Windows XP
Step 1: Click Start > Contol Panel > Network connections (or, if you use Category View in Control Panel, click Network and Internet Connections, then Network Connections) Double-click either the Wireless Network Connection or the Local Area Connection icon, depending on which connection you are using.
Step 2: This opens a status window for that connection. Click the Support tab, then click the Details button.
Step 3: This reveals both the adapter (physical) address and the IP address, as well as some other networking information.
Note: If you are not sure whether a digit in the Physical Address is a zero (0) or capital letter 'o' (O), it is a zero. Only letters
A-F can appear in the address.
How to determine your computer's ethernet adapter information in Mac OS X
Wired connection (using a LAN cable)
Step 1: Go to System Preferences > Internet and Network Selections > Network. From Show, choose Built-in Ethernet.
The physical address is shown next to Ethernet ID. Note: If you are not sure whether a digit in the Ethernet ID is a
zero (0) or capital letter 'o' (O), it is a zero. Only letters A-F can appear in the Ethernet ID.
Step 2: On the same screen, choose the TCP/IP tab to show the IP Address.
Step 1: Go to System Preferences > Internet and Network Selections > Network. From Show, choose AirPort .
The physical address is shown next to AirPort ID. Note: If you are not sure whether a digit in the AirPort ID is a
zero (0) or capital letter 'o' (O), it is a zero. Ony letters A-F can appear in the AirPort ID.
Step 2: On the same screen, choose the TCP/IP tab to show the IP Address.
kmm3 Last updated: February 17, 2006