Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile  

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile

    Turn On or Off Random Hardware MAC Addresses for Wi-Fi on Windows 10 Mobile Phone
    Published by
    05 Feb 2020
    Designer Media Ltd

    Turn On or Off Random Hardware MAC Addresses for Wi-Fi on Windows 10 Mobile Phone


    When you’re not connected to WiFi, your phone will periodically send out a signal for WiFi networks in the area to help you get connected. That signal will contain the unique physical hardware address (aka: MAC) for your device. Some places, for example shopping centres, supermarkets or other public areas, might use this unique address to track your movement in that area. If your WiFi hardware (ex: Lumia 950 and 950 XL) supports it, you can turn on random hardware addresses to make it harder for people to track where you go for any network.

    You can use random hardware address for any Wi-Fi network. After you connect to a Wi-Fi network, you can then determine if you want to use a random hardware address for that specific network.

    This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to use random hardware addresses (MAC) for Wi-Fi networks on your Windows 10 Mobile phone.

    Your home wireless network may rely on your phone's MAC address for the internet connection. If so, then turning on to use random hardware addresses for your home network may cause it to not establish the connection if say you set your wireless router to only allow specified MAC addresses.



    Contents

    • Option One: To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Any Wi-Fi Network
    • Option Two: To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Specific Wi-Fi Network






    OPTION ONE

    To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Any Wi-Fi Network


    1 Open Settings, and tap on the Network & wireless icon. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-1.png

    2 Tap on Wi-Fi. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-2.png

    3 Tap on Manage. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-3.png

    4 Under Random hardware addresses, select to turn Off (default), On, or Change daily for what you want. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-4.png

    5 If you like, tap on the Start button at the bottom of your phone to go back to your Start screen. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-start.png






    OPTION TWO

    To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Specific Wi-Fi Network


    1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the Network & wireless icon. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-1.png

    2 Tap on Wi-Fi. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-2.png

    3 Select and hold on the Wi-Fi network name (ex: Brink-Router2), and tap on Edit. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-.png

    4 Under Random hardware addresses, select to turn Off (default), On, or Change daily for what you want. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-random_hardware_address_windows-10-mobile-b.png

    5 If you like, tap on the Start button at the bottom of your phone to go back to your Start screen. (see screenshot below)

    Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile-start.png


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 7,871
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       #1

    Does this feature have a practical benefit for a fixed home WiFi network?
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 68,652
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Steve C said:
    Does this feature have a practical benefit for a fixed home WiFi network?
    Hey Steve,

    Using a random MAC can help with privacy and security since the phone is not tied to one specific MAC.

    This can be good for public Wi-Fi usage, but could be a problem for you home Wi-Fi if say you set a wireless router to only allow specified MAC addresses to connect. If the MAC is random, you would have to manually allow it each time the MAC changes.
      My Computers


 

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