The Command Line

The fastest way to determine the MAC address of a PC running Windows 7 or later is via the command line, using either getmac or ipconfig. Both of these are built into Windows and do not require any separate download, but we'll provide instructions below for the less complicated of the two approaches, getmac.

To launch a command prompt, click the Start button and type cmd into the search box. Under Programs a listing should appear for either cmd.exe or Command Prompt. Either is fine, click on the first on the list. A command prompt window should appear with a title something akin to C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe, and you should see a prompt that looks like the following:

C:\Users\your username here>

At the prompt, type getmac /v and hit Enter. You should see something like the following:

C:\Users\your username here>getmac /v

Connection Name Network Adapter Physical Address    Transport Name
=============== =============== =================== ==========================================================
Local Area Conn TAP-Win32 Adapt 00-00-00-00-00-01   Media disconnected
Bluetooth Netwo Bluetooth Devic 00-00-00-00-00-02   Media disconnected
Wireless Networ Broadcom 802.11 00-00-00-00-00-03   \Device\Tcpip_{XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX}
Wireless Networ Microsoft Virtu 00-00-00-00-00-04   Media disconnected

The MAC address is listed in the column marked "Physical Address". The column marked "Transport Name" will give some indication as to whether or not the adapter is active. If it shows as Media disconnected, then the adapter is likely not active and is therefore not suitable for use with a SIMetrix/SIMPLIS evaluation license. Typically, you would choose either a "Local Area Connection" or a "Wireless Network Adapter" for this purpose. Please note, however, that if you opt to go with the "Wireless Network Adapter", your WiFi switch (whether hardware or software) must be on in order to use SIMetrix/SIMPLIS. It does not need to be connected to a network, but it does need to be powered on.

For this example, we've highlighted in red the "active" adapter best suited for use with a SIMetrix/SIMPLIS evaluation.