MAC address issue

[mikes1p]

Can I change the mac address for a VM to an address outside of the vmware ESX range of 00:50:56:x:x:x?

We have an application server that's license is bound the MAC address on the physical server. I've used Converter (enterprise version) to make a testing VM but the MAC address needs to be changed to 00:11:43....

I've found a couple ways to change a MAC but no mention of using an address outside of the vmware range

Thanks

Mike S

[ctfoster]

If you use the VI client or edit the vmx file you must stay inside VMware's MAC addresses (00:50:56:00:00:00 - 00:50:56:3F:FF:FF) or the VM will not start. However if you have a Windows host you can set the MAC address in the NIC properties in Windows.The new MAC address takes effect immediately and will override any MAC address set by Vmware

[mikes1p]

Can I use the 00:11:43... range and have the VM start in the future?

[ctfoster · Accepted solution]

Sure - so long as it's set as part of the nic attributes in the OS.

• Edit the Local Area Connection propeties for the NIC you want to change

• Click the Configure button next to the NIC name

• On the Advanced tab select NetworkAddress

• In the Value field enter a new value for the MAC address, enter only numbers or letters, no spaces, dashes or colons. This MAC address can be any valid hex numbers between 00 and FF for any of the octets

[greekfinder]

I have developped a software that will run on a VM machine.

I would like to do a MAC address - based licence.

If you can change so easily the MAC address, it's simply impossible to protect my software against copy!!!

Is that possible to get a unique id based on the physical machine?

-> ping physical machine

-> arp -a -> get real mac address of vmware server...

Thanks... 😞