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MetallicWood
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-19-2007 01:37 PM

Changing the VM MAC address help!

Hi,

Having loads of trouble with this, I have an application which is licensed based on the machine MAC address. I've since had to rebuild the virtual machine due to problem and now the MAC has obviously changed.

I've read multiple articles on this forum and others about how to 'manually' assign a static MAC address but this doesn't seem to work on my system.

In fact instructions I've read say that the guest OS MAC addresses should be begin with "00:50:56:xx:xx:xx" but my servers are prefixed with "00:0C:29:xx:xx:xx" - I'm very confused.

I used a tool downloaded from some site called the 'VirtualMACTool' but that properly stuff the machine as it won't start up now saying the address is invalid.

Comments appreciated here before my customer roasts me!

Thanks

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5 Replies
oreeh
Immortal
Immortal
‎04-19-2007 01:41 PM

In fact instructions I've read say that the guest OS MAC addresses should be begin with "00:50:56:xx:xx:xx" but my servers are prefixed with "00:0C:29:xx:xx:xx" - I'm very confused.

both are valid

There's a KB entry (507) ( http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=507 ) dealing with this.

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MetallicWood
Contributor
Contributor
‎04-19-2007 01:43 PM

Well, i'll be honest here, in truth the latter address relates to a different ESX host I was using to test the 'MAC address set to static' procedure.

I just don't know why this is happening and if I'll be able to change it on the original server.

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oreeh
Immortal
Immortal
‎04-19-2007 01:45 PM

Read the KB entry and you should be fine.

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esiebert7625
Immortal
Immortal
‎04-19-2007 01:45 PM

You can make up whatever MAC address you want for your virtual NIC as long as it has valid hex numbers. What OS are you running?

For Windows just go into the properties of the NIC in Windows and under Advanced, Network Address put in a MAC address, for example. 00-00-1B-AD-BA-BE Just make sure you do not have conflicting addresses with other network devices. The first 2 sections of the MAC address are specific to each vendor, you can easier stick with that or use anything.

Alternate method for all VM's

http://virtrix.blogspot.com/2007/04/vmware-configuring-static-mac-address.html

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DFATAnt
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎04-19-2007 03:58 PM

You can specify the MAC address for your guest VMs in the .vmx file for each guest VM. Just make sure you follow the standard for the start of the MAC address and record what you use for the remainder so that there are no duplicates.

the .vmx file for each guest VM is located in:

/vmfs/volumes/nameofdatastore/nameofguestvm

Ant

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