CODEWITHSUNDEEP
vb.netvb.net-2010
Ali
Ali

Reputation: 684

Geting MAC address by using VB.NET 2010

I have tried to get the MAC address of each network interface card on a machine by using the below function in VB.NET, but I just realized that this function doesn't work in Windows XP:

  Function getMacAddress()
        Dim nics() As NetworkInterface = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()
        Return nics(1).GetPhysicalAddress.ToString
    End Function

How can I make this code to run on Windows XP? What other alternatives exist to get the list of MAC addresses on Windows XP?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 22773

Answers (2)

jhersey29
jhersey29

Reputation: 975

I did some digging when connecting to different VPNs. So far the below seems pretty reliable. Relying on 0 or 1 for the actual physical adapter as suggested above does not work in many cases. In some cases my actual Ethernet adapter was the 3rd adapter. Excluding the loopbacks, tunnels, and ppp adapters should narrow it down. I found that many of my non physical adapters have the string "00000000000000E0" as the mac address. 

Private Function getMacAddress() As String
    Try
        Dim adapters As NetworkInterface() = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()
        Dim adapter As NetworkInterface
        Dim myMac As String = String.Empty

        For Each adapter In adapters
            Select Case adapter.NetworkInterfaceType
                'Exclude Tunnels, Loopbacks and PPP
                Case NetworkInterfaceType.Tunnel, NetworkInterfaceType.Loopback, NetworkInterfaceType.Ppp
                Case Else
                    If Not adapter.GetPhysicalAddress.ToString = String.Empty And Not adapter.GetPhysicalAddress.ToString = "00000000000000E0" Then
                        myMac = adapter.GetPhysicalAddress.ToString
                        Exit For ' Got a mac so exit for
                    End If

            End Select
        Next adapter

        Return myMac
    Catch ex As Exception
        Return String.Empty
    End Try
End Function

Upvotes: 2

Mark Hurd
Mark Hurd

Reputation: 10931

Works for me on XP, except I've got a few interfaces and my first (0th) is my "real" MAC address, and it corresponds to the MAC address reported by a non-.NET program.

Upvotes: 1

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