15

In the past months, I've got 2 Chinese Android cells (Froyo) based on MTK6515. They work fine but we started having lot of trouble attempting access to internet, and after a while I found out that both phones they have the same MAC address, which causes connection problems. So, I'm looking for a procedure that could change the devices' MAC addresses and solve our trouble.

I found a method which involves changing the file at /etc/wl/NVRAM.TXT, but after referencing a couple posts around the webs, it turns out my phones do not have this folder (and thus the other files inside). Any clue?

Please don't tell me a pray about that MAC addresses are burned into a chip, at least not in these devices, because I've already lost their IMEI's too (by hard reset), but I've recovered them and they're functional now.

2
  • Maybe you can change the MAC Address via ifconfig. See this question: android.stackexchange.com/questions/9649/…
    – Flow
    Dec 31, 2011 at 15:16
  • 3
    You can't actually change the mac address, only spoof it, because a mac address is coded into the hardware
    – remmy
    Feb 19, 2012 at 17:37

1 Answer 1

9

I found a tutorial on MAC address spoofing at XDA that might be helpful:

REQUIREMENTS

1) ROOTED PHONE 2) BUSYBOX INSTALLED 3) Terminal App

OPEN UP TERMINAL AND WRITE

:su :busybox iplink show eth0

(THIS WILL SHOW YOUR CURRENT MAC ADDRESS)

NOW TYPE IN

:busybox ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:11:22:33:44:55

(INSTEAD OF 00:11:22:33:44:55, YOU CAN WRITE YOUR WANTED ADDRESS)

CONGRATULATION, YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SPOOFED YOUR MAC ADDRESS!

YOU CAN CHECK YOUR MAC ADDRESS BY TYPING

:busybox iplink show eth0

I don't think this is permanent however. I did find another guide on Android Forums that seems to be permanent:

After your rooted head into terminal emulation type su and go into /data/misc/wifi

Look for a file called nvram.txt

Copy it to your sdcard and then to your cpu desktop open it with notepad and at the bottom of nvram.txt is the mac address

This i was able to verify and test on android Citrus Ciena

Edit that mac address and save it as nvram1.txt onto sdcard

Now go back to data wifi misc and copy nvram.txt to nvram.bak

Head into gui and then settings then wifi then turn on the wifi but don't connect to any wifi

turn off the wifi,switch back to terminal

Copy the nvram1.txt to data misc wifi

remove the original (make sure you got it backed up)

Rename nvram1.txt to nvram.txt

head back into gui and then settings then wifi

Now for me it immediately stated unable to turn on wifi

Ignore it and try to turn it on anyways

When it turns on your newly edited mac address will take effect

Connect to your AP

NOW B4 REBOOTING YOU MUST CHANGE NVRAM BACK TO THE ORIGINAL!

3
  • 1
    Thanks a lot for your response. I have a phone based on MTK6515 dualsim and NVRAM.TXT is not present, nor /etc/wl so, i found similar posts before in other forums and i attempted to apply with no successful. I read too, there are a lot phones with same wifi and BT MAC ADDRESS. Wow, it becames a big trouble using two or more phones in a same wifi network (like happend to me). This is the waybecause i ask for a permanent change of MAC. Any idea about how to fix this trouble?.
    – Cachotas
    Jan 2, 2012 at 10:09
  • Have you tried creating said files and folders and seeing if it works?
    – Logos
    Jan 2, 2012 at 16:30
  • How can I write this configuration? I have no idea what I have to integrate in this file to spoof the mac address in this phone. I think the device is capable of changing its MAC permanently. Any idea about where I download this file to modify it? Thanks a lot.
    – Cachotas
    Feb 19, 2012 at 2:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .