Windows 10: Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile

How to: Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile

Turn On or Off Random Hardware MAC Addresses for Wi-Fi on Windows 10 Mobile Phone


Information When you’re not connected to WiFi, your phone will periodically send out a signal for WiFi networks in the area to help you get connected. That signal will contain the unique physical hardware address (aka: MAC) for your device. Some places, for example shopping centres, supermarkets or other public areas, might use this unique address to track your movement in that area. If your WiFi hardware (ex: Lumia 950 and 950 XL) supports it, you can turn on random hardware addresses to make it harder for people to track where you go for any network.

You can use random hardware address for any Wi-Fi network. After you connect to a Wi-Fi network, you can then determine if you want to use a random hardware address for that specific network.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to use random hardware addresses (MAC) for Wi-Fi networks on your Windows 10 Mobile phone.



Warning Your home wireless network may rely on your phone's MAC address for the internet connection. If so, then turning on to use random hardware addresses for your home network may cause it to not establish the connection.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Any Wi-Fi Network
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Specific Wi-Fi Network

OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Any Wi-Fi Network
1. Open Settings, and tap on the Network & wireless icon. (see screenshot below)



2. Tap on Wi-Fi. (see screenshot below)



3. Tap on Manage. (see screenshot below)



4. Under Random hardware addresses, select to turn Off (default), On, or Change daily for what you want. (see screenshot below)



5. If you like, tap on the Start *Start button at the bottom of your phone to go back to your Start screen. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Random Hardware Addresses for Specific Wi-Fi Network
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Network & wireless icon. (see screenshot below)



2. Tap on Wi-Fi. (see screenshot below)



3. Select and hold on the Wi-Fi network name (ex: Brink-Router2), and tap on Edit. (see screenshot below)



4. Under Random hardware addresses, select to turn Off (default), On, or Change daily for what you want. (see screenshot below)



5. If you like, tap on the Start *Start button at the bottom of your phone to go back to your Start screen. (see screenshot below)




That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Find MAC Address of Your Windows 10 Mobile Phone
  
• How to Turn On or Off Random Hardware MAC Addresses for Wi-Fi in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off W-Fi Sense in Windows 10 Mobile Phone

:)

 

Random Hardware Addresses (missing wi-fi feature)


I'm not sure if that's a feature available on a PC. @Brink's tutorial on the subject only talks about Windows 10 Mobile...

Wi-Fi Random Hardware Addresses - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 Mobile

 

Turn On or Off Random Hardware MAC Addresses for Wi-Fi in Windows 10


Hello bryceba, and welcome to Ten Forums.

Correct. If your Wi-Fi hardware supports it, you can turn on random hardware addresses to make it harder for people to track you when your PC scans for networks and connects.

 

Turn On or Off Random Hardware MAC Addresses for Wi-Fi in Windows 10


Hello Charles, and welcome to Ten Forums.

It doesn't appear that the Broadcom BCM41342 supports random hardware addresses.

Wi-Fi Direct™ & Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Chip for PCs & Notebooks - BCM43142 | Broadcom

 

[BUG] "Random hardware addresses" disable for known network does not work!

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

1. Is your device connected to domain network?
   
2. May I know what you exactly mean by "the "Random hardware address" is used even for known "whitelisted" networks"?
   

There's two controls for using random hardware addresses—one is for all Wi-Fi networks and the other is for the specific Wi-Fi network you choose. When you turn it on for all networks, random hardware addresses are used while your
PC scans for networks and connects to any network. When it's turned on for a specific network you choose, random hardware addresses are used the next time you connect to that network.



Refer the article ‘How and why to use random hardware
addresses’ for more information.



We await for your response.





Muralidhar

Microsoft Community Moderator

 

Random Hardware Addresses (missing wi-fi feature)


It's not phone dependent. But it does depend on your WiFi card supporting the feature. What card are you using?

Intel 8265:




Edit: Just checked that my Broadcom 4352 card does not support this.