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In Ubuntu 14.04, when I run the command ifconfig | grep HWaddr to know the mac address of my computer, I find two MAC addresses, how is it possible?

zina@zina-HP-Pavilion-g4-Notebook-PC:~$ ifconfig | grep HWaddr
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr a4:5d:36:71:61:d9  
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 24:fd:52:e1:9b:4d
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MAC addresses belong to network adapters, not computers. Your computer has a wireless interface (wlan0) and a wired interface (eth0). Each has its own MAC address.

If you're connected to a wired network, the MAC address that everyone else sees is the first one. If you're on wireless, it's the second one.

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  • On running ifconfig | grep HWaddr, I see a third entry besides eth0 and wlan0: pan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 76:40:d6:7b:56:2b. Any idea what that's about?
    – DK Bose
    Mar 17, 2016 at 12:16
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    "the MAC address that everyone else sees"... on the local network, of course, as it won't go any further.
    – jcaron
    Mar 17, 2016 at 12:47
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    @DKBose The pan1 interface is a software interface used to bridge the Wifi and LAN connector together (only used when you make a Wifi connection a Wifi router and share this connection with another computer that connects to your laptops wired connector). You may also see hardware-addresses linked to Bluetooth and Firewire connections. These can be used as network interfaces too.
    – Tonny
    Mar 17, 2016 at 12:47
  • @Tonny, are you sure that pan is used for anything else apart from Bluetooth?
    – jcaron
    Mar 17, 2016 at 12:49
  • @jcaron With IPv6 that's not entirely true anymore. Self-generated Ipv6 addresses often embed the mac-address. So mac-addresses can get exposed wider than the local LAN, albeit in a non-Ethernet way.
    – Tonny
    Mar 17, 2016 at 12:50

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