How to use macchanger in qubes

User Support General
1

please excuse me I have tried my best to find more on this but am not having much success. i thought i would ask as I am fairly new to qubes os.

i am familiar with using macchanger and would prefer to use it in qubes. i have tried several ways and have successfully changed the netVM (eth0) mac address and the appVM (eth0) mac address.

first method:
added @reboot macchanger -A eth0 to the crontab -e of the template

second method:
added to VM’s /rw/config/rc.local
ip link set eth0 down
sleep 1
macchanger -A eth0
sleep 1
ip link set eth0 up

i am a little confused as which one worked, but I am not getting internet access when the mac’s are changed.

  1. which mac address should i be concerned with changing? my netVM or appVM?

thank you

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2

Do you want to change the MAC address of your PCI network controllers attached to sys-net or for all virtual Xen network controllers that are present in qubes other than sys-net?
If you want to change the MAC address of the virtual network controllers then are you sure that you need it? This MAC address will be seen only between the directly connected qubes and won’t be seen further (e.g. the website won’t see the MAC address of your app qube in which you run the browser).
The MAC address of the virtual eth0 is the same for all qubes - 00:16:3e:5e:6c:00 by default.

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3

thank you for the reply.

maybe I need a better understanding on what is needed to have high anonymity.

from researching the issue I have obtained that the mac address of the virtual network controllers is internal.

i guess my concern is anything that goes out to the web.

i currently have a netVM with a vpn connection that I am using for my qubes.

let’s start with mac addresses.

currently, my setup for internet is through a hotspot device that is connected to a router and my system is connected to the router via ethernet.

what mac addresses do i need to make random to keep me anonymous?

i have also set sys-net to have a random mac address.

thank you

4

The only MAC address that is seen over the network is the MAC address of your Ethernet connection in sys-net that is seen by the router to which it is connected directly. This MAC address is only seen by the router and other devices connected to the same router’s LAN and it’s not seen further outside of LAN.

5

basically mac addresses are not transmitted outside of the home network?

i have the sys-net mac address set to random so my router is receiving a random mac address from system?

can you explain the point or randomization of mac addresses?

6

Not home network, but data link layer.
If you connect to the WiFi public hotspot, then this router will be able to see your WiFi MAC address.

Yes. But you better to check it in the router admin panel.

http://www.dds6qkxpwdeubwucdiaord2xgbbeyds25rbsgr73tbfpqpt4a6vjwsyd.onion/wiki/MAC_Address
MAC Address - Whonix

7

(this is something I wrote)

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