# How to spoof your MAC address and hostname automatically at boot on macOS [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASXANpr_zX8 "How to spoof your MAC address and hostname automatically at boot on macOS - YouTube") > Heads-up: unfortunately this guide does not work on Macs equipped with the new T2 chip running macOS Mojave. If that’s your case, please consider upgrading to Catalina. ## Caveats - When copy/pasting commands that start with `$`, strip out `$` as this character is not part of the command - When copy/pasting commands that start with `cat << "EOF"`, select all lines at once (from `cat << "EOF"` to `EOF` inclusively) as they are part of the same (single) command ## Guide ### Step 1: create `/usr/local/sbin` folder ```shell sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/sbin sudo chown $USER:admin /usr/local/sbin ``` ### Step 2: source `/usr/local/sbin` folder Find which shell is configured using `echo $SHELL`. #### Bash (/bin/bash) ```shell cat << "EOF" >> ~/.bash_profile export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/sbin EOF source ~/.bash_profile ``` #### Z Shell (/bin/zsh) ```shell cat << "EOF" >> ~/.zshrc export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/sbin EOF source ~/.zshrc ``` ### Step 3: create `spoof.sh` script ```shell cat << "EOF" > /usr/local/sbin/spoof.sh #! /bin/sh set -e export LC_CTYPE=C basedir=$(dirname "$0") # Spoof computer name first_name=`sed "$(jot -r 1 1 2048)q;d" $basedir/first-names.txt | sed -e 's/[^a-zA-Z]//g'` model_name=`system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk '/Model Name/ {$1=$2=""; print $0}' | sed -e 's/^[ ]*//'` computer_name="$first_name’s $model_name" host_name=`echo $computer_name | sed -e 's/’//g' | sed -e 's/ /-/g'` sudo scutil --set ComputerName "$computer_name" sudo scutil --set LocalHostName "$host_name" sudo scutil --set HostName "$host_name" printf "%s\n" "Spoofed hostname to $host_name" # Spoof MAC address of en0 interface mac_address_prefix=`sed "$(jot -r 1 1 768)q;d" $basedir/mac-address-prefixes.txt | sed -e 's/[^A-F0-9:]//g'` mac_address_suffix=`openssl rand -hex 3 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//'` mac_address=`echo "$mac_address_prefix:$mac_address_suffix" | awk '{print toupper($0)}'` sudo ifconfig en0 ether "$mac_address" printf "%s\n" "Spoofed MAC address of en0 interface to $mac_address" EOF ``` ### Step 4: make `spoof.sh` executable ```shell chmod +x /usr/local/sbin/spoof.sh ``` ### Step 5: download [first-names.txt](first-names.txt) This list includes the top 2048 most popular baby names from the [USA Social Security Administration](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html). ```shell curl -o /usr/local/sbin/first-names.txt https://sunknudsen.com/static/media/privacy-guides/how-to-spoof-your-mac-address-and-hostname-automatically-at-boot-on-macos/first-names.txt ``` ### Step 6: download [mac-address-prefixes.txt](mac-address-prefixes.txt) This list includes 768 Apple MAC address prefixes. ```shell curl -o /usr/local/sbin/mac-address-prefixes.txt https://sunknudsen.com/static/media/privacy-guides/how-to-spoof-your-mac-address-and-hostname-automatically-at-boot-on-macos/mac-address-prefixes.txt ``` ### Step 7: create `local.spoof.plist` launch daemon This step is responsible for running `spoof.sh` every time your Mac boots. ```shell cat << "EOF" | sudo tee /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.spoof.plist Label spoof ProgramArguments /usr/local/sbin/spoof.sh RunAtLoad EOF ``` ### Step 8: reboot and confirm hostname and MAC address have been spoofed ```shell # Spoofed hostname $ scutil --get HostName Gatlins-MacBook-Pro # Spoofed MAC address $ ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk '{print $2}' 20:ee:28:31:03:f6 # Hardware MAC address $ networksetup -listallhardwareports | awk -v RS= '/en0/{print $NF}' 9c:f4:8e:d6:2b:7d ``` “Spoofed hostname” is random and “Spoofed MAC address” doesn’t match “Hardware MAC address”? 👍 --- ## Want things back the way they were before following this guide? No problem! ### Step 1: set computer name, local hostname and hostname Replace `John` with a name to your liking. ```shell sudo scutil --set ComputerName "John’s MacBook Pro" sudo scutil --set LocalHostName "Johns-MacBook-Pro" sudo scutil --set HostName "Johns-MacBook-Pro" ``` ### Step 2: set MAC address to default value Given MAC address spoofing is ephemeral, deleting the `/Library/LaunchDaemons/local.spoof.plist` launch daemon and rebooting will reset your MAC address to its default value. ```shell sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.spoof.plist ``` ### Step 3: delete script and datasets ```shell rm /usr/local/sbin/spoof.sh rm /usr/local/sbin/first-names.txt rm /usr/local/sbin/mac-address-prefixes.txt ```