# How to spoof MAC address and hostname automatically at boot on macOS [](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASXANpr_zX8 "How to spoof MAC address and hostname automatically at boot on macOS") > Heads-up: unfortunately this guide doesn’t work on Macs equipped with T2 chips running macOS Mojave. If that’s your case, consider upgrading to Catalina. > Heads-up: unfortunately this guide doesn’t work on Macs equipped with M1 processors (see [issue](https://github.com/sunknudsen/privacy-guides/issues/15)). ## 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` directory ```shell sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/sbin sudo chown ${USER}:admin /usr/local/sbin ``` ### Step 2: add `/usr/local/sbin` directory to `PATH` environment variable > Heads-up: run `echo $SHELL` to find default shell. #### Bash (`/bin/bash`) ```shell echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sbin' >> ~/.bashrc source ~/.bashrc ``` #### Z Shell (`/bin/zsh`) ```shell echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/sbin' >> ~/.zshrc source ~/.zshrc ``` ### Step 3: create `spoof.sh` script ```shell cat << "EOF" > /usr/local/sbin/spoof.sh #! /bin/sh set -e set -o pipefail export LC_CTYPE=C basedir=$(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-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-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 #### Spoofed hostname ```console $ scutil --get HostName Gatlins-MacBook-Pro ``` #### Spoofed MAC address ```console $ ifconfig en0 | grep ether | awk '{print $2}' 20:ee:28:31:03:f6 ``` #### Hardware MAC address ```console $ 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 ``` 👍