Can I specify MAC address of VirtualBox host - NOT the guest

[drkirkby]

I've found that installing VirtualBox creates a new MAC address on a machine. You can see this on a Windows box (which I don't have handy), by using

Code: Select all

ipconfig /all

You can see it on a Solaris host, if you type

Code: Select all

# ifconfig -a
<snip>
vboxnet0: flags=201000842<BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4,CoS> mtu 1500 index 3
	inet 0.0.0.0 netmask 0 
	ether 8:0:27:e6:12:1f 

Is there any way to specify this MAC address when installing VirtualBox, or otherwise to change it later?

I know it's possible to set up different guests to have different mac addresses, but that is something completely different to what I'm looking for.

[Perryg]

Sure.
VirtualBox Main Manager -> guest settings -> networking -> advanced
Or see chapter 8.7.2 Networking settings in your VirtualBox users manual.

Now if you are talking about changing the hosts actual MAC then that is not possible as it is hard coded in the NIC.

[Martijn Gastkemper]

At first it didn't work. When booting my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS VM it tries to connect, but it fails with "Waiting for network configuration..." and "Waiting up to 60 more seconds for network configuration...". The reason is that the MAC address is stored in /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules. I removed the file and rebooted.