Do laptop docking stations have their own MAC addresses?

Question

My laptop has an ethernet connection, and there's another on the docking station.

Can I connect using both at the same time? Will they have different MAC addresses?

I'm assuming the ethernet port on the doc is just a passthru to the onboard ethernet - is that incorrect?

Solution

It's up to your hardware. I have an older toshiba laptop that has a built-in ethernet and one that is on the docking station. They both work if you plug it in (depending on your network). and they each have their own MAC address. When I plug in one and wait, that computer gets one IP Address, when I unplug that and plug into the docking station, then it gets a different address because my DHCP server thinks its a new machine because the DHCP leases are based on the MAC address. It depends on the hardware really and whether the ethernet port on the docking station is a "new" device vs a "passthrough" device.

On Windows, open up the command prompt and type "getmac" and it'll tell you the mac addressess. You can also dock your computer and type in "ipconfig -all" and it will show you all your ethernet ports and their mac addresses.

Comments

[spong]

The mac tag may be a little misleading, as it's more commonly associated with Macs, Macintosh, or even Macbook Pros. Not really used for "mac" in "mac address".

[quack quixote]

fixed. we have a separate [mac-address] tag. [mac] is for Apple's Macintosh computer hardware. @sunpech

[chris]

Thanks - did no know about the getmac command. Looks like my docking station only has one.