How To Install macchanger on Ubuntu

Posted on April 1, 2023 (Last modified on May 20, 2023 )

3 minutes • 459 words

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install macchanger on Ubuntu.

What is `macchanger`

macchanger is:

GNU MAC Changer is an utility that makes the maniputation of MAC addresses of network interfaces easier. MAC addresses are unique identifiers on networks, they only need to be unique, they can be changed on most network hardware. MAC addresses have started to be abused by unscrupulous marketing firms, government agencies, and others to provide an easy way to track a computer across multiple networks. By changing the MAC address regularly, this kind of tracking can be thwarted, or at least made a lot more difficult.

Features:

set specific MAC address of a network interface
set the MAC randomly
set a MAC of another vendor
set another MAC of the same vendor
set a MAC of the same kind (eg: wireless card)
display a vendor MAC list (today, 6200 items) to choose from

There are three methods to install macchanger on Ubuntu. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install macchanger Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install macchanger using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install macchanger

Install macchanger Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install macchanger using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install macchanger

Install macchanger Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install macchanger using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install macchanger

How To Uninstall macchanger on Ubuntu

To uninstall only the macchanger package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove macchanger

Uninstall macchanger And Its Dependencies

To uninstall macchanger and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove macchanger

Remove macchanger Configurations and Data

To remove macchanger configuration and data from Ubuntu we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge macchanger

Remove macchanger configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove macchanger configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge macchanger

Dependencies

macchanger have the following dependencies:

References

macchanger website

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install macchanger package on Ubuntu using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.