imageCLASS MF462dw II ... where do I find its WiFi MAC address?

[koolerking]

My WiFi network uses MAC address filtering, and I need to add my printer's MAC address to the authorized list on my router before I can connect to it. I am not finding my new MF462dw II's MAC address in any of the obvious places; either physically on the back of the printer or within any of the info menus or sub-menus on the front display. I cannot find any mention of locating the MAC address in the user manual or the online FAQs. Is there some hidden menu to get to this info, or is it possibly found via a Canon support APP? Thank you!

[normadel]

Does this article help?

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/s/article/ART183534

All I did was search for "imageclass MF 462dw II find MAC address".

[koolerking]

You must have a magical touch for searches; when I did a similar search, the only results it gave me were articles related to "macOS" or "machine", etc. Thanks.

In any event, since I cannot connect wirelessly yet, the only option is start with a wired connection to the printer to obtain the MAC address which would have been my next step. I was really hoping it could be found simply via the info on the front panel as would be done for 95% of other devices. 

[koolerking]

Unfortunately, that linked article was not much help to me as nothing in the description or screen captures matched what I was seeing. I ultimately used the "Canon Laser NW Device Setup Utility" to access the MAC address info (for the wired connection at least). If the wireless MAC address is different and offset by more than a digit from the wired one, then I'll have to set-up a temporary router with MAC address filtering turned off just to retrieve the wireless address set in the printer. I have about 40 devices connected to my main router, and all of those have easy to locate MAC addresses ... why is Canon making this more difficult than it needs to be?

?

[shadowsports]

Greetings,

🤣 Actually, it is easy.  This sounds like a self-created hurdle.  If you're the administrator of the network, you can temporarily disable Mac address filtering for the 2-3 minutes that it takes to connect the device to your wireless network, capture the MAC, enter it, and re-enable MAC address filtering.  Mac address filtering is not an effective security measure on its own, and only provides the most basic protection.  Someone would have to be in range of your wireless network and put forth concerted effort to capture then spoof this information.  It's really just marketing fluff and honestly more trouble than it's worth.  🤔  However, if it makes you feel safer then by all means use it.  

Basic Networking:

A MAC address for the various interfaces is unique (different) for ethernet and Wi-Fi interfaces.  There is no need to mask the private IP addresses of devices on your network.  My printer's IP is 192.168.1.99  I'm sure you can see there is nothing you can do with that information. 

The printer does not have a way for you to identify its Mac addresses externally (stickers, etc).  Some manufacturers do this, and others don't.  

The link posted by my colleague above is only applicable if an interface has an active connection, otherwise the MAC for that interface is not displayed when viewed.  

All of the various methods to capture a MAC have this prerequisite.

Depending on the product you're using to control your network if you review the logs most will show the Mac address of the device that attempted to connect but was denied because of Mac address filtering.  

The simplest method to get around your issue is to temporarily disable Mac address filtering as mentioned.  Spending extra time using a secondary router to create a temporary network is possible, but requires a lot of additional work for something that can be solved more easily utilizing the first method. 

At least you only have to capture it once and moving forward you'll know the MAC. 😉

[koolerking]

I have an older router that I occasionally use as a "guest wifi" that is sans MAC filtering that I used to temporarily to connect the printer and gets its MAC address. This was preferable and quicker to disabling the MAC filtering on my primary router.

Regarding the comment "This sounds like a self-created hurdle."; The most direct way to have obtained the printer's MAC address would have been to access it directly from the printer itself without the need to create a temporary connection and read it from another device, so this is actually a "manufacturer-created hurdle".

As for the caveat regarding the use of MAC address filtering, if somebody possesses the technology to uncover my random 16-digit SSID (non-broadcast), as well as my random 20-digit network key, then perhaps "spoofing" a MAC address to beat the router's filter would be within their capability also? Of course, government entities already have backdoor access to most all devices that we use, but why make their job any easier by omitting a layer of protection?