Although it is not the only metadata broadcast by network hardware, changing the default [MAC Address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) of your hardware could be [an important step in protecting
privacy](https://tails.boum.org/contribute/design/MAC_address/#index1h1). Currently, Qubes OS *does not* automatically "anonymize" or spoof the MAC Address, so until this is implemented by default you can randomize your MAC Address with one of the following guides using either Network Manager or macchanger...
## Upgrading and configuring Network Manager in Qubes
Newer versions of Network Manager have a robust set of options for randomizing MAC addresses, and can handle the entire process across reboots, sleep/wake cycles and different connection states. In particular, versions 1.4.2 and later should be well suited for Qubes.
Network Manager 1.4.2 or later is available from the Fedora 25 repository as well as the Debian 9 repository, which you can install by [upgrading a Debian 8 template to version 9.](/doc/debian-template-upgrade-8/)
Write the settings to a new file in the `/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/` directory, such as `mac.conf`. The following example enables Wifi and Ethernet MAC address randomization while scanning (not connected), and uses a randomly generated but persistent MAC address for each individual Wifi and Ethernet connection profile.
Next, create a new NetVM using the new template and assign network devices to it.
Finally, shutdown all VMs and change the settings of sys-firewall, etc. to use the new NetVM.
You can check the MAC address currently in use by looking at the status pages of your router device(s), or in the NetVM with the command `sudo ip link show`.
Then create the file `macspoof@.service` in `fedora-23` located at `/etc/systemd/system/` directory using a text editor such as `vim`, `emacs`, or `gedit`
Note in the above line `ExecStart=/usr/bin/macchanger -e %I` we recommend the use of `macchanger` with the `-e` flag which randomizes the MAC address to an address by the same device vendor/manufacturer. There a [number of other flags](http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/en/man1/macchanger.1.html) you could use instead, such as `-r` which makes a totally random MAC address, which may map to a non-existent device vendor/manufacturer and make it obvious you are spoofing your MAC address. Some reasons why we have recommended `-e` rather than `-r` are in these resources:
Go back to your `sys-net` VM terminal, type `ifconfig` and as before look at the values starting with `ether` such as `ether 9e:d6:53:02:4b:b6` which should now look different from the previous values.
- The `sys-net` networking VM takes longer for device drivers to start up than usual, this delayed startup may cause the first attempt of `sys-whonix` to connect to Tor to fail
To disable MAC Randomizing if you find that a network connecting to does not like changing MAC Addresses, you can disable temporarily or if you want to permanently remove this solution, do the following:
