[Motorola Droid RAZR] Ohmster:
What say, Bri? teachme said that his WiFi MAC changed when he flashed cm11 and that is very possible. Not normally a big deal, WiFi MACs are rarely used for wireless access but then can and are used mostly for the workplace. Teachme said his workplace IT department are pricks and will give him a lot of crap about changing it on the router to grant access to his phone. So, he wanted to "change it back". That information is held on the device, in the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file. What wifical.sh does is read that file and restore the MAC addy back to what is in the file.

When I got my replacement phone, Stargo told me to immediately backup my phone's /pds folder and contents to keep it safe. Here is a direct quote from teachme to help clear this up:

Yeah they use mac filtering at work and I T are kinda pissy about changing things. WiFi Mac changer works but must be done on every reboot. Thanks for the info above I'll read up. I'm about 3 weeks from an lg g2 so I may just wait and give them that Mac Addy when I get it.

So, he used Wireless Mac Address Changer, NOT wifical.sh to change his WiFi MAC addy. That is a temporary fix and you lose it when you reboot. When I said "I "restored" my original WiFi MAC address and then verified it with screenshot #1 I sent you.", I meant I did the wifical.sh in a root terminal and it was neat to watch, it did "restore" my WiFi MAC addy to what is in the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file. Since my phone is a new replacement, it didn't "change anything" but would have, if my MAC addy had changed. Since I got this phone with insurance, paid $99 for a replacement from money I do not have, I dare not modify my own device because if I wreck it, I will be charged again for a replacement plus lose my insurance for putting in two claims in one year. Next year I could restore the insurance if this did happen.

To permanently change your WiFi MAC Address, is a bit of a procedure, not for the inexperienced or faint of heart. You need the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file, a Hex Editor, and the instructions on how to do it are posted here:

Modify the MAC address

About ¾ way down the page are "the instructions". They are for a different device and a different situation, but what you have to do is pretty clear. That is why I offered my nvs_map.bin file. It is easier to modify an existing file than to "create one from scratch". Those instructions are clear about what to change, but in NO WAY easy to understand as you have to just use the part about modifying the MSB and LSB part of the number, save it, put it back in the phone where it belongs, reboot, run wifical.sh, done. I don't really think teachme has the experience to perform this but now you have me curious. I want to Hex Exit my own file on my PC just to see "how easy this is". Doing it now, file opened in Hex Workshop and this is scary, man. I am going to try and edit this file but I don't think I want to mess with this replacement phone. I do not have the money to replace it if something goes wrong.

Holy crap, this was rough, man. The instructions by themselves will not help you if you do not know what you are looking for and what you need to replace it with. I just located my own WiFi MAC Address in the /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin file by opening it in Hex Workshop, and color coding each part of the MAC address to show you where it is. By modifying these values, in order, to what you want the MAC address to be, save the file. Then restore the file to it's original location and permission set, /pds/wifi/nvs_map.bin, system, system rw-rw-r--.

This one jpg picture pretty much is the entire procedure but for saving the file, putting it back, rebooting, and performing wifical.sh one more time. That will do it.

You really got me working here, Bri. Not so much because it is needed right now, nor because you want to know "how I did this" because I didn't actually do it. But the challenge was out, the gauntlet tossed, and curiousity drove me to actually go through with it, other than changing my own device's MAC address because I cannot take the chance of an unforseen failure and having to pay the insurance company again, ship it to me again, and then lose my insurance for one year for putting in two claims in one year. But yes, this will and should change the WiFi MAC address, permanently, SFAIK. And yes, I would do it on my own phone if I were in his situation. ;)

Satisfied? Great. Save this post and picture and there you have your instructions. :D

EDIT:

For anyone that wants it, I have attached an instruction kit of the image and post in a clickable pdf file all in one zip file as a How-To Change your WiFi MAC Address. Attached File: Permanently_Change_XT912_WiFi_MAC_Address.zip

Since I never saw instructions like this before, might as well post them. One caveat is that you must know the MAC Address you wish to restore and then you can restore it. For anybody that wants to do this, you need a good Hex Editor. What better place to go than Sourceforge? So here is a totally free, 5 star Hex Editor you can download for Windows for free. Hexplorer