I am trying to have a random mac address by default before I connect to any network. My results are ambiguous.
1. My approach
1.1) updated my box to the latest backported Debian 9.5 (as of 23 Oct, 2018)
1.2) created /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/00-macrandomize.conf with following lines
[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=yes
[connection]
wifi.cloned-mac-address=random
ethernet.cloned-mac-address=random
connection.stable-id=${CONNECTION}/${BOOT}
1.3) run
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager
2. My results
2.1 KDE Networking check
KDE Network applet shows true mac address of my network interface
2.2 ip link check
Code: Select all
sudo ip link
2.3 access point (wifi hotspot on Android 8.1 phone) check
returns the same random mac address
3. My questions
3.1 Does ip link and access point check confirm that my mac address is random from the perspective of "all" access points? What would be possible exceptions? 3.2 Can KDE Networks/Networking under some circumstances send my true mac address to a network access point (overriding NetworkManager config) 3.3. Is there (and what is) a smarter way how to achieve my goal of having a random MAC address each time i connect to an access point on my box, as described above, with full KDE?