Changed Mac address now windows won't boot

[Tasuma]

Hey all! As the title says, I changed my Mac address so my friend could get his Google home to work in the dorms and now my PC won't boot into windows. I get the logo and it posts fine. I can boot into safe mode. Any ideas? 

[TSL]

I think windows licenses are tied to the MAC address. Maybe it's not liking the new one so will refuse to boot into full windows

[manikyath]

2 minutes ago, TSL said:

I think windows licenses are tied to the MAC address. Maybe it's not liking the new one so will refuse to boot into full windows

the license being tied to the mac addrress (which i'm fairly sure it isnt) wouldnt stop the system from booting.

 

which comes to the question how did you change your MAC address (which is "supposed" to be hardcoded), why did you change it, and what other things did the change potentially brick?

[Tasuma]

4 minutes ago, TSL said:

I think windows licenses are tied to the MAC address. Maybe it's not liking the new one so will refuse to boot into full windows

Gotta. So gotta try changing it back then. 

[Tasuma]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

the license being tied to the mac addrress (which i'm fairly sure it isnt) wouldnt stop the system from booting.

 

which comes to the question how did you change your MAC address (which is "supposed" to be hardcoded), why did you change it, and what other things did the change potentially brick?

Went to device manager and put it in via advance options for Intel ethernet driver. And other wise nothing to cause a brick. I changed it because it was going to allow my roommate to make his Google home to the school's WiFi. Because we have to register devices for the MAC address but you can't pull a web browser up on the Google home so I change my computer's to spoof it in order to register the new Mac address and it is Google homes able to work on the Wi-Fi

[Tasuma]

I used the locally administered network setting.

[Aelita Sophie]

If this is the onboard LAN, go to your BIOS, disable the onboard LAN port and see if it will boot now. If yes, then your PC itself is fine. Enable it again and try the following steps:

Since it goes through the BIOS fine, I would say, boot your windows into safe mode/troubleshooting mode. Just assuming your PC is fairly "new" it probably has a UEFI BIOS, mashing F8 or shift+F8 won't work. You'll be needing a Windows Installer USB Stick. In the installer menu firstly choose the right language etc then on the next page click on "Repair your computer"

Click on Troubleshoot, here you can either pick System Restore (restore it to the point BEFORE you edited the network settings) or go into Command Prompt.

System Restore is self explanatory. However with Command Prompt (if Restore doesn't work or the Restore point is to old for your liking) you need to type the following:

bcedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

When successful it will say "The operation completed successfully".

 

Close the prompt and then hit Continue "exit and continue to Windows 10".

 

If not mistaken, you can go into your network devices here to readjust it back to the original. Which ever that is, I believe you should be able to retrieve that information from out your BIOS, but that I am unsure. As your edit is within the "settings" of the network card's driver if you will.

 

I hope I was of any help.

[Tasuma]

8 minutes ago, Aelita Sophie said:

If this is the onboard LAN, go to your BIOS, disable the onboard LAN port and see if it will boot now. If yes, then your PC itself is fine. Enable it again and try the following steps:

Since it goes through the BIOS fine, I would say, boot your windows into safe mode/troubleshooting mode. Just assuming your PC is fairly "new" it probably has a UEFI BIOS, mashing F8 or shift+F8 won't work. You'll be needing a Windows Installer USB Stick. In the installer menu firstly choose the right language etc then on the next page click on "Repair your computer"

Click on Troubleshoot, here you can either pick System Restore (restore it to the point BEFORE you edited the network settings) or go into Command Prompt.

System Restore is self explanatory. However with Command Prompt (if Restore doesn't work or the Restore point is to old for your liking) you need to type the following:

bcedit /set {default} safeboot minimal

When successful it will say "The operation completed successfully".

 

Close the prompt and then hit Continue "exit and continue to Windows 10".

 

If not mistaken, you can go into your network devices here to readjust it back to the original. Which ever that is, I believe you should be able to retrieve that information from out your BIOS, but that I am unsure. As your edit is within the "settings" of the network card's driver if you will.

 

I hope I was of any help.

I am just going to reinstall windows. I can boot into safe mode with networking fine. I changed the Mac address back. Just backing up my steam library onto my external drive. No idea what I did. Such a weird issue. Thanks for your help

[Aelita Sophie]

Just now, Tasuma said:

I am just going to reinstall windows. I can boot into safe mode with networking fine. I changed the Mac address back. Just backing up my steam library onto my external drive. No idea what I did. Such a weird issue. Thanks for your help

No problem at all!