Unbinding MAC Addresses on Fedora

Fedora 12
These instructions are written for Fedora 12 but should apply to other Fedora releases.

By default, Fedora binds ethernet interfaces (such as eth0) to a MAC address (specific network interface card/NIC). This is useful, because if a NIC is added, it will be assigned a new ethernet interface (instead of bumping the existing eth0 to eth1). However, this causes problems when you use a removable disk drive and move it from one computer to another.

To unbind the interace from the MAC address:

1. Start the system-config-network tool (on the menus under System>Administration>Network).
   
2. Double-click on the eth0 device.
   
3. Select the Hardware tab and uncheck the box labeled Bind to MAC address, then click Ok.
   
4. Select File>Save.
5. Reboot your system.