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You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Networking > unknown computer on my network

unknown computer on my network
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abbaZaba
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Jun 23, 2009, 06:48 PM
 
I have a wired network with 3 access points secured by WPA. for the past week or so I have noticed an extra computer in my Shared list on my Finder. the computer also shows up in the network places on my windows machines. the offending computer is the "mac001....."



apparently it is a windows machine. I live in a fairly spread out residential neighborhood so I can't figure out how it's on the network. I personally haven't added anything and no one I live with has so I am at a loss as to why it is there. is there anyway I can probe it to figure out more information? figure out where it is/what it is?

when I click on it in the Finder, it just says I am connected as Guest and lists no shares. can anyone help me out with this, it is kind of making me nervous as it has been there nearly a week.
     
ibook_steve
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Jun 23, 2009, 07:44 PM
 
Are you running Parallels or Fusion? You may have them set up in bridged mode, creating a separate connection to the PC "half" of your Mac.

Have you tried disconnecting your machines one by one to see if this disappears? Perhaps you are running some other type of software that generates a separate share that you are unaware of. First rule out your own machines before thinking someone else is on there.

Try enabling MAC address filtering on your router. The MAC address is right there, so you could try blocking it on your router.

Do you have any portable devices that perhaps you are forgetting about: an iPhone or an iPod Touch that may be connecting or a game console?

If you reboot your router, does this come back up right away or not?


Steve
( Last edited by ibook_steve; Jun 23, 2009 at 07:51 PM. )
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mduell
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Jun 23, 2009, 08:14 PM
 
001B63 is an Apple prefix... could be the Windows sharing side of a Airport/TC.
     
ghporter
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Jun 23, 2009, 09:49 PM
 
Parallels (2.0) sets up two virtual network adapters which have their own MAC addresses (though on my iMac they both look like nonsense: 00:01:23:45:67:89 and 00:10:32:54:76:98). Other virtual devices could easily wind up using Apple-derived MAC addresses. Or, as mduell says, it could be a separate device.

ibook_steve's suggestion about rebooting the router is a good one, but before you do that, maybe you should unplug (as in power) any devices like a Time Capsule or AirPort Express or Extreme (that isn't your main router, of course). See if you see the oddball when the router finishes booting, and then watch as you power on, one at a time all your other network devices. If one of them is the culprit, it'll be pretty obvious.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
steve626
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Jun 24, 2009, 12:24 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Parallels (2.0) sets up two virtual network adapters which have their own MAC addresses (though on my iMac they both look like nonsense: 00:01:23:45:67:89 and 00:10:32:54:76:98). Other virtual devices could easily wind up using Apple-derived MAC addresses. Or, as mduell says, it could be a separate device.

ibook_steve's suggestion about rebooting the router is a good one, but before you do that, maybe you should unplug (as in power) any devices like a Time Capsule or AirPort Express or Extreme (that isn't your main router, of course). See if you see the oddball when the router finishes booting, and then watch as you power on, one at a time all your other network devices. If one of them is the culprit, it'll be pretty obvious.
I have Parallels 2.5 with Windows XP. On my wireless router (Linksys WRT160N) there are no new MAC addresses created or showing in the router when I run Windows XP under Parallels and have full internet access. The only devices showing there (for me) are ones I know are the physical MAC addresses for distinct physical devices in use on the network. For every device on the network, the MAC address should be easy to check and verify. That's not to say that boot camp or some other Windows mechanism on the Mac might not be responsible for the unidentified MAC address.

Another step to take could be to change the wireless access password for the router. Then see if the unidentified MAC device immediately persists and if it does, it seems like that it would be due to something innocuous.
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abbaZaba  (op)
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Jun 24, 2009, 03:36 AM
 
I turned off the router and the 3 access points and rebooted them. the unknown computer came back.

I turned off the SMB share on the mini but I doubt this was the culprit; I only enabled that recently and the unknown was around before that (pretty sure)

I have parallels on the macbook but haven't used it in forever and it has been around awhile and the unknown only showed up recently.

we have 2 iphones but I seriously doubt they are causing it. why would the iphone show up in shared? it's never done that before. and since we have 2, wouldn't I see two unknowns?

I have remote desktop and when I do a scan of the network I can see all the computers on the network. I know all the NAT IPs assigned to the computers and they are all accounted for. I can even see the IPs that are assigned to the 3 access points and the main router. I do not see any IPs that are assigned to something I do not know about.
     
ghporter
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Jun 24, 2009, 08:33 AM
 
Disconnect each wired computer/device (again, one at a time) and see when the oddball disappears. Knowing which machine is creating this oddity will help figure out how to end it.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
abbaZaba  (op)
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Jun 24, 2009, 03:59 PM
 
I turned off the SMB share on the mini. I was trying to share an external drive over the LAN so the computer in the garage could access it. turns out the windows computer couldn't access it anyway and once I turned the SMB share off on the mini, the unknown went away. I think that may have been the problem.
     
abbaZaba  (op)
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Jun 24, 2009, 04:06 PM
 
dammit, nevermind. it came back.
     
   
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