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Bug with Intel 9260 and Random Addresses?

DDurr2
Novice
924 Views

My system is a Dell Inspiron 5575 running windows 10 professional version 1903. The wireless board was changed to an intel 9260. I am connecting using to my router using wpa3 personal.

If the random address feature is turned on, the laptop will no longer be able to connect to a known network.

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4 Replies
AlHill
Super User
729 Views

Who changed the wireless adapter?

If you did, without consulting with dell for supported adapters, there is your problem.

You must contact dell for support with their laptop.

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005687/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking.html

 

Doc

 

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DDurr2
Novice
729 Views

I personally did change out the card and, it is working perfectly except for a Windows feature​ that is supposed to randomize the MAC address when connecting to a Wi-Fi network. This did work with the original Qualcomm adapter. Does the Intel 9260 support that? With the feature disabled, everything works as advertised. Once the feature is enabled in Windows, the adapter will no longer connect to a known network. Can any other 9260 users confirm if this feature works (maybe wpa3 is a factor?)

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AlHill
Super User
729 Views

You must contact dell for support.

 

Doc

 

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DDurr2
Novice
729 Views

The issue has been determined to be an intentional implementation by Intel. Intel adapters do no support MAC Randomization:

 

The Media Access Control (MAC) address is hard-coded on Intel® Wireless Adapters and cannot be changed.

Some third-party software applications can imitate a MAC address. For security reasons, we do not support this practice.

 

source

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006057/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking.html

 

In other words, Intel encourages hardware tracking of its devices :-/

 

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