How to recognise a Parallels' virtual machine by its MAC address?

Summary

OUIs registered by Parallels, Inc

There are 1 OUI registered by Parallels, Inc:

Detection Rule 1

Affects products: All Parallels products

Signature: OUI is 00:1C:42

Conditions

When a new virtual machine is created, Parallels generates a MAC address using its only registered OUI – 00:1C:42.

Example MACs generated

• 00:1C:42:15:41:57
• 00:1C:42:51:E1:25
• 00:1C:42:82:CD:E5

Tested on

• Parallels Desktop 14

Known Pattern 1

Affects products: All Parallels products

Signature: MAC matches the pattern:

• x2-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• x6-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• xA-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• xE-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

Conditions

For the manually generated MAC-addresses, Parallels recommends using MAC address with OUI 00:1C:42.

However, it is possible to set a manually generated address, which is required to be LLA and Unicast. These two requirements encoded in bits, result in the following patterns:

• x2-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• x6-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• xA-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
• xE-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx

If a MAC address matches the pattern, it does not necessary mean that it's a Parallels Virtual Machine.

All manually generated MAC addresses for the Parallels Virtual Machines which are not using the OUI 00:1C:42 match the pattern.

References

• What range of MAC addresses can I safely use for my virtual machines?

Virtual Machine’s MAC ranges

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