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I'm having a problem with macchanger.

Whenever I try to run the command macchanger -r eth1, I get the following error:

ERROR: Can't change MAC: interface up or not permission: Too many open files in system

I'm running this command as root, and the ulimit is set to unlimited.

What can I do to avoid this error?

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On what operating system (if Linux, what distribution)? Does ifconfig hw ether uu:vv:ww:xx:yy:zz work? – Gilles Nov 8 '11 at 23:01
I'm using Linux (Fedora 15), and the ifconfig and ip commands give the same Too many open files in system error. – Zmbl Nov 9 '11 at 9:51

1 Answer

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Everything in Linux is a file (even a small process like macchanger). Therefore if you already have lots of processes running, its very possible that you've reached the limit of files your system can manage.

Here's a good article on Linux scalability

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