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A comment on Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID. Parent comment

Re:Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID by gcr on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @07:04AM (#48816118)
The supported method to get a new one each boot is to truncate the file to 0 bytes and disable systemd-machine-id-commit.service

Double-check that this method actually works though.

Machine ID is used for things like dhcp leases, log rotation, etc. IPV6 addresses or transient MAC addresses are derived from it

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Re:Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID by inigyou on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @07:12AM (#48816169)
I thought the kernel generated SLAAC addresses based on MAC and privacy addresses based on random numbers.
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Re:Microsoft Can Track Users via a Windows Device ID by tremon on Tuesday July 07, 2026 @09:13AM (#48817302)
It does, but DHCPv6 prescribes a persistent device identifier (DUID): https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9915/#RFC3315-9

The DUID is designed to be unique across all DHCP clients and servers, and stable for any specific client or server. That is, the DUID used by a client or server SHOULD NOT change over time if at all possible; for example, a device's DUID should not change as a result of a change in the device's network hardware or changes to virtual interfaces

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