Windows Server 2008/2003, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000 by default will respond to ARP requests only if the Ethernet address in an ARP request is unicast. The system will not respond if the incoming ARP request did not have a unicast source ethernet address.
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By default IPv4 packets are encapsulated on Ethernet subnets in Ethernet II or Ethernet DIX format in Windows server 2008/2003, Windows Vista/XP/2000. However, if you need to use IEEE 802.3 SNAP (Sub-Network Acces Protocol) then this can be done from Windows Registry.
The Media Sensing feature in Windows 2000, Windows XP and later is used to detect whether the network media are in a link state. With Media Sense feature, Windows senses a link state as UP or DOWN based on the link availability. When Windows detects a “down” state, it removes the bound protocols from that adapter until it is detected as “up” again.
Media Sensing feature is enabled by default in Windows except Windows Server 2003. However, in instances where you do not want Windows to sense link status (very unlikely) in which case, you can disable the Media Sensing feature from Windows Registry.
I just now wrote a Windows Tweak to manually change the MAC-Address on your NIC from Windows Registy here. If you thought, its too much to ask then here is a simple tool that exactly performs the steps we performed with a few clicks.
Technitium MAC Address Changer allows you to change Media Access Control (MAC) Address of your Network Interface Card (NIC) irrespective to your NIC manufacturer or its driver. It has a very simple user interface and provides ample information regarding each NIC in the machine. Every NIC has a MAC address hard coded in its circuit by the manufacturer. This hard coded MAC address is used by windows drivers to access Ethernet Network (LAN).