@matthew.shaffer The WD and TB models definitely do, but that requires firmware-level support from the system. Not sure about the Dxxxx models, although I doubt it given that this KB article doesn't mention them even though they existed at the time of the article. It seems that hasn't been updated to account for newer WD dock models though.
It's also worth noting that not all Dell systems support this, and I don't know of any third-party laptops that will use this feature through a Dell dock even if they would do this with their own vendor's dock. For example, Lenovo systems support this capability with Lenovo docks, but wouldn't with Dell docks (nor would Dell docks do this with Lenovo systems). It's also possible to override this behavior on the system side. In the BIOS Setup you can choose whether to pass through the system's MAC or allow the dock to keep its built-in MAC. And on at least some systems you'll have a third option of choosing whether to pass through the MAC of the system's built-in Ethernet interface (assuming it has built-in Ethernet) or a "virtual" MAC that is also configured on the system specifically for passthrough. The former option is useful for cases where you want to identify a system by the same MAC regardless of whether it's plugged in directly or through a dock, but the latter allows you to use the dock's Ethernet interface and the system's built-in Ethernet interface simultaneously if that might ever be necessary.
jphughan
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February 17th, 2021 13:00
@matthew.shaffer The WD and TB models definitely do, but that requires firmware-level support from the system. Not sure about the Dxxxx models, although I doubt it given that this KB article doesn't mention them even though they existed at the time of the article. It seems that hasn't been updated to account for newer WD dock models though.
It's also worth noting that not all Dell systems support this, and I don't know of any third-party laptops that will use this feature through a Dell dock even if they would do this with their own vendor's dock. For example, Lenovo systems support this capability with Lenovo docks, but wouldn't with Dell docks (nor would Dell docks do this with Lenovo systems). It's also possible to override this behavior on the system side. In the BIOS Setup you can choose whether to pass through the system's MAC or allow the dock to keep its built-in MAC. And on at least some systems you'll have a third option of choosing whether to pass through the MAC of the system's built-in Ethernet interface (assuming it has built-in Ethernet) or a "virtual" MAC that is also configured on the system specifically for passthrough. The former option is useful for cases where you want to identify a system by the same MAC regardless of whether it's plugged in directly or through a dock, but the latter allows you to use the dock's Ethernet interface and the system's built-in Ethernet interface simultaneously if that might ever be necessary.