When using your macOS laptop or desktop, one of the important things is the network settings. It allows you to connect to the Wi-Fi network and browse the internet. Further, if you enable or install any VPN application on your macOS, it can also change the network settings. So if you feel the network settings are messed up due to some app or changes in your macOS, you can always reset the network settings. Unlike iPhone and iPad, the resetting option for network settings is not direct and you need to follow a few steps to reset it. So here is how to reset network settings on macOS Sonoma.
Related Reading: How to Remove Startup Items in macOS
How to Reset Network Settings on macOS:
With every new release of macOS, Apple makes changes to the UI, and unlike iPhone and iPadOS, resetting the network settings on macOS Sonoma is not a direct option that you can enable on the settings page. Follow the steps below to reset the network settings on macOS.
Step 1: Open the Finder app on your macOS from the dock. This is basically the file explorer in macOS.
Step 2: Click on the File option from the main menu bar and select Go to Folder option
Step 3: This will bring an option to enter the folder path, you need to paste /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration in the box and press enter
Step 4: You need to find the following folders in the system configuration folder.
- com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
- com.apple.network.eapolclient.configuration.plist or com.apple.network.identification.plist
- com.apple. Wi-Fi.message-tracer.plist
- NetworkInterfaces.plist
- preferences.plist
Step 5: Once you have located these files, you first need to take a backup of all these files to a separate location. This is to ensure that in case anything goes wrong, you can restore it back to the folder.
Step 6: Once you have taken the backup of these files, you need to delete them from the system configuration folder.
Step 7: You can delete the files from the trash folder as well.
Step 8: In the final step, you need to restart your Macbook or iMac and your network settings will be reset.
In case you do not want to perform a reset of the network settings, you can alternatively try restarting macOS and see if your problem is solved.
Another option is to open the settings, navigate to Wi-Fi settings, and try to connect to the network manually. In case these options do not work, the only option would be to reset the network settings,
