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You are here: Home / Mac / Solved: Macbook Connects to Wi-Fi but Has no Internet Connection

Solved: Macbook Connects to Wi-Fi but Has no Internet Connection

By Dan Helyer 153 comments Last updated November 25, 2022

Your MacBook is definitely connected to Wi-Fi, so why is there no Internet connection? Find out what’s going on and how to solve it in this short troubleshooting guide.

Related:

  • Wi-Fi not working? How to fix your Wi-Fi problems
  • Cannot connect to Internet; Fixed for Mac
  • Common Mac Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity issues

Contents

  • Why is my MacBook connecting to WiFi but not to the Internet?
    • How can my Mac have WiFi but no Internet?
  • How do I fix when there’s no Internet connection on my MacBook?
    • 1. Forget your Wi-Fi network then reconnect
    • 2. Make sure your date, time, and location are correct
    • 3. Update macOS, if you can get online
    • 4. Change your Mac’s Domain Name System (DNS)
    • 5. Disconnect all your USB accessories
    • 6. Run Wireless Diagnostics on your MacBook
    • 7. Renew the DHCP Lease in Network preferences
    • 8. Create a new network location
    • 9. Remove Profiles from your MacBook
    • 10. Reset your network preferences
    • 11. Stop mDNSResponder from running 

Why is my MacBook connecting to WiFi but not to the Internet?

Your MacBook might be on Wi-Fi but with no Internet connection for a range of different reasons. It could be down to your router, your Internet service provider, or your MacBook software.

Whatever the cause of your problem, you should be able to fix it with our tips below.

How can my Mac have WiFi but no Internet?

We often use the terms interchangeably, but your Wi-Fi is not actually the same as your Internet connection. Wi-Fi connects you to a local network. And usually, that network connects to the Internet.

Your router has an ethernet cable connected to the back of it. If you were to unplug that cable you’d lose Internet connection. But you’d still be able to connect to the Wi-Fi network.

How do I fix when there’s no Internet connection on my MacBook?

MacBook Pro start up screen
Shut down your MacBook and wait at least one minute before you start it up again.

The first thing to do is to restart your MacBook and your wireless router. You should restart your router even if other devices can connect to the Internet.

If you haven’t already, try connecting your MacBook to a different Wi-Fi network. Go to school, work, the library, or a friend’s house and see if you can get online there.

If you can, the problem is with your personal network. Contact your Internet service provider for help on how to fix it. 

Otherwise, follow our steps below to troubleshoot problems with your MacBook.

1. Forget your Wi-Fi network then reconnect

Wi-Fi Network Password
Re-enter your Wi-Fi password after you tell your MacBook to forget it.

Don’t do this unless you know the password for your Wi-Fi connection. Otherwise, you won’t get back online even if the Internet is working.

  1. On your MacBook, go to System Preferences > Network.
  2. Click on Wi-Fi in the sidebar, then Advanced… in the bottom right.
  3. Select your Wi-Fi network in the list and delete it using the Minus (–) button.
  4. Click OK, then Apply.
  5. Now reconnect to your Wi-Fi connection and enter your Wi-Fi password.

2. Make sure your date, time, and location are correct

Set time zone automatically checkbox
Your MacBook can set the time and date automatically.

It seems strange, but the wrong date, time, or location can affect the Internet connection on your MacBook. Correct them in the settings.

  1. On your MacBook, go to System Preferences > Date & Time.
  2. Click Time Zone and check the box to Set time zone automatically…
  3. If your MacBook selects the wrong location:
    1. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
    2. Select Location Services in the sidebar.
    3. Check the box to Enable Location Services.

3. Update macOS, if you can get online

Click Update Now in the Software Updates window
Check for software updates on your MacBook.

Some users can access the Internet by restarting their router or their MacBook. Often this doesn’t last long. But if you can get online, check for new macOS updates on your MacBook. 

  1. On your MacBook, go to System Preferences > Software Updates.
  2. Wait for your MacBook to look for new updates.
  3. Download and install any available updates.

4. Change your Mac’s Domain Name System (DNS)

Domain Name System (DNS) servers map domain names to their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and allow you to go quickly to websites and servers you visit frequently without typing the complete address.

Sometimes, changing the DNS provider from your Internet provider to a free public service like Google or Cloudflare helps your Mac connect swiftly to the internet.

Quickly switch your DNS on a Mac or MacBook

  1. Close any open web browser on your Mac before starting (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and so forth)
  2. Go to Apple Menu  > System Preferences > Network
  3. Select Wi-Fi and then choose Advanced
  4. Click the DNS tab
  5. Under DNS Servers,  click the Plus button (+)

    Add new DNS servers on a Mac
    Change your DNS server to a free alternative.
  6. Enter the IPv4 or IPv6 address for the DNS server you wish to change to. Examples include:
    1. 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for Google Public DNS
    2. 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1 for Cloudflare
    3. 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 for OpenDNS
    4. 8.26.56.26 and 8.20.247.20 for Comodo Secure DNS
  7. Once added, tap OK to confirm

5. Disconnect all your USB accessories

USB cable going into port
Unplug the USB accessories from your MacBook.

USB devices and other peripheral accessories connected to your MacBook should have shielding. Unshielded accessories can interfere with your MacBook’s Wi-Fi or Internet connection. 

Unplug everything from your MacBook: mouse, keyboard, hard drive, etc. Then try connecting to the Internet again. If you can get online now, one of your accessories is causing the problem.

Reintroduce your USB accessories one at a time to find the troublemaker. Contact the manufacturer for help fixing it.

6. Run Wireless Diagnostics on your MacBook

Wireless Diagnostics window
Run Wireless Diagnostics to find out more about your Wi-Fi connection.

There’s a Wireless Diagnostics tool built into macOS. This diagnostics tool can’t fix all your Wi-Fi problems, but it can point you in the direction of a solution.

  1. Hold option and click the Wi-Fi icon in your menu bar. 
  2. Select Open Wireless Diagnostics… from the drop-down menu. 
  3. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete your diagnostics.

If you get an error code from the Wireless Diagnostics, find more information about it online.

7. Renew the DHCP Lease in Network preferences

Renew DHCP Lease button
You can renew the DHCP Lease from your Network preferences.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) lets your network devices talk to each other. These devices include your router, MacBook, iPhone, or anything else on your network.

A problem with your DHCP Lease might be the reason your MacBook connects to Wi-Fi but can’t get on the Internet. The good news is it’s easy to renew the lease. 

Your IP address might change when you renew your DHCP Lease.

  1. On your MacBook, go to System Preferences > Network.
  2. Click Wi-Fi in the sidebar, then click Advanced… in the bottom right.
  3. Go to the TCP/IP tab and click Renew DHCP Lease.

8. Create a new network location

The network location is usually set by your MacBook. But if something went wrong with this automatic selection, you can fix it yourself.

  1. On your MacBook, go to System Preferences > Network.
  2. Open the Location: drop-down menu at the top of the window.
    Automatic Location selection in Network preferences
  3. Select Edit Locations… and use the Plus (+) button to add a new location.
  4. Click Done, then Apply your new settings.

9. Remove Profiles from your MacBook

Apps and websites sometimes ask you to install Profiles on your MacBook. But bad Profiles can interfere with other processes on your computer, like the Internet connection.

  1. On your MacBook, go to System Preferences and look for a Profiles option.
  2. Remove every custom Profile.
  3. Restart your MacBook and try to connect to the Internet again.

10. Reset your network preferences

Time Machine logo
Use Time Machine to back up your Mac.

A common troubleshooting tip for Internet problems on iPhone is to Reset Network Settings. Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy Reset Network Settings button in macOS. But you can delete your preferences files instead.

This resets several settings on your MacBook, so make a backup first. 

After you reset your network preferences, you will need to connect to the Wi-Fi network again.

  1. On your MacBook, click on the Desktop to highlight Finder.
  2. From the menu bar, click Go > Computer.
  3. Navigate to Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/System Configuration.
    Network preferences file path
  4. Delete the following files (you might not have them all):
    1. com.apple.airport.preferences.plist 
    2. com.apple.network.identification.plist
    3. NetworkInterfaces.plist
    4. preferences.plist 
    5. Settings.plist

11. Stop mDNSResponder from running 

It seems unrelated, but one of the processes related to iTunes could be causing the problem. Some users have found the mDNSResponder is responsible for causing their internet problems.

You can stop the mDNSResponder from Activity Monitor. It should restart by itself without any problems.

  1. On your MacBook, open Activity Monitor from Utilities or using Spotlight.
  2. Go to the Network tab and click Process Name to sort the processes alphabetically.
  3. Find and select mDNSResponder.
  4. Click the octagonal Stop button in the top left of the window.
Activity Monitor stop button
Highlight the process and use the stop button to terminate it.

Hopefully, those tips got your MacBook connected to Wi-Fi and the Internet. Let us know which steps helped you fix your MacBook! We’ll be sure to keep this post updated with the best solutions.

And for those of you back online, check out this post to get even faster browsing by changing your DNS.

Dan Helyer

Dan writes tutorials and troubleshooting guides to help people make the most of their technology. Before becoming a writer, he earned a BSc in Sound Technology, supervised repairs at an Apple Store, and even taught English in China.

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Reader Interactions

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Show 153 Comments

  1. Alex says

    February 2, 2023 at 2:01 PM

    Thank you! Number 10 did the trick!
    We changed internet provider and couldn’t connect to internet, whether wifi or ethernet.
    Removing those files fixed the problem!!! LEGEND!!!

    Reply
  2. fredonline says

    January 29, 2023 at 8:05 AM

    Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m really good with Macs but this one stumped me. For weeks, my Mac would lose connectivity over Wifi, and I couldn’t seem to figure out why. My other devices like iPhone and iPad worked fine on the same wifi network. So I would just reboot the Mac and it was OK for a few days. This is on a 2020 M1 MacBook Pro 13″.

    But today, it would not connect, to any network, even after repeated reboots, shutdowns, rebooting the cable modem and wifi router.

    Tried this article and had to go to thru to #10 near the end before it worked.

    Thanks again!

    Reply
  3. DN says

    January 13, 2023 at 2:36 PM

    I’m fed up with Apple. This is the third laptop with this issue and very clearly an engineering problem that goes largely swept under the rug. I cannot believe the “Industry Leaders” consider this to be acceptable. Because of this exact problem–and the subsequent trapeze act it takes to temporarily resolve the issue–I have no choice but to switch back to Windows full time starting in March 2023.

    Reply
  4. Pav says

    January 11, 2023 at 5:12 AM

    Wanted to say thanks, went through all the steps, only step 10 worked like a charm, many thanks again!

    Reply
  5. Kb says

    January 1, 2023 at 4:34 AM

    Works a treat. Thank you. Apple should fix this. Should be this hard. KB

    Reply
  6. AB says

    November 19, 2022 at 9:04 AM

    Thank you, changed the DNS and it worked

    Reply
  7. Kristi says

    November 1, 2022 at 9:47 AM

    It was step 10. And it was my work computer so I needed an admin login to delete 4 files. I was able to restore my connection to the internet after a whole day out of work! I will have to have our IT guy fix the network profile, but I’m up and running! Thank you!

    Reply
  8. Kathy says

    October 13, 2022 at 5:21 AM

    This is awesome – thanks. Changing the location did the trick!

    Reply
  9. Robin says

    October 3, 2022 at 7:14 AM

    Thank you. Deleting ip numbers under the DNS tab and adding the ip 8.8.8.8 did work for me.

    Reply
  10. Nodel says

    September 29, 2022 at 10:06 AM

    The best troubleshooting guide I have ever come across. Simple to understand and well laid out. Thank you.

    Reply
  11. AmanSnaps says

    September 24, 2022 at 10:40 PM

    THANK YOU SO MUCH BRAND NEW MACBOOK M1 AND I COULDNT CONNECT FOR THREE DAYS YOU SAVED ME!!!!

    Reply
  12. Mark says

    August 26, 2022 at 11:23 AM

    The mdnsreponder tip worked.

    Reply
  13. Teresa S. says

    August 6, 2022 at 2:32 PM

    Thank you!

    I changed the date/time (#2) but that didn’t turn in the internet.

    #7, changing the DNS for the internet working.

    I also did #11 with the mDNSR responder in activity monitor and the internet sped up.

    Thank you so much!

    Reply
  14. Lisa says

    May 28, 2022 at 8:19 PM

    Thanks for sharing these ideas. Unfortunately, my brand new Macbook Air must just be a dud. Because it’s still not connecting.

    Reply
  15. Rick says

    April 13, 2022 at 12:48 PM

    Installed intego and ran into this problem straight away.. no.11 dns solved the problem for me after working through the whole list. Had to restart after ending the process. Then everything came back. Thanks for the post!

    Reply
  16. Martin says

    April 3, 2022 at 9:34 AM

    Thank you so much, changing the DNS to Google worked for me.

    Reply
  17. Ew says

    March 31, 2022 at 6:11 PM

    Thank you so much!! I got all the way to adding a new location.. and I am running again. You rock

    Reply
  18. jason says

    March 17, 2022 at 2:41 AM

    Hello, I got a weird issues that “Wifi is turned on but is not connected to a network”. The wifi is shown as on but there is no network shown. How to resolve this problem? Thanks.

    Reply
  19. Pj says

    February 16, 2022 at 1:33 AM

    Such a good post, the DNS part fixed it for me

    Reply
  20. MM says

    February 9, 2022 at 6:54 AM

    No options were a solid or permanent fix. Wi-Fi remained connected but Internet would lose connection after every page refresh using every option. For each option The connection was only good for less than a minute.

    Reply
  21. Douglas Sperry says

    January 30, 2022 at 9:15 AM

    Many thanks, Dan, for all the ideas for solving the MacBook Air problem of no access to the internet despite a connection to WLAN. The one that worked for me was #11, stopping the mDNSResponder. Strange, though, that the idea #6 (analysis) didn’t show that as a problem. But #4. a new DNS. has speeded up my internet experience. Best regards.

    Reply
  22. evelyn says

    January 24, 2022 at 11:29 PM

    Thanks Dan. My internet problem was resolved at Step 4 after I added a new DNS as per the list you furnished. Do I need to remove the old DNS?

    Reply
  23. Molly says

    January 20, 2022 at 8:58 AM

    Thank you so much This article is so helpful !!

    Reply
  24. Bob says

    January 19, 2022 at 6:52 PM

    Hi Dan, you’ve solved a very frustrating problem for me, thank you.

    I installed a new router and was getting intermittent internet with my Opera browser, and unable to load many websites.
    With my Safari browser I wasn’t able to get any websites. I tried several different things and was ready to return the Router.
    I decided to do a search for a fix. I found your site by connecting with the modem. It was quite simple I only had to select ( date and time automatically) and (enable location services)

    So far it’s working great, thanks again.

    Reply
  25. Marcel de Bruin says

    January 7, 2022 at 5:18 AM

    Thanks Dan,

    problem at my MacBook was (an expired) Nord VPN connection.

    VPN is increasing in popularity, so first stap in many problems solving might include to check if any VPN is active.

    Kind Regards!

    Reply
  26. Anton Moukharski says

    January 6, 2022 at 3:46 PM

    Thank you Dan!!

    Number 9 worked for me. I’m in the scenario when all devices (I think we have no iOS here but Android, Windows, TV) work in home Wifi. Only the Mac didn’t.

    I wonder if it’s another case of Apple making something “better” than industry standards, but that in the end doesn’t work 100% except with certified routers (a bit like for bluetooth, which is in the end not good with Mac).

    Reply
  27. renan says

    December 13, 2021 at 10:08 AM

    I’m having this problem its been weeks. I tried EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine.
    Including reseting NVRAM, Reseting the MacOS, the modem, the internet network configs, absolutely everything.
    I have no VPN’s, no conflicting apps, no idea what could be causing this problem.
    Called apple support thousands of times and no one could help me, I’m running Catalina in an old 2012 MacBook Pro, hell of a machine. Everything was working perfectly for months, out of nowhere this problem started and its fucking my life up cause I need internet to work.

    I need help!!!!!!!!!!

    Reply
  28. Martin says

    November 9, 2021 at 10:29 AM

    DHCP lease refresh did it for me.
    Thanks a lot!!

    Reply
  29. Rishabh says

    October 21, 2021 at 3:57 AM

    Thank you! No. 9 did it for me 🙂

    Reply
  30. Sage says

    October 15, 2021 at 2:27 PM

    the DNS trick worked for me on my 2020 (Pre-M1) Macbook Pro

    Reply
  31. Sanjay Sridharan says

    October 5, 2021 at 6:16 PM

    Thanks, the tip on DNS servers was priceless. I brought a computer from the office that had already been configured to work there. However, when I brought it home it would connect to wifi but Safari could not browse to a site. Clearing out the DNS server IP addresses that had been set up did the trick! Fyi, every IP address I removed looked like it was in the office network, so it figures.

    Reply
  32. Mark says

    October 4, 2021 at 1:59 PM

    I spent 1.5 hours working with apple to resolve my internet connectivity issues via chat. I went to the apple store and they couldn’t schedule me for two days. I read this article and followed the steps proscribed and resolved the problem in 15 min. Thanks so much

    very helpful

    Reply
  33. Deepak says

    September 12, 2021 at 11:08 PM

    Awesome tips, No 4 worked for me. Thank You!!

    Reply
  34. WILFREDO JOAQUIN says

    September 12, 2021 at 9:53 AM

    Spent hours. This happened after unstalling Norton. Just went to System Preferences, then Network, then removed with minus (-) Norton.

    Reply
    • Don says

      March 28, 2022 at 12:30 PM

      Thanks for the Norton tip. I had tried everything and had missed this. Now my brand new MacBook Pro is ready to go!

      Reply
      • John says

        April 23, 2022 at 8:01 AM

        Same here – brand new Macbook, no internet. Tried everything in this article. Finally removed Norton and bingo!

        Reply
  35. CHIDINMA UDEH says

    September 7, 2021 at 12:30 PM

    Setting my time and date to automatic solved the problem! Thank you!!

    Reply
  36. Harvey says

    September 6, 2021 at 4:06 AM

    Renewed lease !

    It was renewing the lease that did it for me. I tried a number of other suggestions first, working my way through the list. Clicked on ‘renew lease’ and bang! Straight away connected. Thank you!

    Reply
  37. Rahul Patil says

    September 4, 2021 at 4:44 AM

    Thank you for sharing this methodical process. I followed each step and number 7 resolved my problem.

    Reply
  38. Lui says

    July 30, 2021 at 8:45 PM

    Tried to watch a lot of YouTube videos but #2 in this article was the only thing that helped me. Just goes to show that articles that can be easily updated will always beat YouTube videos anytime. Thanks a lot! You’ve gained a new subscriber in me.

    Reply
  39. Julio Mazzarella says

    July 12, 2021 at 3:37 PM

    Thank you for sharing this methodical process. I followed each step and number 10 resolved my problem.

    I have a very old MacBook Air – 2011and thought it had reached the end of its life :).

    Thanks again.

    Julio

    Reply
  40. Sean Reckert says

    July 9, 2021 at 4:46 AM

    Woohoo #8 did the trick. Thanks!

    Reply
  41. Peter says

    July 2, 2021 at 2:40 AM

    None of this works. MacBook Pros cannot connect to the internet when ANY external devices are plugged in. Shielding makes absolutely no difference at all.

    Reply
  42. oliver klosov says

    June 20, 2021 at 5:58 PM

    Correcting the date resolved the issue !

    Reply
  43. Julio says

    May 30, 2021 at 4:29 PM

    I never imagined that changing the date and time would work. Well, it did!
    MANY THANKS!

    Reply
  44. Jasmine says

    May 28, 2021 at 6:07 PM

    For anyone else that may still be experiencing the issue, I tested in safe mode and my internet worked. A VPN I had installed was blocking the internet. Once I removed the VPN from the network options, it started working again. I am not an expert by any means, but wanted to share in case it may be helpful for anyone else.

    Reply
  45. Marc Burlace says

    May 22, 2021 at 4:46 AM

    Thanks heaps Dan. Changing the DNS to Google etc solved my problem connecting.

    Reply
  46. Amadou Moussa Ibrahim says

    May 7, 2021 at 6:24 PM

    Changed only dns to google public then worked.
    Thanks

    Reply
  47. Lipika Aggarwal says

    May 6, 2021 at 10:02 PM

    I tried all the steps except macOS update. 1-9 didn’t work. 10 or 11 worked. Don’t know which one cuz it didn’t show the result instantly, rather there was no list of available networks visible. But it worked after restarting the MacBook after these steps.

    Reply
    • Simon says

      September 17, 2021 at 3:43 AM

      How did you manage to update if you couldn’t connect to the internet? I’ve tried everything to connect and no success.

      Reply
      • Mitch Bartlett says

        September 27, 2021 at 3:21 PM

        Use an Ethernet adapter to connect directly to your router.

        Reply
  48. Lipika Aggarwal says

    May 6, 2021 at 9:59 PM

    I tried all the steps one by one till #9 (except updating macOS) and none of those solved the problem. It was one of the last two solutions that helped; I’m not sure which one because it didn’t work instantly, it couldn’t even connect to the wifi, didn’t even show any available wifi networks after either method. Then I restarted the MacBook and checked again. It’s working now!

    Reply
  49. Frieder Bluemle says

    April 27, 2021 at 12:40 PM

    No clue what on earth happened that screwed up my macOS network settings so badly, but #8 helped my too. Thanks!

    Reply
  50. Terry says

    April 21, 2021 at 10:56 AM

    I tried everything and nothing worked, until I came here. My resolution was #8. Once I deleted all my other locations and created a new one, it automatically reconnected. Thanks so much, as I struggled for a long time with this and almost did a format to fix the problem.

    Reply
  51. Hurbert Shauri says

    March 27, 2021 at 4:47 AM

    I just tried #8 straight and it worked for me! Thanks.

    Reply
  52. Socrates Massouras says

    March 25, 2021 at 10:36 AM

    Good evening Dan,

    Many thanks for the tips on troubleshooting the issue I have with my MAC not connecting to internet. It only connects through Wi-Fi only.
    I tried the steps one by one but unfortunately there was no change. The internet connection is still Off.
    The only steps I did not do are “Create New Network Location”. From the “Run Wireless Diagnostics” check I found out that my AWDL is disabled. Is that an issue?

    I would appreciate if could help me out how to get my internet back as the Wi-Fi connection is slow. Please note to make sure my ethernet cable connected to the MAC works I plugged in a laptop and connects fine at full speed.

    Thank you for your time hoping to resolve this problem.

    Kindest Regards

    Socrates

    Reply
  53. Stepan says

    March 23, 2021 at 3:00 AM

    Number 8 has miraculously worked! Thank you!

    Reply
  54. D says

    March 18, 2021 at 5:28 PM

    #7 worked for me, thank you so much!

    Reply
  55. Roaa says

    March 16, 2021 at 1:02 PM

    Thanks alot my mac is Mac book pro 2020 13 inch, and #1 steps in the network list doing the (- minus) thing worked for me.

    keep post the good things and save the world!

    Reply
  56. Henry says

    March 16, 2021 at 5:36 AM

    I raised a case with Apple and they fixed this issue for me by booting in safe mode (so hold down Shift key when booting). The internet then worked OK, so when I booted again in the normal way it magically worked. I can’t explain why this fixed it, but it did. Hope this is helpful…

    Reply
  57. George Go says

    March 4, 2021 at 11:29 AM

    creating a new location worked for me, thank you so much.

    Reply
  58. BS Ratlami says

    March 4, 2021 at 7:30 AM

    I had similar issue but problem resolved by login into Wifi router admin console, Security, SPI-Firewall and removed MACBOOKPro from block DDOS client.

    my macbook was creating DDOS attack in network so Wifi Router had blocked access.

    Reply
  59. Tarah says

    February 23, 2021 at 1:21 AM

    Tried all of them until I got to #10. Wasn’t sure about deleting files but I did anyways. Now the wifi won’t connect at all and I can’t go into network preferences. It just stuffed up my laptop even more, don’t recommend

    Reply
    • Lipika Aggarwal says

      May 6, 2021 at 10:05 PM

      Did you try restarting your Mac after that? That’s when it worked for me after performing steps 10 and 11.

      Reply
  60. Bob says

    February 22, 2021 at 8:16 AM

    Number 4 for me. Thank you for the help.

    Reply
  61. Rebecca says

    February 17, 2021 at 10:03 AM

    I was about to lose all hope when I finally got to step number 8… and it worked!!!!!!! Thank you so much!

    Reply
  62. Jennifer says

    February 5, 2021 at 10:19 AM

    Internet works now after changing DNS to Google Public one. Thank YOU!

    Reply
  63. Simranjeet says

    January 31, 2021 at 3:21 PM

    Thanks no.8 worked for me

    Reply
  64. David J Andres says

    January 30, 2021 at 12:21 PM

    Thank you for the valuable, well-structured info. Tried all steps except #10, Resetting Network Preferences. Still does not work. All other devices working fine and consistently on Wi-Fi and internet. New Macbook Air connects to Wi-Fi but not internet. Multiple calls to ISP with no resolution but did not suspect a problem on their end. Maddening.

    Reply
    • Macy says

      February 22, 2021 at 12:27 PM

      Did you ever find a solution? I’ve done all the steps above (except 10) and it does not work. I have other computers and devices on the same Wi-Fi and don’t have any issues. I did take my MacBook Air to an Apple certified repair shop and the internet worked immediately but out again as soon as I get it home.

      Reply
  65. David J Andres says

    January 30, 2021 at 12:12 PM

    Tried all steps except #10, Resetting Network Preferences. Still does not work. All other devices working fine and consistently on Wi-Fi and internet. New Macbook Air connects to Wi-Fi but not internet. Multiple calls to ISP with no resolution but did not suspect a problem on their end. Maddening.

    Reply
  66. Jane says

    January 28, 2021 at 3:32 AM

    #7 worked for me THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

    Reply
  67. joro says

    January 8, 2021 at 3:04 AM

    Oops … It was #4 a new DNS server that solved the problem for me, not #3!!

    Reply
  68. joro says

    January 8, 2021 at 3:02 AM

    Thanks so much for this excellent trouble-shooter. The initial (Apple) setup failed to provide internet access on my new MacBook Air M1, but #3 got me online.

    Reply
  69. Justin says

    January 7, 2021 at 10:15 AM

    I tried them all but #10 ended up fixing it once I’d rebooted the MacBook. When it started back up net fired up no problem! Cheers for the advice

    Reply
  70. Amanda Hooper says

    January 3, 2021 at 7:31 AM

    I got all the way down to number 8: Change your location. And it worked. I was completely shocked, but I don’t care what fixes it as long as it’s fixed.

    Reply
    • Chakrit W says

      May 13, 2021 at 6:15 AM

      Me too!

      Reply
  71. Randy says

    December 21, 2020 at 8:36 PM

    None of these worked for me. I just upgraded to Big Sur two days ago. No problems then. Today there was a power outage and since then I have not been able to get on the internet on my main desktop. Everything else connects (2 Apple TVs, 2 laptops, other desktop, iPhone) I tried every suggestion above. com.apple.network.identification.plist and Settings.plist are not options to delete in the preference folder. There is a com.apple.network.eapolclient.plist but I was afraid to delete it. Any other ideas?

    Reply
  72. Jen says

    December 18, 2020 at 5:06 PM

    Hi there

    Number 8 worked for me. Thanks for the help!

    Reply
  73. Shubham says

    December 13, 2020 at 11:38 PM

    Renewing DHCP leak did a trick.
    My wifi was conflicting with 2 bands 2.4 GHz and 5ghz. It was connecting but internet access was not coming. After renaming the SSID to the same name, disabling 5 GHz one and reconnecting to 2.4 GHz did a trick. Then I enabled 5ghz and now the same SSID connects to 5ghz one automatically and internet is coming.

    Reply
  74. wayne says

    December 11, 2020 at 6:09 PM

    Number 8 fixed it for me. Thank you. Wow! Even apple care could not fix it.

    Reply
  75. Matt says

    November 28, 2020 at 7:09 AM

    Thanks for writing this article Dan, #8 worked for me! Cheers

    Reply
  76. Hassan Manfu says

    November 24, 2020 at 2:22 PM

    Found this very useful

    Reply
  77. Deezy says

    November 23, 2020 at 4:46 PM

    So I have been running Catalina on one machine for about a year with no problems. I only run minor system updates, not major OS updates. All of a sudden, networking stops working…. mostly. {All the other macs and winders machines on my network are fine.}

    The system boots up, uses Ethernet and successfully grabs an IP address from my DHCP server, but then all network services fail. The machine is successfully networked, I can select to RENEW DHCP address, and it successfully talks to my router and gets an address. I have switched network cables to another known good one. But all local and internet-based network tools fail… Chrome, AFP, SMB, Screen Sharing, DropBox, Google Drive… literally every network service fails.

    Yes, I have added a second USB based ethernet connector, and it works fine as above. I have all Firewall’s turned off, so I don’t think that is the problem. I have reset all known Network preferences with no better success.

    Any suggestions?

    Reply
  78. userok says

    October 13, 2020 at 5:49 PM

    Change services order in network settings (by clicking the wheel, select “services order”) to be the wifi interface first. gl

    Reply
  79. Chibs says

    October 12, 2020 at 4:34 AM

    number 10!! I don’t understand why it happened and what I did to fix it, but thank you!

    Reply
  80. Amine Z. says

    September 26, 2020 at 10:37 AM

    Hello community,

    I really need some help here please.
    I made a mistake to download a vpn called “hide.me” and even paid a month after I thought it would work well but it started a bug and my wifi did not work anymore even though it was connected. I deleted itthe vpn everywhere but still wifi connected but internet not getting threw.
    I land on this article and finally number #10 of this article did the trick (thanks a lot by the way).
    But now whenever I turned off my computer and turn it back on, it does the same again, wifi connected but internet not working. So I have to, again, go in the systemconfiguration file and do again the steps of #10, restart the computer and then internet works again. So basically, I can not really just turn off my computer without knowing that when I turn it on again, I will have to do the steps, turn it off and on again just to get it back to a common use. It has been a little time now, so being lazy, I naturally turned it off less and less and my battery starts to get tired…

    I brought it to a shop and I had to leave my computer for a day but could not do it because of my work.
    So I’m asking to you now if you maybe have s solution so I can fix the problem myself. I have a MacBook Pro 13-inch, 2017 running on macOsCatalina. Please help me if you can. I’ll be sooo grateful.

    Reply
  81. Sam says

    September 26, 2020 at 7:44 AM

    This saved me a lot of worked. I have to change the DNS to that of Google

    Reply
  82. Laurie says

    September 21, 2020 at 9:41 AM

    Thank you so much for this! #10 did the trick.

    Reply
  83. Dylan Thomas Nowe says

    September 20, 2020 at 8:36 AM

    Changing the date and time back fixed the issue for me. This was an excellent article and was really easy to follow. I really appreciate you.

    Reply
  84. Jair Ramirez says

    September 11, 2020 at 8:39 AM

    Number 10 worked awesome. Couldn’t connect to anything, but had good internet connection. After deleting the files and reconfiguring the WiFi settings, now I can load any page. Thanks a lot. 🙂

    Reply
  85. Paweł says

    August 31, 2020 at 1:40 AM

    Tkanks a lot ! No. 5 did the trick. I had an usb external disk connected to the laptop. After I removed it I was able to join the network.

    Reply
  86. Cyril Clarke says

    August 25, 2020 at 8:11 PM

    Thank you for this. The section where you delete certain files in the library/preferences folder and then restarting the Mac, has fixed a long standing issue with the internet on my MacBook Pro 2011. First the wifi stopped a couple months ago, so we ran an Ethernet cord, and then that even stopped working tonight. But this article helped fix the issue. Thanks again for sharing!

    Reply
  87. Angga says

    August 24, 2020 at 2:15 AM

    Thank you so much for your help.. it works.

    Reply
  88. Daylen Shi says

    August 4, 2020 at 2:38 AM

    thanks this works. I run the wifi diagnostics and it works

    Reply
  89. Kartikey Bameta says

    July 27, 2020 at 4:16 PM

    Thank you very much the #8 one worked for me , you are an amazing person

    Reply
  90. Aleksandra says

    July 23, 2020 at 12:46 PM

    Thank you so much! You saved my day! ❤️

    Reply
  91. sumanth says

    July 1, 2020 at 6:54 AM

    In my case I’ve a bad wifi extender which is not giving internet and the primary is fine so when I disconnected the extender it worked all fine. I restarted n number of times unable to figure out what was the issue.

    Reply
  92. Abc says

    June 30, 2020 at 6:24 AM

    Thanks!!!!!. You literally saved my life.

    Reply
  93. Brandun says

    June 20, 2020 at 8:35 AM

    Number #11 worked for me, why didn’t you just put that as number #1???

    Reply
    • Brandun says

      June 20, 2020 at 8:36 AM

      Sorry I meant #10

      Reply
  94. leena says

    June 20, 2020 at 7:20 AM

    my mac sometimes connects to wifi but most of the times it dosen’t.
    It do connects to hotspot without fail everytime.
    I did all the steps but nothing worked for me.
    please give solution.

    Reply
  95. Eric says

    June 17, 2020 at 3:37 AM

    Mine seems to be related to my Verizon Fios / MacBook pair. I can connect the Mac to another hotspot and get to the internet (allowed me to update OS ) but when I reconnect to my Verizon Fios router, the internet is gone again. I have other computers including another MacBook connected that work fine.

    Reply
  96. Velia says

    June 15, 2020 at 5:02 PM

    Thank you so much. #7 worked for me. 🙂

    Reply
  97. lrevs says

    June 15, 2020 at 1:38 PM

    Wow, I’ve been trying everything possible solution after being so frustrated for weeks. My wifi signal would show I was connected but I wasn’t. When I would finally connect, and, let’s say, join a Zoom call, I’d be disconnected any old time. Not reliable at all.
    Number 8 did the trick. I renamed my laptop and whoosh, everything is working perfectly. Thank you thank you!!!

    Reply
  98. Langston says

    June 12, 2020 at 11:40 PM

    Thank You! #10 seem to be the fix for me!

    Reply
  99. Donny says

    June 11, 2020 at 10:13 PM

    Thanks so much! Number 8 worked for me right away. Been struggling for the past 4 days, ISP wouldn’t assist

    Reply
  100. Ahmed Shiyam says

    June 5, 2020 at 2:55 AM

    Good work .

    Reply
  101. Barbara O says

    May 7, 2020 at 7:45 AM

    Thanks a million! Really grateful. Step #10 did it for me.

    Reply
  102. S.Myers says

    May 7, 2020 at 6:54 AM

    Thanks so much! Not sure why this Happened, moved the computer upstairs worked great for weeks then stopped. So I had to change my DNS to an open one.

    Reply
  103. Simran poonia says

    May 4, 2020 at 5:01 AM

    I tried every single step mentioned here and then restarted my macbook pro, and it didn’t help. The internet still wont work.

    Reply
  104. Jason Willis says

    May 2, 2020 at 10:23 PM

    Thank you for this post. It seems like your tip number 7. Renew the DHCP Lease in Network preferences fixed our problem.

    Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  105. david says

    April 30, 2020 at 8:21 PM

    tried many many of these… to no avail…
    got to renew DHCP Lease after re-starting modem and macbook air (a few times – sometime sin safe mode)… Restart modem then Renew DHCP worked!!

    Thank you!

    Reply
  106. Ryne says

    April 24, 2020 at 5:31 AM

    I’ve already tried changing the location, setting the time zone and location correctly, i also enabled location services, i also renewed the lease a couple of times and still has the same ip address.

    But when i connected my mac to a portable hotspot, it immediately functions well. I used google chrome and going through youtube did not give me any issues at all.

    So is the wifi the problem or the macbook itself?

    Reply
  107. Matthew says

    April 20, 2020 at 3:10 AM

    Thank you saved me.

    Reply
    • Ryne says

      April 24, 2020 at 5:49 AM

      What step did you do?

      Reply
  108. Anon says

    April 13, 2020 at 5:38 PM

    Saved me a ton of time and likely expense. Well worth the time to try each step, I had no luck until the very end. Thank you so much for putting this together, better than Apple Support!

    Reply
  109. Catherine Marriott says

    April 12, 2020 at 12:58 AM

    Fantastic and such good problem solving.
    I fixed my problem by adding a new network location.

    Reply
  110. Kirsten Franz says

    April 8, 2020 at 12:35 AM

    Oh my word!!!! Point 8 has completely saved my life!! Thank you so much!!

    Reply
  111. Sohail Mushtaq says

    April 7, 2020 at 5:14 AM

    Hi,
    Thank you for help. I had problem, where my MacBook connects with 5G router (WIFI) but no internet.
    I simply follow step 10 and it works perfectly.

    Thanks once again

    Reply
  112. onos says

    April 2, 2020 at 4:40 AM

    n. 6 worked for me. Thanks a million!!

    Reply
  113. Haley says

    April 1, 2020 at 4:02 AM

    Hi, what did work for me eventually was typing in 1.1.1.1 into the address bar.

    I’m at a hotel and all of the sudden wifi stopped working, even though it was working the previous day. Hope this helps someone!

    Reply
  114. George Clark says

    March 31, 2020 at 12:51 PM

    Really useful. No 7 worked for me.

    I have just switched from BT to Zen so i thought it was a problem with the new router.

    But then I realised it wasn’t connecting through my Android mobile hotspot either, so obviously a Macbook problem, as my iPad was happy with the new setup. Thank you.

    Reply
  115. Aditya says

    March 28, 2020 at 11:12 AM

    I tried every single one of these methods one after the others , only the last one seemed to work for about a minute or so before going back to wifi connected but no internet, please help

    Reply
  116. Este says

    March 28, 2020 at 6:59 AM

    Very Helpful ! Thank you

    Reply
  117. Hong says

    March 22, 2020 at 12:43 PM

    I have 2 MacBook. Old one is working well but new one failed to connect internet.
    For new laptop,I ran step 1-10 except step 8 and 9 but still failed to access internet. But cable connection is working well.
    What I do comparison between my working MacBook and non-workable MacBook, I saw DNS setting of Network is different.
    I can not see “xxxxxxxx.net” in Search Domains with my new laptop while it’s existing in my old laptop.
    Reset my WiFi route and Laptop, still failed.
    Seems I could not fix the issue.

    Finally, I ran step 7 again. Changed my location “home” to “automatic”, and saw “xxxxxxx.net” was there in “search Domains” of network,Which is exactly same as my old MacBook, also internet is connected successfully!

    Reply
  118. Matthieu says

    March 21, 2020 at 7:31 AM

    Thank you so much !
    #7 saved my father-in-law’s computer !

    Reply
  119. Keisean says

    March 10, 2020 at 10:54 PM

    I tried every step on the list. I found no myDSNResponder on my activity monitor screen at all.

    Reply
  120. oath says

    March 10, 2020 at 5:59 PM

    OMG! finally, my iMac is back after 2 nights and a day
    I did 1-10 except 9

    very happy, thank you a bunch

    Oath

    Reply
  121. Faj says

    February 21, 2020 at 7:17 PM

    OMG! No.2 fixed it! I was already fighting with my husband because he said i’m not connected via lan cable, but I knew I was right, it’s not the cable! Thanks for saving our marriage!

    Reply
  122. Ian Bradbury says

    February 12, 2020 at 10:16 PM

    No.7 fixed it for me!

    Reply
  123. Alapan says

    February 9, 2020 at 5:41 AM

    Thank you so much! #9 fixed my problem!

    Reply
  124. Alessandra says

    January 30, 2020 at 7:39 AM

    Yahoooo! My internet works! I am not computer savvy at all…but I went through every step as you explained and I can use my computer! Thank you! All the best.

    Reply
  125. Nguessong Wawadi says

    January 26, 2020 at 2:49 AM

    Hi Dan, thank you! Your article is resourceful.

    I managed to connect to the internet again after changing my date and time as you recommended.

    I’ve been trying to figure out what was hindering my laptop from connecting to the internet for almost a week now until I came across your article.

    I was trying to update my system software thinking it was the issue since I had previously done some troubleshooting on my laptop with no positive outcome.

    Reply
  126. Ron says

    January 9, 2020 at 12:09 PM

    I want to thank you for the great article by Dan Helyer on getting my MacBook Pro reconnected to the internet.

    I had to go thru all the suggestions until #9, deleting preference files, did the trick. The instructions were so clear and simple to follow.

    Reply
  127. Harsha Bingi says

    December 21, 2019 at 7:28 AM

    Extremely helpful…

    Reply
  128. Harold Shim says

    December 20, 2019 at 9:33 PM

    Thanks. Suggestion 9 did the trick!

    Reply
  129.     Idy says

    December 18, 2019 at 7:05 AM

    7 did. and it’s workable! Thank you!!!

    Reply
  130. Alva says

    November 19, 2019 at 1:47 AM

    6 did the trick, very thankful!!

    Reply
  131. Jill says

    November 11, 2019 at 8:01 AM

    #7 did the trick. Many thanks for the help!

    Reply
  132. Seebers says

    November 5, 2019 at 7:31 AM

    Thank you!!! My issue was the numerous profiles. I deleted them all and rebooted. All good.

    Reply
  133. David says

    October 29, 2019 at 11:17 AM

    I’m really happy I found this webpage. It’s great advice. Point 8 worked for me.

    Reply
  134. Cindy says

    October 28, 2019 at 8:53 AM

    Best advise- went through your list of processes and my internet is working once again. Thank you for posting this.

    Reply
  135. Ashar says

    October 25, 2019 at 3:34 PM

    Hello,
    I’m having issue with my wifi connectivity on my mac.It is connected to router but internet is not working.While it is working on other devices.
    I would like you to help me with this problem.

    Reply
  136. Dave L. says

    October 23, 2019 at 5:11 PM

    Thank you so much! #9. Reset your network preferences – did the job for me!

    Reply
  137. Ivan says

    October 20, 2019 at 7:57 AM

    Step 9, resetting network preferences did the trick.
    Thank you!

    Reply
  138. Rob Shield says

    October 13, 2019 at 12:17 AM

    Thanks Dan,
    got me going again. I can normally figure these things out and find the appropriate pref file but didn’t know about those in the system config folder.
    did the trick
    rob

    Reply
  139. Michael says

    September 29, 2019 at 10:49 AM

    I had this problem after cleaning up my MacBook Air after a malware infection.
    Finally found in the ‘proxies’ , that ‘SOCKS Proxy’ had been set!
    Unticking this, solved the problem and internet was active again.

    Reply
    • Lisa Z says

      December 14, 2020 at 2:56 PM

      Thank you for posting this! Turns out that unchecking the “SOCKS Proxy” is what enabled all of my applications to connect to the internet and update.

      Reply
  140. David says

    September 17, 2019 at 4:50 AM

    Extremely useful.

    I have experienced this situation twice and I tackled with them by applying two different methods mentioned above.

    More than gratitude!

    Reply
  141. Amanda says

    September 4, 2019 at 8:54 AM

    I tried all of this to no avail. then i went to keychain and deleted my vpn and web pages loaded once again.

    Reply
  142. walter estulin says

    August 27, 2019 at 6:34 AM

    Dear Dan,

    I cannot find enough words to thank you for helping to resolve “wifi-but-no-internet” issue. !!!!!
    I am in Europe on vacation and suddenly internet connections thru wi-fi stopped working.
    I have tried a dozens of posts /solutions, including contacting Apple team, but to no avail. Nothing was working at all.
    Until I found your site/suggestions and fixed my problem in 3 minutes.

    Thanks a lot. YOU ARE THE PRO !!!!!!

    Walter

    Reply
  143. JOSE CUBERO says

    August 22, 2019 at 8:32 PM

    The very last one fixed it!!
    Thanks!

    Reply

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