How to Fix WiFi Not Working After macOS Sequoia Update: Network Settings Reset, WiFi Driver Issues, and Known Compatibility Problems With Popular Routers

When Apple released macOS Sequoia 15.0 in September 2024, a significant number of Mac users immediately lost WiFi connectivity or experienced severe network degradation. Symptoms ranged from complete inability to connect to the internet despite showing full WiFi signal bars, to random drops, DNS resolution failures, and VPN incompatibilities. If you upgraded to Sequoia and your Mac’s WiFi stopped working — or started behaving erratically — this guide walks through every confirmed fix in order of complexity. Start at the top and work down; most users resolve the issue within the first three steps. Run a speed test after each change to confirm whether the fix worked before moving on.

Step 1: Update to macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 or Later

Apple released macOS Sequoia 15.0.1 specifically to address the wave of network connectivity issues that appeared in 15.0. The release notes explicitly call out “a network connectivity issue for users with third-party security software installed.” In practice, the update resolved connectivity problems for a much wider group, including users without any third-party security software at all.

To update: open the Apple menu, go to System Settings > General > Software Update, and install any available update. As of 2025, macOS Sequoia 15.2 and later have the strongest track record for WiFi stability — users who remained on 15.0 or 15.1 continued to report intermittent drops that 15.2 resolved. If you can update, do so before attempting any other fix.

If your Mac cannot connect to the internet at all and therefore cannot download the update, use a wired Ethernet connection (via a USB-C to Ethernet adapter if needed) to reach Software Update, or download the full installer from Apple’s support page on another device and transfer it via USB.

Step 2: Toggle WiFi Off and On

This sounds trivially simple but genuinely resolves a class of Sequoia-specific bugs where the WiFi driver enters a bad state after the OS update and does not recover on its own. The toggle forces a full driver restart:

1. Click the WiFi icon in the menu bar (or open System Settings > Wi-Fi).
2. Turn WiFi Off and wait 10 seconds.
3. Turn WiFi back On and allow 15–20 seconds for reconnection.

If you immediately see full connectivity restored after the toggle, the bug is transient and the OS update from Step 1 is the permanent fix. If the problem returns after minutes or hours, continue to Step 3.

Step 3: Forget and Rejoin Your WiFi Network

macOS Sequoia sometimes corrupts the stored network profile for known WiFi networks during the OS upgrade. Forgetting the network removes the corrupted profile, and rejoining creates a fresh one:

1. Open System Settings > Wi-Fi.
2. Click the Details button next to your connected (or previously connected) network.
3. Click Forget This Network and confirm.
4. Rejoin the network by selecting it from the list and entering your WiFi password.

If you have multiple problematic networks (home, work, mobile hotspot), forget and rejoin all of them. This step is especially effective when the symptom is “WiFi shows connected but internet does not work” rather than a complete failure to associate.

Step 4: Renew Your DHCP Lease

Sequoia’s network stack sometimes fails to properly obtain a new IP address from your router after the upgrade, leaving the Mac with a stale or invalid IP configuration. Renewing the DHCP lease forces a fresh address request:

1. Open System Settings > Wi-Fi.
2. Click Details next to your connected network.
3. Select TCP/IP in the sidebar.
4. Click Renew DHCP Lease.

After renewal, your Mac should receive a new IP address from your router within a few seconds. If the renewal fails or returns a 169.254.x.x address (APIPA self-assigned), there is a deeper network configuration problem — proceed to Step 5.

Step 5: Flush the DNS Cache

DNS resolution failures are one of the most commonly reported Sequoia WiFi symptoms: the connection shows as active, speed tests work, but websites fail to load and the browser shows “Server Not Found” or similar errors. A corrupted DNS cache from the pre-upgrade macOS installation is often the cause. To flush it:

1. Open Terminal (found in Applications > Utilities).
2. Type the following command and press Return:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Enter your administrator password when prompted. No output means success. Reopen your browser and test connectivity. If DNS was the issue, websites will load immediately after flushing.

For a permanent improvement, consider switching your DNS server away from your ISP’s default to a faster, more reliable alternative. See our guide on changing your DNS server for faster internet for instructions on switching to Cloudflare (1.1.1.1) or Google (8.8.8.8).

Step 6: Disable Private WiFi Address

macOS Sequoia’s “Private WiFi Address” feature — which rotates your Mac’s MAC address per network to improve privacy — has caused connectivity problems on some routers, particularly older models with strict MAC-based DHCP or access control lists. Disabling it resolves connectivity for many users whose routers rely on MAC address reservation:

1. Open System Settings > Wi-Fi.
2. Click Details next to your connected network.
3. Under the Private Wi-Fi Address dropdown, select Off.
4. Click Rejoin when prompted.

This step is especially important if your router uses MAC address filtering, or if your DHCP server assigns addresses by MAC (common in enterprise and ASUS/Netgear routers with static DHCP mapping enabled). After disabling, your Mac uses its hardware MAC address on that network, which your router recognizes from before the Sequoia upgrade.

Step 7: Delete Corrupted Network Preference Files

If the above steps have not resolved the issue, macOS may have corrupted network configuration files during the Sequoia upgrade. Deleting these files forces macOS to regenerate them from scratch on the next reboot:

1. Open Finder, then press Shift+Command+G to open “Go to Folder.”
2. Type /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ and press Return.
3. Move the following files to Trash (right-click > Move to Trash):

• com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
• com.apple.network.identification.plist
• NetworkInterfaces.plist
• preferences.plist

4. Restart your Mac.
5. macOS will regenerate all four files on boot. Reconnect to your WiFi network and re-enter your password.

This is the most thorough software-level reset short of reinstalling macOS, and it resolves cases where the upgrade corrupted the entire stored network configuration rather than just a single network profile.

Step 8: Remove Incompatible Third-Party Network Extensions

macOS Sequoia 15.0 introduced stricter security controls around network extensions that broke compatibility with numerous third-party firewall and VPN applications, including ESET Cyber Security, some versions of Little Snitch, Cisco AnyConnect, and other products that use kernel-level network filtering. If you have any third-party security software installed, it may be blocking or corrupting all network traffic.

To identify and disable network extensions:

1. Open System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions.
2. Scroll to Network Extensions and review the list.
3. Disable any extensions from security products you installed before the Sequoia upgrade.
4. Restart and test connectivity.

For ESET specifically: go to System Settings > Network, select Filters, and remove the ESET filter entirely. Multiple community reports confirmed this single change restored full connectivity on 15.0 for ESET users. After updating to 15.0.1 or later, reinstall the latest version of your security software — most vendors released Sequoia-compatible updates within weeks of the initial release.

Step 9: Check for Router Firmware Compatibility

A minority of Sequoia WiFi issues stem not from the Mac itself but from router firmware that does not handle Sequoia’s updated WiFi negotiation correctly. Affected routers tend to be older models from ASUS, Netgear, and TP-Link that have not received firmware updates in 12 or more months. Symptoms specific to this scenario include the Mac failing to connect while other devices (iPhones, PCs) on the same network work fine, or the Mac connecting but immediately dropping to a 169.254.x.x self-assigned address.

Check your router manufacturer’s website for firmware updates released in late 2024 or 2025 that mention macOS Sequoia compatibility. For step-by-step router firmware update instructions, see our guide on how to update your router firmware safely. If your router model is no longer receiving firmware updates, see our guide on when to replace your WiFi router for upgrade recommendations.

When Nothing Works: Safe Mode and Clean Install

If you have worked through every step above without success, the issue is likely a deep conflict between a third-party application or system extension and the Sequoia network stack. Booting into Safe Mode (hold the power button on Apple Silicon Macs until “Loading startup options” appears, then hold Shift while clicking Continue) disables all third-party extensions. If WiFi works in Safe Mode but not in normal mode, a specific application is the culprit — remove recently installed applications one by one until the conflict is isolated.

A macOS clean install (via Recovery Mode) is the nuclear option that resolves every software-level WiFi issue. Back up your data with Time Machine first, then use Recovery Mode to erase the drive and reinstall Sequoia from scratch. This takes 1–2 hours but eliminates every corrupted file and conflicting extension from the pre-upgrade installation. If a clean install does not restore WiFi, the issue is hardware — contact Apple Support for a repair appointment.

Summary: Fastest Fixes First

For most Mac users, the macOS Sequoia WiFi fix is one of three things: installing the 15.0.1 or 15.2 update, forgetting and rejoining the network, or disabling an incompatible third-party network extension. The preference file deletion and router firmware check are for edge cases where standard troubleshooting fails. Work through the steps in order, test after each one, and you will almost certainly have a working connection before reaching the clean install step.