macOS 10.13.6 does not save DNS servers

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Level 1

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macOS 10.13.6 does not save DNS servers

I have a MacBook Pro 11,4 running High Sierra 10.13.6.

Recently, I have been unable to connect to the internet over my wi-fi connection.

I did some troubleshooting and determined that the DNS server address in System Preferences>Network>Wi-Fi>Advanced>DNS no longer works. (I think it was my ISP's recommended address.)

I added my router's IP address, which is what works for the other devices in my home. I removed the ISP address, clicked OK, then Apply, and everything seems to be resolved.

The issue is that after a shutdown/restart, only the previous DNS address appears in the Network Preferences. It is as though the settings were never applied.

I have a admin credentials on this laptop, so the settings should be retained.

I've flushed the DNS cache and cleared PRAM, but the system still boots up to only the old DNS settings so I have to manually change them every time I reboot.

Anyone else have this issue or know of a solution? I'm about to wipe everything and roll back to Sierra, where this problem did not exist for me.

Posted on Jun 6, 2019 7:32 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Greg Araya Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 6, 2019 5:05 PM in response to BDAqua

The router is a Netgear R6400v2. I've had it for almost two years with this laptop and other devices on its network with no issues. This DNS thing is a recent development.

I don't have any anti-virus apps installed.

I'm building a Sierra intall USB and offloading documents at the moment, and I'm going to wipe everything and clean install. I appreciate everyone's help but I think pursuing this will continue wasting all your time.

If this persists after the rollback, I'll be sure to post here.

Thanks

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

245,165 points

Jun 6, 2019 12:41 PM in response to Greg Araya

Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712

Sys Prefs>Network Pref Pane, highlight Interface>Advanced button>DNS tab>little + icon.

Try putting these numbers in...

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.

The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.

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Answer 3

rcosta887

Level 4

3,604 points

Jun 6, 2019 1:48 PM in response to Greg Araya

It sounds like one of the plist configuration files that store your IP configuration are corrupted and not saving properly. The easy way to test this is to actually set up a new Location in your network settings. This gives you fresh network configuration files.

I strongly believe this will fully resolve your issue.

How to use network locations on your Mac - Apple Support

On top of that, I would use one of the DNS settings that have already been suggested here versus your ISP's own DNS, but clearly that is not the issue since it's relating to your network settings not getting saved.

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Answer 4

BobHarris

Level 9

55,007 points

Jun 6, 2019 12:20 PM in response to Greg Araya

Try:

1.1.1.1 - CloudFlare
208.67.222.222 - OpenDNS
8.8.8.8 - Google

The First entry is the one always checked. A 2nd or 3rd entry are only used if the first entry times out. So pick the first entry well

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Answer 5

Greg Araya Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 6, 2019 3:21 PM in response to BDAqua

I made a new admin account and setup the network as before. Here's where it gets weird:

When I went into the DNS settings for the new account, that loopback address 10.200.0.1 was already there.

As soon as I clicked on the "-"button, the router IP immediately popped in there. That never happened before.

So then I hit OK, Apply and then restarted.

When I logged back in to this new admin account, the loopback address was there again. So I hit the "-" button and the router IP took its place again.

I applied that setting and logged out.

Then I logged in as my original Admin account and checked the DNS settings.

I had set those to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 before shutting down last time.

When I went to check them, they had been replaced by my router IP.

So then I tried what @rcosta887 suggests below.

I made a new Location with my original account and set the DNS servers as 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. After restarting and logging in they were replaced by the single loopback address.

So the only consistent thing I can tell is that the DNS settings are reset to loopback for whatever account logs in after startup.

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Answer 6

Greg Araya Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 6, 2019 1:28 PM in response to BDAqua

I apologize for not being descriptive enough. I'm not asking for DNS addresses, but @BDAqua's advice to make a new connection revealed something surprising.

I made a new Wi-Fi connection called "Wi-Fi2", and disabled the old one (Wi-Fi). With the new one I entered 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as the DNS servers.

I verified I had connectivity.

I restarted and immediately had no connectivity.

I went back into the settings and saw that both DNS addresses I had entered were gone and replaced with only 10.200.0.1 which seems to be the IPv6 loopback equivalent of IPv4 127.0.0.1.

I'm not well versed in network protocols, but it seems like upon startup, the system fails connecting with the DNS addresses saved in settings and then automatically removes them, replacing them with a loopback address.

Should this be happening?

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

245,165 points

Jun 6, 2019 1:42 PM in response to Greg Araya

No, doesn't happen here in 10.13.6 or any previous OS.

Can you add those DNS numbers to your Router?

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

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Answer 8

Greg Araya Author

Level 1

10 points

Jun 11, 2019 7:38 AM in response to Greg Araya

Hi @BDAqua, yes I checked my router config. The DNS servers are set static at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. I remember doing this a while back because choosing dynamic was unreliable.

As a status check, I did a clean install of Sierra five days ago and have had no issues since.

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