My wifi will not turn on (2012 Macbook Catilina 10.15.4)

CPettersen Said:

"My wifi will not turn on (2012 Macbook Catilina 10.15.4): My macbooks wifi will not turn on, to even connect to wifi. I can’t run wireless diagnostics, bc it won’t open. My wifi works on all my other devices."

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Troubleshooting Wi-Fi on a Mac:

A few thoughts to try

I. Clear your Temporary Internet Files:

Boot into Safe Mode and then Clear your Temporary Internet Files of Safari:

1. Booting into Safe Mode: [hold down shift upon boot until the login screen appears]. See if this is still an issue. Safe Mode lets items run as default, without changes whatsoever. That is possible because caches of your macOS are temporarily disabled while in Safe Mode
2. Clearing your Temporary Internet Files (Cookies & Cache) of Safari: Cookies perform remembrance of certain site-entered data. Whereas Cache keeps a snapshot of the last time you visited a site.  Use this Link: Clearing History and Cache - Apple Communities

II. Restart your Router:

1. Power: off the router
2. Wait: 30 seconds
3. Power: It back on

III. Boot in Safe Mode:

[Hold Down: shift key, upon boot], In Safe Mode, Login Items do not run at login, certain preferences are set aside, and damaged system files are then reset. So, once booted in to Safe Mode, wait 30 seconds, and then boot up normally, attempting another update install.

IV. Try a New Admin User:

What happens when you create a new administrator user, and log into it? Do you still get this error? If not, then it is likely an error with the current user. If so, then it is likely an error with your Mac.

V. Reset your SMC and your NVRAM:

Sometimes changes (i.e. Installations) are made to the system and then settings (i.e. Networking) become corrupted, technically. So, reset both on your Mac. So, reset the SMC and reset the NVRAM or PRAM. It might take three tries. to fix this. So, be certain you have the time to do so.

Start With This:

• Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
• How to Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support

mrsoul51 Said:

"My wifi will not turn on (2012 Macbook Catilina 10.15.4): This occurred several days after installing 11.5.2 Big Sur on iMac (2017). [...]Nothing has worked. iPads and other devices are connecting normally. Advice appreciated

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Reinstall the macOS:

Looking at the OP’s screenshot, you can see that the AirPort Utility is not installed.*** So, reinstalling the macOS may fix all of this. If this is the same case, it is likely corrupt, and you'd have to reinstall the macOS. Even if it is not the same case, perform a reinstall and see if all gets fixed.

When reinstalling the macOS, nothing would be deleted. It's just that items that have become corrupted or deleted, would be replaced or reinstalled back to where they should be. Go Here: How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - Apple Support.

Important: Backup your Mac First

Be certain you create a backup of your Mac prior to performing this. That way, you will have something to restore your Mac from, should anything go wrong with the configuration. For the Backup, use an external hard drive of at least 1.5 times the storage, or use iCloud.

***Screenshot:

The AirPort Utility is not installed

This occurred several days after installing 11.5.2 Big Sur on iMac (2017). Computer had been off and I booted like normally but it wouldn’t connect to WiFi. Said WiFi was off in drop down from menu and also in system preferences. Clicking turn on does nothing, the iMacs WiFi is still off in the status bar (although the blue slider in the drop down appears to be on). Rebooted the router and tried all the other suggestions in this article including resetting NVRAM 3 times. Created and new admin account and it has the same issue. Nothing has worked. iPads and other devices are connecting normally. Advice appreciated.

Connected with ethernet and did the reinstall of 11.5.2 Big Sur following the instructions. WiFi is still OFF in the status bar (although the blue slider in the drop down appears it can be turned on). Attempting to turn it on in Network Preferences gets no response.

mrsoul51 Said:

"Connected with ethernet and did the reinstall of 11.5.2 Big Sur following the instructions. WiFi is still OFF in the status bar (although the blue slider in the drop down appears it can be turned on). Attempting to turn it on in Network Preferences gets no response."

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Try a New Admin User:

What happens when you create a new administrator user, and log into it? Do you still get this error? If not, then it is likely an error with the current user. If so, then it is likely an error with your Mac.

<< airport Utility not installed >>

Airport Utility is used to set up genuine Apple Airport Base Stations. It is not required for ANYTHING else. If it is not loaded, but you are not using any Apple Airport Base Stations, that is not an issue.

Grant Bennet-Alder Said:

"<< airport Utility not installed >>: Airport Utility is used to set up genuine Apple Airport Base Stations. It is not required for ANYTHING else. If it is not loaded, but you are not using any Apple Airport Base Stations, that is not an issue."

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Note:

This is not the OP asking me this question. Indeed it seems irrelevant.

Tried before the reinstall without success. Will try again, prob tomorrow

New admin user created but didn't resolve the issue. also reset PRAM again which didn't resolve the issue.

Can you run the regular diagnostics?

Failure there will make finding/fixing it easier for Apple.