Unable to connect to personal hotspot from MacBook Pro 2017

Question

Unable to connect to personal hotspot from MacBook Pro 2017

My MacBook Pro 2017 running OS Ventura 13.7 has recently had persistent issues with connecting to the personal hotspot on my iPhone 15 Pro Max. When the hotspot is selected, the MacBook tries to connect, spins and spins and finally displays the exclamation mark in the wifi symbol in the menu bar. Here is what I have done so far to try to address the issue:

Reboot and Reset

Rebooted the phone, rebooted the MacBook - unable to connect
Check for iOS updates, check for Ventura updates
Forget this Network on my hotspot in Wifi Settings on the MacBook and reselect - unable to reconnect
Reset the network settings on the iPhone - unable to connect
Reboot in Safe Mode - unable to connect
Reboot in Recovery Mode - able to connect to the hotspot and browse with Safari
Reboot in normal mode - unable to connect

App Uninstall

Uninstalled the ExpressVPN app and VPN configuration
Removed all related files for ExpressVPN in Library - Application Support, Caches, etc.

Settings - General - Login Items

Removed all login items from the ‘Open at Login’ list
Turned off all items in the ‘Allow in Background’ list

OS Reinstall - 10/13/2024

Reformatted the hard drive
Reinstalled a fresh copy of OS Ventura 13.7
Restored all files only from Time Machine
Reinstalled applications while testing the hotspot

After restoring all of my critical applications, including ExpressVPN, I was able to connect to the hotspot for 2 weeks without any issue. Then today the same behavior reappeared - unable to connect to any personal hotspot on several iPhones. The wifi icon spins and spins and finally shows the exclamation point with the wifi symbol - no connection. I repeated all of the steps above except OS reinstall - still unable to connect.

Other Notes

I have no trouble connecting to public wifi from this MacBook.
I am able to connect to the hotspot on this iPhone 15 Pro Max from several other laptops running Windows, so the issue appears to be with this MacBook.
My son can connect his MacBook to my hotspot as well.
I used this MacBook with my hotspot throughout the day on Thursday 10/24 with no issues, then Sunday it suddenly stopped working in the way described above.

Any ideas on what could be causing this behavior? I’m all ears! Meanwhile I’ll be digging into the /var/log/install.log for any clue on what might have caused this issue.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 13.7

Posted on Oct 28, 2024 6:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 28, 2024 9:01 AM in response to lobsterghost1

Hi - thanks for the reply, but I had previously already completely uninstalled the ExpressVPN application on the MacBook with the same result - unable to connect.

When I did the hard drive reformat and OS install on 10/13, I held off on reinstalling ExpressVPN to see how the machine would behave. There were no issues with connecting to the personal hotspot.
Since I do need the VPN when accessing hotel/public wifi, I reinstalled ExpressVPN to use in those environments.
I had no issue over 2 weeks with using public wifi with ExpressVPN enabled as well as connecting to the personal hotspot with VPN disabled.
I do not turn on the VPN on my iPhone when making the hotspot available for connection.
I also do not use ExpressVPN on the MacBook when the MacBook does successfully connect to my personal hotspot.

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 28, 2024 12:09 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Hey lobsterghost1 - yes I am very relieved to get this fixed.

I forgot one detail from my last call to Apple Support today. I shared my screen with this senior technical adviser and she looked around and made one suggestion that was most likely key. This is what she directed me to do:

Open Settings - Network.
Click the 3 dot dropdown at the bottom right of this dialog.
Select 'Locations' from this dropdown menu. This list only had one option - 'Automatic.'
Select 'Edit Locations.'
Click the (+) sign to add a new location and call it whatever you wish.
Click Done.
Select that new location to make it active.
Then try connecting the hotspot again.

In my case, I was able to reconnect to my hotspot after I updated iOS to 18.1.

When I subsequently reselected 'Automatic' from this Locations list, the problem reappeared. I was again unable to connect to my hotspot - so I am DELETING the 'Automatic' location! 🤪

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 28, 2024 9:07 AM in response to lobsterghost1

Hi again - that's the last recommendation from Apple Support specialist I spoke with yesterday so I have an appointment on Wednesday. However, the fact that I can connect to the personal hotspot on my iPhone when the MacBook is booted up in Recovery Mode indicates that this is not a hardware issue. I was about to be sent to a senior technical adviser at Apple Support when the rep suggested making the Genius Bar appointment. I'd really rather talk to that senior support adviser than to go into the Apple Store and explain all of this all over from the beginning. So I will try calling again today.

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 28, 2024 10:22 AM in response to edclange

Hi edclange - thanks! Yes, I saw that and made sure that was set also. In my case it didn't seem to help.

And somehow I have not gone through the process of making the USB-connected hotspot work with my MacBook. Definitely will try that also.

But I have an update - the last Apple Support senior technical adviser I talked to asked a simple question: Have you updated iOS and the OS on your MacBook? I thought I had but I was wrong! When I updated my iPhone to iOS 18.1, presto my personal hotspot started working again.

Anyway thanks for the suggestions - this is resolved for now!

Reply

Answer 5

Oct 28, 2024 10:34 AM in response to Hiroki Yotsukura

Hiroki Yotsukura wrote:

Hi edclange - thanks! Yes, I saw that and made sure that was set also. In my case it didn't seem to help.

And somehow I have not gone through the process of making the USB-connected hotspot work with my MacBook. Definitely will try that also.

But I have an update - the last Apple Support senior technical adviser I talked to asked a simple question: Have you updated iOS and the OS on your MacBook? I thought I had but I was wrong! When I updated my iPhone to iOS 18.1, presto my personal hotspot started working again.