MacOS: Unable delete saved wifi networks

An article : OS X Yosemite: Choose preferred wireless networks

If you’re in an environment with more than one wireless network, you can set up your Mac to join a preferred network when you start your computer, wake it from sleep, or turn Wi-Fi on.

You can also delete entire settings in network and configure it once again .

Same bug to report.

I also tried backing up and then blowing away some of the wifi relevant plists in

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

This also had no effect.

I didn't explore the icloud keychain idea. I'll see if I can make that work.

-eric

I was able to successfully delete old remember wifi networks by removing the mac from icloud keychain:

System Preferences->iCloud-> Uncheck iCloud keychain.

I told it to delete the files from my mac. Not sure if this step is required or not.

This appears to work.

At some point, I'll put icloud keychain back on and see if the old junk reappears or not.

But, in the immediate term, this workaround does appear to work.

-eric

The list is populated from all your iCloud Keychain-enabled devices. Please read Frequently asked questions about iCloud Keychain - Apple Support:

"When you turn on iCloud Keychain, any previously-saved website usernames and passwords, Wi-Fi networks, and Internet accounts are automatically included in iCloud Keychain."

I do not know the reason Apple considers that a useful feature. In fact when the Preferred Networks list grows excessively large it can result in an inability to connect.

... can I directly edit the contents of my icloud keychain

No, but the somewhat tortured workaround is to use Apple Configurator to manage your devices through profiles you can control: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator-2/id1037126344

On my Mac, under Sierra, I went to System Preferences > Network, went into advanced settings on my WiFi and highlighted the item I wanted to delete, and deleted it by clicking the '-' sign.

It told me that this would vanish for my other iCloud Keychain enabled devices, so I imagine it has.

There is also an OK button at the foot of the screen that box spawns from. It is probably advisable to click it, because that may be the "gosh, save those changes" button

With regard to your reappearances after restart, it may be that the synch through iCloud to your other devices needs time to happen. We probably need an expert to tell us about that.

It's not an ideal solution. The situation I wanted to address was a number of traveling iPhones and iPads that would connect to public Wi-Fi networks all over the place, resulting in populating the "preferred networks" list on desktop Macs that obviously never go anywhere. The tortured workaround is to limit the Wi-Fi networks the iOS devices would use by "forgetting" every network that was not in the preferred SSID list. Then, create one profile containing a list of SSIDs and passwords for all managed devices to use, and install them on all the devices.

Having left my iPhone overnight no old networks reappeared on my MacBook. If i knew where to look on my phone I could see if they were there, too. The ones I deleted were historic, and many miles away, some collected on my Mac some on my phone.

One gotcha that I often forget is the APPLY button on System Preferences > Network which is greyed out unless needed. I Applied last evening. It is easy not to do this, and is, I think, the only place it needs it.

I rebooted my phone this morning. No reappearance so far... But who knows when it schedules its next synch operation!

After several more hours of active use on Mac and phone, no old networks have reappeared.

Let's go back to basics, if we may. I know when I get too familiar with my Mac I miss steps. There seem to be two steps that are missable:

• In System Preferences> Network> Advanced, after using the '-' sign to delete a network, there is on OK to press. Worth doing even if it genuinely has no effect
• In System Preferences> Network after pressing OK, above, if you have made changes, the APPLY button is no longer greyed out. That needs to be pressed.

I have no idea if this is a real solution, or just my Mac and phone combination not (yet) showing these symptoms you describe, or whether you have done all of these steps yourself. Since the issue has been around a while its unlikely that I have stumbled on the solution where no-one else has! Still worth double checking, though.

So far none of the networks I have deleted have reappeared. Significant time has elapsed.

Before you tell me so, I agree that it is bizarre that you and I have different experiences in such a basic area. It's not as if the deletion of a WiFi network is technically difficult. But it is technically cumbersome. It is always possible that the networks I deleted will return one day, but I am geographically removed from them, so there is nothing to prompt their reappearance.

When things like this happen the only suggestion I have is the one that sounds patronising, which is to work through the deletion of a single network, perhaps taking screenshots of your deletion process for your own records, noting when you have clicked buttons. I apologise for the patronising-appearing suggestion. It goes back to my IT roots in the mid 1970s where we all solved our arcane programming problems by describing them to another person, often not actually needing them to answer, since light dawned, if light was going to dawn, during the explanation phase.