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"spi is trying to modify the system network configuration".

This box keeps appearing with the text "spi is trying to modify the system network configuration". What is spi and what is it trying to modify? Should I enter my password and allow it?

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Oct 4, 2017 1:52 PM

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Posted on Oct 18, 2017 1:01 AM

I was experiencing this issue too, and I believe spi is a residue of Mackeeper app that I uninstalled. This Mackeeper has suddenly coming from no where might be from app that my girlfriend installs. What I did to resolve this is just by uninstalling the spi from application list in the finder. Hope this would helps. And the prompt is gone, so do the pop-ups in the browser whenever I open up a new tab.

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Oct 18, 2017 1:01 AM in response to bvizioli

I was experiencing this issue too, and I believe spi is a residue of Mackeeper app that I uninstalled. This Mackeeper has suddenly coming from no where might be from app that my girlfriend installs. What I did to resolve this is just by uninstalling the spi from application list in the finder. Hope this would helps. And the prompt is gone, so do the pop-ups in the browser whenever I open up a new tab.

Jan 9, 2018 10:28 AM in response to MarkBraun

I wouldn't allow that to run either, since most Mac software does not use an uninstaller. Is the 'uninstaller' in your apps directory? Do you know what software package initiated this? Try looking for uninstaller by going to preferences->Users&Groups->Login Items and revoke its permission to run, although It would be better to find the source of the problem and just get rid of the package itself.

Jan 14, 2018 8:54 AM in response to dwilll112

I was thinking that SPI stands for "Serial Peripheral Interface". It's a fairly slow speed interface that's used for all sorts of things, although I'm not sure what on a Mac. Memory modules use something similar called the I2C interface.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface_Bus


You can take a look in System Report, and it will have it under Hardware>SPI. The message I get when I click on it is "This computer doesn't contain any SPI devices."

May 27, 2018 3:15 PM in response to bvizioli

Happened to me when opening a downloaded torrent app (that's the chance you take with these). Cancel out of the window with the spi message and cancel any subsequent messages regarding uninstaller.

Locate spi.app in your application folder and move it to the trash. Locate the spi folder in your library folder and move it to the trash also. If you don't have access to your library folder:
http://osxdaily.com/2014/12/16/show-user-library-folder-os-x-yosemite/

Empty trash and restart. This worked for me.

Jun 2, 2018 10:37 PM in response to bvizioli

I have the same problem. But i got spi while trying to download a software and thought it was the actual software i was trying to download, so unfortunately i've allowed it to modify the configuration 😟


Deleted spi, now i've located uninstaller and moved it to the trash.


Do i still need to reset my macbook to factory settings to get rid of it?

"spi is trying to modify the system network configuration".

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