WiFi: No Hardware Installed after Mojave upgrade

The same symptom happened to me just now - “WiFi: no hardware installed”. Turns out it was just a corrupted file, not an actual hardware failure. To make your WiFi come back to life, you need to remove "/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist" as in drag it to the trash.

Open a Finder window. Then go to the menu bar for Finder and select "Go" and then "Go to Folder". Then enter "/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration" in the dialog box and click "Go" button. Inside the folder that appears you will find "com.apple.airport.preferences.plist".

Drag "com.apple.airport.preferences.plist" to the trash. A few seconds later, the little WiFi symbol in theta bar comes back all on its own.

Follow the instructions here and it'll take care of the offending file ([Edit]: Sorry I put in a URL I thought would go to the answer that had the instructions, but it just goes to the this thread, let me figure out how to link to the answer with the specific instructions)

You don't actually have to eliminate it just follow the instructions to rename it.

[Edit 2]: Ok, here is the link that should take you to the answer with detailed instructions of what to do: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8558304?answerId=34003022022#34003022022

Finally found a solution, thanks to this post: Re: Mojave login UI sluggish & laggy

If you're booting from a usb drive, make sure to edit the file on the right volume. My MBP is now back to being healthy and working perfectly on Mojave... with WiFi!

TL;DR - on the native drive (/Volumes/Macintosh HD), got to /etc/ and rename the sysctl.conf file, reboot and voila!

Fixed it! It is amazing to me that one tiny config file can bring down the whole system! I followed the instructions of someone else in the replies below (forgot the name) and Mohave installed without a hitch. Here are the instructions:

If you're also seeing symptoms like networking failing, bluetooth devices not connecting, etc, and you have been using the mac for a while (or restored it from another machine using migration or time machine), then it's due to an old, out of date system configuration file that is contains settings that are too low for modern macs: '/etc/sysctl.conf'
This file doesn't even exists on new macs, so if you have it, it will cause problems

A. If you can log in (even if slow), or you're still on High Sierra, and have not yet upgraded, follow these instructions:

1. Start the terminal app from Applications/Utilities

2. Check if the file exists, by typing

ls -l /etc/sysctl.conf

If this returns a result like the following, then the file exists. If it does not, then your issues are caused by something else

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 136 24 Nov 2013 /etc/sysctl.conf

3. Remove the file: (actually this command will simply rename it, so you can restore it if you really want to mess up your computer again.)

You'll be prompted for your password.

sudo mv /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.bak

4. Restart your computer, and you should be all set, or if you've rolled back to High Sierra, you should be good to attempt the upgrade again.

B. IF you are unable to successfully log in at all (usually those who are running encrypted disks), then you're going to have to do a couple of steps first.

1. 1. Reboot in to 'recovery mode' by holding cmd-R when you power on the computer until you see the apple logo.
2. 2. You'll be presented by a menu with the 4 recovery options. One of them is 'disk utility'. Click on it to load disk utility.
   3. Disk utility displays a list of the drives/partitions on your computer. One of these will be called something like 'Macintosh HD'. Select it. Next, On the top right hand corner of the disk utility window is a series of icons, one of which is called 'Mount'. Click on this. If you disk is encrypted, it may ask you to type in your password to unlock it. Do so.
3. 4. Quit the disk utility app. This should take you back to the recovery menu.
   5. Launch the Terminal app as follows: In the top main menu bar is a menu called 'Utilities'. Open this menu, and you should see 'terminal'. Click on it to launch.
   6. From terminal, rename the troublesome file: mv /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.bak
4. 7. Exit terminal, and restart your mac. You should be able to log in successfully.

THANK YOU!!!! I was horrified. You saved my night!

To others who are unfamiliar with terminal and Unix commands:

ls -l

^This command means: list with long format, show permissions (the 'l' is lower case 'L')

/etc/sysctl.conf

^This is the folder and file name

sudo

^Means super-user do, execute with root privileges (as in, you're the boss)

mv

^Short for move. Moves files or directories from one place to another. If both filenames are on the same filesystem, this renames the file.

/etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.bak

^Changes the file name from sysctl.conf to sysctl.conf.bak

I'm so happy this worked. JoeMan71 is my hero.

Does anyone know if the Mojave no wi fi hardware found glitch has been solved in any of the Mojave updates apple has released? I found offending file in the terminal search but do not know how to get rid of it.

JoeMan71 you are the man!

Just followed your instructions on a 2016 Macbook (m3 processor).

The computer was sluggish all of a sudden after the upgrade to Mojave, plus there was no WiFi installed.

I got rid of the problematic file (dated from 2013, oddly enough!), rebooted, and the Mac was back in business!

Thank you for taking the time to post these steps. I do not normally write on forums, but I signed into this one, just so I could thank you!

THANK YOU!!!!

This solution did it for me! My offending file was from 2005!

A. If you can log in (even if slow), or you're still on High Sierra, and have not yet upgraded, follow these instructions:

1. Start the terminal app from Applications/Utilities

2. Check if the file exists, by typing

ls -l /etc/sysctl.conf

If this returns a result like the following, then the file exists. If it does not, then your issues are caused by something else

-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 136 24 Nov 2013 /etc/sysctl.conf

3. Remove the file: (actually this command will simply rename it, so you can restore it if you really want to mess up your computer again.)

You'll be prompted for your password.

sudo mv /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.bak

4. Restart your computer, and you should be all set, or if you've rolled back to High Sierra, you should be good to attempt the upgrade again.

B. IF you are unable to successfully log in at all (usually those who are running encrypted disks), then you're going to have to do a couple of steps first.

1. Reboot in to 'recovery mode' by holding cmd-R when you power on the computer until you see the apple logo.

2. You'll be presented by a menu with the 4 recovery options. One of them is 'disk utility'. Click on it to load disk utility.
3. Disk utility displays a list of the drives/partitions on your computer. One of these will be called something like 'Macintosh HD'. Select it. Next, On the top right hand corner of the disk utility window is a series of icons, one of which is called 'Mount'. Click on this. If you disk is encrypted, it may ask you to type in your password to unlock it. Do so.

4. Quit the disk utility app. This should take you back to the recovery menu.
5. Launch the Terminal app as follows: In the top main menu bar is a menu called 'Utilities'. Open this menu, and you should see 'terminal'. Click on it to launch.
6. From terminal, rename the troublesome file:
mv /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.bak

7. Exit terminal, and restart your mac. You should be able to log in successfully.

I would suggest you try this first.

go into recovery mode and reinstall.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

You could also recover to a back up before you installed Mojave, to get back to a working state.

Jeff

I got an Access Denied after clicking “mojave ui sluggysh and laggy” link

Thanks for the tip!

Worked like a charm!

I think you can name it anything, but you might want to change the extension to .backup or something in case you need it. You can also delete it.

I do confirm that the issue appears after going 0% battery. Looks like something is corrupted after a complete turned off of the power source.

Very helpful. Thank you.

I tried the steps above but the file was not found. Do you have any suggestions for my situation? Thanks