WiFi: No Hardware Installed after Mojave upgrade

Thank you so much!!! This was my third try installing Mojave on my MacBook and I was hoping 10.14.2 would finally have solved this. Turns out it was this old system config file. Such a simple fix after hours and hours of pain installing and then restoring to High Sierra twice now.

Thank you so much! This solved the problem for me!

I had tried to upgrade several times and kept running into this problem. The last time I did again, but somehow used the right search terms to find this thread and answer! Now I'm running Mojave! Thank you again!

Hi I have same issue now I have Mojave installed which was working fine until I tried to install usb to lan (Ethernet) when I restated the msg come you computer is not connected to internet. No hardware installed

please guide me how resolve the issue I have reset SMC and PRAM and found no file sysctl.conf

I had found several threads about these issues. One of them suggested that VPN software was causing similar issues. I did uninstall my work VPN (anyconnect) and that did get rid of some issues. I was able to reinstall anyconnect after I got Mojave up and running.

Were you able to get into the folder under ETC?

If the sysctl.conf file was not in that folder, you issues are coming from somewhere else I'm afraid.

Jeff

Thankyou Jeff for the reply.

I am using MacBook Air. When I got hard drive I cannot find any Macintosh directory. There are only applications, library, system, users, folders only. There is no volumes folder even.

In the finder (with no applications running at all) go to the ‘go’ menu at the top. Near the bottom it should say ‘go to folder’ . When you click on that it opens a small window.

Paste this

/Volumes/Macintosh HD/ETC

into the window

click the go button

you might have to enter your password

in the folder look for this file

sysctl.conf

if you find it delete it and empty the trash

then restart your computer

hopefully that helps

Jeff

Hi how can I reinstall WiFi drivers from scratch to repair the corrupt files if there is any. I have checked WiFi is working perfectly when I enter in either apple hardware test or in recovery mode. So this proves my hardware is working but something wrong in Mojave’s os

Yes exactly I was trying to install Ethernet adapter in Mojave’s then when it restarts even WiFi not working now I am stuck with any internet. I have ordered thunderbolt Ethernet adapter now let’s see if it works. Meanwhile if there is another manual setting to bring back WiFi please do let me know. Thank you all

Hi. Thankyou so much the problem solved my WiFi is back and working. Just reinstalled os Mojave from recovery and after installation each and every thing is back to normal even all the my previous files and desktop is intact.

Thankyou all ans especially Jeff

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

Installed Mojave on my iMac (after two quick and successful MacBook Pros) a couple of months ago and was completely screwed- like swimming in molasses, and with no internet. First ever Mac OS upgrade that went awry. Spent hours on the phone with Apple Support. Read this and thought I'd try. Terminal found and renamed the suspect file, and now I'm running Mojave.

Thanks for finding and posting this!