WiFi: No Hardware Installed after Mojave upgrade

For those of you who have gone back to High Sierra: What are the steps you used please?

I am talking someone through this over the phone, so don't want to fumble about trying the wrong things first until I get it right. For example, can I just instruct the user to restore from the last Time Machine backup before she upgraded to Mojave? Or do I first have to have her install High Sierra from an external drive (I've already set up an external install drive)? And when installing from external, do I do a clean install (wipe the Hard Drive) or can I just do a normal install over Mojave?

Thanks!

Follow-up question for the group:

If Apple releases, say, 10.14.1, and saying that the release notes state "fixes problems where some users experienced loss of network and slow machines" (or whatever), is it then safe to download and install 10.14 from the App Store?

Put another way, once 10.14.1 is released, is the Mojave download on the App Store 10.14.1, or still 10.14? Because if it's 10.14, and they expect users to install it then take the second step of updating to 10.14.1... And 10.14 turns off the network, we're all still stuck.

Brilliant find... The Mac I'm working with has that file. I renamed it per your instructions, but am still reluctant to try Mojave again until I'm closer by. Doing computer support from hundreds of miles away is a pain sometimes! But I'm excited to give it a go when I get there, knowing that this probably did the trick.

How does this get communicated to Apple now, so that they can stop making people go through recovery processes, reinstaleations, and all that, and just kill this file?

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the mac for a while (or restored it from another machine using migration or time machine), then it's due to an old, out of date system configuration file that is contains settings that are too low for modern macs: '/etc/sysctl.conf'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.

Another happy customer!!

I had the same sysctl.conf file. Renamed it, installed Mojave and all's good.

It's a pity that Apple support did not flag this when they released Mojave.

Thanks to all and Quirkz for posting the fix.

I had the same issue with Macbook Pro Retina Mid2012. Your recommended procedure fixed the issue. Thanks a lot! You made my day! But what poor quality Apple is delivering. I thought Apple was keen an some easy to use products....

This may have changed.

Thank you! I upgraded to Mojave about three weeks ago and had the same issues; no WiFi hardware, USB ports not working, sluggish, etc., so I went back to High Sierra. I had that file (from Migration Assistant?), followed your instruction, and Voilá, the upgrade was flawless. Apple support mentioned they had heard of this issue but they didn’t know what the cause was.

🤔

Thanks again,

Roy

AFG

can you be a little more specific as to the steps taken to rename the sysctl.conf file? I am not so computer literate, but have found the sysctl.conf file. I just don’t know how to rename, using what application, and rename to what? An outline of your procedure would be greatly appreciated by the Mac community

Thanks

No WiFi in Mojave Yet

Had tried to find the offending file several times to no avail. Read a post that highlighted the spaces needed in the search (ls -l etc/). When I figured this out, the whole operation finally worked. Hope the Apple geniuses get the message, so that customers don't have to spend hours on the phone. Many thanks to the OP of this solution.

Access to that link is “Unauthorized.” Piques my curiosity, as attempting to install Mojave on my iMac/3TB fusion drive fouled up the drive big time. Had to take it to MacMedics for repair and revert to High Sierra.

Could you please break down the process step by step for me. I’m new to the apple world so please break it down Barney style...

I previously had Mavericks and installed Mojave and my machine is running sluggish and has no Wi-Fi hardware detected. I’m also not able to do a time machine back up (I get red i’s next to the last backups and it won’t let me backup)

Apple has me running in circles, thanks and advance.

Great job! This worked for me. I had done a Time Machine restore when I replaced my 2007 iMac with my new one in December 2013. Simple fix for a major problem and Apple Support says they can’t use your fix!

My hardware shows on the system information and appears to be working as

when I click on it the drop box says that wifi is on but there's no connection... but as I have wifi on my macbook working I know its not the router. Recently the exclamation mark has appeared in the wifi icon on the top bar. It says wifi on but no connection.

Heres the interesting thing, the wifi option no longer appears in the left hand box network connections either

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) Mojave 10.14.1 (18B75)

Anyone else had this issue?

Cheers

🙏 THANK YOU 🙏 THANK YOU! 🙏

SHEESH! That was a horrible waste of most of an entire day until I found this thread. Usually, being a long-time Mac user is a good thing – but this works against you.

APPLE: this seems like a known-enough issue. How about removing this file in the install script?!? 👌

Thanks, JoeMan71!

"It just works."

You are a life saver! This is the 3rd time I tried to update to Majove and had these same issues. I was hoping that 10.14.2 would have fixed the problem but it did not. Renaming that config file did the trick.

thank you!