Automatically disable Wifi when an Ethernet connection (cable) is plugged in on a Mac

com.mine.toggleairport.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.asb.toggleairport</string>
  <key>OnDemand</key>
  <true/>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/Library/Scripts/toggleAirport.sh</string>
  </array>
  <key>WatchPaths</key>
  <array>
    <string>/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration</string>
  </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Installation.md

Overview

This is a bash script that will automatically turn your wifi off if you connect your computer to an ethernet connection and turn wifi back on when you unplug your ethernet cable/adapter. If you decide to turn wifi on for whatever reason, it will remember that choice. This was improvised from this mac hint to work with Yosemite, and without hard-coding the adapter names. It's supposed to support growl, but I didn't check that part. I did, however, add OSX notification center support. Feel free to fork and fix any issues you encounter.

Most the credit for these changes go to Dave Holland.

Requirements

• Mac OSX 10+
• Administrator privileges

Installation Instructions

• Copy toggleAirport.sh to /Library/Scripts/
• Run chmod 755 /Library/Scripts/toggleAirport.sh
• Copy com.mine.toggleairport.plist to /Library/LaunchAgents/
• Run chmod 600 /Library/LaunchAgents/com.mine.toggleairport.plist
• Run sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/com.mine.toggleairport.plist to start the watcher

Uninstall Instructions

• Run sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/com.mine.toggleairport.plist to stop the watcher
• Delete /Library/Scripts/toggleAirport.sh
• Delete /Library/LaunchAgents/com.mine.toggleairport.plist
• Delete /private/var/tmp/prev_eth_on
• Delete /private/var/tmp/prev_air_on

Misc

To debug, just run: sudo /Library/Scripts/toggleAirport.sh and add echo's wherever you'd like

toggleAirport.sh

#!/bin/bash

function set_airport {

    new_status=$1

    if [ $new_status = "On" ]; then
        /usr/sbin/networksetup -setairportpower $air_name on
        touch /var/tmp/prev_air_on
    else
        /usr/sbin/networksetup -setairportpower $air_name off
        if [ -f "/var/tmp/prev_air_on" ]; then
            rm /var/tmp/prev_air_on
        fi
    fi

}

function growl {

    # Checks whether Growl is installed
    if [ -f "/usr/local/bin/growlnotify" ]; then
        /usr/local/bin/growlnotify -m "$1" -a "AirPort Utility.app"
    else
        osascript -e "display notification \"$1\" with title \"Wifi Toggle\" sound name \"Hero\""
    fi

}

# Set default values
prev_eth_status="Off"
prev_air_status="Off"
eth_status="Off"

# Grab the names of the adapters. We assume here that any ethernet connection name ends in "Ethernet"
eth_names=`networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | sed -En 's|^\(Hardware Port: .*Ethernet, Device: (en.)\)$|\1|p'`
air_name=`networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | sed -En 's/^\(Hardware Port: (Wi-Fi|AirPort), Device: (en.)\)$/\2/p'`

# Determine previous ethernet status
# If file prev_eth_on exists, ethernet was active last time we checked
if [ -f "/var/tmp/prev_eth_on" ]; then
    prev_eth_status="On"
fi

# Determine same for AirPort status
# File is prev_air_on
if [ -f "/var/tmp/prev_air_on" ]; then
    prev_air_status="On"
fi

# Check actual current ethernet status
for eth_name in ${eth_names}; do
    if ([ "$eth_name" != "" ] && [ "`ifconfig $eth_name | grep "status: active"`" != "" ]); then
        eth_status="On"
    fi
done

# And actual current AirPort status
air_status=`/usr/sbin/networksetup -getairportpower $air_name | awk '{ print $4 }'`

# If any change has occured. Run external script (if it exists)
if [ "$prev_air_status" != "$air_status" ] || [ "$prev_eth_status" != "$eth_status" ]; then
    if [ -f "./statusChanged.sh" ]; then
        "./statusChanged.sh" "$eth_status" "$air_status" &
    fi
fi

# Determine whether ethernet status changed
if [ "$prev_eth_status" != "$eth_status" ]; then

    if [ "$eth_status" = "On" ]; then
        set_airport "Off"
        growl "Wired network detected. Turning AirPort off."
    else
        set_airport "On"
        growl "No wired network detected. Turning AirPort on."
    fi

# If ethernet did not change
else

    # Check whether AirPort status changed
    # If so it was done manually by user
    if [ "$prev_air_status" != "$air_status" ]; then
    set_airport $air_status

    if [ "$air_status" = "On" ]; then
        growl "AirPort manually turned on."
    else
        growl "AirPort manually turned off."
    fi

    fi

fi

# Update ethernet status
if [ "$eth_status" == "On" ]; then
    touch /var/tmp/prev_eth_on
else
    if [ -f "/var/tmp/prev_eth_on" ]; then
        rm /var/tmp/prev_eth_on
    fi
fi

exit 0

I am running it as normal user

The warning message you posted suggests otherwise?

Warning: Expecting a LaunchDaemons path since the command was ran as root.

Well I’m definitely not logged in as root… I guess ill investage that side of thing

I had the same experiences.

Not sure what's going on sorry. The error message indicates that macOS thinks you are running the command as root.

Can you show me the entire terminal session and exactly how you are installing it?

I got an error when following these instructions. macOS Sonoma, M1 MacBook Air.

Warning: Expecting a LaunchDaemons path since the command was ran as root. Got LaunchAgents instead. launchctl bootstrap is a recommended alternative. Load failed: 5: Input/output error Try running launchctl bootstrap as root for richer errors.

I just got a similar thing on Sequoia, @adamshand

/wifi-toggle.sh: line 53: /Users/john/Library/LaunchAgents/nz.haume.wifi-toggle.plist: Permission denied
Enabling launchd service: nz.haume.wifi-toggle
Bootstrap failed: 5: Input/output error
Try re-running the command as root for richer errors.
john@Johns-M1 Downloads % chmod +x wifi-toggle.sh 
john@Johns-M1 Downloads % ./wifi-toggle.sh on    
DEBUG: is_launchd_loaded(): nz.haume.wifi-toggle not loaded
Creating launchd service: /Users/john/Library/LaunchAgents/nz.haume.wifi-toggle.plist
./wifi-toggle.sh: line 53: /Users/john/Library/LaunchAgents/nz.haume.wifi-toggle.plist: Permission denied
Enabling launchd service: nz.haume.wifi-toggle
Bootstrap failed: 5: Input/output error
Try re-running the command as root for richer errors.

It's not working because you don't have permission to write to the LaunchAgents directory;

/wifi-toggle.sh: line 53: /Users/john/Library/LaunchAgents/nz.haume.wifi-toggle.plist: Permission denied

It's not working because you don't have permission to write to the LaunchAgents directory;

/wifi-toggle.sh: line 53: /Users/john/Library/LaunchAgents/nz.haume.wifi-toggle.plist: Permission denied

Yep - that did it. Now to see if this handled the move to Sequoia. Will let you know.

Thanks!

Works. For my case, I had to tweak the regex as follows to account for differences in naming:

eth_names=`networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | sed -En 's|^\(Hardware Port: .*Ethernet.*, Device: (en.+)\)$|\1|p'`

. This is my network list:

% networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder
An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.
(1) Thunderbolt Ethernet Slot 0
(Hardware Port: Thunderbolt Ethernet Slot 1, Device: en10)

(2) Thunderbolt Ethernet Slot 1
(Hardware Port: Thunderbolt Ethernet Slot 1, Device: en12)

(3) USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN
(Hardware Port: USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN, Device: en8)

(4) Thunderbolt Bridge
(Hardware Port: Thunderbolt Bridge, Device: bridge0)

(5) Targus USB3 DV4K DOCK w PD60W
(Hardware Port: Targus USB3 DV4K DOCK w PD60W, Device: en7)

(6) USB 10/100/1000 LAN
(Hardware Port: USB 10/100/1000 LAN, Device: en6)

(7) Wi-Fi
(Hardware Port: Wi-Fi, Device: en0)

.

@adamshand Your script works well. Thanks for sharing it. I have one issue: I continue receiving notifications about the script turning on wifi when I am not connected to either wifi or an ethernet network.

Your script works well. Thanks for sharing it. I have one issue: I continue receiving notifications about the script turning on wifi when I am not connected to either wifi or an ethernet network.

You're welcome!

Ah, I'm very rarely somewhere that I don't have a wired or wireless connection. The best bet is just to disable it when you don't need it.

> wifi-toggle.sh help
Automatically toggle macOS Wi-Fi based on ethernet status (uses launchd)
Usage: wifi-toggle.sh [ off | debug | help ]

> wifi-toggle.sh off

@adamshand Many thanks for your script, really helpful and straight forward.

The only issue I have with it is that it supports only one ethernet port. This is problematic for me as at home I'm connected to a dockingstation with an builtin ethernet port, in the office I'm connected to another brand dockingstation with a builtin ethernerport (other identifier, obviously) and when I'm on the run at customer side I have a normal USB to Ethernet Adaptor.

Optimally the script would support multiple Ethernet interfaces and toggle wifi off as soon as at least one of the cabled connections is connected.
I don't think this problem is relevant for wifi connections as you're normally running on the one that is built in on the computer and not attaching external ones. For wifi the actual behaviour fits perfectly.

Would be great if that could be implemented too.
Cheers Patrik

@keenonkites glad the script has been useful! Unfortunately, I don't have a dock with two ethernet ports, so I can't test this.

@keenonkites I made a change to the script that seems to work based on some limited testing. Try it out and see if it behaves:
https://gist.github.com/jamescamping/f477809c1545c27ed60d20009b06a3a8

I made a change to the script that seems to work based on some limited testing.

👍🏻

Thanks for the quick reaction.

It does not run on my end as It still bails out with 'Multiple ethernet interfaces match as I have e.g. in the office here multiple Display Ethernet and multiple LAN:

$ networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | grep -e 'Display Ethernet' -e LAN
(1) Belkin USB-C LAN
(Hardware Port: Belkin USB-C LAN, Device: en8)
(3) Display Ethernet
(Hardware Port: Display Ethernet, Device: en9)
(6) Display Ethernet 2
(Hardware Port: Display Ethernet, Device: en10)
(7) Display Ethernet 3
(Hardware Port: Display Ethernet, Device: en11)
(11) USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN
(Hardware Port: USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN, Device: en6)

The script output is the following (I'm connecte to ethernet actually:
$ ./wifi-toggle.sh run
DEBUG: get_interface(): regex '(Wi-Fi|Airport)' -> interface 'en0'
DEBUG: Checking ethernet regexes: LAN Ethernet
DEBUG: Trying ethernet regex: 'LAN'
ERROR: Multiple ethernet interfaces match: LAN
DEBUG: No interface found for regex 'LAN'
DEBUG: Trying ethernet regex: 'Ethernet'
ERROR: Multiple ethernet interfaces match: Ethernet
DEBUG: No interface found for regex 'Ethernet'
DEBUG: No active ethernet interfaces found
DEBUG: ethernet status: 'inactive', wifi status: 'inactive'
DEBUG: enabling wifi

Actually I played around aswell with the script and came up with a solution that supports multiple matches with one REGEX and just checks if at least one interface is connected. The script is attached.
The only thing that actually isn't covered properly and should be covered the same way as in your original script is the case if the Wifi REGEX matches more than one interface.

• then we should either bail out
• or turn off all wifi interfaces

I've also added a quick command 'list' to see what interfaces matches the different REGEX to double check if all needed is covered.

My version can be found at https://gist.github.com/keenonkites/9dc158bd63c43f6ff294ed9dd34bea31

Have a look and take whatever snippets you want (if any) for backporting.

Cheers Patrik

Original script didn't work for me initially. Had to change the REGEX for variable eth_names in toggleAirport.sh as my network is connected via usb-c adapter. After this it worked like expected. Thanks a lot!

eth_names="networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | sed -En 's|^\(Hardware Port: USB 10/100/1000 LAN, Device: (en.)\)$|\1|p'"

My version can be found at https://gist.github.com/keenonkites/9dc158bd63c43f6ff294ed9dd34bea31

The link is dead.

Let's try it with this link again....
https://gist.github.com/keenonkites/9dc158bd63c43f6ff294ed9dd34bea31

(the link was written correct, but a click didn't function as I messed up name and URL)