How Do I Connect My Router to My Mac?
If you have a wireless router, you can connect your Mac to your router via Wi-Fi or a physical Ethernet cable. Wi-Fi is often more convenient, but a wired Ethernet connection is more reliable and faster. If you have a router that doesn’t support wireless connections, then Ethernet is your only option. Some Macs have Ethernet ports, but many don’t. For example, the Mac mini and iMac Pro both have Ethernet ports, while the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro don’t have Ethernet ports. If you have a Mac without an Ethernet port, you can connect a USB-to-Ethernet adapter and connect your Ethernet cable to the adapter. In many cases, your Mac will automatically connect to your router when you connect them via Ethernet cable. The connection can take a little while to establish, but it’s usually automatic. If you find it doesn’t happen automatically, then you’ll need to obtain some information from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and configure the connection on your Mac. Here’s how to connect a router to a Mac:
Why Won’t My Mac Connect to My Router?
When a Mac doesn’t connect to a router, it’s usually because of configuration issues. Most of the time, it’s sufficient to make the connection and let the Mac configure everything automatically, but that doesn’t always work. So if your Mac won’t connect to your router, the first thing to do is contact your ISP as described above and manually configure your Mac using their information.
Does the ISP assign IP addresses automatically?If not, ask what to enter for your IP address.Does the ISP use BootP?If the ISP requires manual configuration, what’s the IP address, subnet mask, and router address?What is the IP address of the ISP’s DNS server?Are there any other settings the ISP provides, like IPv6, proxy server, or additional settings?
Using DHCP: Select this option if your ISP assigns IP addresses automatically.Using DHCP with manual address: Select this option if your ISP told you to enter a specific IP address.Using BootP: Select this if your ISP said they use BootP.Manually: Select this if your ISP told you to enter everything manually and provided an IP address, subnet mask, and router address.
If your Mac still won’t connect to your router, here are some other potential issues you can check:
