The Wi-Fi icon shows full signal. Your Mac says it's connected. Nothing loads. Other devices in the house are fine. It's one of the recurring reports in the main Golden Gate bug megathread on Reddit, with users restarting the Mac, modem, and router and getting nowhere.

"Connected but no internet" means the Mac has joined the Wi-Fi network, but traffic isn't getting past it. After a major upgrade, the cause is rarely your router. Work through these steps in order; each one rules out a layer.

Step 1: Confirm where the problem is

Test another network. Turn on your iPhone's Personal Hotspot and connect the Mac. If the internet works there, the problem involves your home or office network setup. If it fails on every network, the problem is on the Mac.

Check the basics in Terminal:

ping -c 3 1.1.1.1
ping -c 3 apple.com
  • First works, second fails: DNS is broken. The Mac reaches the internet but can't look up names. Go to Step 5.
  • Both fail: traffic isn't leaving the Mac or the network. Continue with Step 2.
  • Both work, but browsers don't load pages: a proxy, filter, or browser-level issue. Check Step 2 and your browser extensions.

Step 2: Rule out VPNs, filters, and security software

This is the most common cause after upgrading. VPN clients, content filters, ad blockers that work at the network level, parental control apps, and security agents install network extensions that sit between your Mac and the internet. Golden Gate removed support for some older extensions and tightened network security requirements, so tools that aren't updated for macOS 27 can block traffic entirely while Wi-Fi itself looks fine.

Find them:

systemextensionsctl list

Look for network extensions from VPN, firewall, filtering, or security vendors. You can also check System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions and System Settings > VPN.

Fix:

  1. Disconnect from any VPN and quit the app completely.
  2. Pause or quit content filters, ad blockers, and security tools.
  3. Test the connection again.
  4. If it works, check each vendor's site for a macOS 27 update before turning the tool back on.

On a work Mac, contact IT rather than removing security software yourself.

Step 3: Try the Limit IP Address Tracking fix

During the Golden Gate beta, users on the MacRumors forums reported fixing "connected but no internet" by turning off Limit IP Address Tracking for their network. With this setting on, part of your traffic goes through Apple's privacy relay infrastructure, and that path reportedly didn't work reliably in the betas.

  1. Open System Settings > Wi-Fi.
  2. Click Details next to your network.
  3. Turn off Limit IP Address Tracking.
  4. Test again.

If this fixes it, you can leave it off for now, but note that it's a privacy feature. Turn it back on after a macOS update and check whether the problem is gone.

Also try toggling Private Wi-Fi Address in the same panel. Some routers with MAC address filtering or device limits block a Mac whose private address changed during the upgrade.

Step 4: Renew the connection

Renew your IP address: in System Settings > Wi-Fi > Details, open TCP/IP and click Renew DHCP Lease.

Forget and rejoin the network: in System Settings > Wi-Fi, click the menu next to the network, choose Forget This Network, then join it again with the password.

Turn Wi-Fi off and on from Control Center after each change.

Step 5: Fix DNS

If the ping test showed that names don't resolve:

  1. In System Settings > Wi-Fi > Details > DNS, add public DNS servers such as 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8.
  2. Flush the DNS cache:
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

If a DNS-based ad blocker or filter runs on your router or Mac, pause it and test again.

Step 6: Reset network configuration

Network preferences carried over from earlier macOS versions can conflict after an upgrade. Resetting them makes macOS rebuild clean settings.

  1. Open Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder, and enter /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/.
  2. Move these files to a backup folder on your Desktop (don't delete them yet):

- com.apple.airport.preferences.plist

- NetworkInterfaces.plist

- preferences.plist

  1. Restart the Mac.
  2. Rejoin your Wi-Fi network.

You'll need to re-enter Wi-Fi passwords and any custom network settings like static IPs or proxies. If things get worse, put the original files back and restart.

Step 7: Run Wireless Diagnostics

Hold Option and click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar (or in Control Center), then choose Open Wireless Diagnostics. It checks for common problems and can create a report. Its Window menu also has tools for scanning nearby networks and monitoring signal quality, useful if the connection works intermittently.

Other things to check

  • Date & Time: make sure it's set automatically. A wrong clock breaks secure connections.
  • Profiles: in System Settings > General > Device Management, look for configuration profiles you don't recognize, which can set proxies or DNS.
  • Router firmware: older routers with outdated security settings can misbehave with new macOS releases. Update the firmware.
  • NAS and file shares: if only local network resources fail, that's a separate issue. Golden Gate removed AFP, so shares need SMB.

The short version

  • Test a hotspot first to separate network problems from Mac problems.
  • VPNs, filters, and security tools are the most likely cause after upgrading. Pause them and update.
  • Try turning off Limit IP Address Tracking for the network.
  • Renew DHCP, forget and rejoin, set public DNS, and flush the DNS cache.
  • As a last step, reset network preference files, keeping a backup copy.