The available services or tools found in the Network Utility: Network interfaces Netstat ping Lookup Traceroute Whois Finger Port scan. Ping a computer using Network Utility on Mac Use Network Utility to see if your computer can communicate with a computer or other device at a specific network address. This type of test is called pinging the other device. Pinging can help you figure out if a communication problem is caused by your computer, the connection, or the remote device.
macOS Recovery is part of the built-in recovery system of your Mac. You can start up from macOS Recovery and use its utilities to recover from certain software issues or take other actions on your Mac.
How to start up from macOS Recovery
- Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold these two keys: Command (⌘) and R. Need help?
- Release the keys when you see an Apple logo, spinning globe, or other startup screen.
- You might be prompted to enter a password, such as a firmware password or the password of a user who is an administrator of this Mac. Enter the requested password to continue.
- Startup is complete when you see the utilities window:
- After starting up from macOS Recovery, select a utility, then click Continue:
- Restore From Time Machine Backup:Restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup.
- Reinstall macOS: Download and reinstall the Mac operating system.
- Get Help Online: Use Safari to browse the web and find help for your Mac. Links to Apple's support website are included. Browser plug-ins and extensions are disabled.
- Disk Utility: Use Disk Utility to repair your disk or erase your disk or other storage device.
Additional utilities are available from the Utilities menu in the menu bar: Startup Security Utility (or Firmware Password Utility), Network Utility, and Terminal.
- To quit macOS Recovery, choose Restart or Shut Down from the Apple menu . If you want to choose a different startup disk before quitting, choose Startup Disk from the Apple menu.
If you can't start up from macOS Recovery
If your Mac can't start up from its built-in macOS Recovery system, it might try to start up from macOS Recovery over the Internet. When that happens, you see a spinning globe instead of an Apple logo during startup:
To manually start up from Internet Recovery, press and hold either of these key combinations at startup:
- Option-Command-R
- Shift-Option-Command-R
Learn more
If startup from Internet Recovery is unsuccessful, you see a globe with an alert symbol (exclamation point):
In that case, try these solutions:
- Make sure that your Mac can connect to the Internet. If you're not prompted to choose a Wi-Fi network during startup, move your pointer to the top of the screen, then choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu , if available.
- Press Command-R at startup to try using the built-in Recovery system instead of Internet Recovery.
- Connect to the Internet using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi, or vice versa.
- Connect to the Internet from a different Wi-Fi or Ethernet network. Your network configuration might not allow the Internet access that macOS Recovery needs.
- Try again later, because the issue might be temporary.
- Start up from another disk or volume, if available, or use a bootable installer to reinstall macOS.
If you still need help, please contact Apple Support.
macOS includes an application called Network Utility. This means that you do not need to download or install this app. This app provides a variety of handy networking tools and details. You can use this tool for variety of purposes, from troubleshooting a connection to looking up information.
How to find Network Utility:
There are two ways to open Network Utility.
The official path for the app is:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications
To open this folder, go to Finder, and click Go and Go To Folder and enter the path above and hit Go:
And then click Network Utility
If you are running an older version of macOS (OS X Mountain Lion, Lion, and Snow Leopard), then go to Finder> Applications > Utilities.
You can also open Spotlight by pressing Command-Space bar and type Network Utility to search and launch this app.
Network Utility lets you view information about your network connections:
The followings are the tools included in Network Utility.
Netstat: This means Network Statistics. You can use this tool to display very detailed information about all the active network connections (incoming and outgoing) on your Mac.
Wireless Network Utility Mac
There are four options here and they are:
- Display routing table information
- Display comprehensive network statistics for each protocol
- Display multicast information
- Display the state of all current socket connections
You need to select one, and then click the blue “Netstat” button:
Ping: This tool lets you test the reachability of your Mac on an Internet Protocol (IP) network.
You need to enter an IP number (like 10.0.2.1) or URL (like macreports.com). You have also the option of sending only a selected number (like 10) of pings or unlimited number of pings. And then click the yellow Ping button:
Lookup: This tool will let you test your DNS server. Simply enter an Internet address and then click Lookup.
Traceroute: This will let you trace network traffic paths.
Simply enter the IP address or domain name and click Trace. It may take up to a minute for the results.
Whois: You check a domain’s whois information. This will let you review the ownership and tenure of a domain name. So you can review who registered and owns a domain name, including their contact information. Simply enter a domain name address and and then select a whois server to search. Then click Whois.
Finger: You can use this to find information about computer users. Simply enter a username and domain address to do this test:
Port Scan: This tool will let you check for open TCP/IP ports, ports 1 through 65535. Simply enter an Internet address to do this test:
Network Utility Mac Finger
Your Mac’s Network Utility is a basic but offers handy networking tools.