TAP Mac OS

broken image


Tap mac os catalina

Mac OS X TUN/TAP driver, which allows for creation of the virtual network interface.

Highlighted Articles
News
Installing Tunnelblick
Uninstalling Tunnelblick
Setting up Configurations
Using Tunnelblick
Getting VPN Service
Common Problems
Configuring OpenVPN
Release Notes
Thanks
FAQ

Discussion Group
Read Before You Post

On This Page
Background
How to Load Tunnelblick's System Extensions
The Long-Term Problem
How to tell if you have a 'tap' VPN or a 'tun' VPN
When will this happen?
How to modify a 'tun' VPN so it will continue to work
If macOS still complains
Always load tun or always load tap
Disabling SIP
Old versions of Tunnelblick will not help
What Apple announced
What is Tunnelblick doing about it?

Background

To connect to a VPN, Tunnelblick needs to use a special kind of device driver:

  • For a Tun VPN, macOS includes a built-in 'utun' device driver which can be
    used so that Tunnelblick's Tun system extension does not need to be loaded.
    Most OpenVPN configuration files will automatically use the 'utun' driver, but
    some include options that require Tunnelblick to use its own Tun system
    extension. Those configuration files should be modified so that the built-in
    macOS 'utun' device driver can be used. (For simple instructions to make such
    modifications, see Errors Loading System Extensions.)

  • For a Tap VPN, Tunnelblick's Tap system extension must be loaded because
    macOS does not have a built-in Tap device driver.

Apple has made it more and more difficult to load system extensions with each
new version of macOS. They have also announced that in 'a future version' of
macOS, you will not be able to use system extensions at all.

How to Load Tunnelblick's System Extensions

If you are using any version of macOS up to and including macOS Sierra,
Tunneblick automatically loads and unloads its system extensions; you do not
need to do anything.

If you are using macOS High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina, you need to

  1. Attempt to connect the configuration so Tunnelblick attempts to use the system extension;
  2. Open System Preferences >> Security & Privacy;
  3. Give permission to load system extensions signed by 'Jonathan Bullard';
  4. Close System Preferences; and
  5. If you are using macOS Catalina**, restart your computer.

If you are using macOS Big Sur on an Intel Mac, you need to:

  1. Restart your computer in Recovery mode;
  2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal;
  3. Execute 'csrutil disable' command in Terminal;
  4. Restart your computer normally;
  5. Attempt to connect the configuration so Tunnelblick attempts to use the system extension;
  6. Open System Preferences >> Security & Privacy;
  7. Give permission to load system extensions signed by 'Jonathan Bullard';
  8. Close System Preferences;
  9. Restart your computer normally;
  10. Restart your computer in Recovery mode;
  11. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal;
  12. Execute 'csrutil enable' command in Terminal; and
  13. Restart your computer normally.

If you are using macOS Big Sur on an Apple Silicon Mac, you need to use the latest beta version of Tunnelblick. See Tunnelblick and Apple Silicon for details.

The Long-Term Problem

Apple has announced changes to macOS which affect many users of Tunnelblick.

You might see a warning from Tunnelblick about this change, or you might see the following warning when connecting your VPN:

What this means is:

  • If you have a 'tap' VPN, a future version of macOS will cause your VPN to stop working. (Apple's announcement to developers is worded differently and may mean that users will be able to use some mechanism to enable 'tap' VPNs to continue to work, but that interpretation is contradicted by the warning shown above. See What Apple announced, below.) You may be able to convert your 'tap' VPN to a 'tun' VPN which will work. However, that requires being able to change the OpenVPN configurations on both your computer and on the VPN server, and it may not provide all of the networking facilities that you are currently using. Maze race (danilo35) mac os. Consult your VPN service provider or OpenVPN experts and support for help with doing this.

  • On macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 you may be able to allow 'tap' VPNs to continue to work by disabling SIP.

  • On macOS Big Sur 11.1.0 disabling SIP is not necessary.

  • If you have a 'tun' VPN, your configurations may continue to work in future version of macOS without you doing anything, or you might need to make a simple change to the OpenVPN configuration file so that the configuration will continue to work. If your OpenVPN configuration file does not contain a 'dev-node' option, you do not need to do anything and the configuration will continue to work. If your OpenVPN configuration file does contain a 'dev-node' option, you will need to remove that option so the configuration continues to work (see below).

How to tell if you have a 'tap' VPN or a 'tun' VPN

First, click to select a configuration in the left side of the 'Configurations' panel of Tunnelblick's 'VPN Details' window.

Then, examine the title of the 'VPN Details' window. If it includes:

  • '- UTUN -': you have a 'tun' VPN but it does not require a system extension. You don't need to do anything.
  • '- TUN -': you have a 'tun' VPN which requires a system extension. See below for instructions for modifying the OpenVPN configuration file so the system extension is not required.
  • '- TAP -': you have a 'tap' VPN which requires a system extension. Contact your VPN service provider for help.

When will this happen?

Apple does not announce its intentions in advance, so there may not be any prior notice of this change. It may appear in a version of macOS Big Sur, or may appear in a later version of macOS.

For updated information about macOS Big Sur, see Tunnelblick on macOS Big Sur.

How to modify a 'tun' VPN so it will continue to work

You need to remove the dev-node option if it exists in the VPN's OpenVPN configuration file:

  1. Click to select a configuration in the left side of the 'Configurations' panel of Tunnelblick's 'VPN Details' window.
  2. Click on the little 'gear' icon at the bottom of the list of configurations. If you can click 'Make Configuration Private…', do so and have a computer administrator authorize the change. (If you can't click it, don't : )
  3. Click on the little 'gear' icon and click on 'Edit OpenVPN Configuration File…'. The configuration file will open in Apple's 'TextEdit' editor.
  4. Find a line that starts with 'dev-node tun'. If you find one, delete the line. If you dont find one, skip the next step.
  5. Look for a line that starts 'dev tun' or 'dev-type tun'. If neither one exists in the file, add a new line that says 'dev tun'.
  6. Quit TextEdit, saving the changes if asked.
  7. If you previously made the configuration private, make it shared by clicking the little 'gear' icon, clicking 'Make Configuration Shared', and having the change authorized by a computer administrator.

If you made changes to the file and did not change it from shared to private and back to shared, the next time you connect the configuration you will be asked to have a computer administrator authorize the changes.

If macOS still complains

Always load tun or always load tap

If you have a 'tun' VPN which does not need to be modified, or has been modified as described above, and Tunnelblick or macOS Catalina still complains, then you have changed a Tunnelblick setting and should restore it to the default setting. All configurations should be set to 'Load tun driver automatically' and 'Load tap driver automatically'. These settings are found on the 'Connecting & Disconnecting' tab of the 'Advanced' settings window. Recent versions of Tunnelblick will automatically disable loading of 'tun' and 'tap' system extensions on versions of macOS that do not allow Tunnelblick to load them.

Disabling SIP

System Integrity Protection ('SIP') is a feature of macOS which helps keep your computer safe (see About System Integrity Protection on your Mac).

Although it is not recommended because it makes your computer less safe, if you are using macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, disabling SIP may allow your computer to connect a 'tap' VPN. See Configuring System Integrity Protection for instructions to disable SIP.

It has been reported that on macOS Big Sur 11.1.0 disabling SIP is no longer necessary. This has not been verified by the Tunnelblick developers.

Old versions of Tunnelblick will not help

This situation is caused by changes in macOS, not a change in Tunnelblick, so older versions of Tunnelblick will not help. All Macs running OS X 7.5 or later should use the latest stable or beta version of Tunnelblick. See Deprecated Downloads for a version of Tunnelblick that should be used on earlier versions of OS X and on all PowerPC Macs.

What Apple announced

Apple has announced that 'future OS releases will no longer load system extensions that use deprecated KPIs by default'. Tunnelblick includes, and for some configurations loads one of two such extensions:

  • 'tap' configurations always require the use of one system extension.
  • 'tun' configurations may require the use of the other system extension but can easily be modified so no system extension is required.

It isn't clear what Apple means by the phrase 'by default'. It may mean that Apple will provide a mechanism for users to allow loading of system extensions that use deprecated KPIs. However, Apple's practice has been to make such mechanisms very difficult to use, and the warning in macOS Catalina does not indicate such a mechanism will be provided.

Early versions of macOS Big Sur may allow system extensions to be loaded if SIP is disabled, see Tunnelblick on macOS Big Sur.

On macOS Big Sur 11.1.0 disabling SIP is no longer necessary.

What is Tunnelblick doing about it?

In the short term:

  • Agency of broken hearts (or, heart fixers) mac os. macOS Catalina loads Tunnelblick's system extensions (which are signed by 'Jonathan Bullard'), but the user must interactively allow this in the Security and Privacy window of System Preferences.

  • macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 refuses to load Tunnelblick's existing, notarized system extensions unless SIP is disabled. It isn't known if this behavior will be present in future versions of Big Sur; 11.1.0 does not require SIP to be disabled. Apple's suggested workaround, using an 'installer package', cannot be easily integrated into the Tunnelblick installation process. It is possible that someone else will develop an installer which can load Tunnelblick's system extensions and make it publicly available, but there is no way to know if or when that will happen. (If it does happen, we expect to link to the installer or installers on the Downloads page.)

  • Versions of Tunnelblick that are running on macOS Big Sur may disable loading of system extensions. You may override this; see Tunnelblick on macOS Big Sur for details.

  • Apple proposes that programs such as Tunnelblick be modified to use a different method to accomplish the function that the system extensions currently perform. The current Tunnelblick developers do not have the time or expertise to use the new method Apple proposes and have no plans to do so. It is possible that someone else will develop such an alternative method and make it publicly available, but there is no way to know if or when that will happen. (If it does happen, we expect to include it in Tunnelblick.)

In the longer term:

At some point in the future when Tunnelblick no longer supports versions of macOS that can load system extensions, system extension loading and unloading will probably be removed from Tunnelblick. Historically, Tunnelblick has supported several years of macOS releases. As of June 2020 Tunnelblick supports OS X and macOS versions as far back as 10.7.5, which was released in 2012, so it is anticipated that the removal will not take place until the mid- to late-2020s.

The Terminal app allows you to control your Mac using a command prompt. Why would you want to do that? Well, perhaps because you're used to working on a command line in a Unix-based system and prefer to work that way. Terminal is a Mac command line interface. There are several advantages to using Terminal to accomplish some tasks — it's usually quicker, for example. In order to use it, however, you'll need to get to grips with its basic commands and functions. Once you've done that, you can dig deeper and learn more commands and use your Mac's command prompt for more complex, as well as some fun, tasks.

Curated Mac apps that keep your Mac's performance under control. Avoid Terminal commands, avoid trouble.

Download Free

How to open Terminal on Mac

The Terminal app is in the Utilities folder in Applications. To open it, either open your Applications folder, then open Utilities and double-click on Terminal, or press Command - spacebar to launch Spotlight and type 'Terminal,' then double-click the search result.

You'll see a small window with a white background open on your desktop. In the title bar are your username, the word 'bash' and the dimensions of the window in pixels. Bash stands for 'Bourne again shell'. There are a number of different shells that can run Unix commands, and on the Mac Bash is the one used by Terminal.

  1. Enable Tap-To-Click - Windows 7 on Mac; Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 on Mac Computer; Change Behavior of Function Keys - Windows 7 on Mac; Access Board of Trustees Website; Switch Between Mac and Windows on Mac.
  2. The OSX tun/tap driver seems to work a bit different. The Linux example dynamically allocates a tun interface, which does not work in OSX, at least not in the same way. I stripped the code to create a basic example of how tun can be used on OSX using a self-selected tun device, printing each packet to the console.

If you want to make the window bigger, click on the bottom right corner and drag it outwards. If you don't like the black text on a white background, go to the Shell menu, choose New Window and select from the options in the list.

If Terminal feels complicated or you have issues with the set-up, let us tell you right away that there are alternatives. MacPilot allows to get access to over 1,200 macOS features without memorizing any commands. Basically, a third-party Terminal for Mac that acts like Finder.

For Mac monitoring features, try iStat Menus. The app collects data like CPU load, disk activity, network usage, and more — all of which accessible from your menu bar.

Basic Mac commands in Terminal

The quickest way to get to know Terminal and understand how it works is to start using it. But before we do that, it's worth spending a little time getting to know how commands work. To run a command, you just type it at the cursor and hit Return to execute.

Every command is made up of three elements: the command itself, an argument which tells the command what resource it should operate on, and an option that modifies the output. So, for example, to move a file from one folder to another on your Mac, you'd use the move command 'mv' and then type the location of the file you want to move, including the file name and the location where you want to move it to.

Let's try it.

  1. Type cd ~/Documentsthen and press Return to navigate to your Home folder.

  2. Type lsthen Return (you type Return after every command).

You should now see a list of all the files in your Documents folder — ls is the command for listing files.

To see a list of all the commands available in Terminal, hold down the Escape key and then press y when you see a question asking if you want to see all the possibilities. To see more commands, press Return.

Unix has its own built-in manual. So, to learn more about a command type man [name of command], where 'command' is the name of the command you want find out more about.

Terminal rules

There are a few things you need to bear in mind when you're typing commands in Terminal, or any other command-line tool. Firstly, every character matters, including spaces. So when you're copying a command you see here, make sure you include the spaces and that characters are in the correct case.

You can't use a mouse or trackpad in Terminal, but you can navigate using the arrow keys. If you want to re-run a command, tap the up arrow key until you reach it, then press Return. To interrupt a command that's already running, type Control-C.

Commands are always executed in the current location. So, if you don't specify a location in the command, it will run wherever you last moved to or where the last command was run. Use the cdcommand, followed by a directory path, like in Step 1 above, to specify the folder where you want a command to run.

There is another way to specify a location: go to the Finder, navigate to the file or folder you want and drag it onto the Terminal window, with the cursor at the point where you would have typed the path.

Here's another example. This time, we'll create a new folder inside your Documents directory and call it 'TerminalTest.'

  1. Open a Finder window and navigate to your Documents folder.

  2. Type cd and drag the Documents folder onto the Terminal window.

  3. Now, type mkdir 'TerminalTest'

Go back to the Finder, open Text Edit and create a new file called 'TerminalTestFile.rtf'. Now save it to the TerminalTest folder in your Documents folder.

In the Terminal window, type cd ~/Documents/TerminalTest then Return. Now type lsand you should see 'TerminalTestFile' listed.

To change the name of the file, type this, pressing Return after every step:

  1. cd~/Documents/Terminal Test

  2. mv TerminalTestFile TerminalTestFile2.rtf

That will change the name of the file to 'TerminalTestFile2'. You can, of course, use any name you like. The mv command means 'move' and you can also use it to move files from one directory to another. In that case, you'd keep the file names the same, but specify another directory before typing the the second instance of the name, like this:

mv ~/Documents/TerminalTest TerminalTestFile.rtf ~/Documents/TerminalTest2 TerminalTestFile.rtf

More advanced Terminal commands

Terminal can be used for all sorts of different tasks. Some of them can be performed in the Finder, but are quicker in Terminal. Others access deep-rooted parts of macOS that aren't accessible from the Finder without specialist applications. Here are a few examples.

Copy files from one folder to another
  1. In a Terminal window, type ditto [folder 1] [folder 1] where 'folder 1' is the folder that hosts the files and 'folder 2' is the folder you want to move them to.

  2. To see the files being copied in the Terminal window, type -v after the command.

Download files from the internet

Top Mac Os Apps 2020

You'll need the URL of the file you want to download in order to use Terminal for this.

  1. cd ~/Downloads/

  2. curl -O [URL of file you want to download]

If you want to download the file to a directory other than your Downloads folder, replace ~/Downloads/ with the path to that folder, or drag it onto the Terminal window after you type the cd command.

Tap mac os update

Mac OS X TUN/TAP driver, which allows for creation of the virtual network interface.

Highlighted Articles
News
Installing Tunnelblick
Uninstalling Tunnelblick
Setting up Configurations
Using Tunnelblick
Getting VPN Service
Common Problems
Configuring OpenVPN
Release Notes
Thanks
FAQ

Discussion Group
Read Before You Post

On This Page
Background
How to Load Tunnelblick's System Extensions
The Long-Term Problem
How to tell if you have a 'tap' VPN or a 'tun' VPN
When will this happen?
How to modify a 'tun' VPN so it will continue to work
If macOS still complains
Always load tun or always load tap
Disabling SIP
Old versions of Tunnelblick will not help
What Apple announced
What is Tunnelblick doing about it?

Background

To connect to a VPN, Tunnelblick needs to use a special kind of device driver:

  • For a Tun VPN, macOS includes a built-in 'utun' device driver which can be
    used so that Tunnelblick's Tun system extension does not need to be loaded.
    Most OpenVPN configuration files will automatically use the 'utun' driver, but
    some include options that require Tunnelblick to use its own Tun system
    extension. Those configuration files should be modified so that the built-in
    macOS 'utun' device driver can be used. (For simple instructions to make such
    modifications, see Errors Loading System Extensions.)

  • For a Tap VPN, Tunnelblick's Tap system extension must be loaded because
    macOS does not have a built-in Tap device driver.

Apple has made it more and more difficult to load system extensions with each
new version of macOS. They have also announced that in 'a future version' of
macOS, you will not be able to use system extensions at all.

How to Load Tunnelblick's System Extensions

If you are using any version of macOS up to and including macOS Sierra,
Tunneblick automatically loads and unloads its system extensions; you do not
need to do anything.

If you are using macOS High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina, you need to

  1. Attempt to connect the configuration so Tunnelblick attempts to use the system extension;
  2. Open System Preferences >> Security & Privacy;
  3. Give permission to load system extensions signed by 'Jonathan Bullard';
  4. Close System Preferences; and
  5. If you are using macOS Catalina**, restart your computer.

If you are using macOS Big Sur on an Intel Mac, you need to:

  1. Restart your computer in Recovery mode;
  2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal;
  3. Execute 'csrutil disable' command in Terminal;
  4. Restart your computer normally;
  5. Attempt to connect the configuration so Tunnelblick attempts to use the system extension;
  6. Open System Preferences >> Security & Privacy;
  7. Give permission to load system extensions signed by 'Jonathan Bullard';
  8. Close System Preferences;
  9. Restart your computer normally;
  10. Restart your computer in Recovery mode;
  11. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal;
  12. Execute 'csrutil enable' command in Terminal; and
  13. Restart your computer normally.

If you are using macOS Big Sur on an Apple Silicon Mac, you need to use the latest beta version of Tunnelblick. See Tunnelblick and Apple Silicon for details.

The Long-Term Problem

Apple has announced changes to macOS which affect many users of Tunnelblick.

You might see a warning from Tunnelblick about this change, or you might see the following warning when connecting your VPN:

What this means is:

  • If you have a 'tap' VPN, a future version of macOS will cause your VPN to stop working. (Apple's announcement to developers is worded differently and may mean that users will be able to use some mechanism to enable 'tap' VPNs to continue to work, but that interpretation is contradicted by the warning shown above. See What Apple announced, below.) You may be able to convert your 'tap' VPN to a 'tun' VPN which will work. However, that requires being able to change the OpenVPN configurations on both your computer and on the VPN server, and it may not provide all of the networking facilities that you are currently using. Maze race (danilo35) mac os. Consult your VPN service provider or OpenVPN experts and support for help with doing this.

  • On macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 you may be able to allow 'tap' VPNs to continue to work by disabling SIP.

  • On macOS Big Sur 11.1.0 disabling SIP is not necessary.

  • If you have a 'tun' VPN, your configurations may continue to work in future version of macOS without you doing anything, or you might need to make a simple change to the OpenVPN configuration file so that the configuration will continue to work. If your OpenVPN configuration file does not contain a 'dev-node' option, you do not need to do anything and the configuration will continue to work. If your OpenVPN configuration file does contain a 'dev-node' option, you will need to remove that option so the configuration continues to work (see below).

How to tell if you have a 'tap' VPN or a 'tun' VPN

First, click to select a configuration in the left side of the 'Configurations' panel of Tunnelblick's 'VPN Details' window.

Then, examine the title of the 'VPN Details' window. If it includes:

  • '- UTUN -': you have a 'tun' VPN but it does not require a system extension. You don't need to do anything.
  • '- TUN -': you have a 'tun' VPN which requires a system extension. See below for instructions for modifying the OpenVPN configuration file so the system extension is not required.
  • '- TAP -': you have a 'tap' VPN which requires a system extension. Contact your VPN service provider for help.

When will this happen?

Apple does not announce its intentions in advance, so there may not be any prior notice of this change. It may appear in a version of macOS Big Sur, or may appear in a later version of macOS.

For updated information about macOS Big Sur, see Tunnelblick on macOS Big Sur.

How to modify a 'tun' VPN so it will continue to work

You need to remove the dev-node option if it exists in the VPN's OpenVPN configuration file:

  1. Click to select a configuration in the left side of the 'Configurations' panel of Tunnelblick's 'VPN Details' window.
  2. Click on the little 'gear' icon at the bottom of the list of configurations. If you can click 'Make Configuration Private…', do so and have a computer administrator authorize the change. (If you can't click it, don't : )
  3. Click on the little 'gear' icon and click on 'Edit OpenVPN Configuration File…'. The configuration file will open in Apple's 'TextEdit' editor.
  4. Find a line that starts with 'dev-node tun'. If you find one, delete the line. If you dont find one, skip the next step.
  5. Look for a line that starts 'dev tun' or 'dev-type tun'. If neither one exists in the file, add a new line that says 'dev tun'.
  6. Quit TextEdit, saving the changes if asked.
  7. If you previously made the configuration private, make it shared by clicking the little 'gear' icon, clicking 'Make Configuration Shared', and having the change authorized by a computer administrator.

If you made changes to the file and did not change it from shared to private and back to shared, the next time you connect the configuration you will be asked to have a computer administrator authorize the changes.

If macOS still complains

Always load tun or always load tap

If you have a 'tun' VPN which does not need to be modified, or has been modified as described above, and Tunnelblick or macOS Catalina still complains, then you have changed a Tunnelblick setting and should restore it to the default setting. All configurations should be set to 'Load tun driver automatically' and 'Load tap driver automatically'. These settings are found on the 'Connecting & Disconnecting' tab of the 'Advanced' settings window. Recent versions of Tunnelblick will automatically disable loading of 'tun' and 'tap' system extensions on versions of macOS that do not allow Tunnelblick to load them.

Disabling SIP

System Integrity Protection ('SIP') is a feature of macOS which helps keep your computer safe (see About System Integrity Protection on your Mac).

Although it is not recommended because it makes your computer less safe, if you are using macOS Big Sur 11.0.1, disabling SIP may allow your computer to connect a 'tap' VPN. See Configuring System Integrity Protection for instructions to disable SIP.

It has been reported that on macOS Big Sur 11.1.0 disabling SIP is no longer necessary. This has not been verified by the Tunnelblick developers.

Old versions of Tunnelblick will not help

This situation is caused by changes in macOS, not a change in Tunnelblick, so older versions of Tunnelblick will not help. All Macs running OS X 7.5 or later should use the latest stable or beta version of Tunnelblick. See Deprecated Downloads for a version of Tunnelblick that should be used on earlier versions of OS X and on all PowerPC Macs.

What Apple announced

Apple has announced that 'future OS releases will no longer load system extensions that use deprecated KPIs by default'. Tunnelblick includes, and for some configurations loads one of two such extensions:

  • 'tap' configurations always require the use of one system extension.
  • 'tun' configurations may require the use of the other system extension but can easily be modified so no system extension is required.

It isn't clear what Apple means by the phrase 'by default'. It may mean that Apple will provide a mechanism for users to allow loading of system extensions that use deprecated KPIs. However, Apple's practice has been to make such mechanisms very difficult to use, and the warning in macOS Catalina does not indicate such a mechanism will be provided.

Early versions of macOS Big Sur may allow system extensions to be loaded if SIP is disabled, see Tunnelblick on macOS Big Sur.

On macOS Big Sur 11.1.0 disabling SIP is no longer necessary.

What is Tunnelblick doing about it?

In the short term:

  • Agency of broken hearts (or, heart fixers) mac os. macOS Catalina loads Tunnelblick's system extensions (which are signed by 'Jonathan Bullard'), but the user must interactively allow this in the Security and Privacy window of System Preferences.

  • macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 refuses to load Tunnelblick's existing, notarized system extensions unless SIP is disabled. It isn't known if this behavior will be present in future versions of Big Sur; 11.1.0 does not require SIP to be disabled. Apple's suggested workaround, using an 'installer package', cannot be easily integrated into the Tunnelblick installation process. It is possible that someone else will develop an installer which can load Tunnelblick's system extensions and make it publicly available, but there is no way to know if or when that will happen. (If it does happen, we expect to link to the installer or installers on the Downloads page.)

  • Versions of Tunnelblick that are running on macOS Big Sur may disable loading of system extensions. You may override this; see Tunnelblick on macOS Big Sur for details.

  • Apple proposes that programs such as Tunnelblick be modified to use a different method to accomplish the function that the system extensions currently perform. The current Tunnelblick developers do not have the time or expertise to use the new method Apple proposes and have no plans to do so. It is possible that someone else will develop such an alternative method and make it publicly available, but there is no way to know if or when that will happen. (If it does happen, we expect to include it in Tunnelblick.)

In the longer term:

At some point in the future when Tunnelblick no longer supports versions of macOS that can load system extensions, system extension loading and unloading will probably be removed from Tunnelblick. Historically, Tunnelblick has supported several years of macOS releases. As of June 2020 Tunnelblick supports OS X and macOS versions as far back as 10.7.5, which was released in 2012, so it is anticipated that the removal will not take place until the mid- to late-2020s.

The Terminal app allows you to control your Mac using a command prompt. Why would you want to do that? Well, perhaps because you're used to working on a command line in a Unix-based system and prefer to work that way. Terminal is a Mac command line interface. There are several advantages to using Terminal to accomplish some tasks — it's usually quicker, for example. In order to use it, however, you'll need to get to grips with its basic commands and functions. Once you've done that, you can dig deeper and learn more commands and use your Mac's command prompt for more complex, as well as some fun, tasks.

Curated Mac apps that keep your Mac's performance under control. Avoid Terminal commands, avoid trouble.

Download Free

How to open Terminal on Mac

The Terminal app is in the Utilities folder in Applications. To open it, either open your Applications folder, then open Utilities and double-click on Terminal, or press Command - spacebar to launch Spotlight and type 'Terminal,' then double-click the search result.

You'll see a small window with a white background open on your desktop. In the title bar are your username, the word 'bash' and the dimensions of the window in pixels. Bash stands for 'Bourne again shell'. There are a number of different shells that can run Unix commands, and on the Mac Bash is the one used by Terminal.

  1. Enable Tap-To-Click - Windows 7 on Mac; Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 on Mac Computer; Change Behavior of Function Keys - Windows 7 on Mac; Access Board of Trustees Website; Switch Between Mac and Windows on Mac.
  2. The OSX tun/tap driver seems to work a bit different. The Linux example dynamically allocates a tun interface, which does not work in OSX, at least not in the same way. I stripped the code to create a basic example of how tun can be used on OSX using a self-selected tun device, printing each packet to the console.

If you want to make the window bigger, click on the bottom right corner and drag it outwards. If you don't like the black text on a white background, go to the Shell menu, choose New Window and select from the options in the list.

If Terminal feels complicated or you have issues with the set-up, let us tell you right away that there are alternatives. MacPilot allows to get access to over 1,200 macOS features without memorizing any commands. Basically, a third-party Terminal for Mac that acts like Finder.

For Mac monitoring features, try iStat Menus. The app collects data like CPU load, disk activity, network usage, and more — all of which accessible from your menu bar.

Basic Mac commands in Terminal

The quickest way to get to know Terminal and understand how it works is to start using it. But before we do that, it's worth spending a little time getting to know how commands work. To run a command, you just type it at the cursor and hit Return to execute.

Every command is made up of three elements: the command itself, an argument which tells the command what resource it should operate on, and an option that modifies the output. So, for example, to move a file from one folder to another on your Mac, you'd use the move command 'mv' and then type the location of the file you want to move, including the file name and the location where you want to move it to.

Let's try it.

  1. Type cd ~/Documentsthen and press Return to navigate to your Home folder.

  2. Type lsthen Return (you type Return after every command).

You should now see a list of all the files in your Documents folder — ls is the command for listing files.

To see a list of all the commands available in Terminal, hold down the Escape key and then press y when you see a question asking if you want to see all the possibilities. To see more commands, press Return.

Unix has its own built-in manual. So, to learn more about a command type man [name of command], where 'command' is the name of the command you want find out more about.

Terminal rules

There are a few things you need to bear in mind when you're typing commands in Terminal, or any other command-line tool. Firstly, every character matters, including spaces. So when you're copying a command you see here, make sure you include the spaces and that characters are in the correct case.

You can't use a mouse or trackpad in Terminal, but you can navigate using the arrow keys. If you want to re-run a command, tap the up arrow key until you reach it, then press Return. To interrupt a command that's already running, type Control-C.

Commands are always executed in the current location. So, if you don't specify a location in the command, it will run wherever you last moved to or where the last command was run. Use the cdcommand, followed by a directory path, like in Step 1 above, to specify the folder where you want a command to run.

There is another way to specify a location: go to the Finder, navigate to the file or folder you want and drag it onto the Terminal window, with the cursor at the point where you would have typed the path.

Here's another example. This time, we'll create a new folder inside your Documents directory and call it 'TerminalTest.'

  1. Open a Finder window and navigate to your Documents folder.

  2. Type cd and drag the Documents folder onto the Terminal window.

  3. Now, type mkdir 'TerminalTest'

Go back to the Finder, open Text Edit and create a new file called 'TerminalTestFile.rtf'. Now save it to the TerminalTest folder in your Documents folder.

In the Terminal window, type cd ~/Documents/TerminalTest then Return. Now type lsand you should see 'TerminalTestFile' listed.

To change the name of the file, type this, pressing Return after every step:

  1. cd~/Documents/Terminal Test

  2. mv TerminalTestFile TerminalTestFile2.rtf

That will change the name of the file to 'TerminalTestFile2'. You can, of course, use any name you like. The mv command means 'move' and you can also use it to move files from one directory to another. In that case, you'd keep the file names the same, but specify another directory before typing the the second instance of the name, like this:

mv ~/Documents/TerminalTest TerminalTestFile.rtf ~/Documents/TerminalTest2 TerminalTestFile.rtf

More advanced Terminal commands

Terminal can be used for all sorts of different tasks. Some of them can be performed in the Finder, but are quicker in Terminal. Others access deep-rooted parts of macOS that aren't accessible from the Finder without specialist applications. Here are a few examples.

Copy files from one folder to another
  1. In a Terminal window, type ditto [folder 1] [folder 1] where 'folder 1' is the folder that hosts the files and 'folder 2' is the folder you want to move them to.

  2. To see the files being copied in the Terminal window, type -v after the command.

Download files from the internet

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You'll need the URL of the file you want to download in order to use Terminal for this.

  1. cd ~/Downloads/

  2. curl -O [URL of file you want to download]

If you want to download the file to a directory other than your Downloads folder, replace ~/Downloads/ with the path to that folder, or drag it onto the Terminal window after you type the cd command.

Change the default location for screenshots

If you don't want macOS to save screenshots to your Desktop when you press Command-Shift-3, you can change the default location in Terminal

  1. defaults write com.apple.screencapture location [path to folder where you want screenshots to be saved]

  2. Hit Return

  3. killall SystemUIServer

  4. Hit Return

Change the default file type for screenshots

By default, macOS saves screenshots as .png files. To change that to .jpg, do this:

  1. defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG

  2. Press Return

  3. killall SystemUIServer

  4. Press Return

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Delete all files in a folder

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The command used to delete, or remove, files in Terminal is rm. So, for example, if you wanted to remove a file in your Documents folder named 'oldfile.rtf' you'd use cd ~/Documents to go to your Documents folder then to delete the file. As it stands, that will delete the file without further intervention from you. If you want to confirm the file to be deleted, use -i as in rm -i oldfile.rtf

To delete all the files and sub-folders in a directory named 'oldfolder', the command is rm -R oldfolder and to confirm each file should be deleted, rm -iR oldfolder

Just because you can use Terminal to delete files on your Mac, doesn't mean you should. It's a relatively blunt instrument, deleting only those files and folders you specify.

Another way to free up space

If your goal in removing files or folders is to free up space on your Mac, or to remove junk files that are causing your Mac to run slowly, it's far better to use an app designed for the purpose. CleanMyMac X is one such app.

It will scan your Mac for files and recommend which ones you can delete safely, as well as telling you how much space you'll save. And once you've decided which files to delete, you can get rid of them in a click. You can download CleanMyMac here.

As you can see, while Terminal may look scary and seem like it's difficult to use, it really isn't. The key is learning a few commands, such as those we've outlined above, and getting to know the syntax for those commands.

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However, you should be careful when using Terminal, it's a powerful tool that has deep access to your Mac's system files. Check commands by googling them if you're not sure what they do. And if you need to delete files to save space, use an app like CleanMyMac X to do it. It's much safer!





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