The network issue was confusing because nothing looked broken. The network was up, websites opened, and there were no clear signs of a problem — until everyday tools suddenly stopped working.
Introduction
Recently I had a strange problem with my company MacBook when working on the corporate network. The network was available, Chrome opened websites without problems, but other browsers and terminal tools like ping, curl, and npm refused to work. At home, everything worked fine. My first thought was that the problem was with DNS or VPN, because there were error messages about name resolving. But it turned out to be something else. The problem was caused by a small checkbox in macOS settings.
Symptoms
- ping doesn’t work: Request timeout or no response at all
- curl shows: curl: (6) Could not resolve host: google.com
- npm install hangs or crashes with DNS errors
- browsers show DNS errors
However, Chrome opens websites perfectly. It seems Chrome has built-in ways to get around DNS problems by using Google’s DNS servers.
What’s the problem
I found that in the Wi-Fi settings of macOS, there’s an option called Limit IP address tracking. This feature tries to hide your real IP address by using private tunnels and temporary IPv6 addresses. In corporate or other networks with special security settings, this can cause conflicts and completely break your network connection.
Terminal tools can’t automatically get around these limitations, so they simply can’t connect to the internet.
How to fix it
- Open System Settings → Wi-Fi
- Click on your current network
- Turn off Limit IP address tracking
After this, restart Wi-Fi or just reconnect to the network.
Result
After turning off this option:
- ping works again
- curl can resolve hostnames
- npm install downloads dependencies
Conclusion
macOS keeps adding “magical improvements” for privacy, but sometimes these break basic functions. If you notice similar network problems, check this setting first.
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