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
pingdoesn’t work: Request timeout or no response at allcurlshows:curl: (6) Could not resolve host: google.comnpm installhangs 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:
pingworks againcurlcan resolve hostnamesnpm installdownloads 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.