Disable Wi-Fi Private MAC Address on macOS 15

[Steven_Xu]

In macOS 15, the new Private MAC address settings is enabled by default, and there is a new settings in Profile to disable it, BUT it's only for a spacified SSID.

If you need a global setting to disable the Private MAC for all existed and new SSID, try to create a new policy to run this command:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist PrivateMACAddressModeSystemSetting -int 1

It will not disable the Private MAC Address immediately, but it will work after forgot the network or reboot the computer.

[AJPinto]

If I remember correctly, it's not just for a specific SSID. I think that SSID's network must be deployed with a Configuration Profile.

[sdagley]

@AJPinto You are correct, in Jamf Pro 11.9.1 the "Disable MAC Address Randomization (macOS 15 or later)" option is part of the Network payload in a Configuration Profile and only applies to the SSID being configured in that Network payload.

[emanueldiaz_09]

Anybody have issues with this working? I saw Jamf has the option now in WiFi configuration profile, but in our network anything with Private Mac Address is blocked. So I think when users upgrade to sequoia they dont get the chance to grab that setting before they are blocked. 

[sdagley]

Here is a blog post by @brunerd which describes a mechanism for disabling MAC address randomization that can be deployed to Macs running macOS Sonoma so when they are upgraded to macOS Sequoia they won't start with randomization enabled: 

https://www.brunerd.com/blog/2024/09/27/getting-ahead-of-private-wi-fi-address-changes-in-macos-sequ...

[brunerd]

Thanks for tagging me @sdagley and nicely spotted @Steven_Xu I've added support for setting the PrivateMACAddressModeSystemSetting key in my script setPrivateMACAddressMode.sh script. It's such a poorly named key so I refer to it (disable)PrivateMACAddressModeSystemSetting in the script and logs so the 0/1 "boolean" logic makes more sense. It only sets the default behavior and will have no effect on a network where the PrivateMACAddressModeUserSetting key is already set to static or rotating but it does take effect without reboot if you restart the WiFi via the script: restartWiFi_HC=1

[sdagley]

@Steven_Xu Should this setting PrivateMACAddressModeSystemSetting to 1 via a Configuration Profile result in any Wi-Fi configuration previously set to Fixed or Rotating reverting to Off after a restart? That is not the behavior I am seeing on my test Mac (although that Mac is running a version of macOS Sequoia >15.0.1)