2

When I reinstall macOS Big Sur (11.2.3) on my new M1 Mac mini, I found that there are 2 more network interfaces，they are Ethernet Adaptor (en4) and Ethernet Adaptor (en5).

{
    Active = 1;
    "BSD Name" = en4;
    HiddenConfiguration = 1;
    IOBuiltin = 0;
    IOInterfaceNamePrefix = en;
    IOInterfaceType = 6;
    IOInterfaceUnit = 4;
    IOMACAddress = {length = 6, bytes = 0x1e10f21a3e44};
    IOPathMatch = "IOService:/AppleARMPE/arm-io@10F00000/AppleT810xIO/usb-drd0@82280000/AppleT8103USBXDCI@0/AppleUSBNCMData@1/AppleUSBDeviceNCMData/en4";
    SCNetworkInterfaceInfo =             {
        UserDefinedName = "Ethernet Adaptor (en4)";
    };
    SCNetworkInterfaceType = Ethernet;
}

I can disable them using the networkstep command:

networksetup -setnetworkserviceenabled "Ethernet Adaptor (en4)" off

but I can't delete it and get an error:

networksetup -removenetworkservice "Ethernet Adaptor (en4)"
You cannot remove Ethernet Adaptor (en4) because there aren't any other network services on Ethernet Adaptor (en4). 
** Error: The parameters were not valid.

When I check the “System Report” under “About This Mac” there is no USB / Thunderbolt device connected to the Mac mini, except for the mouse, keyboard and network cable.

all network interfaces
Bluetooth PAN BSD:en6 type: Ethernet
Ethernet BSD:en0 type: Ethernet
Ethernet Adaptor (en4) BSD: en4 type: Ethernet
Ethernet Adaptor (en5) BSD: en5 type: Ethernet
Thunderbolt Bridge BSD: bridge0 type: Ethernet
Wi-Fi BSD:en1 type: AirPort

So my question is:

  1. What is the purpose of these 2 network interfaces？
  2. What does the error prompt when deleting really mean？
  3. How to delete it?
Giacomo1968
  • 53,069
  • 19
  • 162
  • 212
Lorelei
  • 21
  • 1
  • 3
  • 1
    Why do you want to delete them? What do you think you gain by removing these ports? I would recommend looking at [this answer here](https://superuser.com/q/267660/167207) as well as [this answer here](https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/603506/30848). – Giacomo1968 Mar 21 '21 at 05:04
  • It’s a USB network adapter. You cannot delete devices that are physically present. – Daniel B Mar 21 '21 at 17:03
  • @DanielB How does it work? What I mean is that when I connect a usb to ethernet adapter, en4/en5 is not enabled, and a new en7 is added. Even if I disable en4/en5, the en7 still works。i'm just curious to know, can you explain it to me, thk a lot – Lorelei Mar 21 '21 at 17:45
  • No idea, I don’t have an ARM Mac. I’m only telling you what the first code block says. `en4` is a device that is _present_. So naturally, when you plug in a device that _was not present_ it will not somehow become `en4` or `en5`. – Daniel B Mar 21 '21 at 18:25

0 Answers0