On your Mac, use Network settings to set up and manage Wi-Fi, Ethernet, VPN and other network services.

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Wi-Fi / WLAN

Use the Wi-Fi status menu in the menu bar to connect to or disconnect from a Wi-FI network, turn Wi-Fi on or off, and get details about your Wi-Fi connection.

How to configure DESY and eduroam WLAN on your Mac?

The procedure for configuring the WLAN networks is described in the general WLAN instructions.

To set up the DESY WLAN, please refer to the DESY WLAN instructions.

For the Eduroam WLAN please refer to the Eduroam WLAN instructions.

Further information on this topic can be found on the corresponding network websites WLAN at DESY.

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Ethernet / LAN

Use an Ethernet cable to connect your Macs Ethernet port to a network device (for example, a switch or a router). If your Mac doesn’t have an Ethernet port, try using a USB to Ethernet adapter.

Registering your device or adapter for the DESY intranet

For registering your device or adapter for the DESY Intranet please refer to your segment administrator. If you do not know the name of the responsible person please call the User Consulting Office (uco@desy.de; ext. 5005).

Settings

Settings for the DESY intranet or the guest network will be acquired by the Mac automatically once the configuration is set to DHCP. Find more information about Ethernet at DESY here.

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VPN

A VPN connection establishes a secure connection between your Home Office Mac and the DESY network.

What you need

• VPN authorization for your DESY account. Ask your group admin for VPN access.
• VPN MFA for your DESY password.
• VPN clients for macOS
  As for our experience, eduVPN works most reliable on MacOS. However, please check the restrictions
  on accessing the internal network using eduVPN (see below) and decide whether your usecase needs
  Cisco VPN rather than eduVPN eventually.
  • eduVPN
    Instructions can be found here
    Please note, that with eduVPN only access to internal devices is possible using SSH and RDP.
    In addition reaching internal web pages is possible, too. All other ports are blocked, so some
    services (e.g. windows net drives or licensing services) may not be accessible using eduVPN.
    An overview about what is possible and what is not can be found here.
  • Cisco Secure Client
    Instructions can be found here
     

Please note that the usage of the native Apple VPN Client is no longer possible as of January/February 2026 due to security reasons!