If you've followed the steps to connect your Mac to a Wi-Fi network, but the connection to your network or the Internet isn't reliable, the steps in this article might help.

THIS LEGACY VERSION (ZIP) OF THE COURSE PLAYER IS OUTDATED AND NO LONGER RECOMMENDED. SEE OUR NEW TRUEFIRE COURSE PLAYER DESKTOP APP (WINDOWS/MAC). On Macs, you should simply be able to double click on the zipped folder to unzip. Create a bootable installer. Download the macOS Sierra 10.13/10.13.4 installation package from.

Check for Wi-Fi recommendations

When your Mac tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network, it checks for issues that affect its ability to create a fast, stable, and secure connection. If an issue is detected, the Wi-Fi status menu in the menu bar shows a new item: Wi-Fi Recommendations. Choose it to see recommended solutions.

Wi-Fi recommendations are available in macOS Sierra or later.

Analyze your wireless environment

Your Mac can use Wireless Diagnostics to perform additional analysis.

1. Quit any apps that are open, and connect to your Wi-Fi network, if possible.
2. Press and hold Option (Alt) ⌥ key, then choose Open Wireless Diagnostics from the Wi-Fi status menu .
3. Enter your administrator name and password when prompted.

Wireless Diagnostics begins analyzing your wireless environment:

If the issue is intermittent, you can choose to monitor your Wi-Fi connection:

When you're ready to see recommendations, continue to the summary. Wireless Diagnostics asks for optional information about your base station or other router, so that it can include that in the report it saves to your Mac.

Click the info button next to each item in the summary to see details about that item. Wi-Fi best practices are tips that apply to most Wi-Fi networks.

Back up or make note of your network or router settings before changing them based on these recommendations—in case you need to use those settings again.

Monitor your Wi-Fi connection

Your Mac can monitor your Wi-Fi connection for intermittent issues, such as dropped connections. Follow the steps to analyze your wireless environment, but choose ”Monitor my Wi-Fi connection” when prompted.

During monitoring, a window shows that monitoring is in progress. Monitoring continues as long as this window is open and you're on the same Wi-Fi network, even when your Mac is asleep.

If Wireless Diagnostics finds an issue, it stops monitoring and shows a brief description of the issue. You can then resume monitoring or continue to the summary for details and recommendations.

Create a diagnostics report

Wireless Diagnostics automatically saves a diagnostics report before it displays its summary. You can create the same report at any time: press and hold the Option key, then choose Create Diagnostics Report from the Wi-Fi status menu . It can take your Mac several minutes to create the report.

• macOS Sierra and later saves the report to the /var/tmp folder of your startup drive, then opens that folder for you.
  To open the folder manually, choose Go > Go to Folder from the Finder menu bar, then enter /var/tmp.
• OS X El Capitan or earlier saves the report to your desktop.
  

The report is a compressed file with a name that begins “WirelessDiagnostics.” It contains many files that describe your wireless environment in detail. A network specialist can examine them for further analysis.

Why Is My Mac Failing To Download Documents Automatically

Use other diagnostics utilities

Wireless Diagnostics includes additional utilities for network specialists. Open them from the Window menu in the Wireless Diagnostics menu bar:

• Info gathers key details about your current network connections.
  
• Logs enables background logging for Wi-Fi and other system components. The result is saved to a .log file in the diagnostics report location on your Mac. Logging continues even when you quit the app or restart your Mac, so remember to disable logging when you're done.
  
• Scan finds Wi-Fi routers in your environment and gathers key details about them.
  
• Performance uses live graphs to show the performance of your Wi-Fi connection:
  • Rate shows the transmit rate over time in megabits per second.
  • Quality shows the signal-to-noise ratio over time. When the quality is too low, your device disconnects from the Wi-Fi router. Factors that affect quality include the distance between your device and the router, and objects such as walls that impede the signal from your router. Learn more.
  • Signal shows both signal (RSSI) and noise measurements over time. You want RSSI to be high and noise to be low, so the bigger the gap between RSSI and noise, the better.
• Sniffer captures traffic on your Wi-Fi connection, which can be useful when diagnosing a reproducible issue. Select a channel and width, then click Start to begin capturing traffic on that channel. When you click Stop, a .wcap file is saved to the diagnostics report location on your Mac.

Learn more

Additional recommendations for best Wi-Fi performance:

• Keep your router up to date. For AirPort Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, or AirPort Express Base Station, check for the latest firmware using AirPort Utility. For non-Apple routers, check the manufacturer's website.
• Set up your router using Apple's recommended settings, and make sure that all Wi–Fi routers on the same network use similar settings. If you're using a dual-band Wi-Fi router, make sure that both bands use the same network name.
• Learn about potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference.

Learn about other ways to connect to the Internet.

When a user experiences an issue while downloading files, it is usually a problem with the connection to their Internet service. Consequently, the best solution is to contact your ISP (Internet service provider) for further information. However, there are a few situations where the issues can be cleared up on the user's end.

The following sections contain different solutions that may help fix download termination issues. Review each section to troubleshoot the download failures you are experiencing.

Download termination and latency

As we mentioned previously, many problems are caused by issues with your Internet service provider. Usually, these issues result in high latency or lag, which in turn cause your download to fail. One solution is to clear the temporary Internet files under the History section in your browser and try the download again.

Internet connectivity or stability issues

If you have a broadband connection, and connect to the Internet through a router, the Internet connection may be unstable. Issues with Internet connectivity and the stability of the connection can cause downloads to fail, especially if the Internet connection is interrupted. When an Internet connection is unstable, it may disconnect and reconnect intermittently. Even a disconnection lasting a fraction of a second can cause the failure of a file download.

To fix Internet connectivity and stability issues, you can try the following.

1. Unplug the power cord from the broadband modem and the router.
2. Wait ten seconds, then plug in the power cord to the broadband modem.
3. Wait several minutes for the broadband modem to fully cycle and start up again.
4. Plug in the power cord to the router.
5. Wait several minutes for the router to fully cycle and establish an Internet connection through the broadband modem.
6. Try downloading the file again to see if it completes successfully.

Download manager

For users who commonly encounter intermittent connectivity issues or download failure, a download manager may help. A download managers is a third-party application that monitors, and if needed, resumes a download from where it stopped previously. There are hundreds of download managers, including many that are free.

Antivirus software or firewall

This solution is a bit tricky, in that users shouldn't normally download files without some protection active. If you fully trust the site from which you are downloading the file, you can try disabling the Windows firewall or disabling your antivirus software before attempting again.

Whether or not you're able to complete the download, remember to turn your security back on afterward.

Try a different server or mirror

Many sites that host hundreds of different files keep them on multiple servers or mirror sites. If you have difficulty downloading the file, try getting it from a different server.

Try the download at a later time

Why Is My Mac Failing To Download Documents Free

If the file you are attempting to download is popular or was recently released, the server could be overloaded with simultaneous user requests or be experiencing problems. Try downloading the file at a later time, when the server load may be less or the server problems are resolved.

Why Is My Mac Failing To Download Documents Electronically

Additional information

• See the download definition for further information and related links.