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:
- What is the purpose of these 2 network interfaces?
- What does the error prompt when deleting really mean?
- How to delete it?