I was bitten by the “AirPlay doesn’t work over Aquantia-based 10G Thunderbolt adapters” problem and finally dug deeply enough into it to find a reproducible fix.
The key clue that this was not fundamentally a hardware or driver issue was that completely fresh, untouched installs of Monterey, Sequoia and Tahoe on both Intel and Apple Silicon all worked immediately with AirPlay over 10G. This was tested using both CalDigit Connect 10G and OWC Thunderbolt 4 10GbE adapters.
Critically, on the working systems, I left the adapter Hardware settings completely untouched.
After a lot of testing, reboots, adapter swaps, and network-state experiments, here is the fix that consistently worked for me across:
- Intel and Apple Silicon
- Monterey, Sequoia and Tahoe
- CalDigit and OWC Aquantia-based adapters
The fix also survives reboots.
(All testing was done with Wi-Fi enabled, but not connected to an SSID.)
1) Physically unplug the adapter.
2) Delete the network service associated with the adapter. When Sequoia/Tahoe asks whether to remember the service, choose NO. I don’t remember seeing this in previous macOS versions….
3) Reboot the Mac.
4) Let the system settle fully after login.
5) Reconnect the adapter.
6) Create a brand-new Network Location. I just let it use the “Untitled” name it created.
7) Select the new Location.
8) Allow the adapter to surface naturally in the new Location.
9) Leave the Hardware tab completely untouched on Automatic. DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING HERE.
10) Configure only top-level identity settings if needed (change interface name, set WINS, NetBIOS name, etc.).
11) AirPlay should now work normally and survive reboots.
The critical break is doing anything in the Hardware tab. It defaults to Automatic; it seems even just selecting “Manual” does something nefarious that breaks AirPlay. And the only way to get to this virgin working state is to do these steps - simply going back to a broken instance and selecting Automatic in the Hardware tab doesn’t fix it.
The key clue that this was not fundamentally a hardware or driver issue was that completely fresh, untouched installs of Monterey, Sequoia and Tahoe on both Intel and Apple Silicon all worked immediately with AirPlay over 10G. This was tested using both CalDigit Connect 10G and OWC Thunderbolt 4 10GbE adapters.
Critically, on the working systems, I left the adapter Hardware settings completely untouched.
After a lot of testing, reboots, adapter swaps, and network-state experiments, here is the fix that consistently worked for me across:
- Intel and Apple Silicon
- Monterey, Sequoia and Tahoe
- CalDigit and OWC Aquantia-based adapters
The fix also survives reboots.
(All testing was done with Wi-Fi enabled, but not connected to an SSID.)
1) Physically unplug the adapter.
2) Delete the network service associated with the adapter. When Sequoia/Tahoe asks whether to remember the service, choose NO. I don’t remember seeing this in previous macOS versions….
3) Reboot the Mac.
4) Let the system settle fully after login.
5) Reconnect the adapter.
6) Create a brand-new Network Location. I just let it use the “Untitled” name it created.
7) Select the new Location.
8) Allow the adapter to surface naturally in the new Location.
9) Leave the Hardware tab completely untouched on Automatic. DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING HERE.
10) Configure only top-level identity settings if needed (change interface name, set WINS, NetBIOS name, etc.).
11) AirPlay should now work normally and survive reboots.
The critical break is doing anything in the Hardware tab. It defaults to Automatic; it seems even just selecting “Manual” does something nefarious that breaks AirPlay. And the only way to get to this virgin working state is to do these steps - simply going back to a broken instance and selecting Automatic in the Hardware tab doesn’t fix it.