Having this issue with a M2 MacBook Pro 14" 2023, running macOS 13.2 and 13.3 Ventura. Or.. "had".. It seems to be driver related. Check out this post: https://khronokernel.github.io/macos/2021/11/22/PCIE-ETHERNET.html Apple prefers PCI adapters for driver support, so the full functionality should be supported there. The ifconfig ether command actually works using the Apple TB display as well as the TB3-TB2 + TB1-GbE adapters - at least in my testing. When using a USB ethernet adapter, either a more generic ECM driver or a more native NCM driver class is used (check in System Information and compare with the linked article). When I attach a USB ethernet adapter that uses an ECM driver, then the ifconfig ether command fails. When the NCM driver is used, the ifconfig ether command is accepted but does not actually change the MAC address. When using a PCI ethernet adapter with supported driver, then the ifconfig ether command works as expected. To note: a TB3 or TB4 dock will not necessarily use a PCI ethernet chipset, and may just use an USB one. As this seems to be related to drivers, it will probably disappear, show up again and disappear once more with future OS releases. Especially with major transitions like arm vs x86. The safest way to go is to have some Apple HW lying around to test "native" drivers (TB1 to GbE adapter, even if a bit outdated), as these will probably be ported first.

@somewhereInTime oh wow, I would've expected the built-in hardware of the Mac Mini to actually work with the shipped OS. Thanks for sharing! I specifically bought a OWC TB3 to 10GbE adapter, as it uses the Aquantia AQC107 chipset. According to the previously shared link to the guide on Github: With the above 5 drivers, currently Apple only uses 2 of them in their products: Aquantia is used on all Macs with 10Gbe ie. 2017 iMac Pro, 2019 Mac Pro, 2018 Mac mini Broadcom is used on all 2011+ Macs with 1Gbe ie. 2011-2020 iMacs, 2010-2020 Mac minis, 2013 Mac Pro However - no luck. Offloading seems to work, the used driver is Driver: com.apple.driver.AppleEthernetAquantiaAqtion. But using ifconfig ether still fails silently :( "Upgrading" to the latest macOS Sonoma Developer beta seems to have solved my other issue regarding WiFi 6E (6GHz), it now detects my AP correctly and actually connects. But regarding wired network adapters I didn't see any changes. As this is my daily driver I will "downgrade" to macOS Ventura again, was having some trouble with specific programs not running anymore. Apple needs to acknowledge this issue. If they CHOOSE to remove ifconfig support, then they should stand behind it and not mislead customers by claiming it's "unsupported" 3rd-party adapters. more likely it's "only" a driver issue though, as the Apple TB1 GbE adapter still supports ifconfig ether (I do need to admit that I did not test that with macOS Sonoma though). It uses a different driver, and likely the Aquantia driver is not feature-complete on Apple Silicon machines. Maybe it's also both - officially they did not want to break ifconfig when porting drivers, but some head of department may have made some decision that "MAC Spoofing is nefarious" and only used by internet buccaneers.

WiFi.. or an ethernet adapter? WiFi: according to the replies it seems possible if you follow some steps, have not tried it yet Ethernet adapters: On my MBP 14" 2023 I can ONLY get the Apple TB Ethernet adapter working with the ifconfig ether command. Every single other ethernet adapter does not allow me to change the MAC address, but they behave differently - falling into four categories: Network adapters connected over PCI / Thunderbolt containing the same chipset as the Apple TB adapter (such as the Thunderbolt display) Network adapters connected over PCI / Thunderbolt AND using a chipset Apple uses too (in the 10GbE Mac Mini for example) Network adapters connected over USB with driver support Network adapters connected over USB using a generic driver provided by macOS Category 4 results in the error message, and so does 3 (sometimes). Category 2 however does accept the command without an error message, but does not actually do anything. According to another user this is even the case for the Aquantia 10GbE chipset in the Mac Mini 2023! Only category 1, so the Broadcom chipset used by the old TB adapter seems to actually do the right thing. My guess... Apple has decided to not update their current drivers. Maybe it isn't intentional.. but if it is, I really do not appreciate them not acknowledging it.