Updated: 2019-06-24 13:32 CET
Launch the Terminal
application located in /Applications/Utilities
folder, or any third-party terminal, to get a command-line prompt.
Type the following command to get a root shell:
Type your system password, Terminal shows bash-3.2#
as the new prompt. Just if you need to do so, you can go back to the previous prompt by typing exit
then hit return.
Oct 10, 2019 In each case, they were using the Little Snitch utility, which isn’t yet compatible with Catalina. Fix: There are two ways to get internet access back: Uninstall Little Snitch, Change your Little Snitch settings that give it access to the nightly update. That update is compatible with Catalina. Issue 12: Wi-Fi Disconnecting. Open the Little Snitch Configuration application from your Applications folder, open Preferences General and click the Stop button to turn off the Network Filter. Any network traffic will then be allowed, such as if Little Snitch wasn’t installed at all. Mar 11, 2010 I have recently installed little snitch, later i prefer to uninstall that, because, whenever i open any application, immediately one notification window.
Download the macOS version, dnscrypt-proxy-macos-#.##.tar.gz
, from dnscrypt-proxy binaries.
Extract it wherever you want, it can be in your home folder, in /Applications
folder, or wherever you want, really.
It is totally possible to have the executable file in one place, the configuration files in another place, the cache files elsewhere and the log files yet somewhere else.But if this is the first time you install the software, and you don't have any good reasons to makes things more complicated than they should be, just keep everything in the same directory.At least to start with, and to ensure that everything works as expected.Then, go crazy if you like. But please, don't change everything before even starting the proxy once, and then complain that it does not work!Start with something boring, and gradually tweak it, if you really need to.
Do NOT change your DNS settings at this point.
In Terminal, go to the folder where you just extracted it using the cd
command, i.e. something like:
The ls -l
command should list a dozen of files, among which you must see dnscrypt-proxy
and example-dnscrypt-proxy.toml
.
Create the required configuration file using the provided example file, pay attention to type its name correctly:
Be sure to be in the dnscrypt-proxy folder, where you have extracted it, and type the following command to start its installation:
A dozen of [Notification]
lines appear during the installation.At the end, the prompt will not come back if dnscrypt-proxy is running.
If and only if, you need to get the prompt back, type ctrl-C
to stop dnscrypt-proxy in Terminal.To restart it, while it's not yet installed as a system service, just type the previous command here above.
Does it look like it started properly?
If not, try to find out why. Here are some hints:
dnscrypt-proxy.toml: no such file or directory
: make a copy of example-dnscrypt-proxy.toml
as dnscrypt-proxy.toml
, the required config file, as explained above.not found ELF - not found - Syntax error: ')' unexpected
or something similiar: you didn't download the correct archive for macOS.listen udp 127.0.0.1:53: bind: permission denied
: you are not using a root shell as explain in Step 1. Use sudo -s
to get one.listen udp 127.0.0.1:53: bind: address already in use
: something is already listening to the default DNS port. Maybe something else, a VPN, an ad-blocker, a firewall, maybe another instance of dnscrypt-proxy that you didn't stop before starting the new one.No errors? Amazing!
Don't close this Terminal window yet, or dnscrypt-proxy will be stopped!
We must change the current macOS DNS settings.
Select System Preferences...
in the Apple
menu.
Click on the Network
icon.
Select your service, most likely Wi-Fi
or Ethernet
, the one on the top of the list, the one currently in use.
If required, unlock the Locker
on the bottom left to be able to apply the following changes.
Click on the Advanced...
button then on the DNS
tab.
If you don't feel confident, just in case dnscrypt-proxy doesn't work, and want to fail over your current settings, add 1.1.1.1
and/or 8.8.8.8
, or keep your existing IPs AFTER 127.0.0.1
which must be the first at the top of the list!You can always remove that later when everything will work fine.
Select each IP, one after another, and click on the -
button to remove all of them from the DNS Servers
list.
When the list is empty, click on the +
button and enter exactly this IP 127.0.0.1
Click on the OK
button.
Don't forget to click on the Apply
button to save these changes!
Close the System Preferences
and go back to Terminal.
Hit cmd-N
to open a new Terminal window, do not close the one running dnscrypt-proxy.
Check that everything works by sending a first query using dnscrypt-proxy:
Does it looks like it has successfully resolve example.com?
Sweet! Test a few more things: web browsing, file downloads, use your system normally and see if you can still connect without any DNS-related issues.
If anything ever goes wrong and you want to revert everything, open the network preferences pane, and delete 127.0.0.1
from the first line.If it still does not work, delete all the new IPs you might have manually entered.
Hit ctrl-C
in the dnscrypt-proxy Terminal window to stop it, the prompt must appear.
You must still be in the dnscrypt-proxy folder at this point.
The dnscrypt-proxy.toml
file has plenty of options you can tweak.Tweak them if you like.But tweak them one by one, so that if you ever screw up, you will know what exact change made this happen.
Type ./dnscrypt-proxy
to start the server, and ctrl-C
to stop it.Test, tweak, stop, test, tweak, stop until you are satisfied.
The message bare keys cannot contain 'n'
typically means that there is a syntax error in dnscrypt-proxy.toml
configuration file.
Are you satisfied? Good, let's install it permanently.
Hit ctrl-C
in the dnscrypt-proxy Terminal window to be sure to stop the proxy.
To register it as a system service, you must still have root privileges, type:
If you use a third-party firewall, an anti-virus, an anti-malware... or similar, read the chapter 'Cohabitation with dnscrypt-proxy' at the end of this page to solve potential conflicts.
This assumes that the dnscrypt-proxy
executable and the dnscrypt-proxy.toml
configuration file are in the same directory.If you didn't follow these recommendations, you are on your own to modify the /Library/LaunchDaemons/dnscrypt-proxy.plist
file to add the required -config
options.
If it does not report any errors, your macOS version is compatible with the built-in installer.
Let's install it as a permanent background service!
If you stop or uninstall dnscrypt-proxy service, be sure to restore/have IP(s) of DNS Servers
in macOS System Preferences - Network
panel - DNS
tab! For example, 1.1.1.1 and/or 8.8.8.8. will make it.
These commands apply only to dnscrypt-proxy running as a service!
— Start the service
— Stop the service
— Restart the service after any of the configuration files has been changed
— Check that DNS resolution works
— Uninstall the service
— Delete dnscrypt-proxy
To completely uninstall it, uninstall the service, move the folder where you have decompressed the archive to the trash and empty the trash.
To find which version is currently in use, type
Step 2, here above, explains how to download the latest version.
Replace only the Unix executable file dnscrypt-proxy
(~11 MB) with the latest version.
Restart the service, type
First, check that you are using the latest version!
Then, verify that your configuration file is using correct values, that there is no typing errors,...
Also verify that you have not defined an 'impossible/blocking' configuration, carefully read the Configuration chapter in this manual.
— Little Snitch
During the installation, Little Snitch firewall will show several alerts, like:
Terminal via dnscrypt-proxy wants to connect to ... TCP port ...
dnscrypt-proxy wants to connect to ... on UDP/TCP port ...
You must 'Allow' them 'Forever' to run dnscrypt-proxy without problem.
As dnscrypt-proxy service file is not signed, Little Snitch warns you that it might be a 'Suspicious process', it is normal, no need to worry! Always download dnscrypt-proxy from github.com, and if you are paranoid, check it with Minisign tool and/or build it yourself.
— Drive Pulse
During the installation of dnscrypt-proxy as a service, Drive Genius - Drive Pulse might issue an alert if its preference 'Watch Launch Items Changes' is enabled.
It just informs you that the dnscrypt-proxy.plist
file has been added to macOS /Library/LaunchDaemons/
folder. You must click the Ignore this change
button to accept this installation.
— DNSMasq
See chapter 'Making things go fast - IPv6 blocking' for DNSmasq.
Bitbar is a really nice tool to add very useful features to your macOS menu bar.
This includes dnscrypt-proxy switcher to control dnscrypt-proxy
from the menu bar.
So you can keep dnscrypt-proxy always running as a background service, and just toggle it on and off using this menu bar tool.
mDNSResponder
listens to port 53 when applications using the native hypervisor run. Docker is an example of an application using this.
mDNSResponser
also listens to port 53 when Internet sharing has been enabled.
It is quite annoying, because at the same time macOS doesn't allow to set a specific port for DNS queries. And mDNSResponder
's DNS proxy listens to all IPs, effectively preventing another local DNS resolver or proxy from running.
Fortunately, mDNSResponder
's DNS proxy can be disabled in its configuration file:/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist
As this file is in /System
, changing it first requires to disable SIP.
Change
to
Another workaround is to listen to a different port, and use a local firewall rule to redirect port 53 to it.