Use a Generic USB 2.0 10/100M to Ethernet Adaptor on macOS 10.12 Sierra

Update: This trick also works with macOS High Sierra.

If you bought a cheap USB 2.0 to Ethernet adapter for your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro 13 inch 2015, then you know the simple plug and play does not work. Surely all the 3rd party adapters available on the Eaby are guaranteed to be functional.

Before starting banging your head check if the device is detected by your laptop. Go to About this Mac then check USB tab in system report.

If you see something like the above picture we are ready to go, otherwise get the cable replaced or get a new one. In my case, I had to purchase three adapters to get one functional.

After reading lots of how-to tutorials regarding this issue with Mac OS El Captain and Yosemite I came to know the problem have something to do with SIP (System Integrity Protection). So without wasting time, I disabled it and restarted the machine. With full excitement, I went to network preferences and clicked the + button, but there was no USB Ethernet interface listed. If you want to give it a try, follow the steps mentioned below.

How to Disable System Integrity Protection in Mac OS:

• Restart your laptop and wait till the keyboard and display become completely black. Press and hold down command(⌘) + R button to start recovery mode.
• Open terminal from “Utilities” option.
• Type csrutil disable and restart the device.
• Now open Network from System Preferences and click on + button.
• If you see a new networking interface like USB 2.0 to 10/100M Ethernet select and start using the internet.

For those, the fix as mentioned above does not work, use the following method.

Enable Ethernet Adaptor on macOS 10.12 Sierra:

• First, disable the SIP if not done already. As most of the generic adapter comes with ASIX chip, you can download the Mac OS drivers from their website.
• Download and install the driver file.
• Now add it to kernel extension list by running sudo kextload /Library/Extensions/AX88178.kext .
• Restart the device and check in Network Preferences, you will probably see the new interface.

Still not working?

Gently open the box where the ethernet cable is plugged in and check the id above the chip. Search and download proper driver from the manufacturer and enable it. There another collection of generic drivers available for this kind of devices in this link.