Only use wifi for apple watch unlock & airdrop

[swanseaboy]

I'm not sure if this is the correct group, but since I have Big Sur installed...

So what I am trying to do is have my Mac Mini on ethernet, but also be able to unlock it using my Apple Watch, and airdrop to/from it when I need to. The Apple Watch says I need to have wifi switched on; I switch it on and the Mac automatically connects up to wifi (and does use it infrequently). Problem is the signal is poor where the Mac is (hence the ethernet connection). If I try and get the Mac to forget the wifi password, that filters through to all my other devices and they will no longer be able to connect. Can I have wifi enabled but someway of blocking it so that only the ethernet is used, is that possible.

Has anyone squared this circle yet?

Thanks

 

[chabig]

You want your Mini to prioritize ethernet higher than wifi. To do that, reorder the network interfaces in Network Settings.

Set Network Connection Priority in Mac OS X

For those of us who use several different types of network connections to get online, you may want to take a moment to set the networking service priority in OS X. This insures that a Mac isn&#8217…

osxdaily.com

 

[swanseaboy]

Yeah, I tried that already but it still uses the WiFi connection. No idea why, but the router is showing data passing over WiFi.

 

[chabig]

Can we see a screenshot of your Network Preferences?

 

[swanseaboy]

 

[chabig]

Thanks for the picture. You have your interfaces ordered correctly. The Mac should prioritize ethernet for data. As to why your router is showing data flowing over wifi, well you do have other devices around, right? Like an iPhone, iPad, TV? To confirm your Mac's connection, start a test download of some file and then turn off wifi. See if the download continues.