How to disable SIP System Integrity Protection on Mac

How to disable SIP (System Integrity Protection) on Mac

Starting with OS X El Capitan, Apple added System Integrity Protection (SIP) to protect system files and directories from accidental or malicious modification. While this is beneficial for system security, it’s sometimes necessary to disable it for specific modifications. Here’s how to disable SIP on a Mac:

What is SIP mechanism

The SIP mechanism is a security mechanism first introduced by Apple in OS X El Capitan to prevent accidental or malicious modification of key system files and directories.

It protects the following system paths:

/System
/usr
/bin 
/sbin

This ensures the security of the operating system and pre-installed applications. However, it also limits the modification permissions of these directories. For example, installing certain third-party kernel extensions requires disabling SIP first.

Enter Recovery Mode

Intel processors

1. Completely shut down your Mac, then turn it on. Immediately press and hold the ☐ button when the computer starts up Command + R. Wait for 3 seconds for the Apple logo to appear, then release the button and wait for it to enter Recovery mode.

M1/M2 processor

1. Turn off your Mac, hold down the power button, and wait for the option to appear before releasing the power button.
2. Click on the option to enter Recovery mode

Turn off SIP steps

1. In Recovery mode, find the “Terminal” program in the utility menu in the upper left corner and open it.
2. Enter the following command in the terminal to disable the SIP mechanism:csrutil disable
3. After entering the above command, the terminal will prompt that a restart is required to take effect. Please restart your Mac

Check SIP status

To check if SIP is currently disabled, type:

csrutil status

If you see System Integrity Protection status: disabled., it means it has been successfully disabled.

Re-enable SIP

If you need to re-enable the SIP function later, repeat the above steps and change the command in step 2 to:

csrutil enable

The SIP mechanism effectively protects system security, so it is recommended to only temporarily disable it when necessary. After the operation is completed, re-enable SIP promptly to ensure the security of your Mac system.