All friends of mine know that I’m a tech-guy… That I love technology whatever it is – from phones to quad-copters, from hand tools to RGB video lights. That said, if there is something I can help with, sure my friends will bring it to me. This time I had to erase a MacBook, so the owner could sell it. I didn’t think too long before deciding to complete an Internet Recovery… and it returned Error -2002F, which I eventually solved. The details are below…
You may wonder why I didn’t use a recovery partition? … I tried, but unfortunately it turned out to be damaged, since somebody “tried” before me. We’ll talk about this one in other article.
As you probably know, Internet Recovery can be initiated by pressing Command + T during Mac start up. Computer will boot for few seconds, then propose to choose a Wi-Fi network, following with password entry box.
This is where the trouble usually starts. After entering correct Wi-Fi password, my computer “froze” for few minutes, then shown an exclamation mark in triangle with the following text below: apple.com/support -2002F.
The meaning of error -2002F is “Failed connection to Apple server”, but it doesn’t give the reason for this.
Luckily I found a thread on Apple forum, which suggested to change DNS servers from default 0.0.0.0 to 8.8.8.8 in Wi-Fi router settings. And IT ACTUALLY WORKED! Pure magic!
8.8.8.8 is the primary public Google DNS server, that is provided by Google with the aim to make the Internet and the DNS system faster, safer, secure, and more reliable for all Internet users. ATTENTION: Configuring to use that instead of your default means that your queries go to Google instead of to your ISP.
I hope you know how to change Wi-Fi router DNS settings, but for those who don’t, here is a step by step guide.
Solving error -2002F by changing DNS
Hopefully this method sorted the error -2002F for you.
Alternative ways
In case you don’t have access to router settings, find another wi-fi connection… these days it’s not a problem. Possibly the DNS servers of another router will let your MAC to connect Apple servers.
Another solution is to connect your Mac with Ethernet cable directly to router.
The last thing to try is to un-tight the Mac from your Apple ID at icloud.com. I personally didn’t check if that method works, but other Mac users mention it. Try and give us some feedback.
In any case, leave a comment below to see whether this method was helpful or not.
By the way… if you are here for the first time, read My Story here. I need your help to escape the Rat Race.
That’s all for today! Bye for now…
Thank you! This error was bugging me. I had to change the primary & secondary DNS settings for it to work, but it recovered my iMac. Phew!
I had a headache solving this for last few days. The method has worked for me. Thank you
OMG can’t believe this is still a thing.
I’ve just discovered this also applies if you use an ethernet connection..
That original post is from 2016
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5219221?answerId=30613626022#30613626022
Just wanted to tell you you are a life saver.. This worked like magic 🪄 Thanks a ton 🙏
I was stuck trying to make that spinning globe for ages, this did the trick, thanks!
Does a Mac book air have Ethernet port
It doesn’t. But you can purchase an external USB adapter.
This worked for me instantly – would never have even got close to solving this without this article. Thank you!
Sometimes the simplest solution works. This really did fix it for me.
I had to add 8.8.8.8 into both primary and secondary. You could also add 8.8.4.4 as the secondary.
I left it a few hours and it connected fine and on a weak rural connection.
The simplest of all, I connect my phone hotspot and within a sec it got connected.
Thanks Marshal. The mobile hotspot did the magic
You’re Da Boss! Wow! I could never have solved this in my own. Thank you! Thank you!
I tried the method in this article and my problem remains unsolved.
I then deleted my Wi-Fi password and let my MacBook join the Wi-Fi password free.
Magic happened. Now it’s doing the internet recover
Thank you, Ben!
Method in article didn’t work for me either. I ended up using my mobile hotspot, and removed the wifi password (because I didn’t want to remove the password on my home wifi network).
Then I got an error of -1007f. To fix that, I used the Command + Option + P + R method (where you boot up holding those keys, and release after hearing the chime the third time). Restarted, and finally got it fixed!
Thank you! Apple support had told me it was an issue with my home wifi network and to use a different wifi. So I tried at work and still got the same error. I didn’t have enough data to do the hotspot from my phone so I tried the unlink my Mac from my Apple ID at iCloud.com and it’s worked! So glad I stumbled across this article! 🙂