Roon Unable to Detect B&W Formation Audio Speakers on macOS (ref#0GS48D)

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· None of the above quite fits

None of the above quite fits

· None of these quite match

Tell us what's going on

· I am using the most recent version of Roon on MAC OSx. I have already for couple of weeks problem, that Roon can not find my Roon Ready B&W Formation Audio speakers. I tried to turn off Surfshark VPN, but it does not help. And my Macbook can play via Airplay to speakers normally. MAC OSx detects speakers without any problem.

Tell us about your home network

· FritzBox router, Surfshark VPN. But I quited VPN as well and it did not help.

Hello @Petr_Lukes,

Since you’re running macOS, the behavior you’re seeing is consistent with the newer, stricter Local Network permission controls in the recent macOS releases.

Please try the following steps:

  1. Open macOS System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network
  2. Make sure Roon and Roon Server are both enabled
  3. Even if they are already enabled, please toggle them off and back on
  4. Fully quit Roon Server from the macOS menu bar / task bar
  5. Reboot your Mac
  6. After reboot, launch Roon again and check if the devices is avaliable again.

Once these permissions are refreshed and the system restarted, your audio devices should reappear.

Please let us know if the issue persists after these steps, and we’ll continue from there.

Hi @Benjamin, I followed all steps, but unfortunately it is not resolved. My speakers are still not visible in Roon.

Hello @Petr_Lukes

If Roon Server runs on a Mac and your endpoints disappeared after updating to macOS 27, this is why, and here is what to do while we work on it.

macOS 27 blocks Roon Server from making outgoing connections to other devices on your network. The block happens inside the system’s network stack, before anything leaves the Mac, so Roon reports it as “No route to host”. Incoming connections are unaffected, which is why Roon itself still runs and your remotes still connect while your speakers and streamers vanish.

Toggling the Local Network permission does not clear this, and neither does reinstalling Roon. That is not you doing something wrong. There is currently no way to reset this state on macOS at all, which Apple have acknowledged.

Step 1: find your network address

Open Terminal. You will find it in Applications > Utilities, or press Command and Space and type Terminal.

Paste this and press Return. It only reads, it changes nothing:

ifconfig | grep "inet " | grep -v 127.0.0.1

You will see one or more lines like this:

inet 192.168.1.42 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255

Take the address after inet, replace the last number with 0, and add /24. So 192.168.1.42 becomes 192.168.1.0/24. If yours reads 10.0.0.37, it becomes 10.0.0.0/24.

If your line shows a netmask other than 0xffffff00, please post the output here instead and we will give you the right value. That is uncommon on a home network.

Step 2: apply it

Paste both blocks below into Terminal, one at a time, pressing Return after each. Replace 192.168.1.0/24 with your own value from step 1, and leave 224.0.0.0/4 exactly as it is. Terminal will ask for your Mac password. Nothing appears as you type it, which is normal.

sudo defaults write com.apple.network.local-network AllowedEthernetLocalNetworkAddresses -array "192.168.1.0/24" "224.0.0.0/4"
sudo defaults write com.apple.network.local-network AllowedWiFiLocalNetworkAddresses -array "192.168.1.0/24" "224.0.0.0/4"

Run both even if you only use Wi-Fi, or only Ethernet. They are separate settings and the unused one does no harm.

The 224.0.0.0/4 entry is not optional if you use Roon ARC. macOS treats multicast as local network traffic whatever else you exempt, and without it ARC cannot set up its connection.

Step 3: restart the Mac

Nothing changes until you do. After the restart, open Roon and go to Settings > Audio. Your devices should be listed again.

To check it applied

defaults read com.apple.network.local-network

No password needed, changes nothing. You should see both lists with your network and 224.0.0.0/4 in them.

What this trades, and how to undo it

This tells macOS to stop treating your network as a local network for every app on that Mac, not only Roon. It is the mechanism Apple provides for exactly this situation, but it is broader than Roon, and worth knowing before you run it.

To remove it later:

sudo defaults delete com.apple.network.local-network AllowedEthernetLocalNetworkAddresses
sudo defaults delete com.apple.network.local-network AllowedWiFiLocalNetworkAddresses

Then restart the Mac again.

This is a workaround, not a fix. R&D is working on the underlying cause. We do not have a timeframe.

Hello @Petr_Lukes

Following up on our last exchange, the macOS 27 workaround we sent should restore sight of your network audio devices on the Mac. Have you had a chance to try the network address check and the two Terminal commands, then restart the Mac and open Settings > Audio again? This Knowledge Base guide also lists an additional workaround, will paste it below as well:

  1. Quit Roon Server from the macOS menu bar.
  2. Open your Applications folder.
  3. Right-click Roon and select Show Package Contents.
  4. Open Contents, then open
    http://RoonServer.app
  5. Open Roon normally and check Settings > Audio again.

Please note, if we don’t hear back from you this thread may close automatically soon. If the thread auto-closes and you need further assistance, please submit a reopen support request via the technical support help form below and specify that the issue should be reopened. Thank you.

Hi, thank you. I resolved the issue already by the first workaround.

Best regards,

Petr

Great to hear @Petr_Lukes.

You might need to (unfortunately) repeat these steps on next restart/login to MacOS, until we release a permanent fix.

Here are the steps in a more convenient location, so you don’t have to revisit this thread:

After searching and reading all over the place I still want to post my problem.

I can’t find RoonServer in my Local Network. When I go to Contents > RoonServer I can’t launch it manually.

Thanx…