If you’re coming from the world of Cisco switch upgrades, VoIP phone firmware, or PXE network boots, you know the drill: you need a . While Windows admins often scramble for third-party tools, macOS has a secret weapon—it comes with a built-in TFTP server.
sudo mkdir /private/tftpboot/cisco sudo chmod 777 /private/tftpboot/cisco # only for lab use tftp server mac download
TFTP is a simple lock-step protocol that uses UDP (port 69) instead of TCP. It was designed to be small and easy to implement. Unlike FTP, it has no authentication, no encryption, and no directory listing capabilities. If you’re coming from the world of Cisco
sudo launchctl bootstrap system /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist It was designed to be small and easy to implement
But this duplicates the system tool. Stick with the native option.
By default, macOS looks for files in /private/tftpboot . Create it and set permissions: