Location Changer

Please note, this is a fork of the original Location Changer by Anton Eprev

Location Changer automatically changes the macOS network location based on the name of the Wi-Fi network or a manually configured Location. It can also run a custom script to perform additional actions when changing the Location.

Installation & Updates

curl -L https://github.com/kyletmiller/locationchanger/raw/master/locationchanger.sh | bash

You must be an Administrator to install Location Changer and it will ask you for your password. The locationchanger executable is installed in /usr/local/bin by default. If you would like to install it elsewhere, please download the source and edit the INSTALL_DIR variable (on Line 3) prior to installation.

Basic Usage

Basic usage of Location Changer involves having Location names that match your Wi-Fi Network SSIDs (e.g. a macOS Location with the name Home Wi-Fi will correspond to the Wi-Fi Network SSID Home WiFi). When joining a Wi-Fi network, Location Changer will look for a Location whose name matches that of the SSID and will switch accordingly.

If Location Changer is unable to find a Location name matching the SSID, it will default to 'Automatic'. The default Location name can be changed by editing the DEFAULT_LOCATION variable (on Line 15) prior to installation.

Advanced Usage

Location Changer will select the Location to change to using the following precedence:

1. A manually configured Location
2. A Location name that matches the SSID
3. The default Location

Manually Configuring Locations

Location Changer includes support for manually mapping Locations to Wi-Fi SSIDs. This is useful, e.g., if you'd like to have a Location name that does not match the SSID or would like to use a Location for more than one SSID.

One example might be if your home Wi-Fi network is broadcasted on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz as Home Wi-Fi and Home Wi-Fi 5G, respectively. Instead of maintaining Locations for each SSID, a user can manually configure the same Location to be used with both.

Configuration happens in ${HOME}/.locations/locations.conf by default. The location of this file can be changed by editing the CONFIG_FILE variable (on Line 17) in the locationchanger.sh script prior to installation. It should be a plain text file with key-value pairs in the following format. Spaces are supported for both the SSID as well as the Location name. However, no spaces should be present on either side of the = (unless, of course, on the edge case your SSID ends with a space or your Location name starts with one). Additionally, do not enclose the SSID or Location in quotes.

SSID=Location
Home Wi-Fi=Home
SSID With Spaces=Location Name With Spaces

Running Custom Scripts When Changing Locations

Location Changer includes support for running custom scripts when switching Locations. Scripts should be:

• installed into the SCRIPT_DIR directory (${HOME}/.locations/ by default)
• named identically to the Location (e.g. Home Wi-Fi and not Home Wi-Fi.sh; if using manually configured Locations, please ensure the name matches the Location and not the SSID)
• be executable

Examples

You may want to set your computer to require a password to unlock while at work. By creating a script that matches the work Location name (e.g. ${HOME}/.locations/Work), this script can perform that configuration automatically when changing to the Work Location.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec 2>&1

# Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to set require password to wake of security preferences to true'

You may also want to create a script that reverses those changes when you're at home, so you don't have to enter your password to unlock your computer. You can save this as ${HOME}/.locations/Home if your home's SSID is Home or you have manually configured the Home Location to be used for your home's Wi-Fi SSID. Alternatively, it could be saved to your default Location (Automatic, by default) if using the default location at home: ${HOME}/.locations/Automatic

#!/usr/bin/env bash
exec 2>&1

# Don’t require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to set require password to wake of security preferences to false'

Notifications

Location Changer includes support for notifications through the macOS Notification system (via the AppleScript/osascript interface). By default, Location Changer will display a notification whenever the Location is changed. This behavior can be changed by editing the ENABLE_NOTIFICATIONS variable (on Line 16) in the script prior to installation. The following values are accepted:

• 0 - disable notifications
• 1 - enable notifications whenever the Location is changed
• 2 - enable notifications whenever a Wi-Fi network is joined, regardless of if the Location was changed

Troubleshooting

Logging information is written to ${HOME}/Library/Logs/LocationChanger.log by default. This can be adjusted by editing the LOGFILE variable (on Line 21) in the script prior to installation. Inspecting this log can be helpful when troubleshooting issues.

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/LocationChanger.log

Sample output:

[2018-03-05 06:23:18] Connected to 'Home Wi-Fi'
[2018-03-05 06:23:18] Will switch the Location to 'DHCP' (found in configuration file)
[2018-03-05 06:23:18] Changing the Location to 'DHCP'
CurrentSet updated to 3BA418DE-3C72-2EAB-A8A6-B71C42189204 (DHCP)
[2018-03-05 06:23:19] Running script: '/Users/username/.locations/DHCP'