Bonjour For Mac

  

The Bonjour zero-configuration networking architecture provides support for publishing and discovering TCP/IP-based services on a local area or wide area network. This document describes the Bonjour architecture at a high level and briefly describes what Bonjour APIs are available.

Discovery (formerly Bonjour Browser) Mac App Store. Discovery is a utility that displays all the Bonjour services on your local network or on Wide-Area Bonjour domains. Previously called Bonjour Browser, it's now distributed on the Mac App Store. Discovery requires macOS 10.12 or higher. Discovery (formerly Bonjour Browser) is a utility that displays all of the Bonjour services available on the local network or on Wide-Area Bonjour domains. Use it to debug your latest program, detect computers connected to your network, or just keep tabs on what services are available.

Important: This document is not meant as a programming guide. It is intended to provide a high-level overview. For more detailed coverage at the API level (including code snippets), you should read DNS Service Discovery Programming Guide or NSNetServices and CFNetServices Programming Guide.

At a Glance

Bonjour For Macbook Air

Bonjour is Apple’s implementation of a suite of zero-configuration networking protocols. Bonjour is designed to make network configuration easier for users.

For example, Bonjour lets you connect a printer to your network without the need to assign it a specific IP address or manually enter that address into each computer. With zero-configuration networking, nearby computers can discover its existence and automatically determine the printer’s IP address. And if that address is a dynamically assigned address that changes, they can automatically discover the new address in the future.

Apps can also leverage Bonjour to automatically detect other instances of the app (or other services) on the network. For example, two users running an iOS photo sharing app could share photos over a Bluetooth personal area network without the need to manually configure IP addresses on either device.

Bonjour Provides Efficient Service Discovery

The Bonjour protocol supports advertising and discovering services in a manner that is efficient and robust using multicast DNS (mDNS) and, when needed, link-local addressing.

Bonjour Reserves the .local Domain for mDNS-Advertised Services

Bonjour host names and service names are constructed using a specific set of rules.

Relevant Chapters:Domain Naming Conventions

Bonjour Uses SRV, TXT, and PTR Records to Look Up Services

Bonjour uses service-specific records to advertise the existence of services. PTR records let you discover all of the services in a domain;SRV records translate a service instance name, type, and domain into a hostname and port; A and AAAA records translate a host name into an IP address, and TXT records provide additional information about a service.

Bonjour Provides APIs at Multiple Layers in OS X and iOS

In OS X and iOS, Bonjour provides the ability to advertise and discover services using Foundation, Core Foundation, and C APIs. In OS X, Bonjour also provides a Java API. On other platforms such as Windows and Linux, Bonjour provides a C API.

Relevant Chapters:Bonjour API Architecture

Bonjour Browser Mac

Prerequisites

This document assumes that you are already familiar with the networking concepts described in Networking Overview and Networking Concepts.

See Also

  • DNS Service Discovery Programming Guide describes the Bonjour API appropriate for Darwin and Windows programmers and developers.

  • NSNetServices and CFNetServices Programming Guide describes the Bonjour API appropriate for Cocoa programmers and C and C++ programmers on OS X and iOS.



Copyright © 2013 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Updated: 2013-04-23

Overview:

For people who use MacBooks, it is common that Bonjour is working on Mac. But you have no idea what it is used for on your MacBook. While, for Windows users, it seems more confusing that there should be an Apple application on Windows 10, 8, 7, etc. In this sense, you would better to know what Bonjour is and whether you really need it on Mac and Windows systems.

What is Bonjour?

Developed by Apple, Bonjour, also named mDNSResponder.exe process, is the zero-configuration networking which is a group of technologies including address assessment, service discovery, and hostname resolution. Simply put, it is used to make network connecting easier to use.

And by default, Bonjour is preinstalled on macOS and iOS systems, but it is said that Bonjour software can also be installed on Windows systems like Windows 10. But unlike normal applications such as Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, etc.

Bonjour won’t run in the foreground, so it is unlikely that you see it simply from on the Desktop. But it detects the presence the connected device easily and connects programs on your computer to the local network. What’s more, it is worth noting that Bonjour is usually embedded in Apple applications such as Safari and iTunes.

Bonjour For Mac Download

More often than not, Bonjour works in the background for apps. For instance, on Safari, the embedded browser for iOS and macOS, Bonjour is employed to locate webpages that advertise on the browser on the local network; on Bonjour Printer wizard, it is used to recommend you which printer is more compatible for connecting.

Related: What is Microsoft AU Daemon? How Can I Disable it?

Do I Really Need Bonjour on my computers?

Either you need this application depends on the operating system and your needs.

If you are using macOS or iOS system, Bonjour is said to have been inbuilt on your Mac. That is to say, Bonjour is an essential part on your MacBook on macOS or iOS.

It enables applications and services on Mac systems to communicate with other devices connecting to the same local network. In such apps like iTunes and Safari, Bonjour is a necessary component for them to run for device on macOS or iOS. In a word, you do need Bonjour software for your Mac devices.

If your PC is on Microsoft Windows and you do not have any other Mac device, normally there is no need to download Bonjour on Windows 10, 8, 8.1, 7. However, if you are using iPhone or any other Apple products on iOS or macOS systems, there is also a need to install Bonjour on PC with Windows systems to access the “shard music libraries”.

Bonjour for macbook

Related: What is Hxtsr.exe? Should I Remove it on Windows 10?

How Do I Remove Bonjour from Windows 10, 8, 7?

Provided that you have any Apple product or software, you are not supposed to delete Bonjour software from Windows systems. But if you do want to say goodbye to Bonjour, it is also feasible to get rid of completely. Normally, there are two options available for you. If option one fails to uninstall Bonjour completely, just go on to option 2.

Option 1: Uninstall Bonjour for Windows 10 in Control Panel

Just like uninstalling Windows apps, you can also remove Bonjour software in Control Panel.

1. Open Control Panel.

2. In Control Panel, find out Programs >Uninstall a program. Here you would better View by Categories to locate the items you need easily.

3. In Programs and Features, scroll down to pinpoint Bonjour and right click it to Uninstall it.

4. Restart Windows system to take effect.

At this moment, Bonjour application will be removed from Windows 10. To some degree, high CPU by it will be fixed as well.

Option 2: Uninstall Bonjour by deleting Bonjour services and folders

Bonjour For Macbook

As said before, Bonjour will be installed on Windows systems so long as you have downloaded and installed applications such as iTunes. And if it can’t be deleted completely via Control Panel, you are advised to delete all the Bonjour services and files on Windows 10, 8, 7.

Specifically, the corresponding service or process of Bonjour software should be mDNSResponder.exe and the file is mdnsNSP.dll.

Remove mDNSResponder.exe in Command Prompt:

1. Search Command Prompt in the search box and then right click the best-matched result to Run as administrator.

Bonjour For Mac Download

2. In Command Prompt, copy and paste the following command and then hit Enter key to remove Bonjour process.

“%PROGRAMFILES%BonjourmDNSResponder.exe” –remove

You can also deactivate Bonjour file to completely uninstall this software.

1. In Command Prompt, run the command below to remove the file.

Bonjour For Mac Printer

regsvr32 /u “%PROGRAMFILES%BonjourmdnsNSP.dll”

2. Reboot Windows system to take effect.

Bonjour For Mac Download

It is natural that without the required services and files, Bonjour will have also been uninstalled from Windows systems.

To summarize, Bonjour can be of great use for some apps to run on both Mac and Windows system. But if you show no interest in it and fear that it may bring troubles, you can remove it from Windows 10, 8, 7.