As you may know, you can configure your Mikrotik Devices via HTTP/HTTPS, CLI and Winbox.

If you now say „Winbox? What is that?“ – Well, good question!
Winbox is a management tool for mikrotik devices. Unfortunately it is currently only available for Windows.

Running Windows Tools under Linux and/or MacOS (which is based on BSD), you will need some extra tools.

In this Tutorial you will learn how to install, run and update Winbox.

I’m currently using a MacBook Pro (Late 2017) with MacOS Version 13.2.1 (MacOS Ventura).

Step #1 – Install Homebrew

„What is Homebrew“ ?
Its quite simple. Homebrew is a Package Manager. 😉

So, lets get started:

Open a macOS Terminal (Command-Key and Spacebar -> Type „Terminal“ and Press „Enter“)

MacOS Terminal

Now paste the following command into your terminal and press „Enter“

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

The Shell/Terminal now requests your Password,so it can install all necessary files for Homebrew.

Keep in mind: You wont see any characters while entering your password.

 

Last login: Thu Mar 23 16:54:06 on ttys002
philipp@pmbp ~ % /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
==> Checking for `sudo` access (which may request your password)...
Password:

Press Enter

 

philipp@pmbp ~ % /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
==> Checking for `sudo` access (which may request your password)...
Password:
==> This script will install:
/usr/local/bin/brew
/usr/local/share/doc/homebrew
/usr/local/share/man/man1/brew.1
/usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_brew
/usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/brew
/usr/local/Homebrew

Press RETURN/ENTER to continue or any other key to abort:
==> /usr/bin/sudo /usr/sbin/chown -R philipp:admin /usr/local/Homebrew
==> Downloading and installing Homebrew...
remote: Enumerating objects: 36, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (36/36), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (16/16), done.
remote: Total 36 (delta 17), reused 35 (delta 17), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (36/36), 19.63 KiB | 275.00 KiB/s, done.
From https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
65d858da1..c31da2b3c master -> origin/master
Updating files: 100% (3022/3022), done.
HEAD is now at c31da2b3c Merge pull request #15042 from MikeMcQuaid/skip_post_install
Updated 2 taps (homebrew/core and homebrew/cask).
==> Installation successful!

==> Homebrew has enabled anonymous aggregate formulae and cask analytics.
Read the analytics documentation (and how to opt-out) here:
https://docs.brew.sh/Analytics
No analytics data has been sent yet (nor will any be during this install run).

==> Homebrew is run entirely by unpaid volunteers. Please consider donating:
https://github.com/Homebrew/brew#donations

==> Next steps:
- Run these two commands in your terminal to add Homebrew to your PATH:
(echo; echo 'eval "$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"') >> /Users/philipp/.zprofile
eval "$(/usr/local/bin/brew shellenv)"
- Run brew help to get started
- Further documentation:
https://docs.brew.sh

Step #2 – Homebrew Configuration – Disable Analytics and add Hombrew to PATH

By default Homebrew will collect Analytics Data.
If you want to disable this behaviour, see https://docs.brew.sh/Analytics#opting-out

Also i recommend to add homwbrew to your „PATH“ – PATH is a environment variable, which contains an lists of „search paths“, which your terminal will dig through when you are running a command from your terminal.

If you don’t add Homebrew to your PATH, you have to provide the FULL Path to the Homebrew executable:

/usr/local/bin/brew

If you add Homebrew to your PATH variable, all you need to type is

brew

Okay. Homebrew is ready to rock.

Step #3 – Install Winbox

Simply type:brew search winbox

This should return some results:

Install Winbox:
brew install nrlquaker-winbox

 

🍺 nrlquaker-winbox was successfully installed!

indicates, that the Winbox Application has been installed successfully.

Open the Spotlight Search (Command-Key + Spacebar) and Search forWinbox

Winbox-mac.app

Due to some saftey mechanisms inside MacOS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatekeeper_(macOS)), you will be greeted by a Error Message „Homebrew: Winbox-mac.app cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.“

Navigate to Privacy and Security (https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-privacy-security-settings-on-mac-mchl211c911f/mac) and scroll to „Security“

Press „Open anyway“ and type in your password. – After that, press „open“ again.

 

Step #4 Check for Updates

This step is fairly simple. Open your Terminal and type:

brew upgrade nrlquaker-winbox

 

Have fun!