Ran into a situation today where I needed a tftp server in order to serve files to a hardware device. Normally I would have fired up a Linux system to get the job done but it hit me (again) that I’m using a UNIX operating system and it’s bound to have a tftp server built in. Sure enough I found it hiding on the system but I couldn’t get it to run. After some searching around I found my answer and I thought I’d post it so hopefully someone else will find it.

If you want to run the tftp server issue the following command:

sudo launchctl load -F /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

This will cause the tftp server to load and stay running until it either crashes or you restart your system. If you want to ensure that tftp is always running issue the following:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

To stop the tftp server issue the following command:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist

To permanently disable tftp issue the following command:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/tftp.plist