How to get xargs not to eat double spaces I'm trying to process some files with double spaces in the name. It seems like xargs is removing spaces. Example

$ echo "foo  bar" | xargs -I {} echo "{}"
foo bar

Notice there's only 1 space between foo and bar but 2 were passed in. The example above works in Ubuntu 16.04 bash

Note I'm actually trying to process a list of files as in

cat list-of-files | xargs -I {} echo "{}"

-O doesn't work in this case as xargs sees the entire file as one filename.  Tried -E '\n' but that still ate the extra space

Here are 3 possibilities that may work for you:

1. BSD xargs

This is built in to MacOS, but will require you to quote the filenames in your list-of-files

$ more list-of-files
'file1'
'file2'
'file 3'
'file  4'

note: I added the -t option in order to show the generated command before it executes.

$ cat list-of-files | xargs -t -I {} echo "{}"
echo file1
file1
echo file2
file2
echo file 3
file 3
echo file  4
file  4

2. GNU xargs

GNU xargs is not installed on MacOS by default, but can be installed via homebrew (in the findutils package).

brew install findutils

Using GNU xargs via homebrew would not require you to quote the filenames, and would give the same result as using BSD xargs, and quoting the filenames (option 1, above).

3. find (instead of list-of-files)

Rather than using a file for your input, use the find command. Something like the following should work:

$ ls -laF file*
-rw-r--r--  1 sfederman  staff  0 Jun  7 22:53 file  4
-rw-r--r--  1 sfederman  staff  0 Jun  7 22:53 file 3
-rw-r--r--  1 sfederman  staff  0 Jun  7 22:53 file1
-rw-r--r--  1 sfederman  staff  0 Jun  7 22:53 file2

$ find . -name "file*" | xargs -0 -I {} echo "{}"
./file  4
./file 3
./file1
./file2

Or, avoiding xargs completely:

$ find . -name "file*" -exec echo "{}" \;
./file  4
./file1
./file2
./file 3


Number pad produces strange output in certain commands in Terminal Running OS X 10.10.5 (Yosemite)

Well, something happened to my system (I can honestly say it wasn't me but), I was unable to use the USB keyboard number pad while using commands such as 'less', 'more' (and perhaps 'vim' and 'nano') in the OS X Terminal.  It would type output ESCOq for 1, ESCOr for 2, ESCOs for 3, ..., ESCOp for 0.  When exiting the programs, the USB keyboard number pad would work just fine in the terminal.

Go to Terminal -> Preferences -> Profile -> Advanced, and uncheck 'Allow VT100 application keypad mode'.


Safari stopped using keychain Safari 7.0.2 on OS X 10.9.2 stopped using keychain and doesn't remember passwords any more.

That's on my iMac. On my Airbook it still works.

I checked in the keychain application and some of the passwords are stored there and some aren't (but used to be). But Safari is not using any of them.

Any ideas?

You must have already checked that, but just in case, under Safari > Preferences > Passwords make sure that that the AutoFill user names and passwords checkbox is selected.
If it does not work and you are using iCloud Keychain :
On the official Apple Support Website, there is an article about Troubleshooting iCloud Keychain. Here is what it advise you to do :
First make sure that your device is currently on a Wi-Fi or cellular network. If the connection appears strong, try these steps:

 1. Turn off iCloud Keychain on all devices.
 2. Enable iCloud Keychain on the device that has the most up-to-date
    keychain items.
 3. Enable iCloud Keychain on your other devices. They will be updated
with your new iCloud Keychain.

When you enable back iCloud Keychain, DO NOT FORGET to do it — as explained by Apple — on the device with the most up to date version of you list of passwords (in your case it must be your MacBook Air).
Hope it helps.


How do I reassign the F3 key to another application? I have a gesture for Exposé so I need another button (the F3) to do the same. I'd love to replace F3 to show/hide the MacBartender app.

Would it be possible to reassign this key for such a use? I have KeyRemap4MacBook installed but it does not allow for changing individual keys (I either change all my function keys or none at all).

FunctionFlip allows you to change the function keys individually.


WiFi icon not showing on the menu bar and Internet not working (wifi or ethernet)? It used to work fine. There is no physical damage to the MacBook and the WiFi network I'd like to connect is is perfectly functional.

It will not connect to any WiFi network or ethernet-based networks.

How can I fix this?

Sometimes, the wifi status is in the top bar, but when I click on it, it says "No Wi-fi Hardware Installed".

Is it possible you inadvertently disabled wi-fi and ethernet in system preferences > network?  If they are not listed in the left hand column of that window you can add them back by clicking the plus sign to 'create a new service' and then setup wi-fi and ethernet.  It's nothing more than picking them from the list of services and then clicking 'Apply'


Simulate page scroll in keynote I have a screen in my slide (iMac) and I have a mask (display), the mask image in the display is my website, which is 3000 pixels tall, then mask is 800 pixels tall, what I am trying to do is animate from the top of the page to the bottom, simulating the browser scroll.

My first port of call was magic move, which I have successfully used when not using masks, so essentially when I have two slides of the same image in different position, magic move "Tweens" the frames in between. When trying this with the same image in the mask, it simply fades it, rather than animates it, not really sure why this is, it is like it is not detecting that the position of the image within the mask, just that it has changed.

Is there any way round this?

I actually figured it out myself. I basically created a transparent PNG of the iMac screen with the display itself transparent, then I placed the website screenshot into keynote and sent to back. Now Magic move works great.


How to make a folder show the item counts in Finder? how can I make settings to have this visible? I want every folder show the number of items included. On my Mac, the grey bar with 25 is not visible.
How can I get Finder to draw this count on the bar shown in the red circle?

You can see the file count by enabling Status Bar in Finder. To do this, click View -> Show Status Bar on the menu bar, or press Command + /.


Password protect disk images on Mac from deleting I know that I can create a password protected dmg file with more folders in it. But I want to know if there's a way through which I can prevent any action on the dmg file itself. Because right now, if anyone wants to delete the dmg file - which contains a whole lot of backup - they can do so without having to enter the password. I want to have to enter a password to rename, delete, move the dmg file without it having opened.

To keep the .dmg file from being deleted without explicit permission, you need to set the ACL permissions for the file to not be deleted. In Terminal use, e.g.:

sudo chmod +a "everyone deny delete" foobar.dmg

Once set, if you try to rename, delete, or move the .dmg file, e.g. in Finder, you'll have to enter Administrator credentials, or in Terminal use sudo, which requires the same level of credentials too, to do the same.

In Terminal, have a look at the manual page for chmod, e.g., type man chmod and press Enter, or just type chmod and right-click on it selecting, Open man Page.

In general, I'd read then entire man page however, the section titled ACL MANIPULATION OPTIONS is the relevant one to focus on.

To see what ACL permissions are set on a file/folder,  use, e.g.:

$ ls -le foobar.dmg
-rw-r--r--@ 1 me  staff  100020736 Dec  7 09:21 foobar.dmg
0: group:everyone deny delete
$


Setting 2FA with device logged in with different account I have to set 2FA on my Apple Develop account to access it. The problem is that I use separate account only for development, let's say it's account A. My main account (B) is used on all my devices (iPhone, Mac) and it has 2FA already turned on. So is there any way to enable 2FA for account A and use devices where I'm logged in with account B? I think it might be quite common problem actually so there should be some solution.

Yes, it is relatively straightforward if you follow Apple's guide here:

https://developer.apple.com/support/account/authentication/

Look under the heading "How can I use different Apple IDs for iCloud and my Apple Developer Account".

The basic idea is that you enable 2FA for you developer account. The easiest way to do that with the devices you've got, is to create an extra user on your Mac. Login to that user on the Mac and sign in with your developer account and enable 2FA at System Preferences > iCloud > Account Details > Security.

Then on your ordinary, main account and your iPhone, you just need to add the developer account as an extra iCloud account for 2FA. On the iPhone you go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Add Account > iCloud. On the Mac you go to System Preferences > Internet Accounts > iCloud.

Now that everything is setup, you can delete the temporary user again.

So now even though your main iCloud account is B, you'll receive 2FA codes for both account A and B on your iPhone and Mac.


How to enforce time limits on Mac with a password? I'd like to set time limits for when applications can be used on my Mac using the system parental controls.
I went into screen time and set rules for when all applications could be used and then I set the password.
I'm also not the administrator for this computer, so I do not actually know the password for screen time.
But, when it's passed the time I set, all I have to do to use the apps is click "ignore for 15 minutes."
How do I actually enforce the time limits on my Mac?

AFAIK, if you're an adult, your Screen Time settings are controlled by you.  Try setting a Screen Time passcode.  Then, at least, you'll be prompted to enter the passcode to continue using apps during a lockdown period.
If you're a minor and part of a Family (in Apple/iCloud terms) one of the adults in the Family needs to set the passcode (for your acct) from their device.


Shortcut to toggle EU Volume Limit With the Shortcuts app you can create an icon on your home screen that automates a task.  There seem to be plenty of options.  I'm looking for a way to toggle the Settings > Music > EU volume limit switch.  This would allow me to toggle it on for music but off for podcasts.

Which part of Shortcuts can toggle the volume limit?

There is currently no such feature, however, you could use the ‘podcasts’ app to listen to your podcasts.


Rearrange Apps in iTunes for Windows My iPhone 5c, iOS 10.3.3 used to let me rearrange my apps on my Windows 7 PC through iTunes.
Now I can't seem to be able to get to them on my PC.

This feature has been removed in iTunes 12.7 - but Apple have since released 12.6.3 which retains the feature.
You can install iTunes 12.6.3 on top of / over iTunes 12.7 for any OS that support iTunes 12.7 and both are compatible with iOS 11.

Apple KB: Deploy apps in a business environment with iTunes

You need the direct link, it apparently does not appear as an update.
Mac link.
Windows 32 bit link.
Windows 64-bit Link.

If you've already been using 12.7 you may have luck importing your 12.7 lib  to a clean 12.6.3 Library, as outlined on MacRumors, but I had no joy.

I ended up restoring a backup of my Library [just the catalog not all the tunes] from a time before i updated to 12.7.


Upgrading Python 2.7 to 3.8 : Recommended? I am running macOS Big Sur 11.1 on MacBook Air M1. It comes bundled with Python 3.9.1 for regular usage and running python command through terminal says that I have Python 2.7.16 for compatibility with legacy software.
I want to install TensorFlow which specifically requires Python 3.8. So, if I upgrade Python 2.7.16 to Python 3.8 will it cause trouble with legacy software? If no, then is it a good idea to do this upgrade? If yes, can you please tell me the procedure? I don't find a pip installed on my machine but there is a pip3 to work with Python3.
Also, is there a way to find the list of software/packages installed on my machine that require Python 2.7.x to work?

You can install Python 3.8 using homebrew. The instructions to install homebrew are on homebrew's home page. Currently the instructions are entering into a terminal window: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
The instructions to install Python 3.8 are on the homebrew page for Python 3.8. Once you've installed homebrew, enter into a terminal window brew install python@3.8
This won't replace your stock Python installations, it will be installed into a separate location to avoid causing problems with stock legacy software. User legacy software may require you to explicitly specify the full path for the version of python it requires.
I'm not aware of a method to find all software that uses the stock versions of Python.


How can I disable a specific USB port in my MacBook? BRCM2046 is the USB card from my macbook (according to System Profiler), and one of the ports is a problem that it generates an error on the console.

I would like to know how to disable this port.

There isn't a switch in OS X to go and disable some of the USB connections. If you could give up USB entirely, I suppose you could get at things at the kernel extension level, but in terms of a graphical interface, there isn't anything like network preference panes where you could pick amongst the devices and disable one but not another.

See https://github.com/RehabMan/OS-X-USB-Inject-All for a decent discussion on some of the recent changes to USB and kext. It's quite technical, but also well documented case how to modify things at a low level. The details of your situation may depend heavily on exactly what hardware and software version that runs.


Does Facetime on Mountain Lion allow you to share your screen? I am trying to figure out a way to share my screen with someone else.  I wanted to see if Facetime had that feature or if there is another recommendation for screen sharing on Mountain Lion.

There is not a way to do this yet in FaceTime.  Here's the link to a forum where they discuss how "neat" it would be to have this feature.  The discussion is a month old, so fairly recent.

As for Screen sharing, if you're on the same network (either routed, through a VPN, SSH tunnel, or direct connection) then you just select the device in Finder, and choose screen sharing (button in the upper right hand corner) in the window that opens:

The computer that is sharing its screen must have Screen sharing turned on (check marked) in System Settings > Sharing:

Note mine is NOT check marked, so this computer would NOT share its screen using screen sharing.

If you want to Screen share and you are NOT in the same Network, use Messages:

Note Screen Sharing (under the video drop down)is enabled (has a check mark next to it).


iPad from AT&T or Verizon for Bell Network in Canada I was thinking about buying an iPad 3 in the US for use in Canada (I travel back and forth a lot) and wanted to know which one would be compatible with the Bell Network in Canada. I've compared the specs and honestly just don't understand the differences.

Anyone know whether the AT&T or Verizon iPad is more likely to work with Bell?

It does seem to be a difficult choice, but the bottom line is that if you are typically in a 4G area, then you can get either iPad. It only matters when you are in an area without 4G coverage - then you have to choose either GSM (Rogers/AT&T) or CDMA/EVDO (Bell/Telus/Verizon). Since you're looking at Bell, go with the Verizon model. At minimum, you'll get 4G with the Bell SIM card, and if you can get the setup and configuration right, you might be able to get 3G in Canada, although that seems tricky.

Apple has typically sold the GSM model in Canada, however Bell Canada does use EVDO for 2G and 3G connections, so the Verizon iPad 3rd generation might be more suitable for your particular use.

Note that everyone in Canada is moving to LTE, and both models support LTE as well as the various radio frequency bands needed for any given common LTE network.

For comparison, check out the technical specifications listed for the iPad 2 on Apple's Canadian store:

http://store.apple.com/ca/browse/home/shop_iPad/family/iPad/select_iPad2

Versus the technical specifications listed for the iPad 3rd generation shown on Apple's US store:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iPad/family/iPad/select_iPad

Canada iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G model: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

AT&T iPad 3rd gen Wi-Fi + 4G for AT&T model: 4G LTE (700, 2100 MHz)1 ; UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Verizon iPad 3rd gen Wi-Fi + 4G for Verizon model: 4G LTE (700 MHz)1 ; CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz); UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Some online reports have suggested that the LTE (4G) SIM cards from AT&T work on their Verizon iPads, which indicates that it's likely that on 4G networks it doesn't matter which iPad you buy - it only matters when you have to fall back to 3G or 2G away from population centers. Since Bell Mobility in Canada uses CDMA/EVDO for their 3G coverage then you'll likely have better coverage if you purchase the Verizon model in the US - but it's not a guarantee that you'll even be able to connect it since it's not SIM card based, as GSM is. You'll need to provide the IMEI to Bell Mobility, and hope that it's not locked to Verizon in the cellular chipset.

I believe you'd have better luck choosing a GSM provider (Rogers) in Canada and using the AT&T model, switching the SIM card as necessary between the US and Canada.

You might find the following useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_mobile_phone_companies

It indicates that of the three providers Apple supports (Bell, Rogers, and Telus) only Rogers has GSM 3G coverage - which is interesting because that means that Bell and Telus customers don't get coverage outside their LTE areas.


iTunes freeze when on podcasts tab I have a problem with the latest itunes 10.2  When I hit itunes podcast tab it freezes. I found a workaround by creating new library, but it's annoying that every time I had to recreate my library to just got freeze again in new library.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this?

Operating System: on PC Window xp sp2

iTunes version: 10.2.2.14

I found a possible workaround myself. Firstly cut off internet connection of your computer, then open iTunes, hit Podcasts tab, then iTunes will hang for a while but not complete freeze, delete suspected podcasts that may cause freeze, lastly reestablish internet connection.


How to add hidden user How do I add a hidden administrator user to my Mac if possible?
I don't want it to show up on the login screen.

Try this hint from Apple Support. There are distinct differences between Yosemite and all earlier OS X versions.

I'll copy/paste the Yosemite commands here so as not to offend the 'no solitary links in answers' demigods.

Quoth Apple Support:

Hide a user account in OS X Yosemite

You can prevent a user account from appearing in the login window in OS X Yosemite by using these steps:

Log in as an admin user.
Use this Terminal command, substituting the short account name name of the user you wish to hide for “hiddenuser”:

sudo dscl . create /Users/hiddenuser IsHidden 1

If you later want to show the hidden user, set the user’s IsHidden attribute to 0 like this:

sudo dscl . create /Users/hiddenuser IsHidden 0

Additional Options

You can also move the hidden user's home directory to a place not visible from the Finder, and remove the hidden user's Public Folder share point.

The following command moves the home directory of "hiddenuser" to /var, a hidden directory:

sudo mv /Users/hiddenuser /var/hiddenuser

The following command updates the user record of "hiddenuser" with the new home directory path in /var:

sudo dscl . -create /Users/hiddenuser NFSHomeDirectory /var/hiddenuser

The following command removes the Public Folder share point for the user with the long name "Hidden User”:

sudo dscl . -delete "/SharePoints/Hidden User's Public Folder"

Logging in to this hidden account

To access this hidden admin account from the login screen, press the down arrow to select any user (make sure the password entry box is not open), then press Opt-Return.

This will bring up the blank name and password fields, allowing you to sign into to the hidden admin account.

Display all users (including hidden)

Remember that a hidden user can still be found, do not use this as a security measure. To show a list of all possible users, use dscacheutil

dscacheutil -q user

or to display all users in the 'Users' group (5**)

dscacheutil -q user | grep -A 3 -B 2 -e uid:\ 5'[0-9][0-9]'


Macbook Pro (mid 2010) shutting down upon boot up Here is my question.  My macbook pro has been acting crazy for a while, shutting down unexpectedly daily.  Every once in a while it will work for a day or two but eventually will start shutting down again.

I took it to an Apple certified repair shop and after tons of cash spent...
I sent it directly to Apple and they replaced something for $350 - it was over a year ago and I can't remember (yes I am a moron).  It worked for a while and lo and behold started shutting down again.

I ran the disk thingy where it checks the hardware and it said there are no issues.  Yay! But, now what to do?

I can log in under the Test user the Mac dude set up at Apple shop.. and on here, where there are no files, everything is kosher and working smoothly.  No shutting down!

So, I am guessing its a memory issue?  But I checked that on a good day and everything seemed fine.

Question is how do I get in to the other user to determine this?  is there a way to access the files from the other user through this alternate user?

I am at my wit's end -thanks for any help .

Could be the keyboard, where the power button is not working right (my sister had a MacBook Air that did this). Massage and blow compressed air into the power button and see if that helps.


Is their a file system that can read/write mac and win and do time machine? Is their a file system that can read/write mac and win and do time machine?
I know that OS X can write to NTFS with the correct software installed, but Time Machine usually insists on formatting drives before using them. Is there a compromise?

You can't use Time Machine to back up Windows, if that's what you mean.

The only way you could do that is if you're hosting the Win installation in a virtual machine like Parallels(Paid) or VirtualBox (free), then of course your entire VM would be backed up to TM along with everything else on your mac.

Still, rolling back to a particular state (or recoveing a particular file) that way would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

I'd suggest you'd be better off keeping a clone of your windows installation and a separate clone/or TM backup of your OS X installation (on a separate disk).

Not only is this the only practical solution, more importantly its also the safest. Never keep all your eggs in one basket (hard drive) when it comes to backups, especially with Time Machine, which has a habit of getting itself corrupted just when you least want it.


Will a EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti Graphics Card plug n play with Mac Pro 2009? Upgrading my Mac Pro early 2009 - MacPro4,1 running OS 10.6.8, looking at GeForce GTX 750 Ti Graphics Card and wanted to make sure it would plug n play?

While your Mac Pro does have a PCI-e slot, it is only type 2.0, x16 width meaning that the GTX750 will not run at its maximum capability.

Additionally, recent Nvidia CUDA drivers for OS X do not support 10.6.8, meaning you would likely need to upgrade your OS to at least Mountain Lion (10.8) or greater.

So, no, it seems unlikely that your proposed card would work as "plug and play."  This site may be of use:

http://www.macvidcards.com/drivers.html


Is there any way stop my Apple trackpad from rotating? My Apple trackpad seems to rotate counter clockwise (I am right handed) through my use of it over the day. This happens several times normally during the day. It never used to do so when it was new but it is doing it now and I am using the same desk.

I have cleaned all the contacts but it doesn't seem to help, maybe I am not cleaning it right. I would be interested to know the best cleaning methods if you think this is where I am going wrong.

My use of it may have changed too so if you think this might be a problem of the way my trackpad usage has developed please note that too. The weather has changed too over the time since I have got it and although we normally run air conditioning within my office the temperatures at night might become too extreme for it.

Is there an easy way to anchor it to the desk?

Get a rubber mat for it to stand on, or as Faiz mentioned in a comment, use small amounts of tape to make it stick to your desk.

The rubber contacts on most Apple products can become a bit slippery after use. I personally just rub off any dirt that has collected over time with my thumb, and it's back to normal – slip-free.

Something like these Anti Slip Mats on Ebay should do the trick for you.


Can I use Airport Express to repeat wifi without physical access to the router? I have a wireless network name and its password. I can connect to this Wi-Fi network with my computer.

If I have an Airport Express, can I configure it to repeat the signal without physical access to the router?

Your Airport Express will only work as a wireless extender/booster if your main access point is an Apple Router, like another Express or an Extreme or Time Capsule.

However the way around this for a non-Apple router is if you hard-wire it (run an Ethernet cable straight from your modem or router to the Airport Express).

This might be not applicable to your situation since you do not have physical access to the router.

There are other (more universal) Extenders on the market, for example from Netgear (for about $50). I use one, and it works like charm in extending existing wifi network that I do not have physical access to.


How can I supervise/monitor the iPhone of my kid? I use an iPhone 8 and  my 12 year-old  daughter had an iPhone 6 just purchased.

I'm worried about Internet sites mainly and would like to monitor text messages of certain friends she has been in trouble with at school. I have spoken to her about this and it was one of the conditions she was allowed her own phone. Can my iPhone monitor her web sites and sms texts ? Can I block both from my phone?  I have seen some apps but was told they could be circumvented.

Parental controls are more so about restriction rather than monitoring. Although your intentions seem honest and reasonable, someone could maliciously use a feature like this to spy on friends or significant others.

Explore Apple's robust iOS Parental Controls instead.

Parental Controls


OS X cd command in /usr/bin instead of /bin On OS X 10.8 I was looking at my /bin folder and found that cd was not there, but rather in the /usr/bin folder. Why is that? From the FHS (Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. I know that /bin should contain essential binaries, i.e. those required when no other filesystems are mounted. Is cd not essential enough? (by the way, it appears the "su" command is also in /usr/bin). Now, I know that OS X doesn't follow strictly the FHS, but is there a reason for these different location of binaries?

cd is a shell builtin, and has to be a builtin to work. If it were executed as a normal command, it'd run as a subprocess, change that subprocess's directory, and then exit... having no effect at all on the parent shell's directory.

As for su: the fondamental distinction between /bin and /usr/bin is that /usr/bin might be on a different filesystem from the root, and hence not be available early in the boot process; thus /bin (and /sbin) must contain all of the commands needed early in the boot process. On OS X, su apparently isn't needed during boot.


Antivirus software for iOS and an iPad I just started at a new job. The IT manager gave me the task of deploying 50 iPads using JAMF.

Now my manager wants to deploy antivirus software to the iPads. I said huh??

He insists that we push out an antivirus program because the user are going to install malicious apps.

Can you guys help me out?

Are there any antivirus apps for iOS? Any articles I can use to make my case that there isn't a need?

If you are really working on Jamf MDM and to have centralized AV, then I highly recommend Crowdstrike from Falcon.

Crowdstrike's Lightweight sensor technology is ideal for mobile devices, and CrowdStrike’s cloud-native platform provides the perfect conduit to manage, administer and hunt for data.

More detail on: Crowdstrike for mobile

Go through it and do your research. We are using this for all macOS and iOS devices. It is very light on the end-user. JAMF highly supports scripts as well.


Trouble opening an Excel file with preview I maintain a library that reads and writes Microsoft Excel files. Due to some recent changes neither Preview, Quicklook or Numbers can open the file. Is there are any way to get debug information from any of these (or the underlying libraries)?

I'm specifically looking for command like flags such as -d 4 which will provide more information as to why the Preview / Quicklook / Numbers can't open the file. ie. some kind of informative error message such as "can't parse the XML".

Feedback from the OOXML Working Group about relative references:

  What do you mean by a relative reference?  In RFC 3986, a relative
  reference is either an absolute-path reference (e.g., /foo/bar) or a
  relative-path reference (e.g., foo/bar).  OPC already allows both.

So this is a bug in the Apple software stack. I'll update the bug report accordingly.

The general manner to get at logs on macOS (and OS X in the past) is to open the Console app. It shows the common application and system logging framework and allows you to search across all sources and databases that store logs.

If you are unix based - much of this logging is documented in manual pages and at developer.apple.com.

Many third party packages have documentation - like python to interact with and document logging.

Your specific needs will depend on the exact version and build of the OS and the preview app, but start with Console and consider asking a follow on question once you have specifics.

Quicklook is going to be a much harder nut to crack, since you need to know about spotlight importer details, less direct databases and layers of indirection and storage. Spotlight debugging is more of a book than an answer here as a side question.

I'd also skip excel - since that's not really an Apple product - focus on getting your file to work in Preview and you'll likely be good to go.


Mid 2010 i7 Macbook Pro 6,2 stuck at Apple logo on boot Recently my 15 inch Macbook Pro (mid 2010, i7) hasn't been booting normally (No drops, no spills, etc). It just hasn't been able to boot normally. The issue I'm having is it only goes as far as the apple logo, the spinning dots, The keyboard then lights up, the monitor dims and it just hangs there forever.

Here is what I have tried:

Resetting the PRAM
Resetting the SMC
Reinstalling Mountain Lion via USB stick
Reinstalling Mountain Lion via Recovery Disk
Removing all peripherals from macbook ports
Repairing Permissions (from safe mode)
Deleting all start up items.

I can boot into safe mode and I have access to everything, but the graphics are choppy when trying to view widgets, expose, mission control, etc.  Websites & web graphics are also very glitchy.

After a clean install of  Mountain Lion, it SOMETIMES loads to the login screen normally, when I enter my password in, to the right the spinning load icon freezes, and once again I am not able to boot OSX normally.

A year ago, I had an issue with the Logic board and it was replaced by Apple it worked fine again until now.  I'm wondering if this could either be a Hard Drive failure or possibly graphics or logic board issue.  I made an appointment to the genius bar tonight, hopefully someone will be able to tell me something.  Does anyone have the same issue OR have been able to fix this?

The fact that it boots perfectly fine in safe mode points to a problem with your graphics card. Safe mode disables all hardware drivers besides those absolutely essential to the operation of your system, and that includes hardware graphics rendering. The reason your graphics are so choppy in safe mode is because everything is rendered in software (i.e. by your CPU) rather than in hardware (by your GPU). I doubt it's a hard drive issue simply because you have no problem installing ML or booting up.

The good news? Since your repair was around a year ago, you might be able to convince the Apple Store people (talk to the manager) to replace your logic board for free.


SSD In iMac G4 not recognized I recently bought an SSD and an IDE to SATA adapter. I've installed these into my iMac G4 (it's the 20" 1.25GHz model) neither the Leopard installer or Disk Utility will recognize it.

The SSD is
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX49961

And the adapter is http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX30129

I've heard that some iMacs will only work with SATA II, but I've also heard that this doesn't matter if using an adapter.

Just wondering where I should start troubleshooting. Is there anything obvious wrong with these two pieces of hardware?

Thanks!

Make sure your SSD is working by connecting it to different computer through SATA or SATA to USB adapter.
Make sure your PATA adapter is working by connecting it to different computer. Also try different drive with it.
Try to buy another adapter with another chip, prefer unidirectional one.

There a whole lot of incompatibilities with them
This one for example is working fine in my FW IDE enclosure with TI chip and not in the FW enclosure with some different chip. Go figure!


iPhone apps won't stay on I jailbroke my iphone4. I edited the fiel inside CoreServices and change the ios version from 7.1.2 to 8.1.2. Within a couple of days, all apps starting disappearing instantly after opening. Apps are there. I can also get notifications but when I click on the apps, it stays for 3 or 4 seconds and then goes off. I tried to restore through itunes but it shows error, and even tried to re-jailbreak to get it fresh or maybe get rid of jailbreak. But the computer says the iphone with that version of iOS is not compatible. So, I can neither restore nor unjailbreak. I can't even edit the iOS version because i can't open ifile anymore. Any solution?

You can restore it as new. With iTunes.
And then re-install all user data and apps. Do not jailbreak again.


iOS 6 opening bogus Apple website when connecting to WiFi I recently upgraded to iOS 6 on my iPhone 4, and since then I am unable to connect to any WiFi. When I try to connect to WiFi, it briefly connects, then brings up a dialog to a bogus Apple website. What is going on?

I don't have a proxy server setup, or anything like that.

So far I have:

Rebooted access points
Restarted Phone
"Reset Network Settings" on my iPhone

Here is what is brought up:

That just magically appears when I try to connect to WiFi from Settings.

EDIT:

Seems like many other people are being affected by this.

  I am having same problem on iPhone 4s. It connects to router then tries to bring me to apple.com page. Then kicks me off network.

See this thread at apple.com.
  https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4311913?tstart=0

Select the triangle at the right of wi-fi router you're trying to connect to. Scroll to the bottom and change the HTTP Proxy from OFF to AUTO.


Is there a bluetooth camera that works with an iMac? I want to put a webcam in a far corner of my office and use it for Skype.

Do you know of a bluetooth or other wireless camera that will show up on a Mac like a regular camera?

What exactly are looking for? A Security Camera? Take a look at BestBuy's, Amazon or the AppleStores camera section. Most USB, Bluetooth or Ethernet cameras should be supported out-of-the-box.

Here are some ideas:

Withings Home HD WLAN  Video Camera

Arlo Netgear Wire-Free

NetCam Wi-Fi Camera with Night Vision


Messages beta hangs. How to remove it or at least its accounts? I've received a huge iMessage and now the App hangs. I can't remove the App, because it's only possible via the menu item which is not responding. Removing ~/Documents/iChat/* and ~/Library/Messages/* didn't help either.

Any ideas of how to remove it or at least its accounts?

Messages always hang on my Mac as well, error telling me no account set up etc, and restarting my Mac always helps to bring it back to normal.


Web browser opens popups as new tabs when maximized When browsing to a web page which opens a new dialog popup window, if the browser is maximized, then the new window is not opened as a dialog but as a new tab. However if the browser is not maximized, then the new window opens as a dialog. I need it to be a dialog (not new tab) always.

This behavior is same in all browsers tried - Safari, Chrome, Firefox. So it seems to be a setting of the OS itself.

Found one setting Apple menu > System Preferences > Dock > Prefer tabs when opening documents with options Always | In Full Screen Only | Manually, but changing these does not change the described behaviour.

Is there any setting affecting this?

(On Windows OS both Chrome and Firefox works as expected - they open dialog windows regardless of the browser being maximized or not.)

I have figured out a fix to this using Firefox 58.0.2. Firefox 59 slightly breaks this functionality - it opens as a new window in a new macOS space instead of a floating popup.

I don't have fixes for Chrome and Safari or Firefox 59, but I am certain they are possible.

(If you require Firefox 58.0.2, you can find it on Mozilla's FTP here. You will likely want to disable Firefox auto-updates, but this will compromise your security in the long run.)

In the address bar, type in about:config and hit enter.

On the warning page, click "I accept the risk". As long as you don't mess with other settings, your browser should remain safe.

In the search field, type link. - this will help us narrow down to the two settings we want to change.

Double click on browser.link.open_newwindow.disabled_in_fullscreen to set the boolean to false.

Double click on browser.link.open_newwindow.restriction and set 1 as the value and click OK.

This should force Firefox to open popups like the one you have as a new window that floats on top of the fullscreen window. Again, if you use Firefox 59, the popup will make a new window, but it will go to a new space instead of floating.


Where are my iBooks stored in macOS? I am looking here for my iBooks in macOS:

/Users/'USERNAME'/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks

But the folder is empty. When I open iBooks (the App) in Sierra, then all my books are there.

So what is happening here? Is Apple just hiding my books now? Where can I display/find them?

If you’ve enabled iCloud, they’re stored in Mobile Documents folder.

Here’s the full path to books you've added:

~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~apple~iBooks/Documents/

Here's the full path to books purchased through the iBooks store:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks

The path is only accessible via Terminal. Going through Finder will only redirect you to the iCloud folder. So open up Terminal:

For books you've added type in:

open ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud\~com\~apple\~iBooks/Documents

For books you've bought on the iBooks store type in:

open ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks

This will open a Finder window with your iBooks in it.


How to setup TeamViewer wake up on lan on MacBook Air I wanted to setup TeamViewer on my MacBook Air (2015, macOS Sierra 10.12.1) to wake up on LAN.

Does MacBook allow wake up on LAN (WOL)?

To enable Wake-on-LAN, open System Preferences → Energy Saver and check ‘Wake for Wi-Fi network access’.

Mac uses the standard WoL port 9.

Your setup will work if you have another device on the local subnet to sent the wake packer or if you can take advantage of iCloud and bonjour sleeep proxy so that naother Apple device like Apple TV can send the wake request by proxy.


How can you set up a free, universal OS X-wide ‘autosave’ script? I want to set up a free solution in OS X for a universal ‘autosave’ function (given Apple’s own solution is limited to only a few apps - at least for now), and let Dropbox do my file versioning and backup for me.

I've tried out the (paid) app ForeverSave, (formerly known as freeware ‘EverSave’), and it doesn't actually do a straight 'perform Cmd+S' so much as saving a COPY of the file into its own ‘Library’ in a folder somewhere on the mac (clogging up the hard drive unnecessarily), and as aforementioned, Dropbox already does my versioning for me.

I’m sure there’s a free way to do it via scripting + scheduling.

So I need to set a simple script - to just perform ‘Cmd + S’, to run (from startup onwards) once per minute, and within the script code (or just somehow), to set app exceptions (like browser apps where Cmd+S would not be welcome and get in the way), so that it only triggers in apps you actually to autosave in.

How would this be done?

Dealing with the same problem myself (especially needing effective autosave for excel for mac, which is most definitely broken in Mavericks) - I just started the "ForeverSave 2 (version 2.1.2)" trial on my Mavericks-running 2011 15" mbp and it seems to both force a cmd+s save of the excel document I'm working on and also save a copy to its library.  This does lead to some excess clutter but it has options to 1) keep the total number of backups for a certain file less than X amount (you specify amount), or 2) to automatically delete backups older than X number of days.  It does actually force a cmd+s, which is great - I tested several times by typing something, letting the document sit slightly longer than the ForeverSave auto-save time window, force-quitting excel or turning off my computer, and upon re-opening the file my new data was still there, without me having ever manually saved.  It only does this when the document is the active window, however so if you type something and then go start working on another document, it will not auto-save that first one (unless the autosave timer just happened to go off in the split second between you finishing typing and going to another window).  Only really seems like a problem if you make the autosave window very long (i.e. I could image if it was set to 3 hours I might work for two hours, navigate to another window, and then have a problem that quits excel, with no autosave ever happening) - to compensate I just set the autosave window to 2 minutes, and am having Foreversave delete any backups that it has after they're a week old, so it's library stays small.

Silly that we have to pay $20 for software to do something so simple, but at least it seems to work.


Why won't my MacBook Pro automatically sleep? I have my MacBook set to go to sleep after 2 minutes while on battery (via the Energy Saver preference pane.) However, when I leave it idle, it only turns off the screen—it does not actually sleep. This means that if I leave it and forget to close the lid, it always ends up with a dead battery.

The system sleeps correctly if it is triggered manually ( – Sleep) or by closing the lid. I have tested it with no USB devices connected and on a fresh user account, on the chance a background program was preventing sleep. There is no relevant information printed to the Console at the time when the system should sleep.

I've performed a PRAM and SMC reset to no avail, as well as the usual superstitious Verify Disk Permissions.

Is there anything else I should try before I reinstall OS X?

This is a MacBookPro5,5 running OS 10.6.6.

It's worth noting that I suffered from this issue some time ago due to a bug in a helper daemon for the product Things, but that this issue was slightly different and involved display sleep. Also, I have verified that the helper daemon was not running during my tests.

Additional information:

I started working through the Apple document titled "Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode." I discovered that this issue does not appear when I Safe Boot my computer. I diff'd the process lists and discovered that the following programs are only running when in normal boot, and are thus possible culprits:

Quick Look Helper
cvmsComp_x86_64
kextcache
launchd
mdworker
mdworker
nmblookup
vmnet-bridge
vmnet-dhcpd
vmnet-dhcpd
vmnet-natd
vmnet-netifup
vmnet-netifup

To help debug sleeping issues, try the pmset command in the terminal:

$ pmset -g assertions

Assertion status system-wide:
   ChargeInhibit                           0
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep             0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep              1
   NoRealPowerSources_debug                0
   CPUBoundAssertion                       0
   EnableIdleSleep                         1
   PreventSystemSleep                      0
   DisableInflow                           0
   DisableLowPowerBatteryWarnings          0
   ExternalMedia                           0

Listed by owning process:
  pid 2520: [0x0000012c000009d8] PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "com.apple.audio.'AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,2:0'.noidlesleep"

In this case, it's the process 2520 messing up. Check it out in activity monitor and kill it (/usr/sbin/coreaudiod started by iTunes).

After that, run the command again:

Assertion status system-wide:
   ChargeInhibit                           0
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep             0
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep              0
   NoRealPowerSources_debug                0
   CPUBoundAssertion                       0
   EnableIdleSleep                         1
   PreventSystemSleep                      0
   DisableInflow                           0
   DisableLowPowerBatteryWarnings          0
   ExternalMedia                           0

No flags for PreventUserIdleSystemSleep.


Why is the iPod Touch 5th gen able to record 1080p yet the iPhone 4 isn't? Looking at the specs, both the iPod Touch 5th gen and the iPhone 4 have five megapixel rear facing cameras.

Why, then, is the iPod Touch 5th gen able to record 1080p while the iPhone 4 is only able to record 720p?

Is this a software limitation, or is there something better about the iPod Touch's hardware?

Camera sensors are not only limited in their resolution, but also in the rate at which the image data can be read off of them.

Just because a sensor can take 5-megapixel still images doesn't mean that all of that data can be read off the sensor fast enough to record (smooth) video. Even reading just a subset of the pixels (called pixel binning) to reduce the amount of data may not be enough to get 1080p images at, say, 30 frames per second.

A web search indicates that the iPhone 4 uses an Omnivision OV5650 sensor. According to Omnivision's own product sheet for that sensor, it's limited to 720p video, so it's not just a software thing. I couldn't find any specifics about the sensor in the new iPod touch, but it's almost certainly a different one if it records 1080p.


Restart in Windows without changing startup disk or having to use administrator password? My 6-year old kid uses the family iMac for his Kodu-projects, which require Windows. He wants the real deal with Boot Camp and won't accept any virtualization :)

The problem: I want the OS X-disk to be the startup disk, of course. He wants a convenient way to restart the computer in Windows-mode (easier than pressing the Command-key at startup). There are some Apple-scripts and applications out there (like BootChamp), but they all ask you to enter the admin password. Despite (or because) he's quite computer savvy, I'd rather not give it to him at this point.

What options do I have?

BootChamp requires you to input the administrator password at its first use, but after that it allows you to restart without asking you for the password again. Unless you child is tech-savvy enough to get into Keychain, I think BootChamp may be exactly what you're looking for. It's also very easy on system resources.

After installation, you could reboot into Windows yourself, giving BootChamp future permission by inputting your admin password. From then on he'll be able to change OSs without having admin access.

I have had BootChamp crash a couple of times, usually when I plug in a USB device or remove one without using OS X's remove function. I've been running it for several months with only five or so instances, so it's pretty rare, but something to consider.

Cheers!


Logic Pro X images replaced by words fix? so i accidentally pressed some buttons at logic and long story short some images and widgets like the red circle rec button or the drum kit at the new project are now replaced just by words (eg REC and drummer)

I include some screenshots so that you can fully understand the problem. The top ones are taken from garageband. That was the way everything was presented at logic before shit happened.
The goal is to reverse this thing and go back to the current garageband way.
I tried to find the solution but failed and i guess its something very silly and easy to fix so...yeah.

thanks in advance!

This happens when you switch Logic Pro to use the Advanced Tools settings.

To change this back, go to Logic Pro > Preferences > Advanced Tools... and uncheck the "Show Advanced Tools" checkbox. Once you have done that, Logic will be back again to the simplified Garageband layout, including the items you have shown in your screenshot on the top.

The downside is that you lose access to the advanced features in Logic Pro when do this.


Why can't I see some of my notes from my iphone on my macbook? There are some notes that I created on my iphone and i can't see them on my macbook pro.  I have icloud turned on everywhere and I do see certain notes synced across my devices but some are just on one.

Is there anyway to determine what the issue is?  Is there a known issue with notes not syncing properly?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

It is possible you have an email account with "Notes" enabled on your iPhone, but don't have the same account set up on your Mac.

On your iPhone, in the Notes listing, tap "Accounts" in the upper left corner. Mentally review those accounts.

On your Mac, click the Navigation icon that shows two lists next to a box, and makes sure the accounts are the same.

If the accounts aren't the same, setup the missing accounts on your Mac in Mail Preferences. Also, if you have an Note "Account" on your iPhone that is named something like "On my iPhone", transfer those notes to an account that syncs. You can accomplish that by, tapping the Share icon in the note, tap "Copy", tap "Notes" to view your list of notes, tap "Accounts", tap an account that will sync to your Mac, tap the "+" icon, tap and hold, paste the note that. (Hopefully you don't have too many notes that need that action).


Can I run with an Apple Watch in the rain? I'm starting to feel that none of the Apple Watch designers actually broke a sweat while working out with the watch, nor did they try to exercise in the rain.

I started the Workout app on Outdoor Run, then at about a mile into my run I pulled back my rain-soaked sleeve to find that my workout was stopped about half a mile back, I assume because the water was mistaken for touch input.

With my Garmin Forerunner I could lock the touch bezel but continue to use the side buttons to start, stop, and reset the timer.

Am I missing a similar feature on the Apple Watch?

There's no way to turn the touch input off temporarily, but you can prevent the Apple Watch from stopping workouts early. When you start a workout just go to the watch face the way you normally would, the Workout will run in the background and can't be stopped until you go back to the app and it stop it yourself. It's not perfect, as you can't see your live progress, but it still works.


Is it possible to revert to non-beta Yosemite? I signed up for Yosemite betas at https://appleseed.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/ but am having issues.

Is there any way to go back the "standard" version of Yosemite?

On System Preferences → App Store you have an option called Your computer is set to receive pre-releases Software Update seeds, use the button Change and select Do Not Show Pre-release Updates.


Cannot create bootable USB with Boot Camp, "there is not enough space available on the disk" I am trying to install Windows 10 on my MacBook (macOS Mojave 14.4.4). I have used Windows 10 till last week and I had to remove all the partitions with a complete refresh of macOS too.

Since then I have been trying to use the Boot Camp method to install Windows 10.  I'm getting this error all the time:

  Your bootable USB drive could not be created
  There is not enough space available on the disk.

When I check Disk Utility the current HD has 196GB free.

I'm using the latest macOS update from Apple site.

How to resolve this?

System log:

2019-04-05 08:54:41 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Initializing configuration
2019-04-05 08:54:41 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Registered App nameID: Microsoft AutoUpdate_MSau04 | Copies: 1 | Installations: Location: /AppSupport Version: 4.9.19030902
2019-04-05 08:54:41 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> HelperTool Status: helperToolExists YES, helperToolCodesigned: YES
2019-04-05 08:54:41 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Attempted to register: MSau04, Preferences Available: YES, Re-Registration: YES, Success:NO
2019-04-05 08:54:41 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Microsoft Update Assistant launched
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Skip webservice. Only 23 since last call.
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Invalid action type (null)
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> MWSOnBoot handled action name Null
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> launched via LaunchAgent
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Changing timeNextUpdate from 2019-04-04 20:46:02 +0000 to 2019-04-05 07:54:42 +0000
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Scheduling timer to fire 0.000000 seconds from now.
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Update check timer fired at 2019-04-05 07:54:42 +0000
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Checking for updates
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Server is Reachable
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Checking for updates.
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Downloading Chks - Will Attempt to download chks for 1 registered apps
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Fetching file Success. File: https://officecdn-microsoft-com.akamaized.net/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/0409MSau04-chk.xml
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Downloading Chks - Result: 1. Missing Manifests: 0. Downloaded chks: 1.
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Downloading chk files got 1 files. Will check if any indicates an update is available.
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Downloading chk files - Found 0 apps and 0 suites that should be checked for updates
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> No updates found.
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Changing lastUpdate from 2019-04-04 08:46:02 +0000 to 2019-04-05 07:54:42 +0000
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Starting timer (not forcing one day)
2019-04-05 08:54:42 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Scheduling timer to fire 43199.998382 seconds from now.
2019-04-05 08:55:12 [Microsoft Update Assistant] <Info> Microsoft AU Daemon terminated normally

The error message is not warning of insufficient space on your internal disk, but rather that of your external USB drive. Make sure there is sufficient space on your external drive and that it is of a sufficient size (at least 16 GB, possibly more depending on the Windows installer you are using).

The system log snippet provided is not relevant to Boot Camp but rather that of Microsoft AU, the updater for Microsoft Office.


Adding an exchange account to an iPhone After I upgraded my iPhone to iOS7 my Exchange account disappeared from the phone and I haven't found a way to add it back. Can somebody please explain how to do this?

If you open up "Settings" and choose "Mail, Contacts, Calendars" then under "Accounts" you should see "Add Account". Clicking on that allows you to choose to add an Exchange account.


How do I make an old Airport Express be a purely Airplay device? I have an old Airport Express (copyright information says 2008) that I have set up as purely an Airplay slave: my main router (not Apple) runs network, IP, DNS, etc, and the Airport connects via an ethernet cable to the router, allowing me to hook some speakers to the network via Airplay.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten the password to the device.  I want to reset it so I can apply system updates and the like, but I don't remember how I set up the device in the first place, and am loathe to touch it until I know I can replicate its current configuration.

What do I need to do?

The reset button can be pressed to temporarily reset the password of the device to the default. At that point, you would log in and put the device in bridge mode, update the password, turn of WiFi if you wish.

I've used these devices as you mention many times and it works well. The only catch is sometimes the latest AirPort utility won't manage older devices and you need an older configuration tool.


How can I install java openjdk 8 on High Sierra or newer macOS How do I install OpenJDK 8 on High Sierra or newer macOS?
It looks like support for the Java Oracle JDK version 8 will be deprecated after January 2019 Java SE Overview
Additionally, it looks like publishing and distributing Docker containers with the Oracle Java JDK may not be legal Running Java on Docker

Fastest Solution

Use the adoptopenjdk cask

See also https://discourse.brew.sh/t/how-to-install-openjdk-with-brew/712/4

To install latest:

brew cask install adoptopenjdk

To install a specific version

brew tap AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk
brew cask install adoptopenjdk8
brew cask install adoptopenjdk9

Manual Solution

If you are looking to just bring down the binary without actually installing it, simply navigate to https://adoptopenjdk.net


Moving just MacOS from HDD to SSD I have an iMac with a fusion drive. A while back, the drive separated into two seperate drives, with one OS on both the SSD and HDD each. The Apple Technician was unable to help me to join them again into a single fusion drive over the phone, and so I gave up and just used the OS on the HDD, while rarely using the speedy SSD for importing and rendering video only. However, the 3TB HDD is nearly full, and thus is running incredibly slow - almost unusable.  Is there any way for me to delete the unused OS from the SSD, and move just the OS from the HDD to the SSD, while still leaving the data on the HDD. I have 2.8 TB worth of data on the HDD, and only 200 GB free on the SSD, so is there a way to move just the System OS to the faster drive, while leaving all of the data on the HDD without merging them into a Fusion Drive again?

No - that won't be easy at all but it's exactly what Fusion Drive was engineered to do.

What would be easy is to make a backup of all the files you care about - preferably using Time Machine and a second clone copy if you're not sure Time Machine will work for all your files as a just in case.

Then delete about 30 GB of space so you have room to get a clean installer and make a bootable install drive with the OS of your choice.

When you boot from that installer - the trick will be wiping both the SSD and HDD entirely - then getting it back into Fusion Drive configuration.

Now that you have an OS and user data on Fusion arrangement - loading from your backup (either in the Migration Assistant portion of the new OS setup or running Migration Assistant) would get you the SSD boost without having to implement your own dual tier storage system.

Since most of these specific tasks are already asked / answered here and would be far too long for one answer - here's the outline and I'll try to link to detailed questions on each:

Backup via Time Machine
Optional backup using a clone (Disk Utility / Carbon Copy Cloner / Super duper)
Clear space so you have 30 GB free
Download the OS installer you want
Make a bootable USB installer drive
Boot from the installer (or Internet Recovery) and erase SSD and HDD entirely
Then form an SSD/HDD Fusion Drive before installing the OS
Install the OS on Fusion Drive
Restore files from the backup


Apps for tracking iPhone app sales? Are there any free apps that will track your iPhone app sales?  Many have now gone to paid.

Apple has an official iTunes Connect app that can show your stats: iTunes Connect Mobile


How to see all the open folders I have currently? I have a folder icon in my icon list that opens my 'Downloads' folder.

The folder isn't visible on my screen after a while because I have other apps open and they get hidden under them.

How can I see all the folders I have currently open?  I usually just open another one and its a pain.

I didn't exactly understand what you meant by "icon list" or generally what you are asking, but i guess you mean that you have several Finder windows open, and you want to easily see all of them. You have a few ways of accomplishing this task:

You can use Mission Control, either by using the swipe gesture (three-finger swipe up on a trackpad or two-finger swipe up on the magic mouse) or by pressing F3. This will neatly organize all the current windows open in your space (aka desktop or full-screen application).
You can use the more specific App Exposè, which shows you all of the current windows for a specific app. So focus on just one of the Finder windows, and go into the App Exposè by either using the swipe gesture if you have it enabled (which is the same as the Mission Control gesture, just down instead of up), or by (I think) pressing FunctionF10.
Lastly, you can see a list of all the open windows on a specific app (on your case Finder) by right-clicking (or Control-clicking) it's dock icon.

If you find yourself having a lot of folders open a lot of times, I REALLY recommend that you tabs instead. You can always open a new finder tab by pressing command+tab and you can press command+option+tab to toggle the tab bar.


iTerm2 does not show username, machine name, time On my new mac machine, I could not do autocomplete for Git when I hit Tab.

So I thought to modify the terminal and found certain things on this link.

I may have messed when I installed iTerm2, Oh-My-ZSH, and Solarised Dark. So now I have nice looking terminal and git autocompletion works.

But in the terminal, the user name, machine name etc does not appear, like it is the in above link.

.

The colour scheme is also not great.

Can someone please help me, possibly step-by-step, on how to show these things like in this image

I am very new to Mac and please assume that I know very little about how it works.

Everything you're asking has more to do with the shell than with iTerm. There are numerous tutorials on how to set up your PROMPT variable (I use a modified version of this one). Since you're using Oh-my-zsh, try looking through the themes page. There are a variety of styles available (I began with the af-magic prompt). Once you find a prompt you like, feel free to copy the source from the .oh-my-zsh/themes folder to .oh-my-zsh/custom/themes and modify the custom version. Details on custom plugins and themes are available here.


Force MacPorts to build from source I want to build coreutils from source (because I’m testing a possible bug in the binary package). I tried

sudo port -s install coreutils

But this forces all packages to build from source. Is it possible to use binary packages for its dependencies, only build coreutils from source?

Not exactly a solution, but I got this answer from IRC:

sudo port destroot coreutils

After that, the binary is found in folder /opt/local/var/macports/build/ (because this is before the installation phase). This is good enough for me.


Finder freezes when samba automount not found I've added automount entries to my wife's Macbook (OSX - unsure about the exact version as she's overseas) for some shares on our FreeNAS server at home.

Sometimes when she travels for work it can't find the shares so Finder gets stuck with the spinning beach ball and is unusable. This doesn't always happen but when it does, it is persistent. For her current issue I have commented out the automount entries with chrome remote desktop however this is not always an option due to intermittent internet.

Is there some way to change these settings so that this problem does not reoccur? It does not happen every time.

The entries are fairly basic, as below.

/etc/auto_master

/- auto_smb -nosuid

/etc/auto_smb

/Volumes/share1 -fstype=smbfs,sort ://user:pass@10.1.1.1/share1
/Volumes/share2 -fstype=smbfs,sort ://user:pass@10.1.1.1/share2

This is one of the things I wish Apple either handled better or displayed a network blocking indication so users can know when things are being help up.

This is an issue even on the 10.11 beta builds. It is an issue with Apple network mounts, SMB mounts and other network interactions. Finder just blocks for network resolution by design.

If you can submit a reproducible situation where you can measure the delay to Apple - that might help them code in some more performance into Finder. I have filed about 5 bug reports at https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/ and it's not clear they are going to redesign anything from what I can tell.

Perhaps if enough people submit reproducible issues (mine are all slow downs and not complete blocks) with sysdiagnose showing the block then this might get addressed as a bug in the design.


gnuplot warning: "plotting with an unknown terminal" I'm trying to use gnuplot on my MacBook Air (Mac OS X 10.11.3).
I have installed XQuartz by using homebrew after I installed gnuplot (with this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR-GUSkqMCU).
But gnuplot did not work and terminal showed: Terminal type is now 'unknown'.

For example, I wanted to plot sin(x) and I got a error message as the following:

gnuplot> plot(sin(x))
WARNING: Plotting with an 'unknown' terminal.
No output will be generated. Please select a terminal with 'set terminal'.

You need to install DirectX11 and XQuartz.
Restart your Mac and Retry.

https://csml-wiki.northwestern.edu/index.php/Binary_versions_of_Gnuplot_for_OS_X:

  Binary versions of Gnuplot for OS X/macOS. These are primarily
  intended for users who normally work on Linux and wish to replicate
  their tools on a Macintosh.

  Compiled on OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan). Confirmed to work also on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra).
  Prior to installing this, you need to install X11/XQuartz (http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/).
  The versions provided here include the GNU Readline library.
  In addition to the standard terminals, the PDF terminal is included as well.
  Simply download the package from one of the links below and install. You can then invoke gnuplot from a terminal window via
  /usr/local/bin/gnuplot
  Currently available versions:

  5.2.2
  5.2.3


can i close my apple id account and open a new one? My apple id is associated with a .me account that i use for nothing else.  I would like to have an apple id associated with my most active email account (a work account, but i am self employed).  I see that a .me apple id cannot be changed but can it be closed and could i then open a new account with the better email address?  What would i lose?  Contacts?  Notes?  Old .me emails?  Apps purchased under the .me account?  The last two are not a problem, but the first two are...
THanks

I believe that contacts and notes can be synched to whatever Apple ID is set up, so changing accounts shouldn't affect these things. You will lose access to any Music, Movies, or Apps bought under the old Apple ID.


Why does gamed contact so many IPs and Ports? I've been running Little Snitch for a month or so now and it has been quite fascinating to see (and block) so many attempted connections.

gamed is constantly 'in the news'.  Please check out the attached screenshot for gamed.  I've been allowing connections as it is an Apple certified process.  Is it meant to be hitting so many IPs and different ports?  What's more, I do not play games on my MBP, though my kids play through my account on iOS devices so perhaps that is where the activity stems from.

Is gamed meant to be hitting so many different IPs and ports?

Yes it is. Why it does I couldn't tell you, but it does seem to do this as per this Apple forum. There are ways to disable it if you would like it to stop being so annoying.

From that same Apple forum:

  If you're monitoring network activity using Little Snitch, though, it's very annoying because it continually generates network traffic, whether you are using Game Center or not -- and it won't take no for an answer.

  You can prevent gamed from running by logging in as an administrative user, running the Terminal application, and typing (or copying and pasting) at the prompt:

  sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.gamed Disabled -bool true

  After restarting your computer, gamed will not be running and the Little Snitch network monitor won't be flashing.

  To reverse the change, you can type:

  sudo defaults delete /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.gamed Disabled

Edit: also note that because little snitch manages your computer's connectivity, not your network, the gamed process that is requesting those IP addresses is the one on your computer, NOT one from any iOS device.


How to block all texts from bit.ly? I have started to get text messages from bit.ly on my iPhone 6. It doesn't have a number—it just says "bit.ly".

I am confused that how can something which has no number is sending me text messages. I want to block it completely and totally. No one from bit.ly should ever be able to send me a text message.

How can it be blocked?

When I open the text message and click on bit.ly, I see the following options

send my current location
share my location
do not disturb

How to block bit.ly from sending me text messages?

To block this type of call:

Create a new contact called something like Non-Caller, No-Caller or Bit.ly
Enter 000-000-0000 for the phone number.
Scroll down and select Block this Caller

This should stop calls from calls that come from "zero" numbers.

I just remembered this tips to block No Caller calls -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6040239?tstart=0


How to run third-party iOS apps in OS X? I have a lot of awesome iOS apps such as Procreate that I would I like to use in OSX. Currently, I am only able to run my own iOS apps in OSX through Xcode. I heard some rumours that thirdparty iOS apps may be possible in the future to work with OSX as Apple tries to integrate its ecosystem even closer to its own services -- yet I would like to get it now:

  How to get iOS apps working in OS X? Any sandbox using things such as Xcode for third-party apps?

The reason you can run programs that you have source code and libraries for is that Xcode cross compiles that code to run on x86 architecture inside an iOS simulator.

What you are looking for is an iOS emulator and that's something that Apple doesn't provide. There are emulators around, but they all seem to be startup / venture funded efforts at this point. Time will tell if they decide to release the product to paying users or otherwise monetize that work. As of fall 2013, there are no feasible options to do what you ask.

Realistically, you would need to have source code for those third party apps to be one Xcode build away from simulating those apps on your Mac.

This restriction also applies to the dozens of apps Apple ships as part of iOS that aren't shipped in the Xcode iOS simulator.

The TL;DR summary is you need an iOS device do to most development and testing since:

the simulator isn't an emulator
the simulator  designed for very specific subset of the development and QA/testing tasks needed to ship and support an app
the simulator won't run arbitrary IPA or apps to which you lack the source code


Cannot reinstall iPhoto from App Store in Lion My company recently upgraded my laptop to OS X Lion and was pre-installed with iPhoto purchased under a different Apple ID. I have my own purchased version so wanted to update the app, but it asked for the other user's password.

So I decided to uninstall the app using Launchpad and try downloading it again. However, when I go to it in the Mac App Store, the button now says "ACCEPT" and when I click on it, I get this message:

  These apps cannot be accepted on this computer.
  Future updates of these apps can be found through Software Update.

What can I do to get iPhoto to download again?

I ran into the same problem and finally found the following solution on the apple support forums that worked for me:

Launch App Store
Click the "Purchases" tab (the price-tag icon at the top of the App Store window)
Find iMovie in the list
Click its "INSTALL" button


How do I prevent the Fn key from showing the Character Viewer in MacOS Big Sur? I have a Magic Keyboard with an Fn key in the bottom right corner. Every-time I press it a floating Character Window with emoji shows up. How do I prevent that?
Mac OS Big Sur: 11.2.3 (20D91)

Settings -> Keyboard -> Keyboard (Tab)
Middle of the panel is this setting: Press [GLOBE_ICON] to
Pull down the drop select and choose "Do Nothing"


How can I get Safari to open in desktop instead of its own space? When I open Safari, it opens in its own application desktop, instead of in one of Lion's desktops. The problem this creates is that I have to keep on changing back and forth to the desktop which TextMate uses.

How can I get Safari to open in a "normal" desktop.

I assume you are having problems with the full-screen feature which was introduced in lion.


App adds itself to Login Items each time it starts How do I prevent an app from adding itself to the list of Login Items every time it starts?

The app in question is Unified Remote, which seems to completely wonderful apart from this "bug".

Contact Unified Intents AB

Your best option is to contact the developers of Unifed Remote directly. This way they will know it is a problem and may be able to offer an immediate solution.

AppleScript Removal of a Login Item

Otherwise, you might want to investigate scripting the removal or quitting of the Login Item. The Mac Stuff web site has a good overview at Adding and deleting login items using AppleScript:

tell application "System Events"
    --Find out what login items we have
    get the name of every login item
    --see if the item we want exists.  If so then delete it
    if login item "home" exists then
        delete login item "home"
    else
        display dialog "That login item doesn't exist"
    end if
end tell


Using dictation feature to paste text into Terminal With user-created dictation commands, it's possible to paste text into an application. I tried creating a voice command that would paste in a text command into Terminal. However, nothing gets pasted. I can see the command get activated because the "Edit" flashes. I am able to paste text into other applications with voice commands without an issue.

Does anyone know of a workaround to this problem?

This problem continued for me when I updated to 10.13.3 but I found a solution.  Rather than using the Paste Text option when creating the new Dictation Command, use the Paste Data command.  Then go to TextEdit and type the text you want, select, and copy it.  Then go back to the window creating your Dictation Command and click on the Import from Clipboard button.  You will notice that the button moves down (I assume meaning that there is data there now).  Now my Dictation Command works!  I am not sure if this works in earlier versions of Sierra.


My SMB shares won't mount under Catalina! What's wrong? I am in the process of migrating from Mojave, on my iMac's internal HDD, to Catalina, on a USB 3.1 SSD.

I have an AppleScript that runs on login, "Connect to servers and set mouse pointer." It mounts my SMB shares, resets several Finder windows to icon view without toolbar, closes the finder windows opened, and then trips Mousecape, to set my mouse pointer to look like a small rodent.

Everything works just fine under Mojave, but the SMB shares aren't mounting under Catalina.

The very first thing it does is mount my SMB shares, using code of the following form (once for each share):

try
    open location "smb://uuuuuuuu:pppppppp@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/dddddddd"
end try

where uuuuuuuu is my user-ID, and pppppppp is my password, on the Linux box hosting the SMB share, at local IP address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, and name dddddddd.

This works perfectly under Mojave, but under Catalina, it (1) throws up a dialog showing the user-ID and asking for my password, and (2) rejects the password when entered.

Can anybody shed any light on what's going on here?

As per https://medium.com/@gobinathm/how-to-access-smb-printer-shares-in-macos-catalina-10-15-17ea91d2c10b, I added an nsmb.conf file; doing so had no effect.

I think I found something: on StackExchange, I stumbled onto something about Catalina removing support for SMB 1 protocol. With some further research, I found out about the "smbstatus" command at https://askubuntu.com/questions/917565/checking-smb-version. I ran it on the Linux box serving the SMB shares, and got this, with my Mac connected under Mojave:

Samba version 3.0.33-3.14.el5
PID     Username      Group         Machine
-------------------------------------------------------------------
32496   jamesl        users         jamess-imac  (192.168.1.11)
32499   jamesl        users         jamess-imac  (192.168.1.11)
Opened /var/cache/samba/connections.tdb

Service      pid     machine       Connected at
-------------------------------------------------------
shared       32499   jamess-imac   Wed Apr  1 15:19:22 2020
development   32496   jamess-imac   Wed Apr  1 15:19:22 2020

Could this be it? The Linux box in question is running CentOS 5.4, FWIW.

It turns out that the version of Samba (3.0) running on the server only does SMB1, whereas Catalina requires at least SMB2 (which didn't come in until Samba 3.5).

Caught between a rock and a hard place.

Given that the Samba box (1) is now only being used, at least on any sort of regular basis, by me, making it gross overkill, (2) is literally doing nothing but serving SMB1 and consuming power, and (3) is a 15-year-old Dell 400SC, I'm probably going to replace it outright. Possibly with a thumb drive.


How to resolve network issue or DNS to access web page on Snow Leopard Server? I have my network setup like as follows:

internet > router 1 > ethernet ports > switch > router 2

I have a Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server connected to "router 1", but it is so slow when accessing a web page hosted on the server from a browser on a workstation connected to either router 1 or router 2?

Is there a problem with my network setup or maybe because I changed the name to newservername.local?

This would most commonly be a problem with MTU sizes. Try setting yours to something a bit smaller (1450 or so), you can do this under the Hardware tab in Network preferences.


How do I completely disable HTML5 Video playback on Safari? I am so sick & tired of HTML5 videos, that I just want to completely disable them. I don't want em playing at all. Even if I click on them or whatever.
I found this extension for Chrome, which does the trick. Looking for something like this on Safari
PS: I did try converting this extension, but the resulting extension while appearing to work, is unable to actually block videos

My prev attempt at fixing this with AdGuard failed miserably. However, I just found an option in-built in Safari that solves my problem.
My initial frustrations were relating to HTML5 videos, mainly relating to the fact that they continue to auto-play even when Safari was set to not let them. And so I figured let's just disable them altogether. But maybe that was too extreme of an option. This one is a lot better!
The solution

Enable Safari Debug Menu

Run this in a Terminal window. To disable the menu replace the 1 with a 0
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1

Restart Safari

Open the Debug Menu, and head over to Media Flags

Enable the Video Needs User Action & Audio Needs User Action

Restart Safari

Now laugh at the puny websites trying their futile attempts to auto-play videos BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

PS: If you are a reddit user, you might just wanna head over to their website and just try it out with these options enabled
Tested on Safari Version 14.0.2 (16610.3.7.1.9)


How do I edit an info.plist file inside of a kext file? I wanted to know if there were alternate ways to edit an info.plist file that is inside of a kext file. From a Google search I saw, it seemed like it's not something you can easily edit.

Mid-2010 MacBook Pros have an issue related to the GPU that causes frequent GPU panic crashes. Someone on the Mac Rumors forums posted a solution which involved editing a plist inside of a kext file. This is their solution.

I specifically need to edit the info.plist file for the AppleGraphicsPowerManagement.kext file which is located in /System/Library/Extensions.

I was wondering if it would be possible to edit the plist without needing to disable SIP? Thanks in advance for the help.

All files under /System/Library is protected by SIP. So in El Capitan you can't do that without disabling it.

Boot into Recovery HD, open Terminal under Utilities menu, and type:

csrutil disable

Restart you computer. Navigate to the kext file, right click Show Package Content. Now go to Contents then you can find the Info.plist file. You might needs to change permission of the file before you can edit it. After you're done, boot into recovery again. Open Terminal and type:

csrutil enable

Then reboot and you're done.

But in later versions of macOS you may also have SIP enabled and only disable the kext-sign requirement, which may be a bit more secure than having it disabled entirely:

csrutil enable --without kext

Note that your changes might be reverted at a macOS update.


macOS Mojave stacks not grouping by type I have updated my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) with macOS Mojave and everything is woking as per the need.

But I think new feature of macOS Mojave called Stacks is not working properly on my MacBook when I set Group Stacks By to Kind.

It just create one group with name Other and puts everything (Image, Doc, ZIP, Video) in that one group.

I tried changing Group Stacks and restarting my mac but no luck.

Is there any other setting for this which I am missing?

I have same issue when I change System Preference->Spotlight setting.

From Monitor App, I found Spotlight progress takes a lot of memory, so I disable some options from Spotlight setting's *Search Results*, and then Desktop Stacks with those types disappear.

So, re-enable the expected type in Spotlight setting, the type will show on Desktop.


Stop app from showing multiple icons in Dock is showing up multiple times in the Dock. It's only open once. How do i stop this?

I have opened an app once, but it shows up two more times in a different middle section between two lines.

Is this an app misbehaviour or an macOS one? I can't tell and I'm not sure where to troubleshoot. This is the only app it happens with.

Apps with support for opening documents minimize into Dock in their own separate icon. To disable that behaviour, check Minimise windows into application icon under System Preferences → Dock.

macOS Mojave has a configuration to show recently used app's icon in the Dock (just like in iOS 11 and later). To disable it, uncheck Show recent applications in Dock under System Preferences → Dock.


I have iPad but no Apple id I was recently sold an iPad by someone on the net. We met to do the exchange. When I tried to set up, she couldn't remember the ID or the password. Now I can't get hold of her and am stuck with an iPad that doesn't function. What can I do?

You cannot do anything technically to get past it.  Your only method is to get back to the seller.  If they have disappeared, then perhaps you might want to entertain the possibility that you have been sold a stolen iPad.  In this instance, then rather than have a very expensive paperweight, you might want to report it to the Police.  There is a slim chance that it has been reported as stolen, and they may be able to reunite it with it's true owner, in which case there is also a chance that they may reward you in some way to make up for your loss, or (perfect scenario) they will have already replaced it on insurance, and will simply unlock it for you and let you keep it.


iCloud Photo Library fills entire phone with remaining storage in 'System' Help! For the past year, it seems that enabling the "iCloud Photo Library" feature on my phone causes the entire phone's storage to fill with "System".

I've checked the Storage summary and Photos is currently using 278.2 MB.
Scrolling all the way down shows System as using 15.13 GB.

Nothing helps with clearing this storage other than restoring my phone. The second I enable 'iCloud Photo Library' the entire phone's remaining storage begins to fill-up.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any ideas on how to fix this?

In Settings > Photos > Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage. This should prevent full resolution photos from being stored on your device and should remove content from local storage when your device fills up.


how to switch windows faster...? I used to switch windows using win+1..9 on windows 7. Now switching to mac, i wonder if is there any equivalent feature in snow leopard? Or maybe there exist some third-party application support that?

There are quite a few commands which let you do this in Mac OS X:

Cmd+Tab for switching applications
Cmd+` for switching windows within applications
F3/F9 for Exposé (shows all windows in a graphical way, on trackpads you can do a 4-finger swipe down)
F10 for showing windows of a specific application in Exposé
F11 for showing desktop and shoving all other windows to the side, on a trackpad its 4 finger swipe up

There is also Spaces which is like having multiple desktops, where you can switch to and fro. You can enable it in the Exposé & Spaces prefrence pane in System Preferences and suit the keyboard shortcuts to you liking


iPhone will suddenly shut down repeatedly unless charged I've had my previously-owned iPhone 5 for almost a year now and a few days ago it started to act strange.

First, while charging it says it's 47%.  It suddenly shuts down and then it shows that it's only 7%.

A few days later it suddenly shuts down when I tried to take a picture.  When I tried to open it, it shows the Apple logo, shuts down, Apple logo again, shuts down again.  This cycle continues until eventually my iPhone gives up and the screen turns pitch black.

I tried plugging my charger.  It shows me the Apple logo then my lock screen, but when I take out the charger, the screen vanishes once again, doing the ungodly cycle that happened earlier. It only works when the iPhone is charging.

What do I need to do to fix this issue?

From your description of the problem, my best guess is that the battery needs replacing because it can't hold a charge reliably. That may be your next step to resolution. More serious may be damage to the iPhone circuitry itself from charging problems, drops/shocks, moisture incursion. Accurate HW failure diagnosis is difficult remotely. Somebody needs to open it up and find out what's wrong.

Apple has some good information here about iPhone batteries. You can read on this Apple Support page about how to get the battery serviced & recycled. Because the iPhone 5 is well out of warrantee, any 3rd-party iPhone repair should be able to replace the battery.

Good luck!


iPhone 4 activation trouble, after iOS 6 beta installed I have installed iOS 6 beta, when it was released, in this summer.

Yesterday, I have a screen on my iPhone, that activation is required. But, it is impossible to activate, because "servers is unavailable".

https://discussions.apple.com/message/19837016?tstart=0#19837016?tstart=0

I have a lot of data, on my iPhone, I want to keep. Maybe, anybody know the solution of just activate iPhone, or I need to reinstall iOS by iTunes?

I had this issue, and was able to re-activate without losing anything.

do not backup this busted version
de-activate the "automatically sync when this device is connected"
in iTunes->preferences->devices
do a restore as a new phone to confirm your hardware's OK:

download the image you'll need (for example, http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=750 and scroll to the bottom, in the "6.0.0" items)
download it, and right-click or option-click on "Restore", select that ipsw file, and install a new phone (not a backup of your old phone)
this may take 40 minutes -- let it do its thing
you should end up with a very basic set of icons, so past SMS, no addressbook
confirm you have an activated phone by sending/receiving SMSs and calling or answering calls -- your hardware is OK, let's go restore a backup

restore the existing backup of your phone:

right-click or option-click on "Restore", select your ipsw file again, and choose to restore from a previous backup of your pre-busted phone
let it do its thing.  40-50 minutes, longer than above because it's restoring your previous apps, SMSs, addressbook, etc
when complete, you should have a functioning phone with all your addressbook and SMSs, but content (photos, music, videos) still need to be sync'd.

Step 3.2 requires that it'll let you restore -- if you keep getting the "check for a more recent version", try also DFU mode, and when it asks you to restore a software version, choose the IPSW file you downloaded in step 3a.

DFU can be done by:
 1. hold the power/lock button on top while holding the Home button on the front
 2. do for 10 seconds
 3. release the top/power/lock button while still holding the Home button
 4. do this for 10 seconds
 5. release the home button, so no buttons pressed
 6. the device will appear as "iPhone" in the devices (your old device may still appear for a few minutes) ready for a restore


How can I stop my iPad from ringing when my iPhone rings? Similar to this question, but my iPad is ringing, not my Mac.

Go to Settings > FaceTime and turn off "iPhone Cellular Calls" and your iPad won't ring any more.


Can I use Apple TV First Gen as a wifi extender? I have my router on one end of the house and my xbox on the total opposite side. My mom won't let me run an ethernet cord down stairs and won't let me reposition the router in the middle of the house. All i have is a first gen apple tv and since it has wifi and an ethernet port, I thought I could use it in some way to get the wifi signal and repeat it through the ethernet to my xbox. I have seen people put leopard on the first gen aTV and I thought maybe I should do that as a last resort (the sharing internet option). I come to this amazing community for help incase there's an alternative to my last resort.

Thank you!!

It should work if you do as you suggest - hack your Apple TV to install OS X on it, you should be able to use Internet Sharing to share the wifi signal. There are many resources on how to do this, but this blog post should be a good starting point.

Two caveats:

I haven't tried this, so no promises.
Because of how Internet Sharing works (it's using NAT), whatever is on the wifi side of the network may have limited access to the rest of your network. Internet access should work okay, but things like iTunes Home Sharing and the like won't be accessible.


Trying to set an external Bootcamp drive as the Startup Disk Is there a way to setup an external Bootcamp drive as the default startup disk? I want to do this in order to enable hyper-v virtualization on Windows on a MacBook Air (Early 2015 running 10.12.3 Sierra).

This is the error that I'm getting:

Windows 10 is installed on an external SSD in a 2.5" enclosure that uses USB 3.0. I already installed the Windows Support Software from Bootcamp onto it.

I can boot up from the external SSD by holding the Option key during boot, but virtualization is disabled.

Unfortunately Apple Care reps also couldn't find a solution.

We made sure that the drive was functional by running First Aid
The external drive uses a GUID Partition Map

There are a few things you can try to resolve the exact issue in your question.

Reset NVRAM

Older Macs had what's called Parameter RAM (PRAM), newer Macs use Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM). It may be worth you resetting this. Here’s how to:

Shut down your machine. Yes, a full shut down, not just logging out.
Press the power button and then press the commandoptionpr keys. You have to make sure you press these keys before the gray screen appears or it won’t work.
Hold those keys down until your Mac reboots again and you here the startup chime.
Let go of the keys and let your Mac reboot normally.

Note: When you log back in you may need to readjust some of your system preferences (e.g. speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, time zone information, etc).

Once you boot in, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk and check to see if you can now select your Windows Bootcamp volume as your startup disk. If you still can't, try the step below.

Use the SDM to change your default Startup Disk

Another way you can select your default startup disk is to use the Startup Disk Manager. Follow these steps:

Shut down your Mac
Switch it on again and immediately press and hold the option key
Release the key when your bootable volumes start appearing
Press and hold the control key while you select your Windows Bootcamp volume

Once you've done this, your Windows Bootcamp volume should be the default startup disk. If you still can't, try the step below.

Use the Windows Boot Camp Control Panel

You can also try using the Windows Boot Camp Control Panel instead. Use these steps:

Boot into Windows
View the Control Panel
Select the Boot Camp Control Panel
Select the Startup Disk tab
Select the Windows volume as your default startup disk

Once you've done this, your Windows Bootcamp volume should be the default startup disk. If you still can't, see other options below.

Other options

Another couple of options are:

Trying rEFInd
Using Terminal to set your Startup Disk (if you're comfortable doing so)


Sierra Terminal Automatically Escapes Pasted URLs Copy a URL that has some query string into clipboard like: https://www.google.com/webhp?q=macos
Paste the URL in Terminal (CMD+v), the Terminal automatically escapes ? and = and changes the text to https://www.google.com/webhp\?q\=macos.

How can I turn this automatic escaping off?

[Edit]: a screen capture of the problem:

This is either a bug in zsh or a configuration issue for bracketed-paste-magic or url-quote-magic

You could use a different shell or remove / add configuration for zsh to remedy this feature/bug:

How to disable URL escape in zsh


Macbook2,1 late 2006 fan not spinning My macbook is very hot, the fan never starts. I tried some softwares like Fan Control 1.2, scmfancontrol 2.4 and Macs Fan Control but each of them is giving me always 0 rpm on the main (right) fan…

Why? What can I do?

The system is a very fresh install of Lion, updated to the last, 10.7.5

Ps: I remember that before going to reinstall it, a manual control on the fan was working...

Zero for fan speed can be often a sign phisical damage of a fan or its connector. If resetting of SMC won't help, then it is what I said.


Website says enable cookies even though they are enabled, on Catalina I use the bill pay feature from my credit union.  After upgrading to Catalina the bill pay feature reports that cookies are disabled.

Cookies are not disabled.  I have cleared them, cleared history, restarted safari, restarted the computer.  Still no love.  You can see that new cookies have been created after logging in to the credit union.  But the bill pay feature still reports that cookies are disabled.   I have two systems running Mojave that don't have this problem.  What could be blocking this web site from reading the cookie? The firewall maybe?

If there's any hint of "best viewed in these browsers" on the site, it's good to use them.

You can "empty cache" using alt+command+E or by using Develop Menu in Safari.

Also, try turning off "Prevent cross-site tracking" to see any effect. You can turn it back on later, if you want.

  Some websites use third-party content providers. A third-party content provider can track you across websites to advertise products and services.

  With this option turned on, tracking data is periodically deleted unless you visit the third-party content provider.

https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/safari/sfri35610/12.0/mac/10.14.5

Also disable all extensions and third party safety applications you might have.