8 year support on MacBook Pros I currently use a "Mid 2010" MacBook Pro and was able to install Sierra and XCode 8.3 without any issues.

I would like to use this MBP for some two or three more years, however a person told me that Apple has an "8 year support window" and that 2017 is the last year in which I'll be able to update to the latest OS and install the latest XCode, etc.

I've Googled but couldn't find anything stating a similar policy. Does this have any truth to it? Is it possible to know how much longer I'll be able to install MacOS and XCode updates?

There is no official timeframe that Apple hardware will support the latest operating system or versions of particular software. It will vary depending on the type of enhancements that occur in hardware and what impact this has in terms of what the latest software needs in order to be able to perform certain tasks.

The person who told you that Apple has an "8 year support window" may have been getting confused with Apple's policy on Vintage and obsolete products, but this relates only to hardware/parts support and has no implication in terms of the operating system and other software.

In summary:

Vintage products are those that have not been manufactured for more than 5 and less than 7 years
Obsolete products are those that were discontinued more than 7 years ago.

However, even the above will have some exceptions depending on local laws.

Using macOS Sierra as a guide, it is officially supported on:

iMac: Late 2009 or newer
MacBook and MacBook Retina: Late 2009 or newer
MacBook Pro: Mid 2010 or newer
MacBook Air: Late 2010 or newer
Mac mini: Mid 2010 or newer
Mac Pro: Mid 2010 or newer

Source: Apple

As you can see, in some cases support goes back to 2009 models, while in others it goes back to 2010 models. Therefore, there is no official timeframe that Apple hardware will support the latest operating system or versions of particular software.


When installing an application is there any way to avoid any drag and drop? When installing an application from a DMG file one needs to drag the new application into the application folder (or some other folders).

Is there any way to avoid this drag and drop (any new installed application would be automatically placed into the application folder)?

You could copy/paste it. Might be simpler if you can't see the Apps folder right at that moment.

It will stay in the paste buffer so long as the .dmg is still mounted, unless overwritten by another copy action.

Frankly, it would be far more effort than it's worth to try automate that process, for any given .dmg with random content.


How to record camera with sound from external source on an iPhone 7? Pretty much what I'm trying to do. I want to record the camera's picture but the sound shouldn't come from the microphone directly but via an external audio signal.

What are my options?

I have either an analog audio signal via a jack cable or using a Windows laptop on the other hand.

The problem is: even though AirServer works on Windows and thus I can see my iPhone's picture on it I can't record audio with it from the PC nor record fullscreen video.

I see that the only way to do this is to buy a Mac and use Quicktime?

What about analog audio to USB going directly into the iPhone, would that work?

Obviously I could edit the two together (video and sound) but I don't want to do that if I can avoid it.

Thanks

There are a whole heap of external microphones you can use with the iPhone 7.

Use the included adapter

Firstly, the most basic option, is to simply use the Lightning Port > 3.5mm adapter that comes with the phone. This adapter supports Tip Run Ring Sleeve (TRRS), so you could just plug in an external microphone into the iPhone 7 that way (i.e. an external microphone that supports the TRRS plug).

Lightning port microphones

However, if you're looking for a more dedicated solution without an extra adapter in the way, you do have a number of options available if you want to connect directly via the Lightning port. Below are some options for you (ranging in quality, price and features):

Sennheiser ClipMic Digital
iRig Pro
iRig Mic HD
iRig Field
iRig Pro Duo
iRig Mic Studio
Rode i-XLR
Shure MV88
Zoom iQ5
Zoom iQ6

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of the above products.


How to install a driver for the HP Deskjet 5550 on macOS 10.14? I want to print in color from an old HP Deskjet 5550 printer (17 years old and works without an issue, I heard).

macOS offers Generic PCL Laser Printer for this device. It works (although it is not a laser printer), but only in black & white.
The old individual driver on the HP website doesn't work with macOS 10.14
Mac Printer Driver 5.1 (dated 20 September 2019 on HP website https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Deskjet-5500-Printer-series/71895/model/71897, dated 2017 on the Apple website https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1888?locale=en_US) doesn't contain a driver for this model, as seen in /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources and in the dialogue when adding a new printer.

What are my options?

You can use the Gutenprint drivers:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print/files/

Click the "Download Latest Version" button.

Once you have downloaded the disk image and installed the drivers, make sure the printer is connected and powered up, then re-add your printer in System Preferences > Printer & Scanners.  It should automatically select the Gutenprint driver.  Otherwise, manually select it.

Click "Add" and you are ready to print.


How to get Apple Music on iPod Touch 1G? I own an iPod Touch 1G and I'd like to listen to my downloaded Apple Music tracks on it. However, I can't do that since "Apple Music songs cannot be copied onto an iPod" (That's the message it shows me when trying to copy them on there) and I can't enable Apple Music on an iPod Touch 1G.

Is there any way to get around that?

There is no legal way of doing that. However, there is a number of various online and downloadable converters you can use to get a usable file from the original .m4p one.

To get the file, just go to /Music/iTunes Media/Apple Music/yourSong.m4p.

Then, open a converter and just let it work its magic.

WARNING: This way is illegal, violates Apple Music's TOS and is not at all nice. Do it on your own risk.


macOS Big Sur creates duplicate versions of files Several times in a day, I notice duplicate versions of my files being created. Refer to the screenshot - empty.html.erb was duplicated, and a new empty.html 2.erb was created.
What is causing this, and how can I stop this?

I feel like this might have something to do with TimeMachine and backups, since it only started after I enabled backups to iCloud and moved my files from ~ to ~/Documents/

The problem seems to be that you're using git ontop of iCloud Drive. I.e. the problem is not with Time Machine and backups at all - it is instead that you have chosen to store your ~/Documents/ folder in iCloud Drive, which is not compatible with programs such as git.
The issue is that iCloud Drive treats each file as an individual and independent file, whereas git assumes a specific relationship between the files. Git uses hidden files that contain information about other files in the folder - it expects them to be "in sync" - and it expects it is the only program manipulating the files; this assumption does not necessarily hold here.
Imagine for example that you run a git operation that touches several files in your folder - it might move stuff around, delete and recreate, change access times, etc. It does so very quickly while keeping its own state. iCloud Drive is triggered by these changes and starts a sync - however there's a lag between git something and the sync being triggered. Then later iCloud Drive might have sent something to the server and received data back, and it goes to store it and sees that the file (or its metadata) has changed underneath it. Now iCloud Drive has a conflict that could be solved by overwriting your local file, trashing the file just received from the server - or as the case is here - preserving the new data by saving it with a "2", "3", "4", etc. suffix.
This problem is common with almost any file syncing system, so you would experience similar problems with Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
The solution to this is to not an iCloud Drive backed Documents folder, or move your git repository out of the Documents folder.


Single click behaves like double click. Mousedown behaves like single click On my macbook, with a mouse plugged in (Microsoft Intellimouse Optical), a single click will sometimes behave like a double click, or pressing the mouse button but not releasing it will behave like a click.  This behavior is sporadic.  Sometimes it will happen with every click for a few clicks.  Sometimes it will be every other click.  Sometimes it behaves normally for a while.

I've been using this mouse with my macbook for weeks without incident until a couple of days ago.  This only happens at home.  I have an identical mouse at work that does not give me any trouble.  I'll work at home with my mouse behaving badly, go to work and have no issues, then come home and the mouse behaves badly again.  At work, my mouse is plugged into a USB hub.  At home, it's plugged directly into the usb port.  I've tried swapping USB ports, but the behavior did not change.  I've tried rebooting.  That didn't help either.

How should I further troubleshoot and resolve this issue?

The misbehaving mouse is surely having hardware issues. This behaviour is very likely not caused by software. Plug in the mouse to another computer to confirm. If the mouse is indeed having hardware issues, you should get it replaced replaced under warranty.


Is there a way to find the line in which I performed my latest change in Xcode, even in other files? Sometimes I commit changes that I forget about and would like to find those right the way.

https://help.apple.com/xcode/mac/11.4/#/dev89f34a32d

See source control navigator

Choose the branch, and double click on the latest commit.


Get file path of movie playing in VLC If VLC is running, playing a movie at file path X, is there any way I can know what file path X is from a Bash script? (For simplicity's sake we can assume that only one instance of VLC is running.)

Update: I now know this can be done using the following methods. Are there other ways, perhaps a way of asking VLC directly?

AppleScript (macOS only)
lsof (All Unix)

That's an easy one

osascript -e 'tell application "VLC" to get path of current item'

That returns the path to the currently playing movie. If you want more I suggest you select "Open Dictionary.." in the File menu of "Script Editor", select VLC and have a good look. Then do man osascript on the command line for the man page of osascript.


Can't send outgoing messages using Gmail via the Mail app Using Sierra OS. I have a gmail account and i connected it to the mac mail app. I can receive emails just fine but I get this error message when I send a message: https://imgur.com/a/D6d0Xr2

I deleted every server on smtp list and added a manual one but it still wont work: https://imgur.com/a/sgmudcQ

Your credentials are not working with gmail. See the suggested gmail help article for troubleshooting. Try logging in with a web browser on your computer first. It may be that 2 factor authentication is causing issues.


Upgrade 2011, 64 GB, iPad 2 (GSM model) running 5.1.1 to iOS 6 or 7 only - not jailbroken I know this is similar to another question, but I think it's a different situation.  I hope it's okay to start a new thread.

I want to upgrade, but to nothing higher than iOS 6 or 7. The performance on our other iPad2 on iOS 8 is horrible.  I don't dare try iOS 9.

I've downloaded an IPSW file from osxdaily.com (iPad2,2_6.0.1_10A523_Restore.ipsw) but neither iTunes nor redsn0w will let me install it.  ITunes comes back with "This device isn‘t eligible for the requested build" and redsn0w says "That IPSW isn't supported by this version of redsn0w."

I do not have the SHSH blobs from iOS 4.

Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?  Will iTunes not install the IPSW because Apple isn't signing it anymore?  If so, is there another route I can take?

Thanks.

Apple no longer signs any software older than iOS 9, so installing iOS 6 or 7 on your iPad 2 is impossible, whether it's jailbroken or not.

The iPad 2 is getting pretty old anyway, if you need to run newer software then you may as well upgrade to a newer iPad. I suggest looking for a used one on eBay.


Is it possible to delete the "useless" apps pre-installed on my Mac? There are some preinstalled apps that came with my laptop that I know I wil never ever use.

Apps like "Notes", "Stickies", "Game Center", etc.. that were preinstalled in my Macbook Pro are apps that I don't plan on ever using and it's taking up too much space in my Application Folder.

Are there any ways to remove them? Please note that I have already tried dragging it to the Trash bin, but it won't even go to the Trash bin. It' just stuck in my computer forever.

I strongly recommend against removing standard applications:

Most of them need hardly any space at all (the three mentioned in the question need 14 MBytes together)
An upcoming OS X version may expect them to be there
There is no easy way to get them back once you removed them


Remove special characters and replace space with _ from files and directories Recursively in Bash I have a script that is giving me some problems, I know that I have to re-do it recursively but am having some trouble. The script should rename all files and folders in a given folder by removing special characters like $-,)(! and replacing " " with "_"

Here is the piece I need to re-do:

# Rename directories
find "$ORIG_DIR" -name "*" -type d| while read dname
do
    NEW_DIR=`echo "$dname" |sed -E 's/^[ \t]*//g; s/[ \t]*$//g; s/\./_/g; s/\,/_/g; s/ /_/g'`

        # Rename files
        find "$ORIG_DIR" -name "*" -type f | while read fname
        do
            NEW_FNAME=`echo "$fname" |sed -E 's/^[ \t]*//g; s/[ \t]*$//g; s/\./_/g; s/(.*)_/\1\./; s/\,/_/g; s/ /_/g'`
            if [ -e $NEW_FNAME ]
            then
                echo "$NEW_FNAME already exists. Not replacing $fname"
            else
                echo "Replacing $fname with $NEW_FNAME"
                mv "$fname" $NEW_FNAME
            fi
        done

    if [ -e $NEW_DIR ]
    then
        echo "$NEW_DIR already exists. Not replacing $dname"
    else
        echo "Replacing $dname with $NEW_DIR"
        mv "$dname" $NEW_DIR
    fi
done

END

Untested

find . -depth -print0 |
while IFS= read -d '' -r file; do
    dir=$(dirname "$file")
    base=$(basename "$file")
    base=${base//[[:space:]]/_}         # change whitespace to underscores
    base=${base//[^[:alnum:]_.]/}       # delete any chars not alphanumeric _ .
    newname="$dir/$base"
    if [[ -e $newname ]]; then
        echo "'$newname' exists, not renaming '$file'"
    else
        echo mv "$file" "$newname"
    fi
done

If it looks OK, remove the "echo"

The key here is the "-depth" option to find. It will emit "./sub dir/file name" before "./sub dir".  Otherwise if "./sub dir" is renamed to "./subdir", then you'll get a 'file not found' error when the while loops gets to "./sub dir/file name". Also, it means you don't need different logic for directories.

The "-print0" option to find and the busy-ness around the read command are to ensure filenames with spaces are handled properly.


Change icns in macOS to gray color via bash or other script? I want to change icns (Application icons) in macOS applications to gray color. Is there is any script (bash or AppleScript) to do this?

I need a script because applications folder always changing and no way to change everytime icons in this folder.

In general, no. Each application is sandboxed, code signed and updated by the Mac App Store update process. Some apps are restricted by system integrity protection.

In specific yes, you could disable sip if needed. You could disable gatekeeper and modify the app and re-enable gatekeeper. The engineering work to maintain a general script would be days to get a framework done and then hours to days Pre update.


Why does my Finder window close when I eject an external drive? Why does Finder window close when I eject an external drive sometimes?  It's still in the menu system, but no open window to toggle to.  I was not in any folder on said external drive, but in the Documents folder - I am not even in a folder on the external drive being ejected..

I don't want it to close

Please advise.

Before ejecting drive click on any other drive and then press eject, window stays open,


How does Apple's app review work? If I submit multiple apps to be reviewed at once, is it possible for them to all be reviewed at the same time or do they go down the list and review the next one only after the one before it has been reviewed?

My guess is if you put 10 or 30 apps in for review, you might [and probably should] have a hold or slowdown, but for only two apps, I doubt there is any meaningful delay by having more than one app in the queue.

See the published app submission guide on Apple's developer web site. It also mattes if you are submitting an update as opposed to initial submission of an app for initial review and first sale.


Can my former employer still monitor my iPhone after I erase all content and settings My former employer allows employees to keep their work phones after they quit. When I was with my former employer, I had to install a series of corporate and company related apps so that they could monitor my phone. After leaving the company, I used the option "Erase All Content and Settings" so that my phone can start fresh. Does that mean the phone is completely disconnected from my ex-employer and I can treat it as a brand new phone?

That would really depend on how they went about doing the monitoring, on a functional level. Seeing as it was originally distributed by corporate for use in-company it's entirely possible that their apps were designed to modify the iPhone's system in a way that apps on the App Store would normally be prohibited from doing. Seeing as they were privately designed apps for use on private company property there wouldn't be much stopping them from designing the apps to inject monitoring software into the system storage, where the user cannot access or remove it, in an attempt to stop employees from simply uninstalling the apps to bypass the monitoring software.

To be completely safe I would recommend putting the iPhone in recovery mode, connecting it to a Mac with a stable (and private/secured) internet connection, and completely reinstalling the firmware & OS via iTunes' restore feature.

To put the phone into iTunes recovery mode, sometimes called "DFU mode" or "Firmware Update Mode" follow the steps below:

  Warning: Make sure to disable "Find My iPhone" and delete the connected iCloud account from the device before following these steps, or it may be left unusable after the restore has finished.

  1.) Remove the SIM card from the device.

  2.) Press and hold both Power and Home for 30 seconds. The screen should go black around the 20 second mark, this is because the phone has shut off. The boot screen (Apple logo) will appear on screen, keep holding both the power and home button for another 10 seconds.

  3.) On the 30th second the screen should turn black again. As soon as it does, let go of the power button, but keep holding down the home button for another 30 seconds.

  4.) On the 60th second let go of the home button. The screen should now remain black as though the phone is powered off. If the Apple logo appears on screen try again from step 1. If the screen remains dark it means the phone is now in iTunes recovery mode.

  5.) Open iTunes, plug the phone into the Mac, and a window should pop up saying that an iPhone in recovery mode has been detected, and that it has to be restored before it can be used.

  6.) Click the "Update & Restore" button, and wait for the process to finish. Make sure the cable does not disconnect during any point of the restore process, if your cable is finicky grab a better one, or buy a new one.

  7.) When iTunes says the process has completed, and the phone reboots: reinsert the SIM card. The phone's firmware and OS will have both been erased and reinstalled from the newest version on Apple's update servers. This means it is essentially no different from a new iPhone straight out of the box, and any spyware or monitoring programmes will definitely be gone at this point.


What can you tell applications to do using AppleScript? I know that you can use the tell application "" command in AppleScript to do many simple things like open a website in Google Chrome, play and iTunes song, or do keystrokes with System Events. Are there any other things that you can tell applications to do that might come in handy in some way? (I already know the iTunes and Finder tells... please don't include those).

There is a feature in the Applescript editor called the Library. it can be accessed through Window > Library on the top navbar, or with the shortcut Shift+Command+L. You can double click on the applications there, and you will see all functions, variables, etc.

The windows looks like this. Double clicking shows a new window with all possible functions, vars, etc for Applescript, and even Javascript and Objective-C. You can select those in a dropdown.

Data Types

In the window explaining possible actions, you will see a tag and an icon next to it. The icons represent the type. S stands for Suite, E stands for element, blue C stands for Class, purple C stands for class or collection, and purple P stands for property.

Say we have this example:

tell application "Safari"
set a to URL of current tab of first window
end tell

URL is a property of the type tab, current tab is also a property, but of the window. This is one way to use classes. The other way would be something like:

open n
From the standard suite, this would open the object n.

AFAIK, Suites and elements do not have special treatment in Applescript

as @user3439894 mentioned in the comment section: If the application you are looking for is not in the library, you can open it's dictionary with Shift+Command+O, and selecting the app.

There is also a search for a certain keyword.

Let's say we want to learn how to use System Events to do press a key. If we search, we see that there is something called keystroke in the Processes Suite, and shows a description of:

keystroke v : cause the target process to behave as if keystrokes were entered
keystroke text : The keystrokes to be sent.
[using command down/control down/option down/shift down or list of command down/control down/option down/shift down] : modifiers with which the keystrokes are to be entered


How do I change the root password? Everybody seemed very confused by the story and extra information I gave so I will simply ask a very straightforward question.  Irrespective of your personal opinion on the utility of doing so; how does a person change the root password?

Also, the apple help page that I linked originally, and that some of you additionally linked to does not actually say how to change the root password, it only says that it can be done.

If you can already log in on an account with administrator privileges (normal OS X account) and know its login password, you can reset the passwords of other admin accounts in System Preferences > Accounts. If you can't, you can reset the passwords of admin accounts in single user mode. See this question.

If you actually mean the password of the root user, it can be changed from /System/Library/CoreServices/Directory Utility.app/, but you have to be logged in on an admin account and know its login password.


Mac App Store Login Problem Since I upgraded my MacBook to Mountain Lion I have the following problem: in the Mac App Store it's not possible to log in or to buy/download anything. Clicking on log in just doesn't do anything, no error massage. What to do?

Edit: The following error messages are in the log file after trying to download some app:

08/11/12 20:36:57.171 -[ISStoreURLOperation _runURLOperation] - load the URL from the bag if needed
08/11/12 20:36:57.172 url:http://ax.init.itunes.apple.com/bag.xml?ix=5  bagKey:(null)
08/11/12 20:36:57.173 -[ISStoreURLOperation _runURLOperation]: _addStandardQueryParametersForURL: http://ax.init.itunes.apple.com/bag.xml?ix=5
08/11/12 20:36:57.179 ISURLBag: Insufficient data to parse URL bag
08/11/12 20:36:57.181 ISStoreURLOperation: Chose not to retry after error: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1003 "Unknown Error." UserInfo=0x7f8cbb060600 {NSLocalizedDescription=Unknown Error.}
08/11/12 20:36:57.182 -[ISStoreURLOperation _runURLOperation] - load the URL from the bag if needed
08/11/12 20:36:57.182 url:http://phobos.apple.com/bag.xml?ix=5  bagKey:(null)
08/11/12 20:36:57.182 -[ISStoreURLOperation _runURLOperation]: _addStandardQueryParametersForURL: http://phobos.apple.com/bag.xml?ix=5
08/11/12 20:36:57.188 ISURLBag: Insufficient data to parse URL bag
08/11/12 20:36:57.189 ISStoreURLOperation: Chose not to retry after error: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1003 "Unknown Error." UserInfo=0x7f8cbb062270 {NSLocalizedDescription=Unknown Error.}
08/11/12 20:36:57.189 ISAuthenticationChallengeOperation: Could not load URL bag: Error Domain=NSURLErrorDomain Code=-1003 "Unknown Error." UserInfo=0x7f8cbb062270 {NSLocalizedDescription=Unknown Error.}
08/11/12 20:36:57.190 AuthenticateOperation: Authentication challenge failed: Error Domain=ISErrorDomain Code=-128 "Unknown Error." UserInfo=0x7f8cbb031150 {NSLocalizedDescription=Unknown Error.}
08/11/12 20:36:57.192 StorePurchaseBatchOperation: Canceling 1 purchases after failure: Error Domain=ISErrorDomain Code=-128 "Unknown Error." UserInfo=0x7f8cbb031150 {NSLocalizedDescription=Unknown Error.}

My first thought is that you can try repair the disk permissions in Disk Utility. Might be a problem with some files.

Do you get the actual login prompt or just nothing happens? Do the content in the store load?


Text randomly disappears while typing? rMBP OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

While chatting with friends on facebook, the text randomly disappears and appears at random intervals. I cannot induce the effect manually. It is very frustrating to see the text suddenly disappear yet show when I press enter.

Is there a specific reason ? Maybe spelling autocheck or autocorrect ?

EDIT

Any updates on this ?? Is there a fix ?

I'm experiencing the same thing — there appears to be a rendering bug in Safari. Sometimes I see visual glitches when scrolling, too. It will probably be fixed in a software update in the future.


Best Practices for dealing with unbrewed files in a fresh install of homebrew I accidentally deleted /usr/local/bin which contained brew among other things.  I reinstalled homebrew and ran brew prune to get rid of broken symlinks, but when I run brew doctor, I still get the following warning:

$ brew doctor
Warning: Unbrewed dylibs were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected dylibs:
    /usr/local/lib/libtcl8.6.dylib
    /usr/local/lib/libtk8.6.dylib
Warning: Unbrewed header files were found in /usr/local/include.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected header files:
    /usr/local/include/fakemysql.h
    /usr/local/include/fakepq.h
    /usr/local/include/fakesql.h
    ...
Warning: Unbrewed .pc files were found in /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected .pc files:
    /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/tcl.pc
    /usr/local/lib/pkgconfig/tk.pc
Warning: Unbrewed static libraries were found in /usr/local/lib.
If you didn't put them there on purpose they could cause problems when
building Homebrew formulae, and may need to be deleted.

Unexpected static libraries:
    /usr/local/lib/libtclstub8.6.a
    /usr/local/lib/libtkstub8.6.a
Warning: You have uncommitted modifications to Homebrew
If this a surprise to you, then you should stash these modifications.
Stashing returns Homebrew to a pristine state but can be undone
should you later need to do so for some reason.
    cd /usr/local/Library && git stash && git clean -d -f

If you want to see the full list, check here: http://pastie.org/9663902

My question is, should I manually delete these files?  According to this answer, I can simply leave the files (or move them to a separate folder and then run brew link <folder name> but since that answer is three years old (and about binaries specifically), I am checking to see if there is a more correct tactic.

For the most part they can be safely ignored unless there is a problem with additional software not installing. As per this comment from one of the developers. The brew doctor command is largely just there as a means of troubleshooting.


How can I access my Time Capsule remotely? Can someone please educate me on exactly how I can access my Time Capsule from any other network aside from my own (over the Internet?)

I don't have a static IP address, so would I need DNS forwarding? Would it involve checking my home network's IP while away? Should I get static IP?

Many thanks!!

If You Have a Time Capsule or an AirPort Extreme Base Station with Shared USB Hard Drive

If you have either a Time Capsule (which is basically an AirPort Extreme Base Station with a built-in 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive) or an AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) with an attached USB hard drive, you can share out the Time Capsule/AEBS hard drive and make it accessible via the Internet. To do this:

Start the Airport Utility.
Select your Time Capsule or AEBS. Make a note of the IP Address shown on the right -- you will need it later.
Click Manual Setup.
Check your "Connection Sharing" setting under the Internet Tab. The following tutorial is valid if your "Connection Sharing" is to "Share a public IP address", the normal setup for a home network. You will need to have a static IP address, or use a free dynamic DNS service. If you have a different type of "Connection Sharing," you probably don't need a tutorial to set up remote access to your disk; adapt this one as needed.
Click Disks (at the top of the dialog box), and then click File Sharing.
Select (check) the "Enable file sharing" checkbox and the "Share disks over Ethernet WAN port" checkbox. It is strongly recommended that you also set Secure Shared Disks to "With base station password" and Guest Access to "Not allowed"; not making these changes may allow unauthorized users to access your Time Capsule/AEBS hard drive.
Click Airport (at the top of the dialog box), and then click Base Station.
Enter a Base Station Password and verify it in the Verify Password box.
Click Advanced (at the top of the dialog box), and then click Port Mapping.
Click the plus sign (+) to add a new port mapping.
In the Public UDP Port(s) and Public TCP Port(s) boxes, type in a 4-digit port number (e.g., 5678) that you choose. In the Private IP Address box, type the internal IP address of your Time Capsule or AEBS that you wrote down in step 2 (for example, 192.168.0.1). In the Private UDP Port(s) and Private TCP Port(s) boxes, type 548. Click Continue.
In the Description box, type a descriptive name like "Time Capsule File Sharing" or "AEBS File Sharing". Then, click Done.
When you have made all changes, click Update.

Your Time Capsule/AEBS will restart. Once it does, you are now ready to connect to the Time Capsule/AEBS hard drive via the Internet. To do this when your MBA is away from home:

In the Finder, click Go > Connect to Server.
Type in the correct domain name or external IP address for your network, plus a colon and the port number you specified in step 11. For example, "www.myhomedomain.com:5678" or "123.123.12.123:5678".
Click Connect.
You will be prompted for your user name and password. The user name can be anything you like; the password should be the password for the Time Capsule/AEBS which you specified above.
Click Connect.

Voilà! You are now connected to your Time Capsule/AEBS hard drive from your MBA. You can access files, copy files back and forth between your MBA and the hard drive, delete files, whatever you want, as long as your MBA remains network-connected. The next time you go to connect, it should go even more quickly (especially if you save your password in your keychain, and if you add your home IP address/domain name to your list of Favorite Servers in the Connect dialog box).

Note that the Time Capsule/AEBS will appear in the Shared section of your Finder's sidebar as a server, with the Base Station Name of the Time Capsule/AEBS as the server name.

Taken from http://forums.dealmac.com/read.php?4,2800627

Additional Info:

I know port forwarding can be a big hassle so I thought I would add that you could also use apple's built in "Back To My Mac" feature. This way you can access your Time Capsule's files as well as accessing you home mac files and screen share with your mac over a secure connection.

Try this article: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204618


Mac freezes at startup at apple logo after permission changes I executed

chmod go-rwx /

Command on my Macbook pro yosemite. Since then its not able to boot up. It just sticks at apple logo.

Things I have tried:

Mac repair  > Disk Utility > Repair file permissions. Completed Ok.
Mac repair > Disk Utility >  Repair Disk. Completed Ok.
Pressed (Cmnd+S) during boot > fsck -fy . The volume appears to be Ok.
Pressed (Cmnd+S) during boot > verified permissions of all folders inside the / with another mac book of same specs. All were same.

Am I only left with re-install ?

Ps: I got that command from here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/6419695

Assuming you didn't change ownership (users/groups) but instead only changed the permissions...

Try issuing the command:

chmod 1775 /


Download video via Web links to iPhone Sometimes I want to download files straight from the link on a website as it can be done on a desktop computer. I'm not talking about streaming video sites like YouTube, just plain href links designed to be downloaded with something like right-click and "Download linked file as..." on a PC or Mac.

On Android, for example, I can tap on a video link and have the MP4 file saved locally in a downloads folder so I can watch it offline. So I am wondering how I can do the same on an iPhone (running iOS 12)?

I've seen an answer on the Apple Discussion forum that involves clicking on the share button in Safari. One of the actions is download to Dropbox (which I haven't managed to get working yet) but I cannot see "save to Files", at least for videos, which is what I need.

Also tried two apps that have an integrated browser that lets you download the files when tapping the link. I've found them to be extremely unreliable as I couldn't get them to finish downloading a full video, so I gave up on them.

From an old similar question for the iPad I'm guessing it's not possible, but I just want to be sure if there any good solutions that I'm missing, or will have to develop my own application or switch to Android? Seems like a basic functionality to me.

Safari is getting a download manager in iOS 13 which is due to release sometime later this fall.

iOS 13 Hands-on: Safari Finally Gets a Download Manager

New Safari Download Manager feature in iOS 13 will make you more productive


Accidentally used dd on my system drive As is wanted to write an image to usb stick, I accidentally used my system drive (macintosh hd) as target. Command used:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1024 count=1

Where disk1 was Macinstosh HD ... (yeah I know - facepalm :)

Anyway - aborted after 2 minutes as nothing happened and I realised my mistake. To my astonishment, everything still seems to work, partition still there, still reboots.

This is the output of:

$diskutil list:

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.4 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *499.1 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2

The command was intented to zero out the partion map (of an usb stick) ...as described here.

Which works on the usb stick, (luckily) it didn't work on my Macintosh hard disc. But i still don't get it why? By saying i aborted i meant after committing the comment, nothing happened, not output, but no fresh prompt either..so is used ctrl-c

Time machine backups can be restored, thats not the thing. I'm just curious and want to understand it

Do I still have to worry that I lost some data?

Your main disk uses a Core Storage partition scheme:

disk0 is your main system disk.
disk1 is a "virtual" disk residing in disk0s2 containing the Macintosh HD volume visible on your desktop.

The first two sectors of a Logical Volume contain zeros only.
Examples:

disk2 is the Core Storage Volume pooling disk0s2 (SSD) and disk1s2 (HDD) of a 3.1 TB Fusion Drive

disk2 is the Core Storage Volume residing in disk0 - the 64 GB disk image of a Parallels VM (Yosemite)

With your command sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1024 count=1 you had luck and you just have overwritten 1024 zeros with 1024 zeros.
As a result you haven't lost any data and may continue working with your Mac without the need to restore any backup or to reinstall your system.


How to programmatically get the path to the wallpaper on the active desktop? I'm trying to get the path to the wallpaper in the active desktop.
However, I'm having trouble reliably getting this.

The following sources indicate that ~/Library/Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db is a sqlite database
with information about the background.

http://grahamgilbert.com/blog/2013/10/28/setting-a-desktop-picture-in-mavericks/
gist.github.com/gregneagle/6225747 (Can somebody prefix this with http? SE is preventing me from posting more than 2 links because of my low reputation on this board)

However, these sources set a new background and don't try
to read the contents of the sqlite database for the active desktop.

I've dumped the contents of this file on my system and have uploaded
it as a gist at https://gist.github.com/bamos/6c5fb63ec1d9b8dc9205.

This file seems to contain information about displays,
and reading the last value of data seems to get the active wallpaper
sometimes.

Is there a way I can use desktoppicture.db to get the wallpaper in the active desktop every time?
Is there another way I can programmatically get a path to the active wallpaper?

Edit: forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1525299 (can somebody add http?) is another
source of getting this information with AppleScript, but for some reason
the following snippet is returning Wave.jpg when Wave.jpg isn't the
active wallpaper.

tell application "Finder"
    set theDesktopPic to desktop picture
    set theName to displayed name of theDesktopPic
    display dialog theName
end tell

To clarify, my wallpaper is set to randomly cycle through
a directory.

I tried running the following command as suggested in the answers.

tell application "System Events" to get properties of every desktop

However, on my system, this outputs:

display name:Color LCD, change interval:1800.0, id:69731840, random order:true, picture rotation:1, pictures folder:/Users/bamos/Pictures/wallpaper/nature, picture:/Library/Desktop Pictures/Wave.jpg, translucent menu bar:missing value, class:desktop,

which doesn't include the wallpaper of the active desktop.

I disabled the random picture cycling and

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to set desktop picture to {"Macintosh HD:Library:Desktop Pictures:Beach.jpg"} as alias'

changes my background to the stock beach wallpaper, and

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get properties of every desktop'

now shows picture:/Library/Desktop Pictures/Beach.jpg. However, this is not helpful because I want to get the background when I'm randomly cycling through a directory.

tell application "System Events" to picture of desktop 1

View all properties:

tell application "System Events" to get properties of every desktop


OneDrive for Mac crashes I have a Macbook pro with the Mojave OS 10.14.1  I have installed Onedrive (two accounts, 1 academic and 1 personal) and they used to work fine for more than a year.  Suddenly, Academic Onedrive (business version), stopped syncing and while it is trying to connect every time crashes.
I tried to make work alone by quitting the personal account but ended with the same result (crashing)
Thank you for your advice!

Since OneDrive is available on the Mac App Store, it's far preferable to get it from there going forward. Follow the uninstall instructions for the older app and enjoy a much easier update and reinstall process.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/OneDrive-for-Mac-FAQ-3fc4062c-8051-4392-bff1-551e32840cd0

The uninstall is very easy - just install the latest version, then drag it to trash. The 2019 versions also have a nice reset tool and can show very helpful logs should you not be able to fix things from the FAQ:

  How do I uninstall the OneDrive app?
  Just drag the OneDrive app to the Trash.

  How do I reset the OneDrive app?

See the link above for the detailed reset instructions if needed.


plistbuddy command value from csv, search and insert I have a plistbuddy command that I need to execute for 100 different users.

The value I have to enter for the 100 individual users depends on the hostname.

I was thinking I could use a csv that has a list of the hostnames/computernames and the corresponding plist value, then use a shell script to:

Check for the hostname of the Mac
Find the hostname in the csv
find the value of the corresponding code needed for the plistbuddy command and save it to a variable
insert that value into the plistbuddy command and execute, changing the value of the desired plist file.

The csv would just be formatted as:
hostname, code
hostname1, 2001
hostname2, 2002

Specifically the plist file is the printer preference plist file.

Here is the plistbuddy command:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :2ndfloor:com.apple.print.preset.settings:ManagementCodeValue 1001" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.custompresets.forprinter.CMI2ndFloorColor.plist

The value that needs to change depending on the hostname is the value "1001" in that command.

Those are the only elements; check hostname, find it in the csv, execute the plistbuddy command using the corresponding code in the csv.

Anyone have any good ideas for this? It would save hours and hours of GUI work.

Here's a three-line shell script for bash. Assume the CSV file is named hosts.csv.

h=`hostname -s`
c=`sed -nE -e "/^$h, ?/s/^.+, ?//p" hosts.csv`
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :2ndfloor:com.apple.print.preset.settings:ManagementCodeValue $c" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.custompresets.forprinter.CMI2ndFloorColor.plist

The script sets the shell variables $h to the host name, and $c to the code that matches the host. Get the name of the host from the hostname command. Use $c in place of the value "1001" in the PlistBuddy command.

By default the hostname command returns domain information. Therefore if the CSV file has host names without domain information, use h=`hostname -s`, otherwise use h=`hostname`.

The sed command matches a line from the CSV file that starts with the $h host name followed by a comma and an optional space character. For the line that matches, sed removes everything but the code from the line.


Safari app is not opening from dock icon What could be happening? Was after latest OSX update.

Seems the app is not responding but is installed.

Still unsolved!

You should try to launch the app with command line.

/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/MacOS/Safari &


Automatic lock screen does not work in EL Capitan I have my preferences set so the screen locks 1 minute after sleep or after the screensaver goes up.  This used to work until I upgraded to El Cap.  Now no matter how long after the screensaver has gone up I never get asked my password, the lock screen just does not happen.  Any idea why?

I can report the problem seems to have resolved 'naturally' after a reboot.  It is unclear why though.


How can I limit iTerm2 text selection to a single tmux pane? I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro running iTerm2. I don't have tmux installed on it, but I use tmux on the remote Linux host I frequently connect to via ssh. When tmux is displaying a vertical split and I use the trackpad to select text, the selection is automatically limited to just one pane. That's exactly how I want it.

I have recently begun using a 2018 MacBook Pro. Using the same iTerm2 version (3.2.9), and the same remote tmux session, text selection spans the entire window width instead of staying in a single pane.

What setting controls that behavior?

I'm aware I can hold Command+Option to select a block of text, but that's not what I'm after. I'm looking to select, for example, a sentence that starts mid-paragraph and spans multiple lines. Block selection doesn't allow that.

I had the same question and it was hard to google answer.
Choosing Edit > Selection Respects Soft Boundaries works fine.


How can I change my Apple ID on a 5s? How can I change my Apple ID to a new one? iTunes was taking money out of my bank account in unauthorised transactions. In total over 13 months they took over £1,000. My bank refunded my money & stopped iTunes their end. But now my account won't work & I've 16 apps that need updating & I can't as Apple ID won't let me!

Your old Apple ID has presumably been disabled from purchasing apps since you initiated chargebacks with your bank for purchases. This in turn disables receiving updates as well.

You will need to create a new Apple ID. Then sign into the App Store on your device by tapping on App Store > Featured tab (if not already selected) > scroll to bottom > tap on Apple ID: your-old-id@email.com and select Sign Out. Go back to the same place to sign in with your new account. The first time you login you will need to add a payment method, even if you will only be getting free apps. I'd suggest not trying to add the payment method from the bank where you initiated the chargebacks, as that will probably simply serve to get the new account banned too.

The apps purchased with your old ID cannot be updated by your new ID, so you will need to delete them from your device, then re-purchase them (or in the case of free apps) re-download them. Either way, the app copies on your device right now will never be able to be updated, because they are permanently associated with your old ID.

Note that by deleting the existing copies of the apps, you will probably lose app data. However, if you delete one and immediately re-purchase/re-download the same app with your new ID, the data may carry over - no promises, but I've seen it work before. Do not restart your device between deleting and re-downloading, as doing so will definitely cause the data to be lost. If this works for you, remove and re-download one app at a time so there are no problems with iOS removing the data before the app can be re-installed.


iPhone Apps in Waiting mode for the last 4 days I tried to download the "Dictionary Free" app from the App Store four days ago, but it's been stuck in "Waiting" ever since. I've tried everything: rebooting the phone, restoring from an iTunes backup, side-loading the app from iTunes, but nothing has worked.

When I turn Airplane Mode on and then off again, I get an alert popup that says "Unable to download application. It will be available for download when you log in to the iTunes Store on your computer".

I've tried what it recommends, but nothing seems to work.

The springboard has several mechanisms to prevent this from being a permanent situation, but sometimes it falls down. Normally you can cancel a download cleanly. I generally follow this advice to "help" the springboard finish or abort the download transaction:

(just use the X to cancel the download) - How can I cancel an app installation on the iPhone?
(reboot the phone) - Why are my updating iPhone apps "waiting..." forever?
(reboot with airplane mode and sync) - How to fix apps "waiting.." forever after sync?

However, you could have your springboard stuck and a restore is needed. This is discussed here:

(last ditch efforts and restore as new) - How can I remove this half-downloaded app from my iPhone?

With the information you provided, it's difficult to tell which of the two causes is happening on your phone.


Site for checking so-dimm memory for MacBooks Is there any website, where I can check which memory (RAM) is suitable for any MacBook or Apple computer?

Apple provide the technical specifications of all their machines since the mid 1990s

Various memory sellers include this information in an easier to access format e.g. Crucial


iTouch, 5th Gen., Rear-Facing Camera Is there any way to remove the screen that is blocking the rear facing camera? Could I bring it into a store and pay to have it removed/a camera put in?

Nope. No authorized service personnel will do so even if paid. There is the good chance the device itself might not work if it finds to rear camera missing.


Encrypted HFS+ on Windows I've been trying to open an encrypted (FileVault 2) HFS+ external hard disk on Windows 7. Since all the software available seem not able to do it, I've tried by installing the bootcamp drivers on Windows. First manually (placing AppleHFS.sys and AppleMNT.sys into system32/drivers and adding the proper regedit keys) and then, since this didn't work, using the whole bootcamp installer. When I connect the drive, it's still unrecognized (even in the Drive Manager). What should I do? (or maybe: is it possible?)

Apple's BootCamp drivers do not have the driver or other software support needed to mount a volume using FileVault 2's encryption (otherwise known as CoreStorage encryption.)

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to unlock and mount a CoreStorage encrypted volume on any OS except by using a Mac running Mac OS X 10.7.x.


One-click automated USB trash delete Is there any way I can create an automator service or app to delete ALL trash from any USB drive (my own account's trash plus everybody else's)?

I've read several solutions involving Terminal, including this one, but I'd like something a bit more foolproof and really handy.

I need to exchange USB drives regularly for presentations at events and Mac trash is becoming a problem as Macs become more common -- people suddenly get "no space available" error messages and can't do anything about it. I know how to skip the trash, but need a quick fix when the trash is already there.

2 Solutions. 1 using Bash the other using Bash wrapped in AppleScript.

Solution #1

Create a new AppleScript with /Applications/Utilities/AppleScript Editor
Type the following code:

do shell script "rm -rf /Volumes/*/.Trashes/*" with administrator privileges

Save the file to somewhere convenient and run it whenever you need to clear the USB Trash
This can be executed by double-clicking on it

NOTE: This will empty the Trash for all connected volumes including your internal hard disk. If you have connected 5 USB drives and a Firewire hard disk, it will empty the trash for all of them.

Solution #2

Fire up your favourite text editor (mine is nano)
Paste the following code into your text editor and save the file

#!/bin/bash
sudo rm -rf /Volumes/*/.Trashes/*

Save the file to somewhere convenient with the extension .sh and then make it executable with chmod +x {filename}.sh from Terminal
Run that with ./{filename}.sh

NOTE: Same note as above. This is executable from Terminal.


Is there a way to reverse changes done to a txt file in Documents by Readdle? I wanted to open a txt file on my iPhone/iOS. When I clicked the file in iOS file app, it opened up in Documents app automatically. I then before I knew it managed to overwrite some codes/passwords I had saved in the txt file. Stuff I cannot remember. I then closed the documents app and thought no harm done, as I can just open the txt file and repeat the previous procedure. But when I clicked to open it, and it automatically opened up in documents app, the changes were still there, as it apparently saved all changes done. And now I can't seem to find any option to reverse and open up the original version of the txt file, before I accidentally changed a few passwords.
I mean, open up a document and writing something, and no option to go back to original, nor any option to make changes reverse. Kinda stupid. The app apparently saves any changes done and that's it. But there got to be a way to reverse the action somehow?

Generally, file management applications have the ability to handle any type of file.
From the iCloud drive, for instance, you can make it open the specific file in a specific application by holding your finger on the file icon you desire to open. You then select and by selecting the "More..." option from the menu that will hopefully appear, and then selecting "Share Item... " and finally selecting an application from the list.
Reversing the actions might be undone by simply opening back to the default application it was made to be opened with.
A similar question was answered here, you might need a specific application to handle text files.
Reference:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7652455


stat command not respecting time format options (High Sierra 10.13.6) My goal is to retrieve the birth time of a file formatted to "2019-07-03" so I'm using the following which yields the following epoch time instead of the specific date format I requested:

$ stat -f "%B" -t "%Y-%m-%d" ~/Pictures/to_backup/IMG_2115.JPEG
1524428549

I get the same output if I leave out the time formatting entirely:

$ stat -f "%B" ~/Pictures/to_backup/IMG_2115.JPEG
1524428549

I read through what seemed like the pertinent parts of the strftime and stat (<- this one in particular was a face melter) man pages.

What am I missing?

You need to place a S before B which converts the numerals (seconds since epoch) into string output.

stat -f "%SB" -t "%Y-%m-%d" ~/Pictures/to_backup/IMG_2115.JPEG


How to change Mac Mini from a mirrored RAID set to one drive? Just recently the Mac Mini I use for development/as a server had crashed. The most information I could get from it was that one of the drives in the mirrored RAID pair had crashed. Is there any way that I can solve this problem by removing a drive from one side of the pair?

Since it's a mirrored RAID, you should be able to still power it on with only one functional hard disk. To fix this problem, replace the crashed hard drive with a new one and rebuild the RAID mirror in the Disk Utility application.


Local Email folders dont come up on new OS 10.8. What can I do? I just upgraded my from 10.6.8 to 10.8.5. However my local folders are gone. I just tried to use time machine to access them however the time line before I made the upgrade is in red. How can I access those local email folders?

On my MBA- 10.9.4 the "on my mac" mail folders are in the

~/Library/Mail/V2/Mailboxes/

The Library folder is hidden since OS X Lion, so use the Finder's "Go To Folder" menu in the "Go" menu and enter that address.


Unable to restore/reinstall/erase from recovery I've just tried to install the El Capitan GM, which failed half way through with the error "This Core Storage operation is not allowed on a sparse logical volume group" and gave me the option to restart. Restarting just launches the installer again with the same error.

I then booted into recovery to try and restore from a Time Machine backup. The boot drive was visible, so I tried to restore to it but it failed saying that the volume couldn't be erased. Now the Time Machine restore can't see that volume. Neither can the Internet Recovery option.

The Macintosh HD volume is visible in Disk Utility, verify/repair report no errors. Weirdly, the erase tab isn't visible for that drive, it seems almost like it's locked.

This is a rMBP with an SSD so I'm ruling out a hardware fault for now.

diskutil list shows:

/dev/disk0 with 4 entries:
   0: GUID_partition_scheme - 251GB - disk0
   1: EFI - 209MB - disk0s1
   2: Apple_CoreStorage 250GB - disk0s2
   3: Apple_Boot - 650MB - disk0s3

/dev/disk1 with 3 entries:
   0: Apple_Partition_scheme - 1.3GB - disk1
   1: Apple_partition_map - 30KB - disk1s1
   2: Apple_HFS - 1.3 GB - disk1s2

/dev/disk2 - /dev/disk14 with 500kb untitled entries each.

The others are in the photo below

Probably the El Capitan installer tried to convert your traditional partition scheme to a CoreStorage volume and failed miserably.

Though a Logical Volume Group and a Physical Volume were built, it still misses a Logical Volume Family and at least one Logical Volume.

You may now either add a Logical Volume or revert to the traditional scheme:

Boot to Recovery Mode by holding cmdR
Open Terminal in the menubar Utilities->Terminal
enter diskutil cs list

To add a Logical Volume enter:

diskutil cs createVolume lvgUUID type name size
with lvgUUID: UUID of the Logical Volume Group. It's the first listed.

Example:

diskutil cs createVolume 0E37A07F-7123-4AE4-9C3C-D51D0C05E47E jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" 100g

This will create a 100 GB journaled HFS+ volume with the name "Macintosh HD". To create one Logical Volume using all available space in the Logical Volume Group the following should work instead of 100g: 100% or 250g

Quit Terminal, open Disk Utility and verify the new volume "Macintosh HD".
Then use Time Machine to restore the backup.

If the creation of the LV fails some inner structures of the LVG probably are corrupted and you have to delete the LVG.

To delete the Logical Volume Group enter:

diskutil cs delete lvgUUID with lvgUUID: UUID of the Logical Volume Group. It's the first listed.

In your case:

diskutil cs delete 0E37A07F-7123-4AE4-9C3C-D51D0C05E47E

Deleting the Logical Volume Group will automatically create one new classical JHFS+ volume with the name "Untitled" occupying all available space on the disk.

Quit Terminal, open Disk Utility, verify the volume "Untitled" and rename it by erasing it. Then use Time Machine to restore the backup.


Mac OSX 10.10 how to recover data To my greatest stress I did following today
sudo rm -rf * tmp/ instead of sudo rm -rf tmp/* from home folder. And ta-da everything is gone from my home directory. Unfortunately I dont have time machine backup either. Can anyone suggest best recovery software for this situation?

If you are still using the same computer, your chances of recovery go down with each minute of operation - recovering deleted files is time-consuming, recovering over-written files is impossible. And your computer is constantly writing things to disk.

Restart the deleted machine in target disk mode and connect it to another mac. Get a copy of Data Rescue 3 and use it in deleted-files mode. You will also need alternate storage equal to the original drive size.

After it's done recovering things you get to rename everything. The filenames are gone (overwritten) at the time of deletion, your stuff will be recovered with sequential names (Image001.jpg, Image002.jpg etc.)

And I don't think we have to do the usual lecture on backups. Point is well made?


How can I swap the shift key with another key? I'd like to swap the shift key with the / key. Ukelele says that it can't be used to change modifier keys. DoubleCommand has static settings that you can either enable or disable. It doesn't let you chose your own custom bindings, and needless to say, this remapping I want isn't available.

You can swap shift key with some other with key using  KeyRemao4Macbook but I am not sure can swap with / .


Can I make a dynamic wallpaper? I'd love to make my own dynamic wallpaper.

Has anybody investigated their format, and if there is a way of making one?

https://github.com/hamzasood/AnimatedWallpaperTest

This is a sample project showing how to make something like a dynamic background but I think you need to jailbreak your phone to make use of it.


I have thousands of pictures in my iPhoto library. How do I transfer them to iCloud Drive? I have thousands of pix in my iPhoto library. Can anyone tell me how to back them up in iCloud Drive?

I enable iCloud Photo Library and let the entire library be stored primarily in iCloud. That's far more useful for me than having the flat files backed up.

You could export them and store the exported files, but I use Time Machine or anther tool, (Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! are amazing. Are backup is nice for backing up to general cloud), if you need to back other things up too and not just the photo files.

You get lots of other benefits by enabling iCloud Photo library and exporting the library to flat files loses some of those benefits and features.


Replacing The Blue Folder Icon With A Customised Image? How can I select a JPEG image and use that to customise/replace the usual blue folder icon for a given folder (which additionally may even make it easier to tell folders apart, when looking for one)?

If this can be achieved without the use of a specific App, then all the better.

Open the image that you would like to be the folder icon in Preview.
Press ⌘ cmd + A to select the entire image and press ⌘ cmd + C to copy it.

Get Info (⌘ cmd + I) on the folder.
Click the folder icon on the top-left and press ⌘ cmd + V to paste in the icon.

To revert back to the default blue folder…

Get Info on the folder.
Click your icon in the top-left.
Press ⌘ cmd + X.

The folder icon is stored in the folder, as a hidden file.

.
└── Icon?
0 directories, 1 file

You can also remove the folder icon using the following Terminal command inside the folder with the icon that you wish to remove:

rm Icon$'\r'


How to run Unison through automator? I like to set up unison through Automator to run in the background to sync up two of my folders in a dropbox-like manner, but Automator apparently fails to run unison through shell script. I have tried both the regular terminal command:

unison /folder1 /folder2

and the full path for unison:

/usr/local/Cellar/unison/2.40.102/bin/unison /folder1 /folder2

You will want to run it through Apple Script and iTerm.

tell application "iTerm"
    make new terminal
    tell the current terminal
        activate current session

        launch session "Default Session"
        tell the last session
            write text "unison /folder1 /folder2"
        end tell
        terminate the last session

    end tell
end tell

Remember to double forward slash for space in the path in your folder roots.

I am not sure how to run it in the background. This script will bring the iTerm to focus.


How to fix Lion 10.7 Apple Webmail "Connection to IMAP server failed"? Apple webmail on Lion (10.7) Server is returning a popup error message about 60 seconds after trying to login:

  Connection to imap server failed

or in Dutch:

  Connectie met IMAP server mislukt

Regression:

Using the same user name and password, while sending and receiving mail works from Mail.app.

This Lion Server:

runs 10.7.5
is located behind a NAT router device
id configured on a non routable 192.168.0.1 IP address
uses a "Computer Name" and "Host Name" that are identical
has a "Computer Name" and "Host Name" that are in the form of "host.domain.tld"
"host.domain.tld" has an A record in public DNS that refers to the public IP address of the NAT router

How to fix this 'Connection to IMAP server failed' issue?

The Apple Webmail "Connection to IMAP server failed" error kept re-appearing, I changed /usr/share/webmail/config/appleoverrides.inc.php to:

$rcmail_config['default_host'] = 'localhost';
//$rcmail_config['smtp_server'] = '%h';

Idea from

Change in /usr/share/webmail/config/appleoverrides.inc.php the value of rcmail_config['default_host'] from its default 'tls://%h' to 'tls://macserver.examle.com'.

source: https://discussions.apple.com/message/16922962


Is there a way to throttle nsurlsessiond/cloudd? I have been looking for a way to permanently throttle these two processes.  By default, they are all or nothing processes killing my network connection unless I manually "pause uploads" for iPhotos (nsurlsessiond) or killing/logging out of iCloud for cloudd.

I don't mind them running in the background but would like to control their bandwidth consumption without killing them off completely.  Similar to the way that I can throttle oneDrive upload/download (which to my chagrin, Microsoft does this better than Apple in this case!)

Thanks in advance.

This is not a throttling solution, but can alleviate some problems.

Use Activity monitor, Network tab to find out the PID of nsurlsessiond with User _nsurlsessiond.

In Terminal, run

sudo kill -STOP 1234

where 1234 is the PID you found above.

When you want to run it,

sudo kill -CONT 1234

Make sure you got the correct PID and not stop other crucial processes.


In a school library I have 30 iPads to set up for teachers to use in their classrooms. In a school library with 30 iPads on a cart.  Should one appleid be used for all 30 iPads?  I will be the only one adding the apps, and then the cart will be taken to classrooms.  The same apps will be on all iPads.  Would it be better to just create a genric appleid or an iCloud id, or what's the best way to do this?

Apple has a tool, Apple Configurator, designed to help manage multiple devices in exactly this kind of scenario.  I haven't personally used it, but it sound like what you need.


execute login items one after another instead of all at once? I have quite a lot of startup items, because when I open up my mac, I want everything to be ready to go. In my preferences, I've put them in the order I need them, so for example, the first thing I do, is browse to arstechnica and stackoverflow, so chrome starts first. next up are iTunes and spotify. iTunes to make sure that all my podcasts are downloaded, and spotify for my music, and then, my text editor of choice, and some other stuff.

The problem is, that all of these take quite some time and processing power to start up. They all get started up at about the same time,  so that when I start typing in the chrome omnibar, it's  slow and laggy, because of all the other stuff starting up in the background.

Is there a way to make them start up one after another? Or is this impossible? I really don't know wether apps send some kind of event to the OS to tell that they are completely ready.

You could make an automator action that starts each item serially, with staggered delays, or sleeps to ensure a delay between each start, and then simply place that single script as your startup item :)


How to auto mount NFS shares on Mavericks? I need to mount at boot time the equivalent of the line command :

sudo mount -o rw,bg,hard,resvport,intr,noac,nfc,tcp mymachine:/var/logs /Volumes/logs

…and I have no idea about how to do it on Mac (OS X 10.9 Mavericks)

bash-3.2$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS HD                      499.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS HD2                     499.8 GB   disk1s2
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *668.2 MB   disk2
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         30.7 KB    disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS OSXDocsetCD             668.1 MB   disk2s2
/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *477.6 MB   disk3
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         30.7 KB    disk3s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS DevToolsDocsetCD        477.6 MB   disk3s2
/dev/disk4
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *596.2 MB   disk4
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         30.7 KB    disk4s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS iOSDocsetCD             596.1 MB   disk4s2

Using autofs, as suggested by others is probably the way to go. Most of what follows works in El Capitan, which made auto mounting more difficult, but it should apply to Mavericks too. I do not have a Mavericks system to test.

In order to make this work edit /etc/auto_master and add the following line:

/-          auto_nfs    -nobrowse,nosuid

Then create a new file /etc/auto_nfs (with permissions 644) with the following content:

/../Volumes/logs -fstype=nfs,nrw,bg,hard,resvport,intr,noac,nfc,tcp mymachine:/var/logs

You have to add the /.. in front of the /Volumes, because Mac OS X (at least El Capitan will try to prevent you from mounting thing in /Volumes and /../Volumes is still /Volumes, it just tricks the filter. This might not be necessary for Mavericks)

Then start the auto mount daemon

sudo automount -cv

and you should see that the volume has been mounted (ls /Volumes/logs)


Put whatever keybind for switching input language I can't set CMD + Shift as a keybind for switching between input languages of the keyboard. I had to settle down with Ctrl + Space. Why does it allow me to set only some specific key binds?

Is there a way to go around this and set specifically L cmd + L shift ?

The command as well as the shift key (and some other keys) are modifier keys. You have to add at least one normal key (like A-Z, 0-9, Fn*, arrows etc) to define a proper shortcut.

If you want to change this behavior you have to install a third-party tool like Karabiner.


Creating a GROUP via Users & Groups in command line I'd like to script the action of creating a group via Users & Groups and binding it to the admin account and enabling remote login for the same group enabled service and support.

I'm vaguely familiar with commands like dscl - but I'm not sure if this is even the right command

I've seen sudo dscl localhost -append /Local/Default/Groups/thegroupname GroupMembership theusername - to add an admin user to a group  BUT  What should be put for GroupMembership - if this command is correct   - The name of my group is Service and Support

To create a group, add some users and enabling remote login for the same group from scratch do the following:

Locally:

Create group:

sudo dscl . create /Groups/servsupport

Add some details like real name, password etc.:

sudo dscl . create /Groups/servsupport RealName "Service and Support"
sudo dscl . create /Groups/servsupport passwd "*"
sudo dscl . create /Groups/servsupport gid 799

Use an unused groupID number as gid! You get a sorted list of used gids by entering:

dscl . list /Groups PrimaryGroupID | tr -s ' ' | sort -n -t ' ' -k2,2

There is also an answer somewhere at apple.stackexchange.com how to find the first free uid or gid greater than x and how to apply it to new groups or users.

Add an admin user (here I assume the user name is admin):

sudo dscl . create /Groups/servsupport GroupMembership admin

If you want to add a second user use the subcommand append:

sudo dscl . append /Groups/servsupport GroupMembership admin2

Test whether the group SSH Service ACL exists:

dscl . list /Groups PrimaryGroupID  | grep com.apple.access_ssh*

If the group doesn't exist create it similar as the Service and Support group:

sudo dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh
sudo dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh RealName "SSH Service ACL"
sudo dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh passwd "*"
sudo dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh gid 399

Add the group servsupport as nested group to the SSH Service ACL group if the SSH ACL is already enabled:

sudo dseditgroup -o edit -a servsupport -t group com.apple.access_ssh

or if SSH ACL are dsiabled:

sudo dseditgroup -o edit -a servsupport -t group com.apple.access_ssh-disabled

Enable remote login:

sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin on

A script doing essentially this except creating a new Service and Support group is available here: add_localadmins_to_ssh. The linked script requires slight mods to meet your requirements.

Based on the linked script I made a new one meeting your requirements. Take it with a grain of salt and test it thoroughly:

#!/bin/bash

# set the input for lazy convenience
IFS=$' '

# We first need to test if the access_ssh group exists and create it if it doesn't

/usr/bin/dscl . list /Groups PrimaryGroupID  | grep com.apple.access_ssh* >  /dev/null 2>&1
rc=$?
if [[ $rc != 0 ]]; then
    /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh
    /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh RealName "SSH Service ACL"
    /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh passwd "*"
    /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh gid 399
fi

# create  "Service and Support" group and add admin users

localadmins=$(/usr/bin/dscl . read /Groups/admin GroupMembership | awk -F': ' '{print $2}')

for account in `echo $localadmins`; do
    # add additional blocks like >> && ! [ "$account" == "username" ] << for additional exclusions
    if ! [ "$account" == "root" ] && ! [ "$account" == "itstech" ]; then
        userID=$(/usr/bin/dscl . read /Users/$account | grep GeneratedUID | awk '{print $2}')
        if [ "$userID" != "" ]; then
            # Test if the servsupport group exists and create it if it doesn't
            /usr/bin/dscl . read /Groups/servsupport > /dev/null 2>&1
            sc=$?
            if [[ $sc != 0 ]]; then
                /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/servsupport
                /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/servsupport RealName "Service and Support"
                /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/servsupport passwd "*"
                /usr/bin/dscl . create /Groups/servsupport gid 799
            fi
            /usr/bin/dscl . append /Groups/servsupport GroupMembership "$userID"
        else
            echo "$account has no local GUID"
        fi
    fi
done

# Add the "Service and Support" group as nested group to the SSH Service ACL group depending on the state of SSH Service ACL.

GroupState=$(/usr/bin/dscl . list /Groups RealName | grep "SSH Service ACL" | awk '{print $1}')
dseditgroup -o edit -a servsupport -t group $GroupState

if ! [ "$GroupState" == "com.apple.access_ssh" ]; then
    /usr/bin/dscl . change /Groups/com.apple.access_ssh-disabled RecordName com.apple.access_ssh-disabled com.apple.access_ssh
fi

# Enable Remote Login service

systemsetup -setremotelogin on

In a managed environment (OpenDirectory or AD) with OD/AD users/groups with local admin access permissions it's much simpler.

If you've already created the group you can lookup the groupID and the group name (servsupport above) by right-clicking the group name in "Users & Groups".


What does the clear key do on Apple's numpad? Apple has a keyboard with a numpad. What does the clear key on the top left of the numpad do? Is it different from the delete key, if so, how is it different?

The standard OS X behaviour is for it to act similar to a delete key, but only when text is selected. It won't delete forwards or backwards like the standard delete keys. It also acts as a standard clear button in the Calculator app. This can vary by app however - in Excel for example, it functions identically to the backspace key.


'Always Trust' wifi network not working This is more of an annoyance than anything...I have a MacBook Pro (latest Retina 15") and a Mac mini (latest model) both running Mac OS 10.8.4 and whenever I connect to my company's wifi network, I get prompted with a 'Verify Certficate' warning message. is there a way to permanently trust the newtork to avoid that warning?  There's an option to show the certificate which prompts with checkbox to 'always trust' and I have it selected, but whenever I connect I get the same message.   Is there something that I can do to avoid the warning message?

From your description, one of two things is likely happening.

Here's what's supposed to happen, your IT department should package the certificates you need to "trust" their servers and networks and they should provide them and hopefully not change the certificates every few weeks or months. Better, they could pay for a real certificate that's signed by a trusted broker and your Mac would just know it was a valid certificate and not just something the IT department self-signed.

Your Mac should take the certificate needed and enter it into your keychain when you tell it to "always trust" the certificate, but that isn't working as well.

So - you could troubleshoot your keychain (start with the help menu in keychain access program) or learn more about how that works. You could ask IT to point you to the actual certificates and learn how to store them in your keychain or the system keychain. You'll want to run the Certificate Assistant from Keychain Access if you choose to store the certs locally since it will help you know if you have a good chain of trust and to debug things, since this usually takes several tries if you're not in the habit of installing custom certs into OS X.


Record non-retina display in 1080p or more I've recently install an OSX Virtual Machine on my computer to record my iPad mini 1 display using QuickTime.

However, it seems that the output resolution's limit is my iPad's display size, which is slightly more than 720p (non-retina).

So my question is: Is there a way to record a non-retina display at 1080p or more? The content I record is mostly Open-GL 3D graphics, so it should normally be scaled to whatever size you want, right?

I know that machines like Elgato GameCapture exists, but it's way too pricey for me. Is there a possibly free Software that can run my Apple apps on my computer's graphic card? Just like Elgato, but without the external 200$US machine...

Thanks for helping!

Your problem doesn't have a solution.

Upscaling will never provide more information than is already in the original image. It would merely increase the data load for anyone wanting to watch it, with an actual decrease in the image quality.


What exactly is a retina display? With the advent of the new iPad, which has a retina display, I started thinking about what exactly a retina display is. I know it has higher resolution, but what exactly is the definition of a retina display?

Retina displays
To user Philip Schiller's own words from the WWDC2012:

...which means: The pixels of this display are so small that from a
normal working distance your retina cannot discern those individual
pixels. (watch at youtube)

There is no industry standard for "retina display". The term retina display is relative, as the definition follows the human eyes's perception of a display's sharpness.
When the iPhone 4 was introduced, Steve Jobs made the following definition:

At a distance of 10" to the human eye (or retina), a pixel density of 300PPI is the maximum that an eye can distinguish.

Because this definition is relative, calling a display a retina display depends on two factors:

pixel density
distance between the human eye an the display

Both the iPhone 4S and the new iPad have "retina displays" when you apply Steve Job's definition. A mathematical explanation can be found in this answer.


How does the new iOS 6 Limit Ad Tracking improve user privacy? According to this appleinsider.com article, Apple has introduced new privacy functionality that can limit ad tracking in iOS 6:

  Apple was not happy to see third party developers and ad networks
  using iOS users' UUID (universally unique device identifiers) to
  perform sophisticated tracking of individual devices (web cookies,
  unlike UUIDs, can't track a specific computer, and can be deleted by
  the user), particularly when they tracked UUIDs down inside Apple's
  headquarters to spy out new models.

Apple has not publicized this feature much and has set the default state to OFF, and has placed the setting at .

If turned on, how does this feature improve user privacy? Does this setting really prevent advertisers from tracking individual phones/computers? Details have been limited, so I'd appreciate any information that can shed some light about the expected functionality of this privacy feature.

I understand it to be limiting the type of information apps are allowed to track about you. Specifically, they shouldn't store your UUID.

For example, apps could associate your UUID with behaviors you demonstrate in the app and so provide targetted marketing. The idea of behavioral tracking and targeting are discussed on this World Privacy Forum page.

The upshot is that if you enable privacy, apps shouldn't provide tailored (targetted) adverts to you based on what you do in their apps. I'm not sure how it'll be enforced though; perhaps, it prevents access to your UUID, but I'm not sure if that'll be for iAd apps only.

The "Learn More" link at the bottom of your screen gives some explanation in Apple's own words. The non-personal reference I think is about anonymising your UUID (so it can't be traced back to you personally) but in essence its still a UUID.

I'm sorry I don't have more specific information about the implementation but hopefully this sets the scene somewhat.


Can I get word suggestions on Mac like I do on iPhone? Let me explain what I mean. I'm not talking about autocorrect, which I really hate! What I mean is when I type something on my Mac I’ll often get a suggestion like so:

But on iPhone if I do the same thing I’ll get 3 suggestions to choose from AND they're not in the way. This is great for when I'm not sure how to spell something.

Can I get the same thing on my Mac too? I want to be able to get more than 1 suggestion for when I don't know how to spell something.

Yes, you certainly can! Just start typing your word and press F5 to reveal up to 20 possible words. To use your example, below is a screenshot showing how this works when I type envir and press the F5 key:

You can then use the arrow keys (or mouse) to select the word you want (or just hit enter to accept the first word).

And, because this only appears when you press F5, it's not getting in your way (i.e. it only appears when you want it to appear).

NOTES:

The F5 key should work in all Apple apps (e.g. TextEdit, Notes, Mail, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc) although there are some instances where it won't. For example, within Safari it works in the Address/Search bar, but probably won't work within forms/fields on web pages.
Support by 3rd party apps depends on the developer and/or whether the F5 key is already allocated to something else. For example, many Microsoft apps already use F5 to bring up the Find and Replace window, so F5 won't work to bring up suggestions. However, other 3rd party apps do support it (e.g. Mactracker, PDF Expert, 1Password, Evernote, etc).
Depending on your System Preferences and/or Mac model (or type of keyboard) you may need to press fnF5 to bring up suggestions.


PHP 5.4 Installation on Mountain Lion I just installed Mountain Lion, and of course I've had to set up Xcode Command Line Tools, reinstall Git, and do other things to get up and running again for programming. Naturally, PHP was pushed back to 5.3 from 5.4 that I previously had installed when my MacBook Pro was running Lion. I ran through the process downloading PHP 5.4, unzipping it (tar xf php5.4), configuring it (./configure with and without options), making it (make), running the make test (make test), and installing the make (sudo make install). When I ran configuration with options it did not allow me to make and when I ran without configuration options it failed to pass make test a few times (when this occurred I sent the information to Zend). When it did pass make test though, it said that it installed successfully, but when I would check the version (php -v) it still comes up with PHP 5.3. I've done this almost nine times with restarts and re-downloading the package every time; no sauce. Does anyone have any ideas what could possibly be going wrong? Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

I strongly suggest you use the package installer or use a full stack of configuration options when compiling, including the --prefix option so you know where the binary gets installed to.

I can only guess PHP 5.4 installed itself into /usr/local/bin or somewhere else and didn't just overwrite the default binary in /usr/bin. And you seem to have not modified your PATH variable to prioritise the bin directory of /usr/local with e.g. PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH" in your .bash_profile. So, it's expected running php will still use /usr/bin/php and not /usr/local/bin/php.

Alternatively, you could just symlink the new php binary to /usr/bin/php, (delete or rename the default binary before that):

ln -s /usr/local/bin/php /usr/bin/php


Is there a way to force read a USB flash drive on OSX 10.6.8 that shows up in the system profiler but not on the desktop? USB High-Speed Bus:

Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
  Host Controller Driver:   AppleUSBEHCI
  PCI Device ID:    0x3b3c
  PCI Revision ID:  0x0006
  PCI Vendor ID:    0x8086
  Bus Number:   0xfa

Hub:

Product ID:   0x2514
  Vendor ID:    0x0424  (SMSC)
  Version:   0.03
  Speed:    Up to 480 Mb/sec
  Location ID:  0xfa100000 / 2
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    2

USB Flash Drive:

Product ID:   0xc75c
  Vendor ID:    0x05dc  (Lexar Media, Inc.)
  Version:   1.02
  Serial Number:    20130610231308265957
  Speed:    Up to 480 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer: Lexar
  Location ID:  0xfa130000 / 7
  Current Available (mA):   500
  Current Required (mA):    200

You should be able to do it with terminal, in case it's just not mounted automatically

Open terminal
type diskutil list and hit enter
Check which disk you want to browse, I'll use disk3 in this example, and get the IDENTIFIER from the line that shows the device name. So in my example the line wold be 2:  Apple_HFS DiskName  999.9 GB   disk3s2
Type diskutil info /dev/disk3s2 and get the mount point. Mout it with diskutil mount  /dev/disk3s2
Now it should show up in finder.


Reinstalling software on a brand new (non-formatted) drive - MacBook My sister gave me her old Macbook that had a bad hard drive. I replaced it with a non-Apple drive and tried to install her software on it, but had no luck at all.
I did successfully load/run Ubuntu, but I already have 3 computers running that. :)

I read somewhere I needed a USB thumb drive to boot from. Booting from the original 10.4 CDs doesn't work.

If you live near an Apple Store - they will often assist you in re-loading the OS that came with that machine since the license for that software transfers with the ownership of the mac. They won't care about a non-Apple drive so long as it works.

If not, you will need to locate the appropriate media. Some ideas are buying it from something like amazon or craigs list, ordering replacement media from AppleCare. Lastly, you might find a local tech that would help you, but you will probably end up paying for all of these in one way or another.

You might have to do some research to see what the correct OS for your mac is so you can determine which media will work.


Errors while syncing iPhone I did a restore on my iPhone 3GS running the latest 4.2.1 (after a failed attempt at jailbreaking).

For whatever reason the applications won't sync. For each of the apps it gives me an error:

The app "iDivide" was not installed on the iPhone "iPhone" because an unknown error occured (0xE8000001).

I've shutdown and restarted the phone, all to no avail.  Everything else seems to sync fine (photos, podcasts, etc...).

How do I sync my apps?

Many resources out on the web seem to suggest that 0xE8000001 occurs because of iTunes/associated daemons, not your device itself. Most folks report success after quitting iTunes, and using Activity Monitor to force quit the iTunes Helper, and any other process referencing iTunes, iPod/iPhone, etc.

A blanket search for 0xE8000001 reveals most of these sources.


Is it possible to view passwords through Terminal? Does anyone know how to view passwords in Terminal? Maybe by accessing the Keychain data or something? I want to be able to view passwords in Terminal with just a series of commands.

Check out the security command.  You can get detailed information about its use by reading its man entry man security

An in-depth article on the securitycommand is here.


Script/Workflow: Select item, print, save as PDF, name sequentially, down arrow to next item Yet again I have a task to do that would be great to automate. Yet after searching for examples that are even close I am nowhere.

Here is what I am trying to do:
First I Perform a search by specific year (Only needs to be done once so I can do this manually) Then I select the first record to get things set to run a loop routing. Next will be the repeated actions;

depress COMMAND + SHIFT + P to print
depress my own defined keyboard shortcut "^P" that's tied to an
automator script which then performs a "Save As PDF..."
depress right arrow to move to the end of the generic name
paste the next highest number
depress the "Save" button (Enter/Return Key press)...which puts me
back into the main window where I need to:
depress the down arrow key then go to step "1."

I can not use AppleScript because the database application is not supported and there isn't a dictionary I can open with supported AppleScript definitions.

Seems like Automator would work but really have no clue about Automator and to be honest every time I try and use it I end up spinning my wheels for days then eventually give up because I just need to get the work done.

I downloaded Keyboard Maestro and was able to get what I needed by writing a macro. I have a new favorite program. I kind of wish I had tried it sooner.


I've upgraded to Yosemite. Now my Screensaver is goofy! Why does my screensaver continually revert to the default when I've changed it several times, to use My Photos? This is very frustrating!

Try to delete the preference files:

/Users/[home folder]/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.screensaver*.plist

Open a Finder window, and then open the Go menu. When displayed press the ⌥ key and appears an option called Library. Go to this option and your finder must be on Library folder. Then open Preferences, then ByHost and delete files starting with com.apple.screensaver and extension plist.

Then restart.


Reclaim deleted partition now Free Space after Yosemite removal I've installed Yosemite in a second partition. Once I decided to remove Yosemite and go back to Mavericks, I am not able to claim the free space partition in the Disk Utility. How can I reclaim this partition?

I read a lot of blogs, tried different commands and finally got it fixed.

Reboot your Mac in Recovery mode using Command+R key combination during the boot up.
Start Terminal application from the recovery boot
Run command, diskutil cs list
See the last Logical Volume name, 76A3020B-B3C2-4905-9E09-2EBB5470261C

Use that in next command.
diskutil cs revert 76A3020B-B3C2-4905-9E09-2EBB5470261C

This should convert the CoreService Logical Volume to a Normal Disk partition.
Run command, diskutil cs list now, and you should receive message that no CS volumes.
Now, Reboot your MacOSX normally and once you login, start Disk Utility and resize your main partition "Machintosh HD" to claim all free space.


Create SavedSearch Criteria Using OR not AND I'd like to create a savedSearch in Finder that looks for recent Documents AND pdf's. If I create a rule such as:

Kind is Document
Kind is PDF

it will look for things that are Documents AND pdfs. How do I set it to look for Documents OR pdfs?

Yes, you can:

Select Finder. Create a Smart Folder using the key combination Option+Command+N
Click the + icon. Kind is any is the default search rule. Leave it for now.
Most important step: Hold down the Option key. You will see the + icon change to …
Simply click the … icon to add conditional criteria. Use the default, "Any : of the following are true”
Specify the criteria using two rules: Kind is Document and Kind is PDF
Now, delete first search rule made in Step 2. Here is a screenshot of the result:

As you can see, “any of the following..” functions as “or” (versus “all of the following..” which functions as “and”)


OS X 10.8.4 not showing updates - how to fix? OS X 10.8.4 isn't showing any updates via the App Store or the command line softwareupdate tool. How can I make it start showing updates as usual again?

Edit:

sudo softwareupdate -l outputs "No new software available."

In Console, App Store logs

storeagent[205]: CKSoftwareMap: updateRequestBodyData:includeInstalledApps:includeBundledApps:conditionally:hadUnadoptedApps:waitUntilMapIsLoaded: timed out waiting for mdSemaphore

and softwareupdate logs

storeagent[205]: CKSoftwareMap: _expectedMetadataChangeTimeout: timed out waiting for mdSemaphore

install.log shows

Software Update[7145]: Failed Software Update - trust evaluation failed in SecTrustEvaluate with result: 3
Software Update[7145]: Can't load distribution from https://swdist.apple.com/content/downloads/60/30/041-5397/SPKMyGZ5qPWksQfvZHYwfhTRdB6HHsSjGn/041-5397.English.dist.gz: Host cert invalid or otherwise insecure download

As it turns out Apple's swdist.apple.com domain uses a certificate from COMODO and that CA has been untrusted on this computer. Trusting it again worked but is distasteful[1].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comodo_Group#2011_breach_incident


How do you browse and upload a photo from an iPhoto Library to a website using a browser like Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc I've at a site that wants me to upload a photo.  I choose Browse... but when I get to iPhoto Library, it's opaque.  Is there some way to browse and choose one?

The iPhoto Library folder can not be browsed directly. In Finder you can open/access it by righ-clicking and selecting the "Show Package Content" option, but this is not possible in the Open dialog.

But there is an easier way: you can access the content of your iPhoto Library directly from the file browser in the Open dialog:

This also gives you all your events, albums etc. to browse through.


How do I obtain the FileVault2 recovery key after it has been modified? The Mac is encrypted using filevault. If the user changes the recovery key using 'changerecovery' command, is there any event generated? And is it possible to get the new recovery key?

In theory, you might be able to use the MDM hooks which are not publicly documented by Apple. In practice, it's easier to place an institutional key on devices so that you can manage things and not hope to receive updates to any personal keys.

See: https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/article.html?id=314

One MDM provider's framework is covered at http://resources.jamfsoftware.com/archive/Administering-FileVault-2-on-OS-X-Mavericks-with-the-Casper-Suite-v9.2.pdf


Can Address Book still store local groups or contacts with iCloud enabled? I want to be able to keep a group of contacts on my Mac only, while keeping the rest of them synched to iCloud (as they currently do).

A bit of background: I'm wanting to do this since I'm dabbling with a bit of scripting involving the Address Book, and I want to be able to create test contacts without disrupting my real Address Book, and risking the wrath of the sync gods. My workaround has been using a second account that only has local storage, but it's disruptive having to switch accounts to test something.

The Address Book preferences has an On My Mac account listed alongside my iCloud account, but I don't see any options when creating new contacts or groups for putting them in local storage. If I reveal the groups pane, new groups get put under the iCloud section, and I don't see any local/On My Mac section.

Is the On My Mac account a mirage, not actually accessible if you have iCloud enabled?

Here's a Mountain Lion solution that I hope works on Lion. (I just worked at this from the other way - wanting to banish forever the On My Mac group.)

Open Contacts
Select On My Mac as the default account.
Import a contact or two from a vCard or import your test data set from the Import… menu
Switch back your default account to iCloud.

Going forward you can always drag a .vcf / vCard file into the On My Mac list to import there directly without changing the default account.


Messages.app won't add new account I recently decided I'd try to use Messages.app instead of Adium as my all-in-one chat app, and was immediately stymied by the + button in the Accounts pane not working.
I click the button, it darkens to indicate I clicked, and then nothing happens.

I've tried adding it to Messages through System Preferences > Mail, Contacts & Calendars, just by checking the box next to Messages on my Gmail account, but that just gives me the error "There was a problem setting up the account.  An unknown error occurred."

I am using two-factor authentication on my google account, but my Mail account is properly set up with an application-specific password.  I imagine things might work better if I could add the account to Messages specifically, with a different application-specific password, but since the + button in Accounts isn't working, that doesn't seem to be an option.

Anyone else had similar problems and solved them, preferably without reinstalling the OS?

Edit: Running Mountain Lion 10.8.3, no updates available in Software Update.

Gave up last night and reinstalled OS X, everything seems to work fine now.