macOS Sierra - localhost stops working when virtual host is enabled I have enabled virtual hosts on my Mac running macOS Sierra.

What I did,

Uncommented Virtual Host line in httpd.conf
Added a virtual host entry from my site in /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf file.

After which when I try to access http://localhost it gives me a 404.

Initially I faced a 403, so I created a username.conf file in apache users directory and gave AllowOverride All for /

Now to access localhost I need to disable vhost. Any help?

Probably you missed one or more modifications. To enable virtual hosts in macOS 10.12.0 (Client) do the following:

edit the file /etc/apache2/httpd.conf:

uncomment line 160:

#LoadModule vhost_alias_module libexec/apache2/mod_vhost_alias.so

to

LoadModule vhost_alias_module libexec/apache2/mod_vhost_alias.so

replace in line 213

#ServerName www.example.com:80

by

ServerName localhost

uncomment line 509:

#Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

to

Include /private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

edit the file /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf and replace the content by

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName localhost
    DocumentRoot "/path/to/localhost"

    <Directory "/path/to/localhost">
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride All
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Your site has to reside in /path/to/localhost/
Check the apache config with: sudo apachectl -S. The first two lines should yield:

VirtualHost configuration:
*:80                   localhost (/private/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf:23)

Start apache with sudo apachectl start
Now – after emptying the browser caches – enter localhost in the address bar of your browser.


Is it possible to update my iPhone 3G without a computer? I want new the new update for my iPhone 3G (used as an iPod) but do not want to mess anything up. Can I update it without a computer? I also have no SIM card for the phone.

No, you can't — you need a computer. Over-the-air updates were introduced in iOS 5. As the iPhone 3G can't run iOS 5, you can't do OTA updates, and therefore you need a computer to update it.

Also, 'the new update' (I presume you are referring to iOS 7) isn't compatible with the iPhone 3G, regardless of how you update.


Apple Music downgrade from family plan keeping music I currently have a family plan with myself and 4 family members. Only my daughter is actively using Apple Music with over 2000 songs. I would like to downgrade the service to a single user for her to a student plan (she's in college).
Is there any way she can keep her music if I downgrade to a single user?

I believe she can make a smart playlist of all the music she has in Apple Music and then export those playlist to files listing the songs.

When you terminate the subscription, she may or may not have a grace period before the music disappears from her library and playlists (which could end up empty playlists). When she signs back up, she would then either not lose anything if there is a grace period or she would import the playlists back and then re-download local copies if she uses that feature.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205928

The dual membership option with no presumed down time or need to make any changes is documented above. Once your student membership bills, you can cancel the other plan - perhaps timing the billing cycles to have a day or three overlap only.

A call or web chat to Apple support might be prudent to have them check if you have a grace period or she can sign up herself now and have a more seamless transition.


Partitioning secondary internal hard drive failure Looks like my 2nd HDD became a brick. I tried to partition it via Disk Utilities/booted from recovery partition/diskutil to no luck!

I got vague/strange errors such as: unable to unmount, or:

Partition failed with the error:
Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed.

Is there any way to force the partition process, or somehow revive the hard drive??

I've struggled for some days with the same problem but now it is solved. The problem was a faulty SATA cable. I've replaced it with a new one and now everything works as expected.


How do I copy an NTFS partition to a writable disk image? I have a drive from an old Windows computer. The drive is now in an enclosure, so it's accessible as if it were an external drive. It is formatted as NTFS. I would like to convert this drive (about 50 GB, including Windows XP on it) to a writable disk image.

I tried using Disk Utility to convert it to a read/write disk image, but it doesn't work because it still results in a disk image with NTFS as the format, which Mac cannot write to natively.

So, how can I convert the NTFS disk image that I now have (or the original drive) to a writable disk image? This will probably require that it be converted from NTFS to FAT32 or HFS+ somehow. I could just take the basic approach and copy the files themselves, but is there a cleaner way by copying it as an image?

Alright, so after browsing around, I figured that I could just Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the NTFS's contents to a proper sparse bundle or sparse image. That's probably the best way to go!


Encrypted external drive usually prompts for password, despite being in keychain I have an external encrypted drive, and almost every time I plug it in, it'll ask me for the password, even though it's already in my keychain. If I type the password in, it'll mount as expected. Oddly, if I hit cancel, it still mounts anyway, presumably because the password is in the keychain.

The problem is that it prompts for a password each time, even though it clearly doesn't need it because the password is in the keychain.

Possible oddities/useful details:

Mac OS X 10.9.1 Mavericks (though not a recent issue)
USB3 Guardian Maximus (2x 2TB HDDs in RAID1)
Drive is partitioned into two Logical Volume Groups each with a Logical Volume Partition, Formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)

On plugging in the disk, I get the following in the Console:

21/02/2014 9:41:22.000 am kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 20202020202020202020202036564D4344594535 0x525 0x3100 0x0, 3
21/02/2014 9:41:24.000 am kernel[0]: CoreStorage: fsck_cs has finished for group "BB4FAC13-41D6-4432-BBE6-BFC79161DE11" with status 0x00
21/02/2014 9:41:24.000 am kernel[0]: CoreStorage: fsck_cs has finished for group "9072D797-3F1C-447C-9EF7-801428DB9C8B" with status 0x00
21/02/2014 9:41:24.799 am com.apple.kextd[12]: LVG changed
21/02/2014 9:41:24.801 am com.apple.kextd[12]: LVG changed
21/02/2014 9:41:24.000 am kernel[0]: CoreStorageFamily::unlockVEKs() failed to unwrap the vek, status = e00002bc
21/02/2014 9:41:25.021 am com.apple.kextd[12]: LVG changed
21/02/2014 9:41:25.000 am kernel[0]: CoreStorageFamily::unlockVEKs() failed to unwrap the vek, status = e00002bc
21/02/2014 9:41:25.025 am com.apple.kextd[12]: LVG changed

After mounting, it just says: (PARTITION_# are partition labels)

21/02/2014 9:41:25.000 am kernel[0]: hfs: mounted PARTITION_1 on device disk3
21/02/2014 9:41:53.000 am kernel[0]: hfs: mounted PARTITION_2 on device disk4

Update

I did the keychain repairs/resets as suggested by @megadroid and things seemed better briefly, but still not 100% reliable.

What I've noticed since then is that it's much more likely to mount cleanly (without the redundant password prompt) if the computer is unlocked, whereas if it's asleep or locked (i.e. password required after screensaver activates) then they won't mount cleanly.

Haven't really tested this thoroughly, but am wondering if it's actually something completely different, like the locked/unlocked state of my account (and perhaps therefore my keychain?), that causes the prompts to appear and the disk to fail auto-mounting.

Update 2:

Just plugged it in, everything mounted cleanly/without prompt before I'd logged in. So it's not the keychain being locked while the computer is locked.

Two things you can try are key chain first aid and keychain reset, altough these in-house solutions hardly ever fixed anyhting for me. This is based on the fact that when some apps keep asking for passwords stored in the keychain, it's sometimes related to a corrupt keychain DB (Address Book's empty DB comes already corrupt on every new Mac - sarcasm).


Disable moving fullscreen windows when clicking on a Dock app In order to organize my workspace I arrange my fullscreen apps in appropriate order, so I know what app is on the left and on the right from my current position.

However when I start an app by clicking on a dock icon and move to the desktop, my current fullscreen window places to the first position automatically, right next after the desktop.

How can I prevent macOS from this automatic change order of windows? It's very annoying to replace them manually again and again.

System Preferences → Mission Control and uncheck ‘Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use’.


Control of Audio Playback in Presenter View in Keynote? I am a speech scientist, presenting speech sounds for listeners in a lecture. I have multiple audio clips (each a separate .wav file) embedded in my slide, and I want to be able to play each audiofile out so that I can demonstrate aspects of each sound.

This means I want to be able to:

completely control playback. I don't see a control icon when I mouseover the locations of my soundfile icons (although they are visible in composition view, they aren't in the presentation view). Right now I click or press the and the clips play back one at a time, in the designated playback order. It doesn't matter where I click on the screen, only the next clip in the order will play back.
play clips any number of times I wish, and in any order (to show fine differences in the acoustic signal that enable the sounds to be differentiated.

Is there any way to do these things? Thank you!

To get full playback controls in Presentation mode in Keynote, all you
  need to do is make the placed audio icon larger, then move your mouse
  into that larger region while in presentation playback mode.

The controller is not visible while editing your presentation, so yust make it large square and then check in presentation view.

  As the size of the audio icon increases, you’ll see more and more
  control options when you hover over the region in presentation mode.
  Once you reach 400 pixels in size, you’ll see all the same controller
  features you get with a QuickTime movie.

  Note that when you’re in edit mode, you’ll see an increasingly-large
  version of the Sound icon as you increase its size. As with the
  standard-sized icon, though, this icon will not appear in presentation
  mode. To access the audio playback controls while in presentation
  mode, just move your mouse into the region of the large icon, and the
  controller will appear.

  Source: http://www.macworld.com/article/1142542/keynoteaudio.html


Can I schedule Do Not Disturb for specific days? I currently have Do Not Disturb on my iPhone (iOS 9) scheduled to run while I am at college. The only issue is that I am not at college every day.

Is there a way I can schedule Do Not Disturb for certain days? (For example: Tuesday-Thursday)

Sadly, on a non jailbroken phone you can only set Do Not Disturb to set hours, regardless of which day.  Therefore, every day gets the same hours.

What would be nice, would be a system like the alarms where you can set multiple ones and have them repeat on choosable days, then you could set 2 DND period, one to cover weekdays, and one for weekends etc.

I would recommend making a feature request at this link.


Disable iPod at certain time I find my self on my iPod (5th Gen) late at night (until 12 or 1 in the morning), and want to know if there is a Cydia tweak that locks me out of my device at a specific time.

You can do it with Activator. After installing it in the Cydia you can assign Actions to the Events. For example you can assign this workflow:

Anywhere > Build > Scheduled > Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat 12:00 AM > Save > Done

Now select:

12:00 AM > Lock Device

Although this workflow just locked your device and does not restrict the usage after the 12:00AM, it acts like an alarm.

The other tweaks that can do the restriction are: AppCap, Parental Controls.


How to disable Apple Radio in iTunes and iOS? Update: iTunes/Apple Radio is now a paid service only — making it's
  removal from clogging up our screens more relevant.

On an iPhone, it's possible to disable Apple Music from cluttering your Music.app if you're not looking to use Apple's subscription service.

Same goes for iTunes on the Mac.

But Apple Radio still remains visible. How can I remove Apple Radio from showing?

If you click to play, none of those radio stations work without an Apple Music subscription:

What I've tried in OS X:

What I've tried in iOS:

  Settings.app > Music > disable "Show Apple Music"

  Settings.app > General > Restrictions > disable "Apple Music Connect"

It seems that the answer is:

There's no way to disable Apple Radio from taking up space in iTunes and Music on iOS.

If this also bothers you, you can submit a report here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Or, specifically, here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/apple-music.html


iPhoto Upgrade Catch 22 Friend running MacOS 10.7.5 wanted to update the OS but stick with iPhoto. So, we updated to Mavericks before realizing that she had an “old” version of iPhoto, version 9.1.5, which I figured we could update later. (In hindsight, I should have updated iPhoto when she was still on 10.7.5, but here we are.)

The combination of OS 10.9.5 and iPhoto 9.1.5 shows iPhoto as a non-launchable program. When I look at her App Store > Purchases, it shows iPhoto as “installed” and button is greyed out. So, I figured no problem, I kept all the iPhoto updaters from that era. However, when I run the 9.2.1, 9.3.1 or 9.4 or 9.4.3 updater, they all report that “the version of iPhoto installed on this Mac must be updated through the App Store” — which now is not possible.

I also have the iLife ’11 DVD, so I uninstalled her copy of iPhoto (the app and the receipt files located both in /Library/Receipts and in /var/db/receipts) and installed from iLife ’11.  Installed just fine. However, I’m left with a non-launchable iPhoto, although it’s a slightly newer version 9.2.1.  When I run any of the updaters (9.2.3, 9.3, etc), it gives me the error message “iPhoto 9.1 or later is required to install this update.” which is a bogus message, but probably something that Apple has ceased to care about.

As far as I know, there was never an iPhoto 9.6.1 updater put out by Apple — by that time it was updated via the App Store.

Any ideas on how I an get a runable version of iPhoto on this Mavericks Mac? (Yosemite is not the answer for other reasons I won’t go into). I do have Mavericks installed on a bootable external with an iPhoto that works (not exactly sure which version, but probably either 9.4.3 or 9.6.1). I know I could copy the app, but what support files also need to be copied.  Or is there some way to “trick” the current updaters into working?

Turns out that the iPhoto version was being reported incorrectly. It was really version 9.0 (from the iLife '11 DVD) not 9.2.1 as it said in the GetInfo box, so all of those later updaters were being honest. What I really needed was the 9.1 updater found here https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1322?locale=en_US
Once I got 9.1 installed, I was able to bring it up to 9.4.3, which will work just fine.


Display issue with Yosemite on MacBook Air Please check image

Anyone facing same issue?


Test application for Retina and Non Retina I have a MBP retina 13" running OSX 10.10.
I am developing an app for Mac App store.
Since I am having a retina display, I am not able to test the application for non retina models ? So how do I test my application for non retina displays.
Will it work if I reduce the screen resolution ??

You might use a third party program like http://www.resolutiontab.com to do this more effectively.

Also, you can open some apps in low-resolution mode via their info panels, just check the option and reopen the app, i.e. Photoshop:


Two-Step Authentication, iPhone Mail.app, and SMTP I have setup Two Step Verification for my Google account and all is well getting into email from a browser, or from the Safari browser on my phone.

However, I cannot get Mail.app to work. It just tells me the password is wrong. I am using an application specific password generated from the account access page in Google, tried two, still no go.

How can I get the Mail.app to actually work with this?

Open up the keychain application and locate the password that it has stored for your gmail account.  Now delete it.

Then retry the process you have, ensure you put in your application specific password, and then ensure you press the checkbox that says to save password to keychain.

Further instructions and Mail.app specific screenshots here.

I believe that mail.app is using an older stored email and this is preventing access.  I am assuming of course that mail.app was working perfectly for you before you started using two step authentication.


Provisional Enrollment Failed. [MCCloudConfigErrorDomain - 0x80EF (33007)] Trying to provision a brand new iPad with Apple Configurator 2. At some point our company will be deploying 2000 of these iPads, but I get various errors like the one listed in the title.

I have no issues with internet connectivity here. What is causing this error? It happens as soon as the iPad finishes erasing and gets ready to activate.

The profile that I included in the preparation process has the Wifi SSID and password.

First, try using a wired internet connection or try disabling "Add to Device Enrollment Program"

Enable "Supervised devices"


Unable to encrypt removable hard drive I have removable hard drive which I can't encrypt.

I'm following official guide, but there is simply no encryption option in the erase menu:

There should also be an option called "Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)", but it is not in the list.

To be more specific I'm running the latest update of OS X High Sierra (10.13.1). The hard drive model is: Transcend StoreJet 25M3 2TB TS2TSJ25M3E.

The issue was with GPT partition. Somehow the disk didn't have it.

After running the next command:

diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk2 GPT JHFS+ New 0b

disk utility started offering needed encryption options.

/dev/disk2 is the path of removable hard drive.

If you are not sure what is the path, run diskutil list - that will list all the disks and you'll be bale to pick yours.


My Apple account appears to have a monthly fee of one dollar. How can I understand this or dig deeper? I have made purchases on my iPhone from iTunes, and that was all well and good, no problems there. My problem is, why do I keep being debited a dollar each month even when I haven't made any purchases?

Is this a recurring fee for purchasing on iTunes or something?

Apple doesn't charge any fees for using the iTunes or app stores. If you're getting a recurring bill, you probably made an auto-renewing purchase (either a newspaper/magazine app, or some iTunes video content—regular apps aren't permitted to use auto-renewing in-app purchases).

You can manage or turn off these subscriptions in iTunes on iOS or OS X, have a look at Apple's instructions.


Handoff on mid 2010, El Capitan iMac? Since I recently upgraded my iPhone, I wanted to try the Continuity features that the Apple ecosystem has to offer. However, since I have a mid 2010 iMac, Handoff is not supported. I've been looking for unofficial resources, and have reached no conclusions.

Has anyone achieved this, or know how to? Thanks a lot!

P.S: Here are some articles I've found, just in case they can be useful for you:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/get-continuity-handoff-airdrop-on-old-mac-3582632/
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/23/continuity-activation-tool/

Yes–but you'll need a hardware upgrade and some third party software.

Continuity relies on two pieces: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. These need to be "correct" to work.

Check your iMac to see what Wi-Fi chip you have. To do this, open up System Profiler and look under Wi-Fi. If you have an Atheros chip like this teardown by iFixit shows, you'll need to replace it with a Broadcom BCM94360CD chip. If, however, you have a Broadcom Wi-Fi chip, you can choose to either replace it with the same board, or you can simply install a Bluetooth 4.0 dongle. If you do decide to use a dongle, note a few things:

Bluetooth 4.0 dongles based on the Cambridge Silicon Radio CSR8510 A10 chip  won't work. Try to use dongles based on the Broadcom BCM20702 chip, which are similar to the ones used by Apple, such as the Asus BT400, IOGEAR GBU521 and GMYLE
Instant Hotspot currently doesn't work reliably when using a dongle.

Once you've done that, use the Continuity Activation Tool to activate Continuity with your upgraded Mac: just run the app! Note, as always with third party hardware that works on a low level, you should use this with some caution. Make sure you have a backup (just for good caution), and nothing is 100% guaranteed. With that said, it's a very reputable tool, so I wouldn't be too afraid.


iTunes 11.1 won't let user delete podcast titles? I got as far as this question where my issue came up only as a comment.

I've heard and deleted the 9/6 and 9/13 episodes, but they appear in the list.
A right-click (sorry yes I'm on a Mac but have a mouse with r-c) shows no delete option.

So, when looking at my list of podcasts, I'm potentially looking at hundreds of podcasts that aren't current, I have a few that are daily, and they now show 100+ of old episodes. Any podcast fans have this issue and way to fix this?
Note, I checked the source folder for the podcast title, and this are not there, not taking HD space, just space on this list. Last - I know there's a n option to limit the number shown, but there are some shows that I'd want o keep more than this limit. If I am away from iTunes for a while, I still want the dailies available.

Note - it's all podcasts that have this issue, th image is to show one example, but they all have a long list of old shows.

10/4/13 update from the notes on 11.1.11 update :

  This update resolves an issue that may cause iTunes Extras to display
  incorrectly, fixes a problem with deleted podcasts, and improves
  stability.

And after updating, the issue is gone. Which, of course, renders this thread delete-worthy. Thank you for the comments and support!

I can't add a simple comment as I don't have the rep, but I'd like to add something to this discussion:

In 11.1 you can delete downloaded podcasts just like always. The difference is that, while the file will disappear from your HD, the listing for that file will still be presented to you in itunes. The listings are not deletable (currently). This is causing confusion because, formerly, deleting the file would also automatically delete the listing. Note that I'm assuming that's why bmike was able to display the delete box above--he was deleting an existing file from his HD.
This has happened before. Apple just doesn't seem to test (or really understand--see the new 'podcast' app) podcast user behavior. Thus every once in a while itunes gets updated and you get a bug like this one.
This is a BUG not a purposeful change. There are podcasts that create a dozen files to download per day, normally I could just click the download all button and get them all at once. But because now I cannot remove old, already discarded podcasts from the list, the download all button will download... hundreds of files. It's not logical that this would be considered a feature. It's a bug, which they've had before, and they've fixed before.

It'll get fixed, but as I recall it took a month or so last time... sorry folks, and welcome to the Apple way!

Edit:

just to prove without a doubt that this is a bug, note that there is still a selection when you right click on a podcast 'show old episodes'. This setting used to re-query the rss feed and list out all the available podcasts so that you could download them. This was needed because, as discussed, when you deleted a local file, the listing for it also was removed. The way 11.1 works now is similar to if the 'show old episodes' button was perpetually set 'on', with no way to turn it off. Thus, either this behavior (not being able to delete podcast listings) is a bug, or the continued presence of the 'show old episodes' button is a bug.

One of them is a bug, I'm guessing it's this new behavior, not the presence of the seemingly-redundant 'show old episodes' button.

HTH! Have patience and it'll get fixed :)


How to use custom font in iMovie on OSX I've been trying to use a custom .TTF font on OSX to watermark videos edited in iMovie. But there doesn't seem to be any option at all.

Does anyone know how to achieve this?

First: Install the font:

Open application Font Book
Copy your .TFF font and paste it into the application (or drag and drop)

Second: Change font in iMovie:

If you're in iMovie and you have a textbox, select the text you want its font to change and hit Command + T. The font selection popup opens and you should be able to select your installed font.


Change color of loading page in Safari When a webpage is loading in Safari, a white screen appears, be it Facebook, Gmail or any other website. If it's contents haven't appeared, then the tab appears completely white (maybe my Internet is way too slow but it takes a few seconds with almost every page, that's why it is annoying).

Is there a way to override this color so that it appears gray/black until the page is loaded (regardless if the webpage has a white background)?

I am running macOS Mojave 10.14.4.

It is not possible to customize the color of loading page in Safari. However you can enable dark mode by going to System Preferences app → General → Appearance to change from white to dark gray color for the loading view.

The dark mode however will get applied system wide and not just to Safari.


Is it possible to develop an iOS app without a test device? So...I have an iPad and MacBook Pro.

I bought my iPad because I thought I needed it but now I'm thinking to sell it since I just found out that Xcode offers an iOS simulator.

Is it possible to develop a fully working iOS app without actual test hardware?

Clearly: No. The simulator does not offer hardware access (gyroscope, accelerometer, etc.) and also, you just don't get the feeling for your App, which is very important in iOS development. You can't use the gestures and you don't know how it reacts if you work with it. so it is definitely not advisable. I tried to use the simulator in the beginning, but some frameworks don't even run on it.


iOS 8.1.2, how to make Music app stop using Bluetooth? I have an iPad Mini Retina running iOS 8.1.2.  I also have a MagicBox II bluetooth speaker.  I want to use the speaker via bluetooth with my phone, but I also sometimes use it via its AUX jack with a non-BT capable device.

What happens is I will be streaming via BT from my iPad using Apple Radio, and decide to start using my speaker in non-BT mode.  I plug in my other device and the speaker switches and all is well.  But my iPad will not stop using BT, and so there is no sound.  The music app will not recognize that BT is no longer available no matter what I try.  Even turning BT off entirely doesn't help, the music app still plays but there is no sound.  Quitting/relaunching the music app also does nothing.  A reboot of the iPad will fix this issue.

Is there any way to manually tell the Music app to stop using BT and go back to the built in audio?

Dang, finally figured it out after days of frustration with this.  From the Airplay options when you swipe up from the bottom (whatever that little drawer thing is called), you can choose the BT speaker or iPad for the audio.  Doesn't seem to be any other place to select this from though so it was not obvious.


Will NTFS-3G and FUSE work out of the box if I upgrade from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion? On Snow Leopard I already have NTFS-3G (2010.10.2) and FUSE (MacFUSE Framework 2.2.1). I managed to install them and it works like a charm.

If I upgrade to Mountain Lion, does the operating system pick it up or I have to do it again from the scratch?

Following that major upgrade of the operating system, you may find that some features of your product combination (NTFS-3G for Mac OS X, with a 2.2.1 version of the MacFUSE framework) are:

usable, but unreliable, with a risk of kernel panics.

Recommendation

Install FUSE for OS X 2.4.2 or greater, with its MacFUSE compatibility layer:

before or soon after the upgrade of the operating system
certainly before you attempt to use NTFS-3G or any other software title that requires MacFUSE.

Background

Maintenance of MacFUSE, in the Google Code area, ceased in 2009.

Successors to MacFUSE include FUSE for OS X, also known as OSXFUSE. The first version with experimental support for OS X 10.8 was 2.4.0 (2012-05).

In my experience with OSXFUSE 2.3.8 and greater on multiple builds of Mountain Lion:

OSXFUSE 2.4.2 should be good for the vast majority of use cases with released Build 12A269 of the operating system
a delay-related alert may appear whenever an NTFS volume is mounted with NTFS-3G (2010.10.2) – this alert, not specific to Mountain Lion, may be dismissed.


Is there a way to circumvent the 20MB file limit on iOS without jailbreaking? I travel often enough that I decided to activate tethering through AT&T. I'm not on unlimited data, but I do have a fairly high limit now (tethering comes with more bandwidth) I am often downloading new podcast episodes over 3G, but find I am still limited by the 20MB file limit. So I have to tether to my Mac Book Pro to download the podcast (over the iPhone), and then sync it to my iPhone.

I guess the reason for the 20MB limit was when AT&T offered unlimited data, but now it is just annoying as it requires me to take an extra step to download the same 20MB file over the same 3G network.

Short of having another iPhone and tethering them together, is there a way I can download a file over 20MB directly to my iPhone? I'd prefer not to jailbreak it, but I guess I am not completely opposed to it if that is my only solution.

This is a limit imposed by Apple.

  Cellular downloads are limited to a file size of 20 MB or smaller.

See comment below, iOS 5.1 has increased this limit to 50 MB.


Gmail contact folder disappeared The contact folder in my Gmail disappeared, both on iPhone and iPad. How do I get it back?

can you post a screen shot? Ideally it should appear in the dropdown menu of the Gmail text on the top left about 1.2 inches from the top, next to it a small downward arrow, click on the arrow, contact should be the 2nd choice


Apple Thunderbolt display not turning on when connected to ASUS Z87 motherboard I recently purchased custom build PC with Asus Z87 Expert Thunderbolt motherboard, Intel i7-4790K processor, Sapphire R9 270X 2 GB graphics card, etc.

It's not working with my Apple Thunderbolt display 27″. I have installed Intel Thunderbolt driver as well.

When I connect this PC to the Apple Thunderbolt display, the display won't turn on. I am very disappointed now. Does anybody know how to make it work?

Okay, I have figured it out myself :)
Feeling extremely happy.

Steps:

Enter BIOS setting. For most of the computer, you just have to press
F2 while computer starts.
Enter Advance BIOS setting mode.
Enable iGPU and Multi-Monitor option in the Graphics section.

That's it. Restart your computer and Enjoy the terrific Apple thunderbolt display quality in Windows operating system.

My PC specs:

Motherboard: ASUS Z87 Expert
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790k
Discrete GPU: Sapphire R9 270X 2GB Dedicated
and Apple Thunderbolt Display 27" :)

Any Windows operating System (7/8/8.1) will work but my my operating system is Windows 10 Technical Preview.

Here is a screenshot


Creating Multiple iPhone encrypted backups Is it possible to create multiple encrypted backups with different passwords in different iTunes?

For example, if I create an encrypted backup in iTunes 1 with password 'abc' and then plug the device into into iTunes 2 on a different computer and try to create another encrypted backup. Will I be able to set password 'xyz'?

From then on, when I return to iTunes 1 will the backup password on that iTunes be 'abc' or 'xyz'?

You can sync (and backup) your iDevice with one computer only, so the problem of assigning different passwords doesn't come up at all.


Mail.app folders + iPhone/iPad = missing emails? I have a specific mail setup on my mac where I use Mail.app to access my Gmail via IMAP, and the app filters emails into folders ("On my mac" as opposed to in Gmail itself) for my different projects, school, etc. The problem is that whenever Mail.app moves an email into a folder (out of the main Inbox), it gets put in the Gmail Archive (All Mail), and then is no longer accessible via my iPhone - i.e. when I search for it, it's not there. Is there a way to make emails in folders available on iPhone/iPad, preferably actually synced with the device so you have the real folders from Mail.app available?

Be sure that you are making folders that are stored on gmail using IMAP.

It sounds like you are moving the messages to a local folder (on my mac) and the correct behavior in that case is to delete the message from all IMAP folders.

Mail keeps a local copy of all messages - so you still have offline access, time machine backups going back in time, and all the benefits of local storage when messages are "stored in a folder in gmail." Think of the location as the authoritative copy and not the only copy or even the most correct copy. When you make changes offline - those time stamps let the system sync your changes back to gmail once you reconnect and properly integrate changes with new mail that has arrived while offline.

Just to be totally clear - here are some pictures...

Try making a new IMAP folder like the picture below - you can rename it later if needed to see what creating a folder stored on Gmail looks like on your mail client.

You don't want it stored locally like this:

You can drag messages into the new folder or drag entire folder structures as long as you have time for the operation to sync / upload all the data to gmail servers. I have seen folders with 5,000 messages take two or three hours to upload even on normal internet with decent upload speeds so try first with smaller mailboxes to get the hang of things.


macOS: The cursor in Terminal won’t blink Is the macOS Terminal.app cursor not blinking the default macOS behavior?

How can one configure it to blink?

The default behaviour for macOS Terminal.app cursor is to not blink.

To configure cursor type and blink, in Terminal.app menu bar go to Terminal → Preferences... → Profiles and under Cursor check Blink cursor.


How do you record audio from command line with osx? I've tried ffmpeg but there is no /dev/dsp device.


How do I parse lsappinfo output? There's a nice lsappinfo tool that lets you do things like monitor for app switching. I'd like to write a program that runs lsappinfo listen and takes actions when the foreground app changes (specifically, change LED colors on my new keyboard).

Does anyone know what the serialization format that lsappinfo uses is? It looks like this:

$ lsappinfo listen +becameFrontmost forever
Notification: kLSNotifyBecameFrontmost time=10/18/2017 06:58:18.843 dataRef={ "ApplicationType"="Foreground", "CFBundleIdentifier"="com.google.Chrome", "LSASN"=ASN:0x0-0x10010:, "LSFrontApplicationSeed"=3367, "LSMenuBarOwnerApplicationSeed"=3270, "LSMenuBarOwnerASN"=ASN:0x0-0x10010:, "LSOtherASN"=ASN:0x0-0x2f52f5: } affectedASN="Google Chrome" ASN:0x0-0x10010:  context=0x0 sessionID=186a6 notificationID=0x7fb529d00a90
Notification: kLSNotifyBecameFrontmost time=+0.835684s  dataRef={ "ApplicationType"="Foreground", "CFBundleIdentifier"="org.gnu.Emacs", "LSASN"=ASN:0x0-0x2f52f5:, "LSFrontApplicationSeed"=3368, "LSMenuBarOwnerApplicationSeed"=3271, "LSMenuBarOwnerASN"=ASN:0x0-0x2f52f5:, "LSOtherASN"=ASN:0x0-0x10010: } affectedASN="Emacs" ASN:0x0-0x2f52f5:  context=0x0 sessionID=186a6 notificationID=0x7fb529d00a90

I mean, I can parse this with a regex looking for just the field I want, but it would be nicer to be able to just pass it to some library rather than use a hacky regex that might fail if the data looks weird. Is this some sort of standard macOS internals serialization format that I haven't heard of, or is it something they made up just for this tool?

You don't need to - there's an open source clone of it at http://newosxbook.com/tools/lsdtrip.html which can get you the underlying API calls that Apple uses.


Can I publish my profile picture for all users of Mac Mail? When you open an email from someone in Mac Mail, their profile picture (set in the Contacts app) is displayed. If a profile pic is not found, a circle with that user's initials is displayed.

Is there a way to publish a profile pic associated with my email address, so any user of Mac Mail can see that profile pic when I send them emails?

For Gmail web clients, I need to set a profile pic in Google+. For the Fastmail web client, I need to set a profile pic on Gravatar. But I don't know of a way for Mac Mail. Is there one?

There is no way to do this.

The Mail app on the desktop only retrieves profile pictures from the local machine, that is, from the Contacts app, from your user account, and from ~/Library/Images/People/.


Crontab Operation not permitted I have the following crontab on my mac OS Catalina 10.15.1 :

* * * * * /Users/username/Desktop/cronjob.sh > /Users/username/Desktop/cronjob.log 2>&1

Within the command file is:

#!/bin/bash

touch /tmp/foo

However I was left with the following line inside cronjob.log

/bin/bash: /Users/username/Desktop/cronjob.sh: Operation not permitted

Why is operation not permitted event though the permissions for cronjob.sh is set to +x?

In your case you have to add cron as "parent" app to the user's Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access apps/execs.

Depending where to read the script from and where to write the log file to, you have to add cron to the Full Disk Access apps. Almost all default folders in the user's home are protected (Documents/Downloads/Desktop - I haven't checked Pictures/Movies/Music but I think they are protected too and obviously the wrong folders to add shell scripts or log files) by Catalina's system policy.

If the script and the log reside in user created and thus unprotected folders (e.g. the script in ~/bin and the log file in ~/log) it works without adding cron to the Full Disk Access group.

You can check this kind of errors by opening Console.app and searching for the shebanged exec in the script (here bash):

error   15:19:00.369105+0100    kernel  Sandbox: bash(4556) System Policy: deny(1) file-write-data /Users/user/Desktop/test/cronjob2.log
error   15:19:00.379093+0100    kernel  Sandbox: bash(4555) System Policy: deny(1) file-read-data /Users/user/Desktop/cronjob.sh

In the examples above cron wasn't added to the Full Disk Access group.

cronjob2 was run from an unprotected folder ~/bin but tries to write the log file to the protected folder ~/Desktop/test/. So no read error but a write error.

cronjob was run from a protected folder ~/Desktop and tries to write the log file to the protected folder ~/Desktop/. So a read error.

Interestingly both log files are created - the first one (cronjob2.log) is empty though.


Generating and collaborating on network map diagrams? I have to turn out some network topology maps for very large networks. I'd like the format for the maps to be something other people can also edit and contribute to regardless of what software I'm using on my Mac to build them. I don't mind spending money on my end for software, but I can't require that my clients spend any money. I also can't promise my clients are also using OS X -- they could be running Linux or Windows.

Is there best software application on OS X for producing maps that I can share with other, non-OS X, users?

Is there a best format for sharing topology maps that I should use when exporting the maps to disk?

Graphviz should do the trick. It uses a text file in a markup language called dot.  I believe there are a number of apps on the Mac that can create and export/import that format, but otherwise it's a plain text format and can be edited with any text editor.


Can I have my screenshot files written immediately in Mojave? In macOS Mojave, whenever you take a screenshot a small preview thumbnail will appear at the bottom-right of your screen, and then it will go away on its own.

I have noticed that the .PNG screenshot file will be written to your Desktop after the thumbnail flies away, rather than instantaneously like it used to be.

This may sound ridiculous but as a very extensive user of the screenshot features, this lag is rather annoying.

The closest solution I have found is that if you manually swipe the thumbnail to the right, your screenshot will be written a bit earlier.

Is it possible to configure the screenshots behavior to write the file immediately? I don't mind deactivating the thumbnail preview - I just want to have the file sitting on my Desktop as soon as possible.

I am running macOS Mojave 10.14.2.

You can take screenshots instantly by turning off the thumbnail preview.

This can be achieved by opening the screenshot utility and uncheck the "Show Floating Thumbnail" button.

(3rd last option from below)

The options also allow you to set a timer for taking screenshots.


How much space is recommended for a Windows 7 Bootcamp installation besides Snow Leopard? How much space is recommended for a Windows 7 Bootcamp installation besides Snow Leopard? I thought of 30 Gigabyte. Would that be sufficient?

My Parallels virtual HDD has 12GB. But I using windows only in sometimes.

The space is depend on what you want install into windows. And really need BootCamp? Parallels or VMware or VirtualBox(free) is fine - why you need BootCamp?


How do you create an archive file which unarchives into the current folder? At the moment, if I create a TAR or ZIP file foo.tar - containing multiple files and directories - when I double click on the archive it creates a folder foo containing all of the archived items.

Is there a way to have an archive extract itself - when opened from Finder - so that the files are at the same level as the archive was?

I'm trying to distribute an archive which users can use to setup a USB drive with a custom icon etc, however this requires copying hidden files into the USB drive's root, so I can't just get them to "copy/paste from this network directory"

Unless I am mistaken (always a possibility), this behavior is set by the program extracting the archive file, not by the archive file itself.


Error trying to access Gmail on all browsers, "bad_mac_alert" Recently I've been getting this error in Chrome when I try to access Gmail or other google sites.

Error 126 (net::ERR_SSL_BAD_RECORD_MAC_ALERT): Unknown error.

In Firefox it's

An error occurred during a connection to accounts.google.com.

SSL peer reports incorrect Message Authentication Code.

(Error code: ssl_error_bad_mac_alert)

Using OS X Lion.  It used to work, but then there was a power failure, and now this is happening.

Searches online found some results, but nothing seems to work. Tried turning on and off "Set date and time automatically".

Seems like it is a pretty common issue.  Have you tried clearing your cache and browser data?  Also do you get the same error with different browsers?  Try Safari and see if you get the same error.


Is it possible to share iCloud Notes read-only? I've just written up instructions for my Mum on how to use the AppleTV but I'm scared she's going to accidentally delete the contents of the note. Is it not possible to share a note "read only"?

There's a label saying "People you invite can make changes" but there seems to be no way to edit the permissions before inviting.

Maybe this is coming in iOS 11?

I know this isn't really how you're wanting to solve this, but you could simply compose a note with the desired content, and then either screen cap it or print to pdf and insert the screen cap or pdf back into a shared note, presuming you wanted to keep this content within the notes app.


How can I change default font Notes - Sierra, High Sierra In the actual Notes application there are menu choices for changing the font of a note. However, this doesn't change the default font for new notes. There is also no Preference.../Settings... where the default font can be changed.

Does anyone know how to change the default font of the Notes app on MacOS Sierra and/or High Sierra etc.

Yes. You have to close out of the Notes application and go to the Notes app in the Applications folder. Right-click on the Notes app and select 'Show Contents" From inside the Contents folder open the Resources folder and inside this folder is a folder named en.lproj. This is for the English language. Other similar folders exist for other languages. Inside this folder is a file named DefaultFonts.plist. Edit this file. The file is locked so editing it can be tricky.This link has a full description of how to do it all.  The link will fill in missing details.


Backup And Restore iPhone Text Messages I have an iPhone that I need to wipe because I need to send it to Apple for the Lock Button Replacement Program.

The only issue is I need to restore my iPhone and I don't want to lose my text messages and iMessages. If I backup my iPhone to iTunes will I be able to recover them when I get my iPhone back and still use them with the 'messages' application and not a 'SQL lite' app?

An iTunes backup includes text messages. See this Apple page for what is included. Notice that to restore everything, including passwords, you need to encrypt the iTunes backup with a password.


Set an external display as main and always display the app switcher UI on it I was wondering if there is a way to set an external display positioned towards visible right of my Mac as primary, and always show the app switcher UI Command + Tab on that display.

I tried the said arrangement (as shown below), but the app switcher still appears on the MacBook Pro's built-in display (on left), which is very annoying, as I have to turn my head left to see which app is selected.

As you can see, I positioned the white bar (that should define the main display) in the external display - however, this behaviour is not respected. How do I configure my system to achieve the intended behaviour.

I am using a MacBook Pro running macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

The primary display is configured correctly. The app switcher should be shown on the external display, only if the Dock is not set to Automatically hide and show, and is always visible on screen.

Make sure you have not enabled Automatically hide and show the Dock under System Preferences → Dock. If enable, toggle the setting by unchecking and re-checking it.

If you wish to keep the Dock hidden and shown only when the mouse pointer touches the edge which houses the Dock, the app switcher will be shown on the screen that has last displayed the Dock. Thus, to show the app on your main display (external, on visible right), move the mouse pointer to the edge of the Dock, momentarily display it and then use the app switcher with the keyboard shortcut Command + Tab.


Can the an American iPhone 5S work in Europe and vice-versa? Background

I live in the USA and I have an iPhone 5S (version A1453).  It was bought under contract to Sprint and is currently locked.
My girlfriend lives in the NETHERLANDS and has an iPhone 5S (version A1457).  It was bought for full retail price and is unlocked, but currently on the Netherlands' T-Mobile network.

We are thinking about switching phones, because I have more gigabytes of storage and I don't use that extra space.

Questions

Will her European iPhone 5S (version A1457) work in the USA (and on which major carriers)?
Will my American iPhone 5S (version A1453) work in the NETHERLANDS T-Mobile network?

It's not going to work because Sprint will not let you add her phone to their network. Sprint limits subscribers to phones specifically sold for the Sprint network. Verizon has a similar policy.

You may, however, be able to get the phone to work with a different carrier. Many European companies typically sell unlocked phones, so if the phone was purchased in Europe, it may already be unlocked. In that case, the only issue would be to find a network that supports the phone in the United States. Considering that European countries often use GSM networks, you may be able to use AT&T, T-Mobile, and possibly some other carriers. If you need to use the phone for only a short time in the United Staes, you may want to buying an AT&T GoPhone sim card or a similar contractless service from another carrier.

If you do, however, need to use the Sprint network then you should keep in mind that the two phones support different LTE bands so it's likely that you both would lose access to LTE. It's not certain because there is some overlap but it's quite likely.

https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/

Here's the FAQ for Sprint unlocking:

http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html


What exactly does "erase and sync" mean in iTunes? This is one of the scariest, vaguest warnings I've ever seen.

In my case I don't mind if it erases all of my songs and re-syncs with my new computer, but I sure as hell don't want it erasing everything on my iPhone. Why on earth would it need to do that? Why is this error so vague?

I'm definitely not willing to just try it and see what happens.

I finally found a tool that will let me transfer songs to my iPhone without iTunes, at least from my PC: CopyTrans.


iCloud Drive taking up space on local drive? My computer seems to be keeping a local copy of my iCloud Drive folder. Is there any way to disable this?

I know this because in my "Library" folder, there is another folder called "Mobile Documents" that links to the contents in my iCloud Drive folder.

Also, when I click on "About This Mac", under "Storage", it includes the iCloud Drive folder's contents.

Is there a way for me to not keep a local copy of the iCloud Drive folder? I don't want it taking up space on my hard drive...

No, I don't believe this can be done. This is how the service works - copies of everything in the drive is copied to all devices that have the drive enabled.

You can choose to disable iCloud drive entirely, but you can't pick and choose what files arrive on which device.

Other cloud storage service like Dropbox and Google Drive behave in this way as well.


How assign a webpage to a letter in Chrome? When I write an alphabet in the Chrome search bar then usually some website from the History shows up which is good if that page is what you want but bad otherwise.

I want this: I type the letter e and let's say the webpage examppllee.com/blabla shows up. It is likely that examppllee.com/blabla is from my history. Suppose I want that only examppllee.com to show up without the /blabla extension. How do I do this?

Visiting the example.com/ webpage directly would list that hit alphabetically before any subsequent pages on that site.  But it won't stop you seeing eatmorecake.com first...


PDFs missing from iBooks on iPad after restore After a complete restore of my iPad 2 from iTunes, all my PDF books not from the iTunes Store were gone.  I just saw them for seconds and then disappeared.   How can I get them back?

Look in the iTunes -> iTunes Music -> Books.   They should be there!


Deauthorizing a working computer: does the iTunes library need to be present? I am shortly going to be reformatting a Windows computer that my wife uses for iTunes. She keeps her library and her library files on an external drive. This is her active library -- that is, it is NOT a backup. (She does not have any files on the local hard drive, and always launches iTunes holding down the Shift key so that she can choose her library from the external drive.) Her external drive is currently not available, however. Can we deauthorize the computer from her account JUST by logging her into the iTunes store from that computer and deauthorizing it? Or does the external drive with her library need to be connected before we can deauthorize the computer?

The authorization link is between the computer and the Apple ID, not any particular iTunes Library. So, no, you don't need the library to break that connection. You can create an empty library temporarily, just to get iTunes to launch, then use Deauthorize This Computer.

If you throw that computer in the garbage, you can always go to your iTunes account on another computer and click "Deauthorize All" to remove all authorizations at once.  You can then reauthorize your current computers as needed.


Photo stream and iCloud? I have a new iPhone 4s and an account on iCloud. Is it possible to move an old photo album from my old iPhone 4 to the new iPhone 4S by just using iCloud?

One way i can think of is using a Mac:

Sync your old iPhone and download your photos to iPhoto.
Activate iCloud and Photo Stream on your mac using your iCloud ID.
iPhoto now will have a Photo Stream folder.
Drag the desired photos/events to the Photo Stream folder in iPhoto.
Make sure you have Photo Stream activated on your iPhone 4S and you are using the same iCloud ID on all related devices.
iCloud on your iPhone 4S should detect via WiFi or your carrier that you have photos in your Photo Stream and will sync all devices under your iCloud ID.

I haven't managed to copy the photos to the Photo Stream Folder on the phone, so maybe it's not implemented yet, but one workaround if you don't have a Mac, is to email/message yourself the photos. Read the mail/message using your new iPhone 4S and save the photos. They will appear in the Photo Stream folder.

Hope that helps.


Failed Installation of macOS Catalina I recently had to erase my 2018 Mac mini and I’m now trying to upgrade to macOS Catalina 10.15.6. However, after running the installer, I keep getting the error message “An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.”
I’m not sure why this is. I’ve ran it 4 different times, restarted, deleted and re-installed the installer for Catalina, and nothing happens. Still getting the error message. Is there any way I can fix this and get it to work? Had the same issue while trying to re-install Catalina on another machine after resetting. Not sure what to do here.

There was a known issue with upgrading or installing the OS on Macs with a T2 chip to macOS 10.15.6. Apple have yet to acknowledge the problem but have rolled out (about 3 hours ago) a new update to the software catalog that is reported to fix the problem.
Give it another try after 0000 UTC Thursday Aug 6 as Apple has replaced a wrong installer for most T2 Macs.


Macbook pro trackpad stops working after plugging in USB mouse in Windows 7 under bootcamp We have a new Macbook Pro which we've installed Windows 7 under boot camp. We've also installed the drivers off the OSX CD.

When I plugged in a USB mouse the Trackpad stops working, which is fine because I've got the mouse. When I unplug the USB mouse the track pad still doesn't work.

Has anyone else experienced the behaviour? Is there a solution to it?

During boot camp assistant partitioning, it prompted you to create  windows support folder. After installing windows you should have run setup from this folder. If you run it again and reboot, you should have your track-pad driver restored. When you run it again, select repair.


How can I convert a text selection to upper case in Apple Mail with a keyboard shortcut Apple Mail version Version 6.6 (1510)
OS 10.8.5

Is there a keyboard shortcut for converting the case for a text selection in the message editor? I know I can right-click and access this from the transformations menu

Create ~/Library/KeyBindings/, save

{
  "~=" = uppercaseWord:;
}

as ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict, and quit and reopen Mail. It makes ⌥= convert the selection or the word around the cursor to uppercase.

See http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html or http://osxnotes.net/keybindings.html for more information.


Is it possible to move from an old mac to a new mac only selected applications and documents? I would like to move from an old mac book pro to a new one only selected applications and documents. I set my old mac using an older one mac so I have very old applications that I should uninstall. I run migration assistant but with this program is not possible to select the application I want to transfer. Is there another way to do this? Both mac (old and new) run Mojave 10.14.6.

You can of course select and copy any documents you want: though you will have to select them manually.

For the applications, it will largely depend on where they came from. Apps from the Mac App Store are linked to your Apple ID, and can be re-downloaded from the App Store onto the new Mac.

Third-party software may work just by copying the application: though some apps may need an installer that adds additional support files. Apps may need serial numbers or other protection re-applied.

whether they are App Store downloads, or other software that requires an installer. Some apps can be copied


IOS 7, enable to setup personal hot spot After Updating latest version of iOS 7. I am not able to setup personal hot spot in my iPhone 4.

I use BSNL (India) carrier. I was told by the carrier that the problem is an issue with the iPhone update.

I use BSNL for 7 years with a 3G data plan. Until now, I have not had any hot spot related issues but after updating to the latest version of iOS 7 this problem began.

How can I solve this problem? Any hints or suggestions are most welcome.

setting- cellular- cellular data network.
Cellular data
apn: test
username: test
password: 12345678
Personal hotspot
apn: test
username: test
password: 123456789

have good day


Reverse Magic Trackpad (turn 180°) Prior to Mavericks, one could reverse the direction of a Magic Trackpad, using the following defaults commands, and magic five-finger gesture to reorient.

defaults write com.apple.trackpad.orientation TrackpadOrientationMode 1
sudo defaults write com.apple.MultitouchSupport ForceAutoOrientation YES

You can find more information here and here. Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to work in Mavericks. Does anybody know a modern incantation to bring back the old magic?

NOTE: this is not the same as reversing the scroll direction. It completely reverses all input and gestures on trackpad.

UPDATE: I got it to work. Ray Shan's "reboot the trackpad" might be part of the magic. Also, five fingers + hard click seems to be crucial to activate.

sudo defaults write com.apple.MultitouchSupport ForceAutoOrientation YES did the trick for me on 10.9.5 (required a reboot). I haven't tried defaults write com.apple.trackpad.orientation TrackpadOrientationMode 1. Possibly the two methods are interacting strangely with each other?


MacBook Pro: necessary specs for virtualization So I am a software guy who is pretty oblivious when it comes to personal computer hardware. I really want to ditch my old pc for a macbook, but I'm not really sure of the right hardware specs I should be searching for.

The most intensive work I'll be doing is running lots of vagrant vms with virtualbox (max of about 15ish). So what specs should I be looking for: cpu, ram, storage, cores, ect?  Which specs are the most important?

If this might be a better question for SuperUser let me know and I'll try to migrate the post there.

Depends on specs and activity of the boxes. 15x one core and 512MB RAM will run on a Core i5 and 16GB RAM. If the boxes are going to need more RAM, you'll need to run fewer boxes at a time. A VM typically requires about 100MB RAM on the hypervisor side, macOS and any tools you might have running also need some memory, so those are the constraints of the system you'd be working with. More RAM isn't an option, it's soldered on, and 16GB is the limit.


Macbook Pro as a wireless bridge? (Private hotspot from external wifi connection) While travelling, it would be convenient to set up a wifi hotspot from my Macbook, which would share the wifi internet with my phone and tablet (wifi <-> Macbook <-> wifi). This would make it easy to test apps I'm developing on the Macbook and also make it easier to connect devices to the internet, instead of making each of them jump through the considerable hoops of public wifi providers.

There's no ethernet involved, just a public/hotel wifi connection. I realise this isn't possible with just the built-in wifi; it needs some kind of external wifi device. My question is firstly to confirm this is possible, and secondly to ask exactly what setup (hardware and config) is required.

It isn't directly possible without a USB card. The Macbook (Pro) can only do one thing with it's built-in wireless card. It can either be on the receiving end of the wifi connection or the sending.

You do have several good options here, though. If you were satisfied with dealing with cords some, you could consider sharing your internet connection over "iPhone USB". I don't know if that would work for two devices simultaneously, however.

You can check out the sharing options under System Preferences -> Sharing -> Internet Sharing.

The better option, and the one you mentioned is to get a USB wireless adapter (perhaps something similar to this, but I'm sure there are other better ones as that is just b/g, and you would probably like n), and then share that internet connection by creating an ad-hoc network.

You will need to connect your USB adapter, and then open System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing. (From this Apple Forum post) Select USB from the drop down menu next to "Share your connection from:". Then select the "Wifi" from the checkboxes below. Check the Internet Sharing option to the left, then join it with your iPhone and iPad.

Here is an Apple KB support article that you may find helpful in setting up an ad-hoc network. While you are using USB the steps in this OSX Daily article should be very similar to your situation.


Hard Drives shows up in Finder, but not Desktop In the past when I have plugged in external hard-drives they would always show up on the desktop. I'm not sure if it is because of a software update or the drive itself but it's no longer showing up.

The drive is working because if I go to Finder I can access the drive.

How can I change the settings so that drives show up on the desktop when they are plugged in?

I'm using OSX version: 10.7.3.

You probably have accidentally unchecked "Hard disks" from the Finder Preference pane (accessible with ⌘ +  , ). Just check the box,

and you should be good to go!


How should I copy OS X server environment to another machine for update? I have a server running Server.app (3.2.2) on Mac OS X 10.9.5. It hosts File Sharing, Mail, VPN, Websites, DHCP, DNS, and Open Directory etc. It also hosts phpBB3 bulletin boards.

Because the OX version is not up-to-date, I want to transfer everything to a new Mac mini running OS X El Capitan (10.11). I thought it would be safer to use another machine than simply updating the running server machine itself.

The server machine has two partitions and one is used for the Time Machine backup.

I thought a situation like this is not uncommon, and should be straightforward. But seemingly I was wrong... it might be more like heart bypass surgery.

My initial plan was to import the latest Time Machine backup of the old server to the new Mac mini with Migration Assistant.app. While both machines are connected to the same local network, I could not let Migration Assistant.app find the backup file. I chose "From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk" on the screen, but on the next screen the old server is not automatically shown, and I could not connect to the server manually through the "Other Server..." button either.

Then I tried to manually copy the Time Machine backup (Backups.backupdb) to a partition of the new Mac mini. Although the destination on the new Mac mini is formatted to OS X Extended (Journaled), Finder.app complains, "The operation can't be completed because it isn't supported."

So at the very first step of the long winding road, I'm already stuck. Could anyone advice me how to copy the old server to new machine to inherit the server function without causing a disaster? At the moment I have three scenarios.

Copy Time Machine backup somehow (I need to know how, though!) to the second partition of the new Mac mini and then use Migration Assistant to import it.  .... The backup is not the latest state of the old server, but most of data will be available. I don't need to stop the server while copying data (probably). Question is how to copy the backup file to the new desination.
Use Migration Assistant directly from the old server to the new server. (Have not tried yet).... Obiviously, I need to halt the server quit a long time to do this.
Just bluntly try to update the old server to El Capitan and install the new version of Server.app. Try to recover from Time Machine backup when failed. ... I thought this aproach is too risky.

There is no silver bullet to migrate your Mavericks server installation to a brand new machine.

It really depends on the acceptable downtime and on the hardware.

First some facts:

Migrating a server installation or a Time Machine backup of it over a network is not possible
Any migration either with the System Assistant or the Migration Assistant has to be completed before starting the new Server.app
Copying a Time Machine backup (Backups.backupdb) can't be done simply with the Finder by drag and drop. Time Machine has to be stopped while copying - it is possible to copy it with the Finder but not by simply dragging and dropping!
A backup to a second partition on the same disk is - in the proper sense - no backup.

Prerequesites:

OS X El Capitan bootable installer thumb drive

dd or rsync method

Start the new Mac in Target Disk Mode and attach it to the old Mac with a Thunderbolt cable
Prepare the additional disk - i.e. remove all partitions except the EFI partition (and the Recovery HD if necessary - but it will be recreated later if not present)
Now either create a new partition using gpt with the same size as the server volume on the target disk and dd the source partition to the target partition in Recovery Mode or booted to the installer thumb drive.
or install Carbon Copy Cloner (which uses rsync), create a new partition on the target with Disk Utility and clone the source volume to the target volume
unmount the new Mac and detach the Thunderbolt cable
boot to the OS X El Capitan bootable installer thumb drive and "upgrade" the old server installation
Download and start Server.app

Time needed:
dd: ~85 min (all blocks are copied)
rsync: depends on the size of all files and folders (~50-70 MB/s)
OS X install: ~30-40 min

System Assistant

Start the new Mac in Target Disk Mode and attach it to the old Mac with a Thunderbolt cable
Now create two volumes with Disk Utility - one for the future main volume and one for the Time Machine backup volume.
Disable "Ignore ownership of this volume" for the new "backup volume"
Stop Time Machine in the System Preferences
In Finder open your current backup volume
Choose the backup folder and hit cmdC
open the new Time Machine backup volume and hit shiftalt cmdV. After some time you have to enter an admin name and its password. Alternatively use this method: Time Machine: How to transfer backups from a current backup drive to a new backup drive.
After copying is done unmount the volume and detach the new Mac mini.
Reenable Time Machine in the System Preferences
boot the new Mac mini to the OS X El Capitan bootable installer thumb drive and install OS X to the system volume
While configuring the new Mac use the System Assistant to migrate users and data from the Time Machine backup volume.
Download and start Server.app

Migration Assistant (keep already installed OS X El Capitan)

Split your main volume in two on your new Mac mini
Disable "Ignore ownership of this volume" for the new "backup volume"
Stop Time Machine in the System Preferences on the old Mac mini
Share the Time Machine backup volume on the old Mac mini
Mount the shared Time Machine backup volume on the new Mac mini
Choose the backup folder and hit cmdC
open the new Time Machine backup volume and hit shiftalt cmdV. After some time you have to enter an admin name and its password.
Open Migration Assistant on the new Mac mini and migrate the server installation from the local backup volume
Download and start Server.app

Just bluntly try to update the old server to El Capitan and install the new version of Server.app. Try to recover from Time Machine backup when failed.

If the upgrade is successful that's by far the fastest method (dding to the new server not included). Disable Time machine before upgrading.
(Experimental) Migrate everything to a hypervisor - but that's probably an extra answer.

Get a hypervisor like VMware ESXi 6.0 and install it on a Mac mini
Install the vSphere client on a VM Windows box.
Create an image of the old Mac mini
Probably some hacking (of the hypervisor and the OS X image) is necessary to get that running
In the future you may easily move guest VMs to new hardware by simply firing up vSphere client and choosing a new host also equipped with an hypervisor.
link1 link2 google-search-link


How do I transfer saved data to a new iPhone? I want to upgrade to a new iPhone but have apps that store data, such as inventory, car maintenance data, etc…  I don't want to lose this information when I upgrade.

How do I transfer this saved data when I set up my new iPhone?

Use iTunes

You can use iTunes to backup the device, then restore the backup to the new iPhone.

Connect your old iPhone to iTunes.
Click File → Devices → Back up.
Once the backup has finished, unplug your old iPhone and plug in the new one.
When asked to set up the iPhone, choose Restore from this backup, and select your backup from the list.

If you don't do it during first set up, go to File → Devices → Restore from Back up.

Use iCloud

Instead of iTunes, you can use iCloud Backup to backup and restore your information.

On your old iPhone, go to Settings → iCloud → Backup & Storage and press Back Up Now.
On your new iPhone, during the setup process, select Restore from iCloud Backup.

If you don't do it during the setup process, you can erase your device through Settings → General → Reset → Erase All Content and Settings, then the setup process will restart.


Restarting a app from scratch I want to start an game from the beginning, so I deleted it but when I load it back on my iPhone, it starts where I left off before. It is not in my iCloud or Game Center. Help!
It's not listed in setting, general, Usage, manage storage.

Since you said it's not listed under Manage Storage or in iCloud or GameCenter, here are some other things to look for or try

An in-app account unrelated to your apple accounts. Some apps use this for things like saving your progress cross platform e.g. progress on ios device shows on android device. If it has one you'll want to log out and create a new account. Also check social media sign-ins as this could affect it as well.

A reset progress button in the app settings, you may have to hunt through menus but many apps have something to completely reset all information/progress within the app.

Signing out of iCloud and GameCenter before reinstalling the app will help diagnose if that is the problem, and most apps will ask which save file to use on the next start up.


What to do about "File X is not in either expected pre- or post-patch state for Y" errors in install.log? For about six hours off and on my Mac has been pretty much unusable.

"softwareupdated" seems to be the culprit. It goes nuts, maxes out a CPU and uses a huge amount of RAM (and then VM once that runs out).

The "/var/log/install.log" file seems to show that it is trying to install the 10.10.4, but for approximately six hours it has just been filling the log with these two error messages over and over.

Jun 30 22:03:17 XXXXX softwareupdated[6836]: Package Authoring: File FWAVC.framework/Versions/A/FWAVC is not in either expected pre- or post-patch state for (package: com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.10.4.14E46.delta)
Jun 30 22:03:17 XXXXX softwareupdated[6836]: Package Authoring: finalSHA1String = 2276768b20f52471f8097c493254cae3f0e2f33f, digest = 1edd7f907902ac44e0d895302abe4fa7d8393e94 (package: com.apple.pkg.update.os.10.10.4.14E46.delta)

Anyone seen anything like this before or know how to deal with it? Google seems to have nothing to say on the subject.

I'm currently running the release version of 10.10.3 on a late 2013 iMac.

I managed to fix this just now by booting into safe-mode and running software update.

To boot into safe-mode, restart your computer and hold ⇧ shift during start up.


Connect to Server as guest from command line I have a SAMBA share I mount on my Mac from time to time. I do this in Finder with Go > Connect to Server..., typing smb://192.168.1.1 into the Server Address field and pressing Connect. On the authentication dialog I choose to Connect Guest, and finally my remote share is mounted in /Volumes/<share_name>. This is great.

Can I achieve all of the above with a single command in Terminal? I tried some variations of the advice provided here, but there are two things missing:

how do I instruct mount to connect as guest?
how do I create the /Volumes/<share_name> directory on the fly, (so it doesn't have to exist before hand)?

Thanks!

In order to mount as "guest", you need to use another command: mount_smbfs

mount_smbfs -N //guest@server/share /some/existing/path

The "-N" is "don't ask for password" (type man mount_smbfs for more info).

As for the second part of how to create it on the fly (the path), I believe that it's not possible. The mount command doesn't create it on the fly and even the man pages mention the "correct" way is to mkdir first then mount.

See the man page for mount_smbfs.


How to Backup Apple Mail Gmail database to External Hard drive? from quite some time I am using Apple Mail signed in with my Gmail Account. I have almost 20K emails and I need to clean up my Gmail account, make separate folders and categorize them. But before that, I want to backup all the email database that I have in my Apple Mail. I am using the export function but it's taking too long and I am not a big fan of TIme Machine as it backs up all the other things as well along with your database folder consuming too much space, so I disabled it long time back. Is there any solution with which I can backup my Apple Mail Gmail account automatically at regular intervals to an external hard drive?

Looking for real helpful answers. Thanks

As you are thinking of backing up your Gmail account, there are multiple applications available online (paid) to backup Gmail Account as well as Apple Mail. One I found interesting was: http://www.mailbackupx.com/how-to-scenerios/how-to-backup-apple-mac-mail-mails-on-mac.html

However, you can always set your Time Machine to backup only your mail folders as Apple Mail makes an automatic backup of all the incoming and offline emails as well. You will have to exclude all the other folders and set the Time Machine to Backup this folder only: /Users/username/Library/Mail and /Users/username/Library/Mail Downloads

Also, you can direct the storage location to an external storage in Time Machine only and your backup will happen automatically.


You don't exist, go away! Once in a while (3 times over the past four weeks), I don't exist. The message in the title of this question is my response when I try to run ssh while not existing. Also, when I don't exist, if I run id, it shows my uid and not my username as it otherwise does. And I can't use sudo:

; sudo date
sudo: unknown uid: 13799

Every time, the problem disappears spontaneously within the hour, and I exist once more. Fortunately, I always have a terminal window with a root shell in it around, so I can still poke around in the system. And I see nothing amiss, at least nothing I can make sense of, except perhaps these lines in /var/log/opendirectoryd.log:

2012-02-27 07:31:39.911 CET - 70535.351417.351419.351421 - Client: netstat, UID: 0, EUID: 0, GID: 0, EGID: 0
2012-02-27 07:31:39.911 CET - 70535.351417.351419.351421, Node: /Local/Default, Module: PlistFile - recordtype 'networks' attribute 'address' is not indexed: performance hit
2012-02-27 07:31:40.904 CET - 70539.351444.351448 - Client: launchd, UID: 13799, EUID: 13799, GID: 20, EGID: 20
2012-02-27 07:31:40.904 CET - 70539.351444.351448, Module: SystemCache - unable to find node 71E63E19-F41E-4AF3-89A0-F50FE5185E5B
2012-02-27 07:31:40.905 CET - 70539.351444.351448 - Client: launchd, UID: 13799, EUID: 13799, GID: 20, EGID: 20
2012-02-27 07:31:40.905 CET - 70539.351444.351448, Module: SystemCache - ODQueryCreateWithNode failed with error 'Node ID is invalid' (90001)

Those are from this morning, as I woke up the laptop (I have used odutil to raise the logging level a bit). I've been poking around with dscl, and everything seems normal – I can see all data on my own user – but I am not very familiar with directory services, so I may well have missed something. (How do I lookup myself by uid using dscl?)

So my question is twofold: Does this problem ring a bell? My google-fu is not up to finding anything relevant. And can you suggest things to try to get a further handle on the problem, tests to run, things to look for?

While I have been typing in this question, today's event ended, and I exist once more. So it may well be a week or more before my next chance to debug this. I'm on OS X 10.7.3, btw, on a MacBook Pro.

This does indeed ring a bell, as I've seen similar issues on a variety of systems ranging from 10.3 through 10.6.  Here are some of the causes I've observed, in no particular order.

Incorrect DNS server addresses in the network configuration
Incorrect LDAP server or server aliases (if the machine is part of an LDAP or OpenDirectory network)
Faulty PAM modules (if you have installed third-party software which uses PAM or installs into /etc/pam.d)
Mixing Local/BSD accounts with LDAP/OpenDirectory accounts.  This can happen if you have accounts which have been repeated migrated across many versions.
Account GUIDs becoming out-of-sync due to migration or other corruption of the OpenDirectory database.
Note that it can take up to a minute after the machine wakes from sleep or finishes booting before the authentication system is fully operational.  Network connectivity issues can delay this substantially, especially if the system is part of an LDAP/OpenDirectory network.

Since you've been migrating accounts, try setting up a fresh new account and see if the problem occurs there.  It may be possible to fix the problem by digging into the OpenDirectory database, but it may be easier to just recreate the problem account from scratch.

Update

Since the UID was changed at some point in the past for NFS reasons, it is likely that the GUID and UID are out-of-sync.  Try the following Terminal commands to see if unix and Directory Services are on the same page:

dscl . -read /Users/sbnoble GeneratedUID
dscl . -read /Users/sbnoble UniqueID
id

The UID output by "UniqueID" and "id" should match each other and the NFS UID you expect.


Whistling MagSafe power adapter When I connect my MacBook Air's 45 W MagSafe power adapter to my MacBook Pro (which came with a 65 W MagSafe power adapter), and the Pro uses lots of power (such as installing updates and restarting), the power adapter whistles. The whistle is high-pitched, reminiscent of fast wind past a window with a tiny crack in its casing (or very slightly open), and audible from several feet away.

While I know that the power supply is insufficient to power the computer I've connected to and that this is (overall) a Bad Thing To Do, why is the power adapter whistling? What electrical components whistle? Is it liable to explode (because that might be cool)?

The MagSafe power adapter, like nearly all power adapters for modern electronic equipment, is a switching (switched-mode) power supply.

Switching power supplies achieve their light weight and small size by using smaller, lighter transformers for voltage conversion, which require high-frequency AC input to operate. This high-frequency input is produced by a separate circuit which rapidly switches the low-frequency input on and off (hence “switching”), and in fact does so controlled by feedback from the DC output side in order to achieve a tightly-regulated DC output. This regulation itself is also something that varies over time as the input and the output load change.

So, there's lots of varying electrical currents, and therefore varying electric and magnetic fields, inside a switching power supply. These fields exert mechanical forces on the components within the power supply, which may cause them to vibrate and therefore produce sound!

In a well-designed power supply, the basic frequencies are chosen to be above the range of human hearing (and the components most subject to vibration may be held down especially firmly). However, for various reasons (waves hands, I don't actually know the details) you may get effects at fractions of those frequencies which you can actually hear.

In your particular case, if the power supply is running overloaded (or at the upper limit of its capability), then that might put some subsystem oscillating at the upper end of audibility, producing the sort of noise you're hearing.

You can often hear noise from cheap power supplies (e.g. USB chargers) when they are unloaded (nothing connected to the output), and hear it shift out of audible range when you connect something.

(Disclaimer: I Am Not An Electrical Engineer; this is just bits and pieces I've picked up. These folks would have the whole story; e.g. this answer which is a bit short on detail. But, I hope I've at least somewhat demystified why apparently solid lumps of electronics can make noise. (If anyone sees a factual error or can explain better, please feel free to edit this answer!))


How to remap "quit application" to Command+ESC system wide? As of now it's set to ⌘Q everywhere which is very unintuitive and being next to ⌘W, which I use a lot, it's very annoying too.

⌘Esc doesn't do anything (on my laptop at least) and I think it makes sense to remap the quit action to it. I think I can do it one by one - one app at a time. But is there a way I can change it for all the apps at once - from one setting, or using some tool?

And I would like ⌘Q to do something else or nothing at all.

Well this sure turned out to be a question that seemed simple, but snowballed into a hassle to solve.

I'm going to kind of start from the beginning:

Turns out disabling ⌘+Q natively is only possible if you are ok with actually just replacing it with another function. Just outright disabling it is a no go... But, some third party apps can overwrite it. I'll get to that later. Also, as simple of an idea as it seems, you can't set a new shortcut for "Quit" through the native keyboard shortcut editor thing, because that relies on the full menu item name and wouldn't you guess it, it's most often: "Quit {application name}" so it's impossible to target all apps with that single shortcut.

Then I thought... Alright, how aboutAutomator Service. I could use an apple script to close applications with that... Well, you can't set the shortcut ⌘+Esc for Automator Services apparently, but you can set that shortcut globally in some third party apps, which is the way I ended up doing it all.

Solution:

So I tried to find the cheapest third party app I have that can do all that we want to happen, enter BetterTouchTool.

Karabiner should be able to do this for free, but a version that works in Sierra and later is under a rewrite,
 not sure if it currently has the power to do it...

In BTT, I made a new global keyboard shortcut ⌘+Q and defined no action for it, essentially disabling it.
Then I made another shortcut: ⌘+Esc with the predefined action Run Apple Script in background:

tell application "System Events"
    set frontmostApp to name of the first application process whose frontmost is true
end tell
tell application frontmostApp to quit

You should know that this applescript should work in most applications, but not all of them. I'm not aware of a bulletproof way to do it.

This shortcut could just be "Trigger other keyboard shortcut: Cmd+Q", but since we disabled that shortcut, that is no longer an option.

That's it.


Mac book pro 2014 stuck in base system I dropped my macbook off my recliner a few days ago. It fell about 2 feet & it has a hard case on it. I didn’t think much of it but when I tried using it the next morning I was getting the folder with a question mark in it during start up. I came on the forums, tried many different approaches and solutions that worked for everyone else did not work for me.
I can’t erase the macOS base system nor partition it: it doesn’t give me those options. I factory reset my computer about a month ago as well because I was having problems with Catalina. I don’t have anything backed up & that’s fine (I have flashdrives w/ my important files) & I have a flashdrive with Mojave on it but it is locked and I can’t figure it out.
When I hold down the option key at start up it prompts my install Mojave drive but no other drive. It of course won’t let me install Mojave but when I went back to DU there was a new image tried erasing & partitioning that & all I got were error messages. If anyone has any idea what to do please help. Un-mounting disks doesn’t work either.

The problem is you are trying to have the installer erase itself.
Your internal storage is broken and not showing up, so you could install to an external drive or get a repair.  Both will work once it’s repaired and if you get your external drive erased, a clean install might let you run for a while or just know it needs someone that can diagnose and repair it.


Making a GIF from a Video I have a video clip that I want to convert to an animated GIF. I used GIFBrewery.

But I couldn't figure out how to make a GIF that's the proper speed. The default preview they showed had way too many frames missing, so I increased the frame count. But once I did that, the GIF played way too slowly. How do I make the GIF speed simply the same speed as the original video?

I also used MPEG Streamclip to export to PNGs so I can use GIMP to create the GIF. Same problem, couldn't create a proper speed GIF.

In the "gif settings" box there's a value for "frame delay" which defaults at 100. This is the time in milliseconds between each frame.  The small it is, the faster the gif will animate.

Frame delay of 100 is 10 frames per second.  If you have 30 frames per second, use 33 as the frame delay.  If you have 15 frames per second, use 67 as the frame delay.

Or just change the "frame delay" value until it looks right - smaller for faster speed, bigger for slower speed.

There's a pretty good overview of how to use the app in this article:

http://www.macworld.com/article/1164864/how_to_create_an_animated_gif_from_a_video_clip.html

Also note that the preview inside the app is limited to 10 frames per second or slower - if it looks slow inside the app, test it out in a real browser.


How to auto-mount a secondary Encrypted HDD on boot? I have 2 disks on my Mac, the secondary one is encrypted, on my current user it auto mounts, because I have once been asked for the password and I saved it.

But for new users, the user is prompted for the disk password. Is there someway to make MacOS automount it always during boot? (i know, I would have to put the password somewhere, no problem) but if there is how, then where to configure it and put the password for auto-mounting?

PS: answers must be for versions equal or newer than Sierra.

I don't know of a good way to make it automount at startup, but you can make it automount for any user by transferring the saved password from your user login keychain to the System keychain.

Open Keychain Access.app (it's in /Applications/Utilities)
Find the saved volume password. You can use the search field in the top right of the window to find it.
If the keychains list isn't visible (in the left-side sidebar, near the top), choose View menu > Show Keychains.
Drag the saved volume password into the System keychain in the sidebar. It'll ask you to authenticate twice (once as an admin, to modify the System keychain, then as your user, to get access to the user keychain item).

There's probably a way to  trigger the automount at startup, rather than at first login, but it sounds like first login should be good enough for your needs.


iCloud Photo Sharing doesn't work on my iPhone in iOS 11 I just sign out and sign in again to my iCloud account on iPhone but there is no shared albums at all. Why?

but on iPad I have all shared albums. What is going wrong?

I had/have the same thing. Mine appeared when something happened in the photo stream. So get someone to add a new picture or like/comment and then that'll push them across (Or do it yourself on the iPad)
Mine still aren't right though as I see comments with no names next to them (From people on ios 10 I assume)


Modifying .plist with shell changes .plist order I wrote a simple shell command and saved it as .command. The shell command is simply: defaults write /Users/Milo/Desktop/MyPlist "My Key" "My Entry". The issue that I'm having is that after running that command, it messes with the order of the plist file. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, except that I wrote an application that parses the plist, and it does so according to the order of the keys in the file. I don't want to change my app just to accommodate a seemingly random ordered plist that gets returned after I run the command. How can I make the command not reorder my plist?

The order of key value pairs within a Property List, plist, dictionary structure is not specified and can not be relied upon.

Ideally, your application needs to parse the property list without relying on the order of the dictionary pairs.

If the order is critical to your application, consider changing the property list structure to an array of dictionaries; where each dictionary contains a single key value pair.

If you can not change your application, and the property list is formatted as XML, then you may want to investigate other command line XML manipulation tools.


X11/XQuartz problem on 10.8.2 On my Snow Leopard iMac, X11 is broken. I get:

  dyld: Symbol not found: __cg_DGifGetLine Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/ImageIO Expected in: /opt/local/lib/libGIF.dylib in /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/ImageIO

when trying to run an OpenGL executable and http://codepad.org/HzjwS9wh when I try to run X11 directly.

I've reinstalled X11 from the original discs and the same thing happens, so I install XQuartz:

$ echo $DISPLAY
/tmp/launch-XYA2Ul/org.macosforge.xquartz:0

$ launchctl list | grep xquartz
-       0       org.macosforge.xquartz.startx

This fails as well and I get http://codepad.org/NGowe0UR

I update to Mountain Lion, the problem persists, any ideas?

Take a look at this page.

It suggest trying sudo ln -sf /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ ImageIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/libGIF.dylib /opt/local/lib/libGIF.dylib in Terminal.

(in your case; this exact command is not on the linked page)


prevent Microsoft Remote Desktop from starting in full screen mode I have an iMac (always newest OS which now is Catalina) with a big monitor and a second external monitor, i.e. I have two big monitors on my desk.

In the settings of Mission Control I have chosen that my monitors shall NOT use different spaces. (I want to spread spreadsheets and other apps across both monitors to have a wide view on them, this is only possible when both monitors share the same space).

My version of Microsoft Remote Desktop is 10.3.7 which also is the newest version. Everything works fine, but MRD always starts in full screen mode. This means it covers one screen entirely while the other screen completely turns into black. But I want to see my mac Desktop on the other screen, because I sometimes want to drag and drop files between the two systems (which btw. works perfect).

I always have to switch MRD into windows mode and then have to drag this windows corners until the window covers one of my two monitors, and the I can work in both systems.

But It would be much more convenient if MRD would already start in windows mode instead of full screen mode. But I didn't find a matching switch in the settings.

How can I tell Microsoft Remote Desktop to always open in windows mode on my mac?

btw: I don't need full screen mode on my Mac for any app. So, I also would be very happy if there was a way to disable full screen mode on my Mac completely for all apps.

Check the display settings - right click your saved session & Edit or click the small pencil icon bottom right of it…

I don't recall what the defaults are - I've had this set up too long to remember - but the above settings work well for me, to open maximised* but not fullscreen on my second monitor, which I have set as you do, not using separate spaces.

*or rather 'the same as I last used it'.


Dragon Dictate 5 on Mojave This is a bit of a long shot since it's about older, unsupported software. I have two computers, an iMac and a MacBook Pro, and both are running OS X 10.14 (Mojave). I'm trying to use Dragon Dictate Version 5, which has been discontinued (in any Mac version) by Nuance. I installed it and used it successfully some years ago, when the software was current, and when both machines were running previous versions of OS X. I stopped using the software for a while, but I'm returning to it now.

On the iMac, Dragon still works fine. On the MacBook, it recognizes text but will not enter it into any application. For example, I can switch between applications by saying "open Mail" or saying "activate Preview", but within an application I am unable to enter any text.  Things I have tried already:

I have made sure that I'm in Dictation Mode, not Command Mode.
I tried using different microphones.
I tried creating a new profile.
I made sure that Dragon has permissions in System Preferences - Security & Privacy – Accessibility to control the computer.
I tried using Spelling Mode.

This wouldn't be urgent if there were a new version of any sort of dictation software for the Mac available for purchase, but as far as I can see, there isn't. The fact that Dragon is still working on my iMac, and partly working on my MacBook, gives me a little bit of hope that I could get it fully working as well on my MacBook.  (I'm aware of the built in speech recognition in OS X, and in fact used it to create most of this post, but it's not quite as flexible as Dragon, e.g. in terms of custom vocabulary or corrections, so it would be great to get that working if I could.)

Any thoughts are welcome – thanks!

I utilize Dragon Dictate exclusively on my MacBook pro and holding out to upgrade to Mojave for this reason (using HighSierra). However, regarding a different program to utilize please take a look at Talon. It actually uses features of Dragon to execute its voice commands. It is my understanding that it will work with Mojave.
https://talonvoice.com/
5/21/21 - update, for those following this thread; I did update to Mojave and fortunately Dragon continues to work with my OS.


buggy mission control shortcuts I am having an issue where somehow lion decided that the F1 shortcut should be mapped to opening mission control on my 2011 mbp.

This is a problem because I had F1 mapped to desktop 4 (don't ask) and F5 mapped to mission control.  F5 still worked correctly and even after attempting to revert to defaults the F1 keyboard shortcut is still incorrectly mapped.

Has anyone been having similar issues or do they know how to totally reset keyboard shortcuts at the operating system level?

This is obviously really annoying.

Did you try double-clicking on the actual keyboard short cut for that function in System Preferences/Keyboard/Keyboard Shortcuts?  You can change the key combo at will.  Of course there is no guarantee they will take, just as your "Restore Defaults" did not take.

I use Spark, a free app that lets me map anything I want, and overrides the OS settings.  If there is a con flit (which shows as the yellow triangle/traffic cone), I change the OS conflict to some unused combo.

I complained to Apple that I could not change those keyboard shortcuts to "Open app X".  The response was that I should not try to do that, as the existing system was working as designed.

This is not a built-in cure using the native OS options, but it works.


Convert many .pages documents to Word How to convert many .pages documents to later open them with Word using Mac?

This is an AppleScript which will export all Pages documents in a folder into PDFs.

tell application "Finder"
    set fileslist to (every file of folder POSIX file ¬
        "/path/to/folder") as alias list
end tell
tell application "Pages"
    repeat with f in fileslist
        set doc to open f
        export doc ¬
            to (path to downloads folder as string) ¬
                & (name of doc) ¬
                & ".pdf" ¬
            as PDF
        close doc
    end repeat
end tell

Replace /path/to/folder with the path to the containing folder of just Pages documents.
This script exports to the Downloads folder. Alter as necessary.


How to sync Iphone on laptop with music collection on desktop? I would like to use my laptop as the syncing point for my iPhone, but I don't like having my music collection on the laptop. Is there a way I can sync my iPhone with my laptop and still be able to add music files to the iPhone while maintaining my music on the desktop?

I have a Macbook Air as laptop and a Mac mini as desktop. The Mac mini is my current sync point for both my iPhone and my music collection.

Can I share the music folder on the desktop via NFS and mount it on the laptop?

I dont know about mounting the folder but You can add all the music to the laptop and iTunes, Sync the phone, and once it has fully synced, you can then delete the files from their location, do not delete them in or from iTunes, just the iTunes folder.

Now when you sync again, the iPhone will not try to sync songs as they are already synced and you do not have any music files on the laptop.