Hard Drive Space Eaten Up Daily. Think Crashplan may be a reason. Need Help I've been suffering with this for weeks. I'm running Yosemite on a 15" MBP. I am told daily that I have no more disk space and no matter what I end up deleting I'm left with 1GB minutes later.

About This Mac Storage (and Daisy Disk) say I have 247GB in Other.

Disk Inventory doesn't recognize that and just says I'm using 37GB of my SSD.

I can't remember the terminal command I used from another thread but it showed mobile backups and another folder taking up well over 100GB of my space but no one told me how to either clear those to free the space or how to prevent it from reoccurring.

Important to note I used crashplan for awhile and removed it about 3 months ago.

I desperately need my hard drive back!

For others with similar problems, you don't need a special utility to find out where all your GB have gone on a Mac.

First, turn on invisible files. On newer Macs, you can do that with Command Shift Period. On older Macs, you do need a quick defaults terminal command.

Once you've done that, open your hard drive, and put it in to List View

Then go to the View menu and choose Show View Options
Check Calculate all Sizes

Now wait. It can take a while because there are lots of sizes to add up, but eventually it will show you the sizes of every folder. You can use the disclosure triangles to open more and more folders and drill down to where all of your data is being used. I also usually sorts by the Size column so the big stuff is right at the top.

As a professional Mac consultant, this is the method I use to find people's data, I don't bother with any 3rd party utilities for this.


Comparing iPad mini data plans; Why choose AT&T, it has fewer countries and is more expensive? I'm trying to choose between the various data plans for an iPad Mini.  Based on this chart it appears that the ATT model (A1454) only works in North/South America, while model A1455 is supported worldwide.

For this reason (limitation) I assumed the ATT plan would be least expensive per MB/Month, however it is the most expensive per month:

  ATT       250MB per month $14.99
  SPRINT    300MB per month $14.99  (better value)
  Verizon     1GB per month $20.00  (best value)

What is the value in the ATT network or related technology that I'm missing?

Finally, I've been told that GSM operates worldwide, are both these models GSM or CDMA?

The value of any particular carrier is based on the performance of the carrier in the area you will use the device.

ie. My area has great AT&T coverage, Good Verizon coverage and horrible Sprint coverage.

You are also only comparing the cheapest tier. Prices change and one carrier may be cheaper than another at a different level of service.


Can I still Downgrade my iPhone 4 down to IOS 6.1.3 from IOS 7? I just wanted to know if there is still a way to downgrade iOS 7, i don't have beta. (on an iPhone 4 which is listed as iPhone3,1 on http://iossupportmatrix.com).

No, there is no officially sanctioned way to downgrade. If you had been using the beta, it would have been possible; however, the official release is not reversible.


Advantages of installing a program with Homebrew-Cask? With Homebrew-Cask you can install many programs such as Google Chrome or OmniFocus. I can come up with a few advantages:

You can install programs without going though the process of finding the download link, possible mounting the image, and installing it if contains an installer (although this doesn't save too much time unless you're trying to reinstall many programs on another computer)
You can uninstall the programs fairly easily

Looking at the website, they list three advantages:

Install with ease – this I mentioned above
Unix-savvy, macOS-friendly – here it mentions applications are installed in /Applications or any other configured area, which is nice but not a game-changer
Community-driven – this is mainly useful for enthusiasts or for people who want to make their applications compatible with Homebrew-Cask

Other than the two reasons I could come up with, I don't see any other huge advantages. Are there any that I am not aware of? While uninstalling programs using brew cask uninstall, do all the files associated with the app get removed, à la AppCleaner? Is it comparable to AppCleaner?

Two other main points are that it makes a) updating and b) transfering your setup to another machine extremely easy.

The uninstall capabilities depend on the "quality" of the cask for the program you uninstall. There is no "general" complete cleanup afaik.


Backing up with rsync, how not to get into trouble with permissions and privileges? I am backing up files to an external hard drive using rsync as a test, usually I just copy pasted but I read that rsync is more reliable and does a checksum to verify the copy so I am trying it out now.

I'm just using it as: rsync -a --progress [SOURCE] [DESTINATION]

I noticed in the manual page relating to rsync that it also copies the permissions and privileges, in fact after the copy when I right click and "get info" on the files and folders, they have the same "Sharing and Permissions".

When I check files backed up during previous backup processes (using copy/paste), sometimes the permissions are "read & write" for the current user (me) and "no access" for everyone else, some have "read only" for everyone and spotlight.

My question is: how can I be sure that the backed up files and folders will at least be readable by future users on my external hard drive. In other words, when I'll access the hard drive using a fresh clean install of my OS using a new/fresh/possibly-new-with-a-different-user-name-account, how can I be sure that I won't be locked out of my files by permissions etc ? I would like to at least get read only.
Do I have to manually right click every file and folder then "get info"  and go to "Sharing and Permissions" and then choosing "Read & Write" for everyone ?

Thanks !

You can always access the files by being an admin on the computer you attached the external drive to and changing them. The admin super-user can always fix permissions issues.
You can change permissions at the top level by clicking "Apply to Enclosed Items" That will change everything in the folder and below.


Why do some of my contacts not sync with Google? When I add a new contact on my iPhone then after a few seconds I see it in my Google contacts. When I remove it from Google contacts, then within few seconds it's removed from my phone. So far so good.

However, I have a few contacts that I must have added on my phone in some strange way (maybe through another app like WhatsApp) that do not get synced. They are on my phone, but I do not find them in my Google contacts.

Does anyone experience similar? How can I fix this issue? Is there a way to force "all contacts sync" from my phone to Google?

device: iPhone X

iOS version: 12.3.1

Default account : Gmail with mail, contacts and calendar sync ON, no other account with contacts enabled; sync method : automatic fetch

Based on your description and follow-up comment it sounds like those few contacts got added to the On my phone group. You can check this by tapping the Groups button within Contacts (first screenshot below for reference) and then unchecking Gmail, which should leave just On my phone selected. If that shows the troublesome contacts, you have your answer.

Unfortunately there's no easy way to move contacts between accounts from Contacts. You have two options:

Copy each one manually.
You could tap Share Contact, Save to Files, delete the person from Contacts, then open in Files, open the Share Sheet, and tap Copy to Contacts. That should import it to your default account of Gmail. Second and third screenshots below for reference.


Can I run a torrent client + Plex Media Server as "services"? I'm using an old iMac as a torrent client & Plex Media Server.

But I would like those to run as "services", i.e., not as part of a User account, and without having to log in.

You can use launchd, tmux and this script to launch rTorrent as a daemon.

This post describes how to install rTorrent and run it as a daemon using tmux.
First, install software:

$brew install rtorrent --with-xmlrpc-c
$brew install tmux

Parameter –with-xmlrpc-c is needed to use GUI clients with rTorrent.
rTorrent needs terminal to run. We provide virtual terminal using tmux.
To autostart rTorrent create launchd sript and place it to

/Library/LaunchAgents/rtorrent.plist

The script:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>rtorrent</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/tmux</string>
        <string>new-session</string>
        <string>-s</string>
        <string>rtorrent</string>
        <string>-d</string>
        <string>rtorrent</string>
    </array>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Load script:

$sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/rtorrent.plist
$launchctl list | grep rtorrent

If all is ok you will see something like this:

- 1 rtorrent
4868 - 0x7f872252ff90.anonymous.rtorrent

Now you can attach to tmux session and start using rTorrent:

$tmux attach-session -t rtorrent

To restart script unload it and load again:

$sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/rtorrent.plist
$sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/rtorrent.plist

To view launchd logs run:

$sudo launchctl log level debug
$tail -f /var/log/system.log | grep launchd

The rTorrent installation is over, now you can install GUI client.
There is free client for Mac OS X called Nativa. It not very good, but you can try it. To use any client you need to add this in your .rtorrent.rc:

scgi_port = 127.0.0.1:5000

Source


What application uses the rstf://scheduleState=1 URL scheme? For some time now (perhaps since the 10.13.3 upgrade of MacOS) I have been waking my Mac up from sleep and seeing between 3 and 7 cascading dialogue boxes with the error message:

"Unable to find an application to open URL rstf://?scheduleState=1, with "Ok, Cancel, Find Application" buttons.

I have searched everywhere and cannot find any reference to rstf or scheduleState (there some scheduleState stuff, but it seems unrelated).

Does anyone know how I can find and kill what is trying to open this URL?

Presumably the job is scheduled somewhere, but crontab just has a SuperDuper entry and I've since deleted SuperDuper.

You can use the RCDefaultApp preference pane to see a list of all URL schemes provided by applications on your system.

These supported URL schemes are defined in the Info.plist of an app, and registered collectively by macOS.

Sadly, I do not have any apps installed that handle rstf:// but please let us know when you find out what it is!


Why does a jailbroken iPhone always ask to restart Springboard after installing a new app? I just jailbroke my iPhone and it went well.

Why does a jailbroken iPhone always ask to restart springboard everytime an app is installed from Cydia? It's so annoying. It's like installing an app on a Mac and having to reboot the machine. I jailbroke using redsnow.

Any answers?

It doesn't always - only when the new app directly affects the interface. So when you install command-line only functionality there is no need to respring - at the other end of the scale you would also need to respring every time you change a theme in, say, winterboard, even though you are not installing a new app.

The reason for this behaviour at both ends of this spectrum is that none of the jailbreak 'tweaks' can affect the springboard while it's running - they have to change the filed copy and then restart with a new version of springboard...


Why OS X never ejects drives before shutdown or suspend mode? I have this problem since Lion if I am not mistaken. If a leave an USB or even my FireWire (backup) HDD connected OS X does not eject the drives before shutting down or entering suspend mode.
Why?
I am using now macOS Sierra and the problem persist.
It bothered me for a while till I started unmounting the drives after using them.
But I need to keep my FireWire HDD connected to use Time Machine's backup.
How can I solve that since even with fresh installs of Mac OS X it happens?

I will share a why it is good to have it as is and a way around it if you are determined.

  When you put the Mac to sleep, it will try and also put the external
  drive to sleep, thus parking its heads and turning off the drives. It
  won't eject it, however, so you can use it as soon as you wake your
  Mac again without having to mount it.

  The benefit is that you don't have to worry about mounting it, as in
  most cases this would involve turning the drive off and on again,
  reconnecting the plug, or using diskutil from a Terminal—quite time
  consuming. Since I use my drive for Time Machine, I don't want to have
  to think about connecting it every time I wake my Mac.

  The only downside I see is that you could accidentally plug the drive
  out. In that case, the Mac will wake up, and show you the error about
  a drive being disconnected without properly ejecting it. Since all
  data is written to the drive before going to sleep, this shouldn't
  cause any data loss though.

  All in all, it's much more comfortable to just keep the drive mounted.

If you want to unmount the drives before sleep:

You can use the automator > files/folders > eject disk > tell it when
to eject.
Use terminal to unmount all drives before sleep. < not comfortable giving you the code as it can vary.


How can I get accurate information about disk space used/available in Big Sur via the command line? Summary:
I would like to be able to tell how much disk space I have used and how much I have available (in GB) in Big Sur in a simple format suitable for parsing in a shell script or similar.
Details
Finder reports that my internal SSD is 995 GB and has 568 GB free.
Simple math tells us that means I have used 427 GB.
So… how can I get 568 GB and/or 427 GB from the command line?
Hint: The answer is not df
If I do df -H / I will get this result (truncated for readability and to just the parts of the output we care about):
Filesystem       Size   Used  Avail Capacity
/dev/disk3s1s1   995G    15G   528G     3%

15G might be how much the read-only volume takes up, but the “available” amount is off by 40G.
Of course we know that there’s now a separate ‘Data’ volume. So let’s check that using df -H /System/Volumes/Data:
Filesystem     Size   Used  Avail Capacity
/dev/disk3s5   995G   445G   528G    46%

445G used is relatively close to the actual amount of 427G but if you add up the “Used” (445G) and “Available” (528G) you get 973G.
There must be some way to do it…
I have noticed that other apps such as iStat Menus and MakeMKV are both able to display accurate information about the remaining disk space. So it’s not as if the system is incapable of revealing this information.
If there is another tool besides df that can do this, please let me know.
Bonus points if it comes standard with macOS (bash, zsh, python, ruby, whatever), but if it can be installed via brew or similar, I’ll take it.
What I’m asking for seems very simple, but I can’t figure out how to do it.
p.s. - yes, I’m aware of macOS’ features about “purgeable space” and all that. Not interested. I just want to be able to get the same numbers shown in Finder, iStat Menus, etc. from the command line.

diskutil info /dev/disk3s1s1 seems to do the trick for me:
Container Total Space:     994.7 GB (994662584320 Bytes) (exactly 1942700360 512-Byte-Units)
Container Free Space:      635.1 GB (635058384896 Bytes) (exactly 1240348408 512-Byte-Units)

(other output snipped)
My output from df -H:
/dev/disk3s1s1 995G    15G   634G     3%    568975  9712932825    0%   /
/dev/disk3s5   995G   335G   634G    35%   1363090  9712138710    0%   /System/Volumes/Data


WD Blue SSD stuck in a boot loop Stuck in a bootloop with ssd
So I recently pruchased a WD Blue 500GB SSD to replace my HDD in my 13" MBP mid-2012.
At first I wanted to clone my HDD to the SSD, looked up a tutorial on ifixit and then followed the procedure. I used superduper to clone it, but whenever I began cloning it kept asking me to convert the deive to APFS, and superduper failed to do so by itself. My SSD was in an Orico disk drive enclosure.
I formatted the drive manually through disk utility to APFS.
Started the cloning process took approx 16 hours. Then I tried to boot through the ssd while it was in the enclosure however it kept bootlooping, so I figured I should try installing it first, did so and the same thing kept happening. Finally I reinstalled the OS(catalina) through recovery and, the bootloop is still persisting.
Right now I am just back to using my HDD, and it has begun to exhibit the same problem. It goes to the progress bar on startup and abruptly reboots.
Things I have tried,

PRAM and SMC
Erasing and doing a fresh install of macOS on SSD
Put the SSD in the Disk ecnlosure and try to boot from there
Putting the HDD in the enclosure and boot it from there(which works but is extremely slow and I still don't know what to do afterwards)

Any suggestions?

A boot loop is not necessarily an issue with the drive and it’s your last sentence that lends credence to this:

Right now I am just back to using my HDD, and it has begun to exhibit the same problem. It goes to the progress bar on startup and abruptly reboots.

A boot loop is when, during the boot process, something loads that causes a system crash that forces a reboot.

Corrupted macOS installation
Corrupted partition maps
failing hard drive
logic board issue
GPU issue
and more

However, your last bullet point offers a bit of hope that it may be your SATA cable (common problem with this vintage MacBook Pro)

Putting the HDD in the enclosure and boot it from there(which works but is extremely slow and I still don't know what to do afterwards)

This means that the operating system and things being loaded isn’t crashing the system.  What you’ve taken out of the equation is the everything between your drive and your logic board (the same drive works via USB) which is the SATA cable.


Rotate a portrait (vertical) video 180 degrees on iPhone Somehow a vertical video I shot was saved upside down. The phone was not upside down when I shot it.

Anyway, I want to rotate it to it's correct orientation. It was suggested iMovie iOS could do this. Aside from using iMovie on iPhone for the first time and finding the interface abysmal and far from intuitive, it appears that it can not do this. Anything I do in iMovie ends up cropped to a square.

How do I flip a vertical video on the iPhone without a 3rd party app?

Sorry, I don’t think it’s possible without an app.

I know it’s not the answer you wanted, but I have had some success with “Video Rotate And Flip by Wander Bit”, which didn’t exactly break the bank at 79p.


My bluetooth headset connects/disconnect on Macbook pro continuously after waking from sleep I have a macbook pro 2019 and a Huawei freelace with hall sensor. Now there is no issue when I connect and use it. But once I use the hall sensor to turn off earphone (by touching both the ear pieces against each other) it starts giving trouble when turned on again. I connects and then drop and keeps repeating it continuously until I remove it from my devices list and pair it again.

This problem was resolved in Bigsur update.


Which memory speed for an early 2008 Mac Pro? I've got an early 2008 Mac Pro with 4 Gb of memory which I would like to upgrade, but I'm unsure of the memory speed. In my "About This Mac" dialog it says the memory speed should be 667 MHz, but online (even on Apple's own site), it says 800 MHz. Is it okay to get 800 MHz memory and mix the two, or should I hunt for 667 MHz memory? Or replace my existing 667 MHz memory with 800 MHz?

According to Everymac, your Mac Pro takes 800 MHz D DDR2 RAM. I'm not sure why your Mac is reporting 667 MHz, but try using the Crucial Memory Scanner and see which they recommend for your specific system.

As far as mixing RAM, it can be done, but it isn't really recommended. From a question on Super User:

  When different speed RAM modules are used, all of the RAM should clock to the speed of the slowest module. Many times, I've found that mixing RAM speeds sometimes causes system instability. I've had plenty of cases where RAM sticks that tested just fine alone wouldn't play well together. So I strongly recommend that all of the RAM installed in your computer be of the same speed.


Unable to open a folder that contains a . in finder I have a hand full of folders that contain the .service in the name.  When I attempt to open these folders in finder, it shows an icon that indicates that the file cannot be opened.

Is there a way to tell finder that these "files" are in fact folders so I can browse them?

They are still folders, just packaged. You can right-click the folder and choose Show Package Contents to show the contents of the package.

If you want to permanently set .service packages as not assigned to OS X so they're normal folders, you can remove item 257 from…

/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Info.plist

Note that editing this file incorrectly can break many things. Be careful and have backups.


In Lion, the "Open File" dialog doesn't refresh until 30 to 60 seconds after the window appears I'm running Lion (10.7.3).  In any application, when I bring up the "Open File" dialog, it shows an outdated list of files — files I deleted hours ago still show up; files I recently created don't show up.

If I leave the dialog open for 30 to 60 seconds, it will eventually refresh and the current folder contents will be shown.  But this really slows me down.

Any ideas about how I can speed up the refresh time so I can get back to work?

Going to a different folder and then back to the first folder doesn't help — the list of files is still outdated.

Closing the dialog and then reopening it doesn't help — the list of files is still outdated.

I don't know if this is relevant, but many times when I go to any kind of file dialogue or even just click on some tool or something, I get a few seconds (or more) of beach ball while my second HD (non-boot drive with most of my documents/non-OS files) wakes up and gets up to speed. I can hear it revving up and when it gets to speed the OS unfreezes… so maybe if your file directories are being cached in memory or the drive cache, when the HD wakes after 30 secs for whatever reason, it updates the directory lists in memory?

I'm thinking this isn't super common complaint so maybe it's HD settings specific like my problem (I think I set my 2nd HD to have energy saving options somewhere when I installed it and haven't found a way to have it spinning 24x7.


MacBook Pro 3,1 (2007), running 10.6.8, sudden logout, window_server crash I have a 2007 MacBook Pro 3,1. The logic board, graphics card, and hard disk were replaced in October 2009.

Sometime in the last few months the machine began to 'spontaneously logout' - I'll be using the machine normally, there's an unexpected pause - then blue screen/login dialog. The console logs show that the window_server has crashed. I can't find a way to reliably reproduce this, other than to simply wait - it now happens daily. The problem occurs in response to some interface event, typing or moving the mouse - I (still) use Spaces, and the most common trigger seems to be switching between spaces.

I've spent a lot of time reading various threads describing similar problems, often associated with the nVidia graphics card, but haven't yet found a solution (or even been able to localize the problem). I've tried many possible fixes: backed out all 3rd party kernel extensions, minimized the set of active applications, purchased/installed new memory, run the apple diagnostics, tested/verified the disk appears ok, removed all apps which were starting on login, disabled the screensaver, the hard disk sudden motion sensor, the battery has been replaced, I'm not actively running (but have loaded - Office 2008) some Rosetta apps... none of this has made a difference.

Any advice is appreciated.

Although I can't be 100% certain I've fixed the problem, it's now been 3 weeks w/o a reboot - in my case, I believe the fix was turning OFF the 3D graphics acceleration option in VMWare (I run VMWare Fusion, w Win XP vms, constantly).


HDMI to VGA converter with Mac mini I have bought a Mac mini today. My monitor is only VGA. After connecting HDMI to VGA converter my monitor is not getting any signal. How can I fix it? Please help me. I am so frustrated.

The recommended way is to use the Thunderbolt (Mini DisplayPort) to VGA converter.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB572Z/B/mini-displayport-to-vga-adapter?mco=MTA4NDU0NjA

The Apple HDMI does not supply signal to VGA monitors.

The Cable you have is good, but only for Digital monitors and VGA is Analog type. OK if you are sufficiently confused now, just get the Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter and it will work.


What does the @ sign and the number next to it mean in ls -l display? I got the following output when I apply ls -l command in my Mac OS X Mavericks for an image file:

I understand what does -rw-r--r-- mean. But what does the @ sign and the number next to it mean? Is similar feature available in Linux?

The "@" means that the file has extended attributes.  You can see them with the xattr command.  The "1" is the number of links to that file.  In most cases, for normal files, this will be "1".  For directories, it is the number of files/subdirs + 2 (the two actually represents the directory itself, and the parent directory).


Change equation font in Pages During a Pages update which was pushed out a few months ago, Pages obtained the ability to write equations using LaTeX or MathML commands. According to an Apple Support article, the size and color of the equation can be changed (source):

The equation appears at the insertion point in your document (or before the selected text). The equation is an inline object, the same size and color as the surrounding text. If you change the size or color of the surrounding text, the size and color of the equation’s font also change.

This does not mention anything about the font used for the equation itself, which seems to be something similar to a Times New Roman font.
Is there any way to change the font used, preferably to something like Latin Modern Math?
I was considering the possibility of replacing the font file Pages uses with a downloaded Latin Modern Math font file, but I'm not sure what to replace. Could I replace Times New Roman in /System/Library/Fonts/ or something like that?

Pages uses blahtex to generate PNGs from the rudimentary maths environments. The following fonts are available out of the box with blahtex:

  2.12 Fonts
  \mathbf \mathbb \mathrm \mathit \mathcal \mathfrak \mathsf \mathtt \boldsymbol \rm \bf \it \cal \tt \sf \Bbb \bold

Unfortunately, Pages does not support all of these fonts, most notably mathcal. Pages does support:

…and their shorthands:


MacBook Pro not booting beyond mounting Recovery HD For some reason El Capitan doesn't boot. I've tried reinstalling from Recovery and nothing happened. The disk checked is ok.

I can use the cmd+s or Terminal. Here is the verbose boot:

It looks like your hard drive has been corrupted somehow.  Use Internet Recovery (Command+Option+R while booting) to recover/restore your machine.

You do back ups, right?

More than likely, your drive has failed.  Based on what I was able to make out in the (blurry) picture, the error BSD root: disk0s2, major 1, minor 2 is very similar to this post:

OSX system and installation disk won't boot

I have personally experienced (just last week, actually) a similar situation and it too was a HDD failure.

You can also try running this command from the command line to get the SMART Status of your drive:

diskutil info disk0 | grep SMART

If you get anything other than Verified, your drive is failing; it's time to replace.


FileVault 2 encrypted drive not accepting unlock password in recovery mode My Mid-2012 Mac Book Air running an up-to-date install of Mountain Lion crashed the other evening (browsing the web, one tab started beach-balling, and refused to be force-quit so I forced a restart).

When restarting, it seems to accept my user's password to unlock the FileVault 2 encryption (I'm certain the password is correct, and typing a known incorrect password results in a shaky input field). The next screen is a grey screen, with a spinning progress wheel. Eventually a grey embossed sign is displayed, and that's about as far as it progresses. Booting using verbose mode (⌘+V) results in repeated lines of Still waiting for root device being logged.

Entering recovery mode (⌘+R) to try and restore from a TimeMachine backup, or zap the drive and re-install from the internet gets me as far as a password input box requesting I "Enter a password to unlock the disk Macintosh HD", but I cannot get past this screen despite entering correct passwords for both users who have the ability to unencrypt the drive (And I think getting past the initial unlock screen with these passwords demonstrates that they work, but I'm happy to be corrected), with the password box just shaking and rejecting the password.

Attempting to unlock the drive from the Terminal in Recovery Mode fails to mount the drive, but claims to have been unable to unencrypt it:

-bash-3.2# diskutil cs unlockVolume XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX
Passphrase:
Started CoreStorage operation
Logical Volume successfully unlocked
Logical Volume successfully attached as disk13
Error: -69842: Couldn't mount disk

I've run the hardware tests, and they showed no problems. I've seen this question describing similar symptoms, but that solution did not appear to help, with the password field of the Unlock Drive menu option in Recovery Mode's Disk Utility also rejecting the password.

Essentially my question is "how can I get my laptop back into a working state"? I have recent TimeMachine backups, and so if the least painful is to format the drive and start again then I'm happy to do that, but at present I can't manage to get the drive wiped.

I have my FileVault Encryption key if necessary.

Just had this happen to me, error -69842 on a FileVault encrypted mid-2013 MacBook Air, and I spent a fair bit of time on it the last few days. I tried Recovery Mode, Target Disk Mode, fsck_hfs, and DiskWarrior with no luck. Disk Utility gave me an error 'Invalid thread record' or something like that. DiskWarrior indicated it was a 'disk hardware failure'. It was a corrupted FileVault volume no doubt.

I was finally able to get at my files by booting up in single-user mode. Hold CommandS while booting. You'll have to pick a user and enter your password, then it'll drop you to command line. The encrypted volume that would otherwise fail to mount with Disk Utility or 'diskutil coreStorage unlockVolume' will be already mounted in your Unix shell. Apparently single-user mode bypasses whatever filesystem check is failing when an error unlocking occurs. Perhaps this is because no fsck is being run, I'm not sure.

I was able to get my files off this way using a connected USB drive. Run mount -uw / && mkdir /Volumes/usb, then plug the USB in and do ls /dev/disk* to find the name. Mine was /dev/disk2s2, so mount_hfs /dev/disk2s2 /Volumes/usb and I had a way to copy files off. Use mount_msdos instead of mount_hfs if you formatted it for non-Mac use. I selectively copied user folders one thumbstick at a time, but if you have a large enough USB drive attached then just do a tar czpf /Volumes/usb/Users-backup.tgz /Users to get a copy of the entire /Users folder in tar-gzip format.

Recreating the FileVault volume is necessary. I did not find a way to repair it.


Where does MacVim keep its themes? I'm using MacVim and I am attempting to change the default theme. I have the following in my .vimrc file (and in .gvimrc as well):

 colorscheme macvim

But the theme remains unchanged. What am I doing wrong?

The file is read in without errors but the scheme doesn't change. Also, if I download alternate themes, where do they go?

By default, you should put custom colorschemes/themes into: ~/.vim/colors

Note that you may need to create the .vim directory in your home directory if it does not already exist.

After doing so, your :colorscheme command should automatically pick up the theme.


Photos: Search all photos captured by a particular device (iPhone 5s) Is there any way in the new Photos app to search for all images taken from a particular device? I want to export all my iPhone images out of Photos app.

Currently my library has images imported from various other devices also.

I am not used to the Photos App, so this might not be the best solution but could solve your question.

In the menubar go to File and then click on New Smart Album...
Select Camera Model from the first drop-down menu and then pick the rest to fit your needs.

To find out what exactly you need to type there, you can just get the info of a picture where you know that you took it with that device and see what exactly it says.

Edit: As it turns out, my old iPhone 5s says "Apple iPhone 5s" but this Smart Album only worked if I wrote contains "iPhone 5s", so that should work.


How can I use the half-qwerty keyboard layout in OSX? I'd like to use the half-qwerty keyboard layout on my mac, without actually buying any (ridiculously priced) hardware. I found a auto-hotkey script, but that appears to be windows-only. Are there any alternatives?

I'm the developer of the one-handed typing Mac apps below. Should be just what you're looking for.

One-Hand Keyboard
One-Hand Keyboard: FREE demo
Mirror-QWERTY

One-Hand Keyboard is the best option, as it has predictive text. Just type the one-hand keys and it will automatically figure out which word you meant. Type "tges" and it will change it to "this". Your muscle memory makes it very easy to do this.

Mirror-QWERTY is the non-predictive-text version. You hold spacebar to "mirror" the keys. So to type "this" you type [T] [G+Space] [E+Space] [S]. I find this a lot harder to do.

I hope one of these solutions works for you! Would love to hear your feedback.


Monitor remains grey after Apple logo during boot on Mac Pro The Mac Pro here (2008 model) started acting up as of yesterday during booting - when I turn it on, I hear the typical sound, the Apple logo appears, it disappears.. and the monitor remains in that grey tone.. forever - nothing else is happening. This machine has Snow Leopard installed. When I try to e.g. boot from my Lion USB Recovery HD, i plug in the USB stick, press alt during bootup, both systems (the SL one on the disk & the Recovery on the USB stick) appear, I select the Recovery HD.. and again, the same (logo, then grey forever).

What's going on here and what can I do?

Update:

following the numerous suggestions below (thanks!), I checked the verbose boot logging, but nothing too troubling appeared, well sort of. Right before the monitor turns grey again, the color of the logging font turns from white to pink?

This:

to this:

.. (the image is kinda off, somehow it doesn't capture the pinkishness of the color) then grey forever again.

Additionally I could enter safe mode, but the same is here.. colors seem strange & not entirely correct (I suppose it's not intended that way, right?):

I put the Nvidia 8800GT in the other slot on the mainboard, the same again. Is this a sign of a failing graphic card (the boot manager menu looks just fine)?

This happened earlier this year to a friend. The cause was disk
    directory damage. Upon start (during the Gray Screen of Doom) the
    Mac was trying to repair the damage automatically, but failing.
    Here's how I talked her through it.

Power down the Mac.
Boot in Safe Mode (press Power button, listen for startup
tone, immediately press and hold Shift, release Shift when you see
Apple logo).
Let the computer boot in Safe Mode. It may take longer  than
normal.
If the computer eventually reaches the desktop, simply reboot
    normally and see if that fixed your problem. This is the point at which this procedure worked out for my friend.
If the computer is still having problems, boot from a Mac OS X
    Install DVD (insert DVD, power down, restart hiding down C key).
When you reach the Installer screen, use the Utilities menu to
run
    Disk Utility, then choose Repair Disk under the First Aid tab (if the hard disk doesn't show up in the sidebar in Disk Utility, the disk is likely irretrievably broken).

If these steps don't work, I'd suggest that you either a) Wipe the disk and do a full restore from your most recent backup; b) invest in a heavy-duty disk utility like Disk Warrior; c) take the computer to the nearest Apple Store for support help.


How to repair Mactintosh HDD I have a MacBook Pro 2016 15" with 256GB running macOS High Sierra. When I got the MacBook used, I was able to log in. The MacBook did not have an iCloud account linked so I linked mine up and enabled Find my Mac.

I tried to do a fresh install of macOS Sierra which cleaned out the hard drive but it says "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again".

Disk Utility returns a code 8 for a corrupted system. Is this because I did not turn off the Find my Mac?

If your goal is to install macOS Sierra, then your best bet is to boot into macOS Recovery using the ShiftOption⌘R keyboard shortcut. That's because your model MBP originally shipped with macOS Sierra and this keyboard shortcut is designed to install the version of macOS that originally shipped with your Mac.*

To do this:

Fully shut down your MBP
Power up your MBP again but immediately press and hold the ShiftOption⌘R
Keep the keys down until you see either an Apple logo or spinning globe appear on screen (Note: If you have a firmware password set on your system, then let go of the keys when the password prompt appears)
Once the Utilities window appears you'll be in macOS Recovery Mode

Now choose to reinstall macOS and follow the prompts.

IMPORTANT - If you already have data stored on your internal drive you should do a backup first!

* For users of older Mac models this option will install the closest version of macOS still available to the original that shipped with it.


Reducing the number of fonts available to specific applications? It is not wise to install every font there is.
This slows down the system, your workflow etc.

For different projects and applications I need a certain number of fonts available. These are numbered significantly above the core fonts needed to run the operating system. That number is still manageable by hand.

But when using for example a web browser I want to restrict the number of fonts available from the system to them severely.

Examples: I need Arial available to me and my word processors. I do not want to see it on web pages. Browser fingerprinting is also affected by the fonts installed (as seen through the browser).
Using Writer I want to have the full set available, using image editors they should be almost font agnostic. But web browsers being the main concern here.

Without resorting to big iron font managers, user switching, VMs or the like, and not counting javascript modifications to the browsers while running:

I am aiming for something like at least two profiles for two kinds of programs running under the same user: 1. full set available 2. sandboxed/restricted set.

How to force programs into seeing just a very small and clearly defined subset of installed fonts otherwise available to the system or the current user?

There doesn't appear to be an easy solution. Here's the best I could come up with.

In Font Book, reduce the font set to the "minimal" set by disabling fonts as appropriate.
Create font "collection" folders in some directory of your choosing by symlinking to fonts in one of the font locations as appropriate.
On an app-by-app basis, within the application bundle:

Create a directory within the resources folder that symlinks to one of your "collections" folder
Add the ATSApplicationFontsPath to the info.plist file as appropriate.

Ideally there'd be a way to specify font collections rather than font folders, but it seems like Apple intends this to only be used with prepackaged fonts, not by the end user. If you're keen on using the Font Book GUI, you could read from the ~/Library/FontCollections folder and automate step 2. You could also take it a step further and automate step 3.


iCloud Photo library and photo stream - deleting photos from phone only If I turn on iCloud Photo library, it tells me "Photos and videos synced from iTunes will be removed." From where? Which photos and videos? I just want to delete photos from my phone because of storage issues. I'm fine with turning off photo stream, but someone said I should first "link iCloud Photo library." Which takes me to the first problem. Can someone clarify? I don't want to permanently lose anything! Thank you!

It appears you have synced photos into your iPhone via iTunes. You can select folders from your computer and sync them to your iOS devices when connected (or via Wifi if you have that option checked).
iCloud Photo Library is letting you know you'll lose those synced albums on the phone.
To check which photos and / or videos, you can connect your iPhone to your computer , start iTunes up and go to the Photos section on your device menu:

as you can see, you can select different options to sync photos from your computer back to your iPhone

If you do not remember setting this up, or if it appears un checked, as in my screenshots, you are probably not connected to the original iTunes (or iTunes library) that set this up.

Checking which are the images that will be lost directly on your phone is a bit more tricky, as the only obvious sign is that you cannot delete the album nor the images directly from it. So, you could go checking albums until you find one that does not allows you to delete pictures –although this will also be the case with iCloud Shared albums you joined. The good news is that you probably have a copy of those pictures elsewhere, unless you've lost the computer which synced them in the first place.

Turning My Photo Stream off will stop it from receiving pictures made with other iOS devices or saved on iPhoto / Photos app configured with the service. It will not save space if you don't have other devices behaving in that fashion. It will also stop it to upload them to those other devices, if this is part of your archiving system, keep that in mind.

Turning iCloud Photo Library on will upload a copy of all the pictures taken or saved (but not synced via iTunes) on your iPhone to iCloud, and, depending on the configuration, it will try to save space on your device by erasing the original on your iPhone afterwards and leaving a copy with lower resolution. If this setting is not activated, no space will be saved. Erasing the pictures on your iOS device with iCloud Photo Library on will permanently erase the pictures on all synced devices and on iCloud, so be sure to have a backup.


How can I speed up the way OS X takes a window into full screen I click the green circle at the top left of my screen so my window can go into full-screen mode.

Then I have to wait while my Mac performs some unnecessary animation to show me that I'm going into full-screen mode.

Can I eliminate that animation and go into full-screen instantly?

Take a sip of your tea - it's finished ;)

afaik, you can't bypass it.

My guess is it's to mask the amount of 'effort' it takes to do the transition, smooth zoom rather than lumpy pseudo-instant transition with bits of broken screen til it's finished.


How to download OS X El Capitan from the App Store even if never downloaded before macOS Sierra was released or purchased is grayed out I know that in the past if I've previously downloaded OS X El Capitan from the App Store I could download it again from the Purchased tab in the App Store, however now that macOS Sierra is out I'm not able to download it as it says INSTALLED (and grayed out) even on a system running OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5. Pressing any key combination, e.g control, option, etc. doesn't change the button to DOWNLOAD. All other previous versions of OS X can still be downloaded from my Purchased tab in App Store as they still say DOWNLOAD and are not grayed out, thus active.

The image below is from a system running OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5, does not have OS X El Capitan installed on it or even the Install OS X El Capitan.app on its filesystem, yet it says it's installed and grayed out.

Whether or not you've downloaded it in the past, you can now download OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 (6.21 GB) via this link which will open first in the Browser, then in the App Store.

  OS X El Capitan

  This version of OS X El Capitan is for users running OS X Snow Leopard
  who would like to upgrade to macOS Sierra. If you are running Snow
  Leopard and would like to upgrade to Sierra, you need to install El
  Capitan first. This version of El Capitan can also be installed on Mac
  computers that are not comparable with Sierra.

Note: If doing this to downgrade from macOS Sierra.

In order to use the Install OS X El Capitan.app from macOS Sierra you need to create a USB Installer and boot the Mac with it.  You'll also need to erase the Macintosh HD and perform a clean install.  Make sure you have proper User Data Backups from which to restore your Data before erasing the Macintosh HD.

Have a look at Create a bootable installer for OS X. Excerpt show below:

  Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

  Download the OS X installer from the Mac App Store. Quit the installer if it opens automatically after downloading. The installer
  will be in your Applications folder.
  Mount your USB flash drive or other volume. You could also use a secondary internal partition.
  Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  Use the createinstallmedia command in Terminal to create the bootable installer. Examples of this command are in the next section.
  For detailed usage instructions, make sure that the appropriate
  Install OS X app is in your Applications folder, then enter one of the
  following paths in Terminal:

  Path for El Capitan:

/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

  Examples

  This is the basic syntax of the command. Replace volumepath with
  the path to your USB flash drive or other volume, and replace
  installerpath with the path to the Install OS X app.

createinstallmedia --volume volumepath --applicationpath installerpath

  The following examples assume that the OS X installer is in your
  Applications folder and the name of your USB flash drive or other
  volume is MyVolume:

  Example for El Capitan:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app


Software restore on iBook G4 A1134 I recently bought an iBook and OS 10.3.3 iBook recovery discs. I have inserted the disc to restore the iBook but after booting with the disc inserted the screen in just black. There has been no dialogue to, for example, start the system restore. I have no experience with apple products of this age. Is this the usual experience? Is something going wrong? It has been like this for probably half an hour at least. I inserted the disc while logged in and started the Install OS X programme which restarted the computer. I had previously inserted the disc and help the C key to start it but encountered the same thing.

The A1134 model is the 2005 14 inch iBook. The original supplied OS was 10.4.2 (Tiger), so OS 10.3 won't work on it.
However, I'd also want to make sure that the screen actually works before buying a Tiger installer disk.


Is is possible that a software issue could be causing spotty USB-C connections on 2017 MacBook Pro? I have a 2017 MacBook Pro. It has 2 USB-C ports on the left side and I use an Aukey hub to provide more ports (4 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C) and always to connect two monitors.

I connect one monitor through the hub with the HDMI port and another directly to the MBP with a USB-C adapter. Sometimes when I connect the hub to the Mac and the 2nd monitor to the Mac, it works as it should with no problem...but more than half the time I have to connect, disconnect, jiggle, jangle, switch ports, reconnect HDMI, etc. and hopefully they will both work. OFTEN, I can only get one monitor to fire up.

Is there any kind of software fix or reset that might solve this issue? Any other thoughts welcome. Thanks.

It's not a software fix, but a "hardware" one, that will address this issue.

The problem lies in the fact that the multi-function hub most likely doesn't supply an active HDMI adapter.  You can usually get around this limitation with a reboot, but that can become burdensome especially if you go from a desktop setup to a mobile setup multiple times per day.

Why is it a hardware issue?

Clock signals.  HDMI has one and DisplayPort (what you're converting from) doesn't.  So, when you plug in your HDMI monitor, there's no signal to sync up to.  Rebooting usually resolves this and gets everything "synced up again."  A passive adapter (what is in the hub) just rearranges the signal whereas an active adapter actually recreates the signal making it much more reliable.


iPhone iOS4 Connectivity Profiles Is there any way to set up and easily switch connection profiles in iOS4?

i.e:

Home - Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth off, 3G off

Work - Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth off, 3G off

Car - Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth on, 3G on

etc.

Would prefer an App Store app but would consider a jailbreak app if not available.

If your phone is jailbroken, SBSettings works really well for this. I don't think it supports profiles, but it gives quick access to toggles for all of the services you mentioned. Very helpful for the scenarios you described.


Why does an empty `~/Movies` folder take up 273 GB? My ~/Movies folder is empty according to both the Finder and Terminal.

I've never seen this before. In case it's relevant, this is a 2012 Mac mini running the latest version of Yosemite. It runs a few services, including file sharing, FileMaker Server, calibre, Time Machine and Plex.

Based on the suggestions in the comments, I performed the following commands in the terminal:

~ $ cd Movies/

Movies $ du
0   .

Movies $ ls -la@
total 0
drwx------+  2 administrator  staff   68 Jun 11 13:41 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 23 administrator  staff  782 Jun 11 21:31 ..

Movies $ touch file

Movies $ ls -la
total 0
drwx------+  3 administrator  staff  102 Jun 12 10:20 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 23 administrator  staff  782 Jun 11 21:31 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 administrator  staff    0 Jun 12 10:20 file

Movies $ rm file

Movies $ ls -la
total 0
drwx------+  2 administrator  staff   68 Jun 12 10:20 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 23 administrator  staff  782 Jun 11 21:31 ..

Movies $ mkdir dir

Movies $ ls -la
total 16
drwx------+  4 administrator  staff   136 Jun 12 10:20 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 23 administrator  staff   782 Jun 11 21:31 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 administrator  staff  6148 Jun 12 10:20 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x   2 administrator  staff    68 Jun 12 10:20 dir

Movies $ rm -r dir

Movies $ ls -la
total 16
drwx------+  3 administrator  staff   102 Jun 12 10:20 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 23 administrator  staff   782 Jun 11 21:31 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 administrator  staff  6148 Jun 12 10:20 .DS_Store

Movies $ du
16  .

Movies $ du -h
8.0K    .

Movies $

Get Info on the folder now reveals it to have 6K (for the .DS_Store that showed up with the folder creation, no doubt). Honestly, I didn't check the Get Info after each command, so I don't know which, if any of the above fixed it.


Extending a Time Capsule network with an AirPort Express connected by ethernet cable? I'd like to extend my home wireless network to a location that is too far away for wireless to reach. My plan was to do this by running a 100m/328' length of Cat6a cable from my Time Capsule to an AirPort Express located in the remote location.

I thought I could just plug the ethernet in to the second port of the Time Capsule and then run that in to the AirPort Express, but it's not quite working. I'm missing some necessary part of the setup.

How can I get this working?

You're on the the right path.

Before I give you the complete answer I just wanted to point out that you're running Cat6a at the very limit of it's length. It's rated for 100m/330ft and your run seems to be exactly that length. It's never good to be at the limits of connections, so bear that in mind when testing. You might want to test it with a short cable run, say 20m or so, if it's not working with the long cable run just to make sure your problems aren't because of the physical limits of the Cat6a cable. Try it with a run of cable long enough to get your AirPort Express just out of the range of the Time Capsule network.

That being said, this Apple discussion board article talks about how you have to set up the AirPort Express to act as a wireless network extender when it's connected via Ethernet to your Time Capsule.

Let's make sure you have the connections set properly. You already know to use one of the LAN ports on the Time Capsule, but make sure you're plugging the cable in to the Ethernet WAN port on the AirPort Express. If you're looking at the back of the AirPort Express, it's the Ethernet port on the left, the one with the ring of dots around it. The port on the right can be used at your remote location to provide a non-wireless connection for a device like a printer, computer or switch (giving you even more wired connections at the remote location).

With the connections made, you want to configure the AirPort express to operate in bridge mode so it extends the network being provided by the Time Capsule instead of creating an entirely new network of its own.

To do this:

Fire up the AirPort Utility on your Mac or iOS device and connect to your AirPort Express
Use the Base Station section of the AirPort Utility to set up a name for the AirPort Express and that it's configured with password and what not;
Under the Wireless section of the AirPort Utility:

Create a new wireless network
Give the network the same name as the network being provided by your Time Capsule
Make sure "Allow this network to be extended" is unchecked
Set the radio mode for the AirPort Express to 802.11 n (b/g compatible)
Set the channel for the network to Automatic
For the wireless security and password set them to the exact same thing Time Capsule's network

Under the Internet Connection section of the AirPort Utility:

Set the connection using to Ethernet
Set connection sharing to Off (Bridge Mode)

Save all those changes and restart the AirPort Express by powering it off and then back on. You should now be able to deploy your AirPort Express out of the range of your Time Capsule's wireless network and, when you move between the two zones, any devices that use the wireless network will automatically switch to whichever devices is providing the stronger signal.


How do I backup Mac Server? It sounds like Time Machine doesn't backup everything on Mac Server:
http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/restoring-mac-os-x-server-from-time-machine/

So what options do I have? Ideally I'd like a backup that I can restore on another Mac Mini and have it up and running instantly. Carbon Copy Cloner sounds like it should work, but I didn't see anything on their site that said it would definitely backup Mac Server (or I missed it).

Does anyone have a recommendation on what to do?

Your primary option is to test your restore with live data so you can see all the things your server setup does that isn't covered by a Time Machine.

You'll also want to get a tool like Bender to handle exporting and importing settings on the server.app itself.

Ideally, you have a setup document where you recorded each and every thing you configured since that will be your checklist that everything is covered.

Did you set up alternate data location for some of the services?
Did you "correct" any dot files for users and run any terminal commands?
Do you have any launchd tasks that are not packaged (I often make routing and other changes that run to set static routes, roll over application log files, etc...)

Server is a different beast and you can and will set up many large databases - some of which need to be archived and then restored later like mail, web, LDAP. As your server grows, you will come to think of each data as separate since backing them all up with the same frequency or mechanism isn't a good solution technically. Time Machine is a starting point, not an end point and using mirror technology like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! isn't usually the answer since it often takes a day or two to restore terabytes of data when you can instead have that data on a storage appliance and just use your OS and configuration backups to save the glue and code and tools - not the product.


I know how to Create a shortcut (.txt) File in Finder, but I want to take it far a little bit [coding help] I've followed John for creating a new filetext and have it pop up with a shortcut. https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/129702

But once I hit my shortcut, a window opens for renaming the file, then I'll have to go  to desktop to open it. I was wondering if I could add a line in the code to have the file open after renaming it immediately?

 try
  tell application "Finder" to set the this_folder ¬
   to (folder of the front window) as alias
on error -- no open folder windows
  set the this_folder to path to desktop folder as alias
end try

set thefilename to text returned of (display dialog ¬
 "Create file named:" default answer "filename.txt")
set thefullpath to POSIX path of this_folder & thefilename
do shell script "touch \"" & thefullpath & "\""

Here you go that should work for you

try
    tell application "Finder" to set the this_folder ¬
        to (container of the front Finder window) as alias
on error -- no open folder windows
    set the this_folder to path to desktop folder as alias
end try

set thefilename to text returned of (display dialog ¬
    "Create file named:" default answer "filename.txt")

set thefullpath to POSIX path of this_folder & thefilename

do shell script "touch \"" & thefullpath & "\""

set theFile to thefullpath as POSIX file as alias

tell application "TextEdit" to open theFile


OSX 10.6 admin account missing After a power shortage a Mac with El Capitan installed, downgraded to 10.6 and the admin account is missing.

The main session password is also in an older state, and we cannot connect anymore.
We have tried to suppress the /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and go through the account creation process but without success.

Does anyone have any way to retrieve an admin account?

Try restarting and then press Command+S. This will boot the computer in single user mode. After everything loaded, type in ( /sbin/ mount -uw /)first, then (rm /var/db/ .applesetupdone), and finally (shutdown -h now )or (reboot). This erases the previous setup and makes the mac think its brand new. All you would need is to create a new admin account.


Would it be possible to modify the iPhone in such a way that the hardware switch (ring/silent) also switches on/off camera, mic and GPS hardware? How should one physically modify the hardware connection inside the hardware in order to make the analog hardware switch, already in place for switching from ring to silent and vice versa, could also switch on and off (by physical disconnection) the cameras, microphones and GPS radio?

It would be a huge security enhancement for the iPhone!

Is it possible and has anyone ever done it?

Is it possible and has anyone ever done it?

Technically, it's possible.  The better question and resulting answer would be:  "Is it feasible."  That would be a definitive no.

The switch isn't directly connected to to the speaker circuitry. It's connected to a chip that's "watches" for input on some particular pins to go high (positive voltage detected) or low (no/negative voltage). The firmware detects this and "interfaces" with the software (iOS) to do something like disable the speakers.

So, could the software do something else like turn it into Airplane mode?  Sure.  You'd have to jailbreak the phone to do so.

  ...could also switch on and off (by physical disconnection) the cameras, microphones and GPS radio

Again yes, but it's not entirely feasible.  This would be more difficult because you'd have to "create" the electrical pathways (traces) by which the main chip could tell another chip or a relay or whatever to engage a transistor (an electrical switch) to (dis)connect the connection to the peripheral.   Plus, you'd have to modify the software as described above.

Has anyone done it?

My cursory search of the Internet says no. Possibly because of the obstacles involved.  If someone has done it, it's likely in a "bodged" together state not ready for general consumption.

  It would be a huge security enhancement for the iPhone!

You're probably right.  The best thing to do is to let Apple know at https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html


How do I open terminal or browser windows in the current workspace? Whenever I open a new terminal or browser window via QuickSilver it switches control back to the last used workspace. I would like to always open in the current workspace, how do I do that?

I am on OS Mavericks. Please keep in mind that existing answers about modifying Expose or Spaces settings do not apply.

I've set up Alfred to open new Terminal and Safari windows in the current workspace by having it call an Apple Script. I'd expect that you could do the same in Quicksilver. These are the scripts I've used:

Safari:

tell application "Safari"
  make new document
  activate
end tell

Terminal:

tell application "Terminal"
    do script "uptime"
    activate
end tell


How do I edit a .plist file? What's the best application to open and edit a plist file ?

If the plist file is in the XML format, you can edit it in any text editor like TextEdit. If the plist file is in the binary format, you can convert it to XML first by running:

plutil -convert xml1 file.plist

If you want to go back to binary format after editing:

plutil -convert binary1 file.plist

If you have Xcode 4.3 or later, you can use it to edit property lists in a graphical editor like this:

Xcode 4.2 and earlier came with a separate application for editing property lists (/Developer/Applications/Utilities/Property List Editor.app/).


Install iOS device drivers on Windows without installing iTunes I have a Windows PC that doesn't have iTunes installed, because I don't want it. But I still want to be able to use other software to transfer data from my iPad, which means I need the drivers for it.

Apparently, they only install with iTunes, but is it possible to install them standalone, with no other software needed?

I found this tip from DiskAid website:

You need to manually install the required driver, the "Apple Mobile Device Support" or AMDS.

Download the iTunes installation package from the official Apple Website.
You need a program that can open a CAB file and extract contents from it. 7-zip or WinRar can do it.
Inspect the content of the iTunes installer iTunes64Setup.exe (that you downloaded in step 1) with 7-zip (right click, 7-zip, Open archive). 7-zip will show the files inside that installer file.
Extract AppleApplicationSupport.msi and AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi from the installer file to harddisk.
Run AppleApplicationSupport.msi and then AppleMobileDeviceSupport64.msi.

After AppleMobileDeviceSupport64 is installed, windows should be able to detect the iDevice.


How can I display the format bar above the document in Pages 5.0? The new version of Pages has the format bar (i.e. the bar where you change the font size, typeface, alignment, spacing, etc.) on the right of the document:

I want it to be on the top of the document like in Pages 4.3 (Pages '09):

How can I accomplish this?

This is not possible in Pages 5.0.

If your wish for a format bar above the document outweighs any benefit from Pages 5.0, you can continue to use iWork '09.

You can also notify Apple that you would like this feature implemented using their Pages feedback page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/pages.html


White parts of video glitches Fullscreen video played from youtube, also happens in VLC

The white areas of the video glitches
Doesn't show up in a screenshot
Goes away when you replay the video

System specifications- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015), OS X Yosemite.

Any ideas? Google wasn't helpful

I figured it out. I use F.lux to make the screen more orange. Disabling it makes the glitches go away.


Why does iOS 11.3.1 insist on reinstalling its defaults apps Since yesterday, my iOS 11.3.1 (on an iPhone SE) is in a strange, beforehand unseen state whereby most of its default apps apparently  have become uninstalled somehow (for instance, Maps and Videos are marked with the Cloud-like download item) and iOS proceeds with downloading them from somewhere (hopefully/presumably Apple) anew when I click on their icons (has e.g. happened with Notes and Podcast so far.)

I am wondering: Is this a known phenomenon? For what reason does iOS enter into such a state?

This is called 'Offload Unused Apps' and was a feature introduced in iOS 11.

Source OSX Daily:

  If you frequently run out of storage space on an iPhone or iPad, you will appreciate a new feature in iOS that automatically saves storage for you. Called Offload Unused Apps, the toggle allows the iPhone or iPad to perform housekeeping and delete apps that have gone unused for a while, just as the name implies. Offloading used apps can noticeably help to reduce storage constraints on a device, since most of us have a handful of apps that may not be getting any usage but are taking up storage space on an iOS device anyway.

To change this setting:

Open Settings
Tap on iTunes & App Store
Scroll down to locate Offload Unused Apps and toggle to the desired position

Exit out of Settings

If this is turned ON, iOS will automatically remove apps you don't use only when your storage is low.  To use that app again, as you've discovered, you just tap on the app and it will automatically download back to your device.

You’ll notice that while the feature will remove the app, it will maintain data and documents related to the applications that are offloaded.


Will Buying "SIM-Free" iPhone from Apple Work on Verizon I currently have verizon and I'm looking to upgrade my phone.  If I buy the phone from this page http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone5s and choose the "SIM-Free" option (below), will that work for me? or do I have to click the verizon button and put my account info in?  Also, I currently have an android phone, that requires a verizon sim card.  Can I just put my old simcard into the new iPhone when it arrives? Thanks in advance.

There are two different iPhone 5s models sold in the US -- the CDMA model for Verizon or Sprint (which also supports GSM connectivity for international use) and the GSM model. The unlocked phone is the GSM model, so it won't support CDMA and won't talk to Verizon's network (except perhaps for data (not voice) on 4G/LTE, where Verizon uses GSM like the rest of the world). So you can buy an unlocked phone and put a Verizon SIM in it, but it will at best only work with Verizon for data, and only in areas where they have 4G coverage.

Just look at the bottom of the page you link to in your question, where it says:

  If you buy a SIM-free iPhone, you will need to purchase a
  GSM-compatible nano-SIM card separately. In the United States, you can
  purchase such a SIM from AT&T or T-Mobile.


IOS Settings App Notification Acknowledgement (red dot elimination) The settings icon indicates a little red dot with the number of notifications.  How does one acknowledge the notification and turn off the red dot? I want to avoid upgrading IOS and would like to remove the red dot.  Suggestions are appreciated: thank you

The red dot in notification bar because of notifications in secure zone check it once


Using a MacBook as an iOS “External Accessory"? Does Apple allow me to make an iOS app that uses a desktop/laptop computer as an external accessory? For example, using a computer to do external computation and/or send input events to the phone over the lightning connector cable. Technically I am not the manufacturer of these products but I was wondering whether Apple would allow such an app in the app store.

The old (pre-Lightling) connection "unofficially" supported a USB keyboard by plugging it into the Camera Connection Kit USB port. I not sure if this is still possible with the new Lightning port, although, some companies do make a Lightning-to-usb adapter.

Connecting the Keyboard this way lets you use it in any app that supports Bluetooth keyboards (which I think is pretty much any writing app). It does, however, show you a warning on screen when you connect the keyboard, but you can just dismiss it.

If you'd like to read more about what you could do with the Camera Connetion Kit USB port, check out the Using the CCK for more than just photography section of this article.

On a side note, you can also use you keyboard to fully control your iOS device by turning on some accessibility settings. I don't remember exactly what I used when I tried this, but it was either:

Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control

or:

Settings > General > Accessibility > VoiceOver   (just turn the sound off when you use it)

So in short, yes, you will be able to use you computer to control an app through the thunder connection, but depending on what you'd like to do, you may need to be a little clever about exactly how you implement this so you take advantage of some unofficial iOS features.

And, if this doesn't work for what you want, I know a lot of apps (like this one) connect to the PC via WiFi. These apps send commands to the PC, but I'm fairly sure you can make the connection go both ways as long as you don't need to control anything outside your own app.

Hope this helps!


VPN app/VPN macbook 2003 10.6.8 i have a 2003 10.6.8 and i  am not able to install vpn app as it prompt me that my macbook need to have 62 bit intel processor, can someone please advice or recommend an vpn app for my macbook please ?

You do not say which 2003 model of Mac you have but 2003 Macs do not have Intel processors and your version of macOS (normally referred to as Snow Leopard) is old and likely unsupported by most current applications both for the OS version and the PowerPC chip in your Mac.

macOS does have a built-in VPN (I believe with Snow Leopard as well...). PPTP is fairly common (especially if it is a Cisco or Cisco-compatible VPN) and you might be able to configure it to work with your VPN service, but I would not count on it, especially if it is a commercial VPN service, as they often use their own APP to connect to their VPN service.

You are possibly out of luck, unless someone here knows specifically one that works with your configuration.

If you indicate what you are trying to accomplish or even which ones you wanted to try that might help us help you.


Mute Mac Sound When Idle I like it when my Mac announces the time every hour. It keeps me focused or provides me with a reminder to take a break. I also like it when Mail makes a sound when new messages arrive so I can check them. I like all these sounds when I'm using my computer.

What I don't like is these sounds when I'm not using my computer mainly because my Mac is in my bedroom. Usually the solution is simply to mute the Mac before bed but I sometimes forget and am woken up by an announcement telling me the time or letting me know new mail is in during the middle of the night.

Without putting my computer to sleep (I want it awake at all times when plugged in so it can do things I need it to do), is there any way my Mac can mute its sound when it is idle (or more preferably idle for some period of time)?

I wanted the same and didn't find anything nice, so I coded an app for myself. You can find the code here and already as compiled app here.

Let me know what you think.


How to permanently stop "A new iPhone software version..." notifications I jailbreak my phone and therefore can't always update to the newest iOS version as soon as it is released.

How do I permanently remove all notifications about iOS updates?

As referenced in this forum, you can use Mikoto from cydia.angelxwind.net to disable iOS updates, which should stop giving you update notifications.


Can you tunnel iPhone internet traffic through a local proxy on a Mac computer? I want to monitor the requests (and responses) my iPhone is sending via the internet. I have a web debugging proxy called Charles on my Mac, which I would like to use to monitor my iPhone's connections. It basically works by configuring a proxy to localhost and reading that data.

I tried to share my internet connectiong my Mac, but I cannot both share my internet over Wi-Fi and connect to my Wi-Fi at the same time?

How can I accomplish this?

You may want a second network adapter, but first try adding a second WiFi connection in the network preference pane.

You could pick a static IP address that is valid, but outside the DHCP's range (or reserved and not assigned via DHCP). Then your iPhone could proxy against the static IP and set up IP forwarding from the command line.

It would be easier to have a second interface and let the Mac software handle the routing for you. Also, be aware that firewalls should be off or configured to allow inbound traffic from the iPhone.


Download Apps on loaned iPhone Can I download some apps if Apple loans me an iPhone?

Apple is repairing my iPhone so they loaned me a device to use while mine is being repaired.

Login with your AppleID in Settings > iTunes and App Stores and then run the App Store. Look in the Updates > Purchased tab for all the apps you can download.

In-app purchases can sometimes be re-enabled, but not all app developers handle this. Your milage may vary.

Make sure you go to Settings > General > Reset and Erase all Content and Settings before you turn in the loaner.


Why games claimed to be compatible with 3rd Gen iPod won't run on my 3rd Gen iPod 8GB? I have an iPod touch 3rd Gen 8GB capacity MC086 model which was purchased from an Authorized reseller. I purchased several games from iTunes on my PC which was compatible with iOS 4.0/4.1/4.2.1 and iPod 3rd/4th Generation. However when I installed the games, they were revoked by iTunes with "NOT COMPATIBLE" message. I found that I will put those games to waste if I don't install it.

My question is :

How could it possible that a 3rd Gen iPod won't be compatible with games that was supposed to be supported the device ?

I've tried jailbreaking and used iFunbox, yet I still failed. Neither legal way nor illegal one would solve my problem. Any help or explanation would be greatly appreciated.

They never actually made an 8GB iPod Touch 3rd Generation. What they did was lower the price of the 8GB iPod Touch from 229 to 199 and sold it along side the actual 3rd Generation 32GB and 64GB iPod Touches of that year.

Technically what you hold in your hand is an iPod Touch 2nd Generation. You're not the first person to notice these kinds of things, especially since there was a lot of confusion at Apple and 3rd Party Retailers when it came to selling this device.

A lot of people around the internet have the same issue when it comes to software and when it comes to what Generation it actually is.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2777426?start=0&tstart=0

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110111210334AAlplU9

http://www.ifans.com/forums/threads/2g-or-3g-which-do-i-have.251593/

Sorry that it won't work and for all the confusion.  I hope that this information helps you out.


Connecting AirPort Express Base Station to Time Capsule I have a Time Capsule that I am using to broadcast WiFi throughout my house.  This is working just fine.  The Time Capsule is upstairs and needs to remain there.  I recently bought a TV that has Internet capabilities if connected by a LAN cable to the Internet.  I do not want to run a LAN cable from the basement to the upstairs.

I also happen to have an unused AirPort Express Base Station lying around unused.  What I would like to do is plug in this Base Station next to the TV in the basement and run a LAN cable to this Base Station to the TV.

My question: Can I set things up so that the Base Station receives WiFi signals from the Time Capsule?

I've found hints on how to do this on the Internet.  What I really need are detailed steps on how to do it.  I don't want a bunch of options in setting this up, I just want one straightforward path on how it can be done.

I do not have an Airport express (or Time Capsule...), but the method is not as scary as you might be worried about.  First, setup your wireless network on the Time Capsule, make sure the settings with regards to B/G/N etc are ones that your Airport Express can read (you don't mention model numbers), so ensure you are not using N only if your Express cannot do N also.  Network mode should be "Create a Wireless Network".  Then, on your Express, set the mode to be "Extend a Wireless Network" - it will list the networks it can see (that it is capable of extending, hopefully), and with luck you will find that they are within range of each other.  You just need to apply the same settings re passwords and security etc here, and hey presto it should repeat the same wireless network, thus extending it's range.  The network settings tab within Airport Utility should be greyed out, as the device should just be passing on what the Time Capsule presents, and it's not capable of overriding them.  Anything you subsequently plus into the ethernet port should effectively drop you into the same LAN, using Wireless connection between the TC and AE to allow communication from your telly to the internet.


Does the iOS App Store share information with developers that can identify specific users of their apps? Can the developer access information from the iOS App Store that uniquely identifies single users - or do they just get aggregate information?

No, developers on the iOS App Store do not receive information from the App Store that uniquely identifies users of apps. That includes both free and paid apps. The developer also do not receive a list of device names of devices where their app was installed or purchased.
The developer can access only aggregate information, such as the number of purchases made by customers in a specific country.
Note that the developer might have other means of getting information about their users. For example by including a login system in their app, letting the user link in Facebook accounts, and similar. However that would be something that is separate from Apple's App Store.


How do I move all my account settings from an old Apple TV to a new one? I have an old Apple TV ("2nd generation") and have just purchased a new one as a replacement. How do I move all my settings from the old one to the new one?

I'm not aware of any way to migrate account information from one Apple TV to another.

You'll have to set it up as new: sign into iCloud, download + sign into apps, etc. It is a bit of a hassle but it doesn't take too long.

I suggest using the iPhone app "Apple TV Remote" which enables you to type passwords via the iPhone keyboard. Also, Apple now offers single sign on for certain cable providers, you'll find this in "Settings" under "Accounts" I believe.


How can I keep certain apps from showing in the command-tab switcher? Pretty much self-explanatory... I just have a bunch of utilities (LaunchBar, DeliBar, Tags, etc...) that I never need to tab to and so are just in the way.

If these applications offer the ability to Hide the Dock Item, and live only in the Menu Bar, then they will not show up in the Command+Tab switcher list. Review the preferences within each application to see if this feature is supported.

Last I knew, there were no stable solutions for hiding Dock Icons without adverse application affects.

I have numerous applications that live in the Menu Bar only, and most have an option to show it if necessary:
Alfred, Sparrow, iMenuMeters, Divvy, Last.fm, Flux, Little Snitch, and Tunnelblick.


How to track stationary bike activity with the Apple Health App on an iPhone SE? I'm not great about setting aside time to exercise, but I am definitely a data nerd and just discovered my iPhone SE has a built in ability to track steps (pedometer) and other things.  Cool!  I also like to get in some stationary bike time while watching TV, listening to a podcast, etc.  I do not have an Apple Watch.

Unfortunately, it appears that the Health app can't actually track anything beyond steps and "flights" on its own.  It has no idea when I'm on the exercise bike, and in fact is crediting me with steps instead.  This seems very odd since years ago Apple publicly claimed that the Health app would automatically know the difference between walking, cycling, etc. and track accordingly.

I found many people complaining about this in forums and the only "solution" I've read is to install a 3rd party app such as iBiker.  I did so, but have also found that that app can't track anything meaningful on its own either!  It will track duration of ride, but without additional sensors it has no way to track anything more detailed.  So basically it's pretty much as useful as a stop watch.

So my questions are:

Is it possible to track exercise bike and other activity aside from steps, with an iPhone SE without the addition of 3rd party hard/software?

If yes, then how?
If no, what is the simplest/cheapest way to automatically track exercise bike activity?

Bonus question:  Is it possible to get the Health app to stop counting exercise bike activity as steps?
Bonus #2:  How often does the Health app actually update the data on its dashboard?  So far it seems fairly random/inconsistent.

There is a chart I found on the American Exercise Council...step conversion table...minutes of lots of activities at various levels of effort convert to so many steps per minute...such as stationary bike...I bike for 40 min at a time..( 2 programs that automatically change resistance)...this converts to 19 steps a minute of s bike activity....I initially Googled something like Step/Bike Conversion)

So, if you like that sort of thing (manually calculating) there are ways to do that without the Apple Watch or third party apps.


How to quit all Finder tabs I've configured OSX to force all Finder windows to open in tabs - because this really takes care of all the clutter.

The thing is, there's a shortcut to close all Finder windows, CMD+OPTION+W - and this will conveniently exit and quit all Finder windows completely.

But this does not work for a window with multiple tabs. I've searched Stackexchange and Apple Forums high and dry, and I cannot find a solution. I'd be interested in ANY WAY to achieve this, an AppleScript, a keyboard shortcut...EVEN a third-party app.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Command + Option + W will close ALL Tabs on Finder


Why does tcpdump not recognise piped input? I obtained a packet capture file:

$ sudo tcpdump -w file.pcap

I can then analyse that file:

$ tcpdump -r file.pcap

I can even use file redirection to read from standard input:

$ tcpdump -r - < file.pcap

However, I cannot use a pipe to read from standard input:

$ cat file.pcap | tcpdump -r -
tcpdump: unknown file format

This should work.  What's going on?

OS X Yosemite 10.10
tcpdump version 4.3.0 -- Apple version 59
libpcap version 1.5.3 - Apple version 47

I'm actually trying to sudo tcpdump -w - | tee file.pcap | tcpdump -r -, which gives rise to the same problem—however it appears to arise with any form of piped input.

This is still an issue with OS X Mojave 10.14.2 (libpcap 1.0.1 Apple 79.200.4, tcpdump 4.9.2 Apple 83.200.2). It's ultimately a bug in Apple's patches to libpcap and tcpdump.

In addition to using upstream tcpdump (which is available in Homebrew), you could also:

Use tshark (part of Wireshark), which works similarly to tcpdump.
Write the packets to a temporary file.
Prefix the stream with 4 null bytes:

sudo tcpdump -i en0 -w - | cat <(printf "\0\0\0\0") - | tcpdump -nvr -

Cause (and why inserting nulls works)

Apple has patched their tcpdump such that it tries to read files as PCAP-NG format first:

#else /* __APPLE__ */
        pd = pcap_ng_open_offline(RFileName, ebuf);

They also added a -P option to emit packets in pcapng format.

pcap_ng_open_offline ends up in pcap_fopen_offline_internal(..., isng=1).  This flow calls pcap_ng_check_header early (see if (isng) in pcap_fopen_offline_internal), and on failure, jumps into the bad: label.

That bad: label attempts to fseeko to seek the file back to the start:

 bad:
    fseeko(fp, offset, SEEK_SET);
    if (p != NULL)
        free(p);
    return (NULL);

But you can't seek a FIFO, so we're still reading from the same spot!  fseeko would return an error, but this error is ignored.

On pcap_ng_open_offline returning an error, Apple's patch then calls pcap_open_offline, which follows a similar control flow to normal pcap. However, because the file pointer on the FIFO is still forward by 4 bytes, the next set of headers have the fifo's magics, and so tcpdump gives up.

You can work around this by inserting 4 extra NULL bytes at the start of your pipe, with a little shell-script trickery:

tcpdump -i en0 -w - | cat <(printf "\0\0\0\0") - | tcpdump -nvr -

This means that when fseeko fails, you'll be in the correct spot in the FIFO for the "actual" magic.

However, there are still some limitations:

tcpdump -P (Apple-specific pcapng flag) still doesn't work.
These files are no longer valid pcap files. If you wanted to read it with another tool (or even a non-Apple tcpdump), you'll need to tee the output before cat.

This also works with tshark (which can output pcapng, and doesn't work as a source without this work-around):

tshark -F pcapng -w - | cat <(printf "\0\0\0\0") - | tcpdump -nvr -

However, I wouldn't suggest putting this work-around in anything long term.
It will break once Apple fixes this bug, or if your users have a non-Apple tcpdump on OSX (such as with Homebrew).


Group dictionaries in Dictionary.app I've installed extra dictionaries in Dictionary.app. It's over 9Gb. I'd like to group them by language as is shown in the image below. I've tried to rename their labels in the app, tried editing the Bundle name in Info.plist, but it's not working (dictionaries have same name but not group). Does someone have a solution?

.

Unfortunately, I believe you can't group dictionaries. However, you can re-order them at will by drag-and-dropping them in Dictionary.app's preferences.


GUI for C++ on Mac OS X What GUI or framework should I use for both 2D and 3D applications? I'd like to use C++ as much as possible versus other pseudo languages such as Objective C. I'm confused so if this question makes no sense, just please let me know.

You can use Xcode for standard C++ programs. You can also use it with OpenGL.

You can also use Eclipse for C++. Here's how to setup OpenGL in Eclipse CDT for Mac.


Is there a way to change the displayed desktop in Mission Control? I'd like to be able to change the displayed desktop in Mission Control without actually exiting Mission control.  For example, if I'm on desktop 1 and I go into Mission Control, I see all of the applications in that desktop along with thumbnails for the other desktops.  Can I view the applications in the one of the other desktops without having to click on it and leave Mission Control and then go back into Mission Control?

Push Ctrl + ← or → It also can be done by swiping if you have a Magic Mouse or Trackpad.


How do I change just one dimension in Preview, when dragging/using the mouse? In Preview, I want to change just the width of an image by dragging the points/dots surrounding the image on the sides, with my mouse.  But instead of just the width changing, the entire image gets changed, both height and width.  This started happening when I upgraded to Mavericks.  How can I control the dragging feature in Previews again?  Being able to adjust just the width or just the height separately?  Thanks.

in Preview with the picture open:
when it fills the window completely, click on it with CMD - (command plus the minus sign).
this will give you manipulation space.
then place the mouse pointer inside the picture, a + sign appears, drag this to where you want to start, a blue drag line appears, place it around the picture completely; then when you want to the picture smaller drag that side, and click Tools->Crop in the menubar of Preview.


AppleID Not been accepted in XCode account pane I've notived my Apple ID is not been accepted within XCode when I try add an Apple ID in the XCode accounts pane of preferences.

I have tested the account details in both the member ceter and itunes connect sites and the account is fine.

When I add the account details and click 'Add' I get the message:

john@abcdef.com could not sign in. Please sign in with an app-specific password. You can create one at appleid.apple.com

Any ideas? I've updated XCode (7.2.1) and Yosemite (10.10.5), rebooted etc but same thing everytime.

Note: I have a second apple id which does NOT have a developer license, I use this for my ipad store purchases and this logs into XCode fine strangely.

John

Make sure the Apple ID you're using is registered as an Apple Developer, XCode does not function with normal Apple IDs since they aren't linked to Apple's developer tools.


Apple Wireless Keyboard A1314 tilde key It looks like keys with tilde ` and section § glyph are not working with OS X. I found a question on Official Apple Support Communities but there is no usable answers.

I highlighted a keys that does nothing.

I checked that on OS X Sierra on my MacBook 12" and on hackintosh with El Capitan 10.11.6. I do not have older version of Apple desktop OS to check that keys is physically working and not broken inside or on keyboard logic board.

I think that keys must be physically okay because this keyboard was into cardboard packaging as I bought it for a few years and now I found it and want to use with latest OS X.

Only workaround I found is open keyboard window and click that keys if I want to print them. But I'm a programmer and it's not really handy.

I'm not 100% clear on what you're asking, but what I can tell you is:

I use a number of Apple Wireless A1314 keyboards with various iMacs and MacBook Pros and the tilde ~ key works fine on all of them.
I haven't actually used any of this model keyboard on a Mac running macOS Sierra, but I have on Macs running Mac OS X Snow Leopard all the way up to Mac OS X El Capitan and the ~ key works fine on all of them.
If you actually meant the ` key (which on my keyboard is the same physical key as the tilde ~ key), then this also works on all of them.
As for the Section Sign (§), I've always achieved that with a option6 keyboard shortcut (i.e. there is no physical key labelled as § on any of my Apple Wireless A1314 keyboards.

If the above isn't helpful, you could try starting your Mac in Safe Mode just to see if that makes any difference in your scenario.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps boot your Mac into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of whether your keyboard now works as you want?
Exit Safe Mode by restart your Mac as normal
Test your keyboard again

Once you've tested in Safe Mode and afterwards, let us know how you went.


How to perform "Exact Match" in macOS or Finder smart search? Is there any way to perform exact match search in macOS? I want to search file that contains "Endorsement Number", but entering endorsement number as the search criteria shows me the list of file that contains endorsement and number in the result.

I want to find only the files that contain "Endorsement Number".

P.S. It doesn’t have to be case sensitive.

Did you try searching for "Endorsement Number" with surrounding quotes?

I just tested this on my System (macOS Sierra 10.12.2), and a search for "Endorsement Number" (with quotes) returns files that contain "Endorsement Number" excatly, while files that only contain Endorsement or Number are not shown in the search results.


How can I make Spotlight preview column always visible? In previous versions of macOS, Spotlight would show two columns, one with results and the other with a preview of the selected result.
In macOS Big Sur Spotlight's default view is one column. In order for me to see the right hand column I have to click the chevron or press return. How can I make this two-column view default, like it was in previous releases?

Not exactly a permanent fix that you can set by default. But when you search in spotlight, you can just press tab after typing your search, and it will pop up the column preview. You don't have to select any of the search results to enable column view, just press tab after typing your search in spotlight


Can an Airport Express act as AP and AirPlay at the same time? I know it's possible to have an Airport Express create a wireless network by connecting it to my router (through enthernet cable).

But can it act as AirPlay at the same time?

Yes, that is in fact the purpose of the AirPlay feature. Just plug it to your stereo or active speaker with the jack on the rear. A small "airplay" icon (see the example on the Apple homepage) will appear appear in iTunes or iPhone/iPad when you play music. You can then select whether you want your music on the Airport Express router or on your computer / iDevice.


One user account not working correctly I am running OSX 10.7.5 on an iMac 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo Processor.  I have 3 user accounts.  2 are admin.   one of the Admin accounts has gone nuts.  The other 2 user accounts work just fine in every way.

The account that is nuts now: I can login.  I can open a window using the mouse or the keyboard but the mouse does not work in the body of the window.  The mouse will click on toolbar at the top of the page and any pull down menu items but not work to click on the red, yellow or green circle to close the window or drag the window, etc.

I repaired disk permissions, I ran file repair, I have restarted several times, I have pinged the prams (or whatever it's called now)

I need the files from that user account!!  Any suggestions?

Thank you!

If you just need file access but don't need to be able to log in as that user you could just change the file permissions of the nutty users home folder.

Logged in as admin navigate in the Finder to the nutty user's home folder.

Select a folder you would like to be able to access (Desktop... Documents etc) and Get Info on it (Command + I).

In the resulting Info window in the "Sharing & Permissions" section hit the plus button and select the group "Administrators" (or a named user if you prefer) and give this group (or named user) "Read only" access (or Read & Write if you prefer).   Then under the little gear select "Apply to enclosed items"

Repeat for each folder you want to access.


BBEdit - The authenticated save for this file failed (application error code: 20004) I'm trying to edit my hosts file with BBEdit 10. When I begin, it tells me to unlock the file with this message:

Are you sure you want to unlock "hosts"?
You aren't a member of the group "wheel".

I go ahead and unlock the file but I'm not able to save it. When I try to I get this error:

The authenticated save for this file failed (application error code: 20004)

I can edit and save the file with TextEdit or Textmate, so I'm guessing that I do have the proper permissions. Why can't I save the file with BBEdit? Is it because I bought the App Store version instead of the direct download?

Yes, the App Store version is not able to do authenticated saves. From the Bare Bones Mac App Store FAQ

  Are there any differences between the Mac App Store versions of your
  software and the versions available directly from your web site?
  [...]

  In BBEdit and TextWrangler, authenticated saves (the ability to save
  changes to files that you do not own) and the command-line tools are
  not available in the Mac App Store versions, in order to comply with
  Apple’s submission guidelines.
  [...]

  Authenticated saves will not be possible in versions of BBEdit or
  TextWrangler obtained from the Mac App Store. If you desire this
  capability, please purchase BBEdit directly from us or download
  TextWrangler directly from us.

  If you have already purchased BBEdit from the Mac App store and need
  support for authenticated saves, please contact our customer service
  department for assistance. We will require proof of purchase from the
  Mac App Store in order to assist you; if you include that information
  when you write us, doing so will speed the process.

Update: As of version 10.1.1 there is a script that BareBones has provided to allow users of the Mac App Store version to enable this feature. More information is available on this Auth Saves Support Page.


iPhone 4 - sound only comes out of one speaker I have notices that sound only comes out of one speaker on the bottom of my phone. Is it playing in mono or is the other "speaker" actually a microphone?

The iPhone 4 only has one speaker. The matching screen on the other side of the phone is for the microphone.