iOS - App Store view app purchase history I didn’t pay attention in which iOS version it happened but as you know, Apple redesigned their App Store.

However there’s something I can’t find anymore with this version of App Store: The whole list of purchased apps associated with the iCloud account signed in.

In the previous App Store you could go to App Store app → Updates and, on top of the list, there was an item named Purchased, that, when clicked, would show a list of purchased apps in a descending chronological order.

Where can we find that list now that Apple redesigned the App Store?

Apple introduced the first major App Store re-design with iOS 11.

In the re-designed App Store app, you can easily find the list of app purchases linked to the Apple ID currently logged into iTunes & App Store, by tapping on the Account profile picture visible towards top right on all of Today, Games, Apps and Updates tabs.

To view the list of purchased apps:

Open App Store App. Tap on the Account profile picture shown towards top right, from any one of the tabs.
A new screen animates from the bottom. Tap on Purchased.
Voila! All the linked apps are listed.
Above steps are similar on both iPhone and iPad

iPhone:

iPad:

Important Note: The question contains a statement:

  However there’s something I can’t find anymore with this version of App Store: The whole list of purchased apps associated with the iCloud account signed in.

Do note, that different Apples ID's can be used to sign into iCloud and iTunes & App Store on a single iOS device at the same time. The apps listed under Purchased section in the App Store app are linked to the Apple ID signed into iTunes & App Store under Setting app and not the iCloud Apple ID. Apple ID for iCloud and iTunes & App Store can be managed separately.


Handoff with 2011 Mac using El Capitan I've enabled handoff on Macs (mine is 2011 era) that don't officially support it, but with El Capitan changes, Apple has really tried to put the handcuffs on more tightly so users can't muck with any system files

Specifically, El Capitan enabled System Integrity Protection, which is causing a lot of grief by it's defense in depth addition to restricting many system filesystem locations.  Also, you may have noticed that the 0xED app no longer works in El Capitan - you for some reason can't search and edit anymore.  Grrrrr....

Is it possible to get handoff (continuity) working for a 2011 Mac that's running El Capitan?

2011 MacBook Pros can support Handoff/Continuity

After doing some research for the past few hours there might still be chance for the 2011 macbook pros to get the features that require bluetooth 4.0 / LE

As it turns out the 2011 MacBook Pro can use the same Airport/Bluetooth card as the mid 2012 Macbook pro and its user replaceable so by replacing the 2011 macbook pro Airport/Bluetooth card you should have the ability to use Handoff/continuity

After replacing your bluetooth card with a Bluetooth LE/4 card: Make sure the Bluetooth card is BCM94331PCIEBT4CAX (if it doesn't have the C then its a Bluetooth 2 card which wouldn't work)

And away we go!

on your desktop press command+shift+g
type: /system/library/extensions/
find: IO80211Family.kext in the extensions folder and copy it to your desktop
on the new copy, do show package contents > Contents > PlugIns > AirPortBrcm4360.kext > show package contents > Contents > MacOS > open AirPortBrcm4360 with HexFiend
Text search Mac- it should be followed by a number
type the below code in terminal this will show your board id example early 2011 macbook pro is Mac-94245B3640C91C81

ioreg -l | grep "board-id" | awk -F\" '{print $4}' ->  94245B3640C91C81 for mine

replace the first number in your kext with the number u get in terminal
save it
Restart your Mac and hold Cmd-R to boot in recovery mode
Once rebooted, open terminal and type in the following code: csrutil disable
Restart your Mac in normal mode
go to terminal and paste:

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

delete the original IO80211Family.kext in system>library>extensions
restart
your wifi will not be working after restart
use kextdrop to install the modified kext
restart
your wifi should start working again after installing the kext and restarting
Restart your Mac in recovery mode again (holding Cmd-R when you reboot)
Open terminal and type: csrutil enable
Restart your Mac
go to system preferences > general and there should be an option to enable handoff

These are the exact steps I performed with OS X El Capitan on a 13 inch early 2011 macbook pro and got handoff working with my iPhone 6 running iOS 9.1

Good luck!


I can't boot into Windows 7 on Boot Camp I have a mid-2009 MBP. A couple of years ago I swapped out the optical drive for an SSD, made the original hard drive a Boot Camp partition and installed Windows 7 on it. It has been a brilliant "best of both worlds" solution as I happen to be a Windows/.Net applications developer.

A few days ago Windows 7 started refusing to boot, amid the rising panic I ran disk utility on both drives all partitions. Apart from permissions that needed correcting all seems fine. I can browse the drive inside of OS X (although permissions set-up prevents me from writing to it) and no errors are reported.

It would seem that the master boot record is corrupt on the Windows drive, ordinarily I would just boot from the Windows installer CD and fix it but as I no longer have a DVD drive directly attached Windows on Boot Camp won't boot from it (the Mac doesn't seem to want to do a Boot Camp boot off a USB drive).

Is there another way I can fix this without having to reformat and re-install windows on the Boot Camp drive? I have projects due in in a few days and don't have the time to set-up a new Windows install and development environment.

I'm very excited that to say that booting Windows fixed itself. My machine: MBP 2010. OSX Fuse installed. Recent update on one OSX partition to Mavericks.

My machine automatically ran its CHKDSK function and restored its own ability to boot. It found orphaned files and repaired the links. If you can figure out how to force CHKDSK to start you may find everything fixed. Best of luck!


How to record everything that goes in my EarPods on OS X Yosemite? I would like to record what I hear and what I say from my EarPods, I thought I would use Soundflower but unfortunately it looks like it isn't compatible at all with Yosemite.

Any ideas ?

I've been using SoundSiphon as a Soundflower replacement. It works well, but occasionally it produces system log messages (which are merely annoying).

I'm not sure about recording what goes into the EarPods mic at the same time, but by itself it should work without needing additional software.


What format did old Macintoshes used? I need what format did it used to use to revive my old Macintosh Plus. So I'm doing a research on what format did old Macintoshes used. (on hard drives or hdds). What I mean with this is what format did old macintoshes use back in the day, like a primitive version of hfs+ or something like that.

You can’t get older than Apple File System with the first Mac.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_File_System

The Plus ships with HFS so that’s the place to start if you just need that one model.

HFS Wikipedia article as well should cover all the classic Mac OS releases. So those two likely cover all the os from System 1 to System 7 so I would focus on what system you want to run on your Mac Plus (I’d start with System 6 if I were you) as opposed to what the filesystem might be. But maybe that’s all you need so start with MFS/HFS.


How to update my jailbroken iOS 6.1 iPhone to iOS 6.1.2? I had jailbroken my iPhone last month when I was using iOS 6.1, and currently iOS 6.1.2 is available, which solves some battery issues (I am really suffering from these), so I want to update to iOS 6.1.2.

Would you kindly give simple steps to do that so I don't damage my device? I am not much of an expert on this, so your help is very welcome.

It is recommended to update your Jailbroken iOS device by doing full restore form iTunes. In order to preserve your apps, contacts etc. perform a backup in iTunes by right clicking on your device and selecting back up option.


How to change the spell check language in Pages 5? The solutions described here and here are no longer available in the current version.

I am editing a document in Romanian but every word gets spell-checked in English.

This is actually an OS X issue and not a Pages issue since Pages uses the system dictionaries.

You can use this support article to find the answer:

http://help.apple.com/pages/mac/5.2/#/tanf3d8c3e49

You will see that Romanian spelling dictionary isn't something that ships with 10.11 - but you can add custom dictionaries under the spell check multiple language section at the bottom of the page.

Open System Preferences on your Mac, click Keyboard, then click Text. (System Preferences is under the Apple menu at the top-left corner of your computer screen.)
Choose Set Up from the Spelling pop-up menu.
Do any of the following:

Drag the languages in the list into the order you want them checked.
Select the checkbox next to languages you want to be checked.
If you have a dictionary file you want to use, copy it to the Spelling folder in your Library folder.

The last option is what you need. You could start with a free dictionary and perhaps pay for a better one if you can't make a dictionary or locate/make a better free one.

https://github.com/dummas/Dictionaries

The panel where you get instructions to add the Romanian (or other) files looks like this:


Is there a way in MacOS to view filesystem details, including cluster size, for an already created exFAT partition? I am interested in viewing the existing cluster size (aka allocation unit) and other FS details for an already created exFAT partition.  My attempts in searching, including here, have only led to answers about how to choose and specify what the cluster size will be for a newly formatted disk.  That has already been done, and I now want to view what was done.

I'd like to use anything available on my Mac, that is, not have to use any external software, including Windows.  If there's a command that shows this, all the better.

Thank you for your insights!

You can use either diskutil info ... or sudo newfs_exfat -N ... to get various (but different) details of your ExFAT file system:

Get the device list:

diskutil list

Choose the partition:

diskutil info diskXsY

Example:

user@host ~ % diskutil info disk1s2
   Device Identifier:         disk1s2
   Device Node:               /dev/disk1s2
   Whole:                     No
   Part of Whole:             disk1

   Volume Name:               Share
   Mounted:                   Yes
   Mount Point:               /Volumes/Share

   Partition Type:            Microsoft Basic Data
   File System Personality:   ExFAT
   Type (Bundle):             exfat
   Name (User Visible):       ExFAT

   OS Can Be Installed:       No
   Media Type:                Generic
   Protocol:                  PCI
   SMART Status:              Not Supported
   Volume UUID:               B44618D6-7DA7-35B0-BB27-C39785AA75F8
   Disk / Partition UUID:     7C734251-4E83-4537-885C-237D94F50633
   Partition Offset:          210763776 Bytes (411648 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

   Disk Size:                 1.1 TB (1073530011648 Bytes) (exactly 2096738304 512-Byte-Units)
   Device Block Size:         512 Bytes

   Volume Total Space:        1.1 TB (1073495408640 Bytes) (exactly 2096670720 512-Byte-Units)
   Volume Used Space:         10.0 MB (9961472 Bytes) (exactly 19456 512-Byte-Units) (0.0%)
   Volume Free Space:         1.1 TB (1073485447168 Bytes) (exactly 2096651264 512-Byte-Units) (100.0%)
   Allocation Block Size:     131072 Bytes

   Read-Only Media:           No
   Read-Only Volume:          No

   Device Location:           Internal
   Removable Media:           Fixed

   Solid State:               Yes
   Hardware AES Support:      No

or sudo newfs_exfat -N diskXsY

Example:

user@host ~ % sudo newfs_exfat -N disk1s2
Reformatting existing ExFAT volume
Partition offset : 411648 sectors (210763776 bytes)
Volume size      : 2096738304 sectors (1073530011648 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 65536
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 67584 sectors (34603008 bytes)
# Clusters       : 8190120
Volume Serial #  : 5ea31cc5
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 1023765
Upcase start     : 10
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 11

Hint: the message "Reformatting existing ExFAT volume" is misleading; the file system won't be altered.
   From man newfs_exfat:

-N      Don't create a file system: just print out parameters.


How to create a playlist in Quicktime Player for many files in separate subfolders? I have a folder of .mov files that are all part of a video tutorial session. The directory looks like:

Tuts/
  Tut1/
    Chapter1/
      1-1.mov
      1-2.mov
      1-3.mov
    Chapter2/
      2-1.mov
      2-2.mov
   Tut2/
     ...

While trying to watch this series I have to go back to Finder and open the next .mov file in order to get start the next video. I've been looking around Google and can't seem to find a way to make Quicktime Player just play the videos in order.

Is there any way to import this folder into Quicktime Player and just play them all in order without having to close Quicktime Player, go back to Finder, find the next video, open that video with Quicktime Player?

If you create your own movie player using the QuickTime Framework it's possible to add whatever functionality you want. QuickTime Player itself does not appear to offer playlist capability on Mac OS X. Here's a few screen captures of my movie player using a playlist:


Free Space after merging Partitons on Macintosh HD I have a 256GB SSD El Capitan (the last iteration of it) on MacBook 12" late 2016 Model.
Before I had it, someone made an aditional partition of 125GB which I've deleted using various methods here described (Terminal commands).
The good is now I have one partition. The bad is less storage is usable.

Of the 256GB Storage device, only ~125GB is available :

How can I "merge" that space to the main disk in order to have again full 256GB of storage?

In order to add free space to the Apple_CoreStorage partition, a significant amount of free space must resize immediately after the Apple_Boot partition. Based on the error message you posted, this appears to be not true. If the free space resides above the Apple_CoreStorage partition, then this space can not be added to the Apple_CoreStorage partition.
You can determine where the free space exists by entering the command given below.
sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0

This command can be entered while booted to El Capitan, because SIP under this version of OS X allows reading from /dev/disk0, but not writing.
From the table published in the Wikipedia article GUID Partition Table, one can determine a type of partition based on the GUID. From the command sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0 output, one can determine the partitions with indices 1, 2, and 3 are types EFI System partition, Apple Core Storage Container, and Apple Boot partition, respectively. The 30,617,650 sectors of free space can be converted to bytes by multiplying by 4096 bytes per sector, which is 125.4 GB. Since this free space is above the  Apple_CoreStorage partition, the space can not be merged into the Apple_CoreStorage partition.
Unless your are an expert, the safest solution is to backup your data to an external drive, erase the internal drive, reinstall OS X and restore your data from backup. One possible alternative is given below. This alternative has not been tested.

Boot to Big Sur recovery or from a Big Sur installer and enter the command below.
diskutil addPartition disk0s1 JHFS+ NewVolume 0

Install El Capitan or newer to the new partition.

Copy you data to the new installation or use the Migration Assistant.

Erase to free space the old Apple_CoreStorage and Apple_Boot partitions.

Merge the free space into the new partition.


How to backup efficiently and effectively iMovie 10.0 I have a long list of Projects in my iMovie 10.0 and the focus of this question is about iMovie 10.0 backup files / folders and methodology.

I would like to backup everything so that if I move to a new Mac or if I have to restore after a system failure I will not lose anything of the work I've done (selected clips, project names, etc).

Sadly my external HDD size is identical to the internal one so I cannot use Time Machine (it takes more space than the source).
I am now copying file manually but it is really a time consuming process and I'd hope to be able to use something quicker / more effective.

Can you please suggest the full list of files / folders I should backup and the tool I'd better use?

I was able to achieve the result I wanted using a tool that is available by default in Mac Os X and using the hardware I already have.

I've created a bash script with the following commands:

rsync -avz /Volumes/Snow\ Leopard\ Apps\ \&\ Data/iMovie\ Projects.localized/ /Volumes/Backup\ 1/iMovie\ Projects.localized/
rsync -avz /Volumes/Snow\ Leopard\ Apps\ \&\ Data/iMovie\ Events.localized/ /Volumes/Backup\ 1/iMovie\ Events.localized/
rsync -avz /Volumes/Snow\ Leopard\ Apps\ \&\ Data/iMovie\ Library\ 1.imovielibrary/ /Volumes/Backup\ 1/iMovie\ Library\ 1.imovielibrary/

The rsync command will only copy the different part of the files or the new files changed since the last backup.

For this reason performance is blazing fast.

Then I also made sure that the script is executed automatically at every boot using this tutorial:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6442364/running-script-upon-login-mac


HDMI to DisplayPort Not Working I have a Macbook Pro and a QHD BenQ monitor here.
Should it be supported to connect these two devices using a HDMI to DisplayPort cable (So HDMI on Macbook DisplayPort on monitor)?

For me it just does not work, I tried replugging checking the channel on the monitor and detect monitors, no cigar.

For now, I'm back to my apple monitor, well a smaller one than I had before since someone snagged that when I was away. But I'd rather use the BenQ because when you're not living in a cave the Apple monitors are a strain on your eyes (glare reflection etc.).

Anyhow my question is in the second paragraph.

I would go from your mini DisplayPort (mDP) to DisplayPort (DP) or go HDMI to HDMI from your MBP to BenQ.

The reason why is that DP (newer standard) supports HDMI (older) signaling quite easily through a passive adapter, while going from HDMI to DP requires active conversion.    This is probably the reason it's not working.

I have run into this problem before and what I have found to be reliable is to minimize (at worst) to eliminate (at best) the number of conversions you must do.  If your BenQ has a DP connection, I would use its companion technology, mDP to make my connection.


OS X management profiles / root certificate My father asked me to sort out some things on his MacBook. He's recently left his company where he used his laptop on the company servers/IT system whilst he was there. At some point in the past he got some tech support from the company IT department and they might have set up some software on his laptop.

Whilst in the App Store application I tried to install some updates but it failed to connect with a message something like "could not contact the app store server at apple.<company-domain>.com".

I thought this was strange that the App Store thought the update server was one at the company domain so I had a look around the Mac settings.

In settings I found a "profiles" section and inside there were some items which appeared to be some sort of trusted root certificate issued by <company name> and something that said it enabled remote management of the laptop by .

It also may have had a configuration profile with something like "Mobile Device Management", although I can't recall exactly.

I promptly deleted them all and the app store then worked as normal.

Can anyone explain what these items were and what security implications could there have been? Could <company name> have performed man-in-the-middle attacks on my father's web traffic? Would deleting these items such that the "Profile" section of Settings is no longer visible protect from any access or control from the company's IT department?

This may be more appropriate for security.stackexchange.com but I'd just like to understand if any privacy may have been breached.

Edit

This is the kind of item present, although this is not the actual one but a screenshot I found:

MDM (Mobile Device Management) profiles can change many settings within the system. As you suspected, in this case the software update mechanism was redirected to a company server. There were likely other settings as well. If the profile forced all network traffic through a VPN, then the company could view it in transit. You can check by looking in the network preferences for interfaces labeled "VPN" in the interface list.

Since you deleted the profile, you should be ok. Check the network settings, and also look for applications that may have been installed by the profile in /Applications. One other thing to look for, would be CA certificates installed into either the System Roots or the System Keychain. Use Keychain Access and search in the System Roots for anything including the name of the company. Do the same for the System Keychain.


Stuck on Bootlogo After Upgrading to iOS 8.1 can't enter recover/dfu mode I upgraded my iPhone to iOS 8.1 with iTunes, after the update my iPhone 5 is stuck at apple boot logo. I tried to enter into the DFU Mode but the screen still stuck on apple logo. I also tried to enter recovery mode but i couldn't.

How can I unbrick my iPhone ?

P.S My Sleep button is not working

Well a sleep button would be nice but without it I don't think there is a way of fixing it. Does it show up in iTunes? I guess not. Just go to an apple store and let them fix it. (And if you don't have AppleCare that should not matter since it is clearly their fault)

(Sorry I can't comment, too few reputation yet :/ )


Projector only displays one color I have a SharpVision XV-DW100U projector, and I am trying to connect it to my Macbook Air running OS X Yosemite. I connect it to the projector and it displays right for a few seconds, then turns green. It displays fine on other monitors, so I think it may be a projector problem. I confirmed this later by pressing the button labeled RGB/Comp and it turns red. When it's green, it has the letters RGB along with the resolution and projector speed.

Just to clarify, it shows the image, just not the other colors. All other inputs work correctly except for the VGA input 1 and input 2.

Edit 2: cable is all right. It works fine with another monitor. Same goes for adaptor.

Edit 3: projector pins are all right too.

Macbook doesn't have VGA built in, so normally everyone is using DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, which is actually converting digital signal to analogue. The issue might be with converter itself, but if you are saying it's bad only with the Projector, but works with everything else fine - then I assume that Adapter is ok.

I'd suggest you to troubleshoot in order of appearens:

Adapter.
VGA Cable.
Connection slot or pins on the projector input.

To check the adapter is easy - try connecting via different vga cable to any monitor which has it. To check VGA cable you are using - try connecting it to different device, for example other projector or monitor. Clean the pins in VGA slot of projector, it might be some dust got in from ventilation, or whatever.

The single color to me sounds like it's bad contact somewhere, a VGA cable is broken, or with pin connectors. This happens normally when you have analog cable, alike VGA, when one/several color components goes off.

If you projector has other inputs, DVI or HDMI - I'd recommend to use them, instead of analog VGA.


Safari and App Store missing after iOS7 upgrade I upgraded iTunes on my PC, backed up my iPhone and then upgraded my 4S to iOS7. Now I am missing the icons for Safari and App Store. Any tips on how to recover them?

One sentence answer: you accidentally turned on Restrictions. (Settings>General>Restrictions)

Just slide the switches next to Safari and App Store. That's it.


Command Line - How do I change the order of a user's group memberships? I have a troublesome Mac OS X server to deal with. When I ask for my current group membership using this:

$ groups | perl -p -e 's/ /\n/g'

I get a list of 20+ groups!

cactuar
com.apple.sharepoint.group.4
com.apple.sharepoint.group.5
com.apple.sharepoint.group.3
... (etc) ...
chocobo
com.apple.sharepoint.group.2
com.apple.sharepoint.group.6

Now, because NFS is dated, it only makes use of the first 16 groups listed. Is there any way to change the order of the groups assigned to my user, while keeping all the other groups assigned? Basically, I need to have "chocobo" up near the top of that list and I don't know what administrative commands exist to accomplish this goal.

Since I'm ignorant of the what "sharepoint" is good for, I find it totally strange and useless that those strange "com.apple.*" groups are not assigned in /etc/group, so, while I'm asking about users and groups, what is the keyword (search term) for OS X's auxiliary user-groups system, so that I can research it more; or more directly, where is the manual for that? Would it be harmless to drop all those sharepoint group memberships, or should I assume that they are actually important for accessing some yet-unknown resource(s)?

The groups command is not showing the correct ordering of groups in your user context. It is sorting group ids by gid.

Use "id" the show your group set actually used by NFS.

See "man groups" for details.

Use the command "newgrp group" to change a group into the first place of the gid list.


In El Capitan, how can I prevent the Mac bluetooth mouse from from 'carrying' its scroll between different elements on a single page? Let's say there's a web page that can be scrolled through and within that page there's also a box that can be scrolled through. Currently, if I do one scroll on the mouse while the cursor is in the main page and then move the cursor into the smaller scrollable part of the page while the larger part is scrolling, the large part will stop scrolling and the smaller part will start scrolling.

Or if I just start scrolling in the main part of the page, move the cursor to, say, the desktop, and then quickly cursor back to it, the scroll will start, stop when I leave, and then scroll a little more when I get back.

How can I stop this behavior? I'd like all scrolling to end as soon as I leave the element in which I started scrolling. It's annoying for work because I'll scroll, get to where I want, then move to another element, and then that element scrolls using the scroll I started elsewhere. This seems like a design flaw to me.

Actually, this is not a thing you can fix on the operating system as technically you still are using the same window/part of a window which is a web view (in whatever browser you are using).

This can only be really fixed by the webpage itself by not making some elements scrollable. For example it's possible to deactivate scroll-zoom in some map providers widgets.

I'm sorry to say that you may not be able to switch this off on an OS Level. Depending on the web browser you are using, there might be an extension that forces to turn scrolling off for some elements but that would most likely lead to partly unusable web pages if you ever need to scroll some of these elements.


Enroll multiple times iOS Developer program Is it ok to enroll multiple times into the iOS Developer program to overcome the 100 device Limit ? I could not find anything about this within the Agreement. The Basic idear is that each Developer could enroll into the program and once as Company. Is this allowed ? If not it would be nice to point me to the appropriate resource as reference.

Yes. Although I couldn't find any specifics regarding the possibility of a Company having two or more iOS Developer Program accounts, in the Enterprise Program FAQ it is stated that:

If I am enrolled in the iOS Developer Enterprise Program, can I distribute my apps on the App Store?
No. The ability to distribute apps on the App Store is only available to developers enrolled in the standard iOS Developer Program. The iOS Developer Enterprise Program only allows you to distribute your apps to employees or members of your organization through Ad Hoc distribution.
If your company is enrolled in the iOS Developer Enterprise Program but would also like to distribute your app(s) to customers on the App Store, you will need to enroll in the iOS Developer Program.

Which means that Apple has no problem with a Company having more than an account, which is confirmed (with a regular program too) by my personal experience.
Even more, in the specific case you present, as each developer would need to use his personal legal name, it would be, on practical purposes, as if you had hired a developer who was already enrolled into the program.


Connect my watch with family iPad for Fitness+ Ive got Apple Fitness* shared with my family.
My wife has an iPad (with her own account, but part of the family sharing group) running 14.3 - capable of running Fitness+.
Can I pair my watch to the iPad for the purpose of workouts only?

No.  At this time, you can only pair the Apple Watch (all series) to an iPhone.  The Watch is deemed as an iPhone accessory by Apple.
It's not even possible to install the Apple Watch app on iPads.


How can I confirm macOS received a silent update? I know the whole point of a silent update is that it doesn't require user interaction, but it seems like there should be some way to make sure my computer actually received and applied the update. Is there an update log somewhere that would list the full update history: which version and when it was applied on my specific install of macOS?

Your question did not specify a macOS version, but in macOS Mojave, background updates such as Gatekeeper or MRT (the Apple malware removal tool) will typically show in System Information.app -> Software -> Installations.

Source: About background updates in macOS Mojave


Mojave 10.14.4 update causes mail passwords not to work After 10.14.4 my hotmail and ntlworld mail accounts will not login. Have checked passwords and theses are the same ones that still work on the iPad and iPhone . But re-entering on iMac says "unable to verify account name or password".
The question "mail for mac will not accept my password" has an answer about "app-specific passwords" and talks about 2-level authentication .
What should I do ?
Do I have to make new passwords for hotmail and ntlworld?
Or is there a bug fix coming?
Help!!!!

I assume you are using Apple Mail to collect your mail?

One solution that seems to work for many is to delete these accounts entirely then go to Sys Prefs > Internet Accounts and re-establish/enter them.  That's why I did and it worked just fine for me (and for others).


How to have Single App mode for a web app on an iPad using Apple Configurator 2? I would like to have a web app to be the only thing you can use with an iPad. I managed to make the website (a simple HTML file with lots of integrated JS) open full screen when added to the home screen as a starter, so there are no browser controls, just the app and a black panel displaying battery status and clock. On the other hand I can use the Apple Configurator 2 to lock the iPad to a single app like Safari but in Safari I have all the browser controls.

What I would like to achieve is locking the iPad to use the web app full screen. However, I cannot do this, because in the Apple Configurator I can only choose from the apps installed on the MacBook it is executed on. Since the web app is not a proper app but just a starter on the iPad's home screen, it is not listed amongst the MacBook's apps.

Is there a possibility to have the iPad locked into the web app in full screen, without browser controls?

Yes that is possible and it is even easier then using Apple Configurator 2. You just need to go to settings-> general->accessibility->Guided Access.

Then when you are in the webapp click three times the home button and draw where the you user can not interact anymore. They can not leave the app, or use the home and power button.

I hope this is what you are looking for.


Where can I find the phone number of the SIM card that I have in an iPad? Is there a way, directly on the iPad, to find out which phone number is associated to the MicroSIM which it is using?

I can't find it in the menus, currently.

Is there an easy way to find it directly, like on an iPhone?

Settings → General → About → Celluar Data Number


How can I install the OS from a USB in single user mode? My Mac (MBP) won't get past 30% on the progress bar at startup. Then after a while it reboots itsef and the same thing happens. I tried to boot in recovery mode, safe mode, reset nvram, and still the same thing happens. I have a Yosemite Install USB and I tried to start from that (held down Option Key and chose the disk), however, the same thing happens, the progress bar gets to 30% and hangs.

I can start in single user mode, and I have tried fsck and nvram reset there, among other things.

So now I'm wondering if its possible to reinstall the OS while in single user mode. I have mounted the Yosemite Install disk in /Volumes/usb. Any help, or other suggestions appreciated.

It seems there is something seriously wrong with your MBP and I would try to figure out, what it might be. When you boot up in verbose mode (press CMD-V), is there any error message on the screen, before it reboots? Or does it freeze at a certain message?


Parsing time from the CLI in Sierra adjusted for the timezone $ date
Fri Nov 25 16:44:07 SGT 2016
$ date -j -f "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" "2016-11-12T01:46:00.000000Z" +%Y%m%d%H%M
Warning: Ignoring 8 extraneous characters in date string (.000000Z)
201611120146

I'm in +8 hours so when I parse that UTC string with .000000Z, I want the resulting time to be 201611120946, not 201611120146.

I tried .%Z but that didn't work, so I am little stuck how to get this date parse to work.

Yes, it's possible in dateutils:

$ dateconv 2016-11-12T01:46:00.000000Z --zone Asia/Singapore -f '%Y%m%d%H%M'
201611120946

If the offset isn't known by name but rather you want 8 hours (or any other time interval) added to a UTC stamp you can use dateadd

$ dateadd 2016-11-12T01:46:00.000000Z +8h -f '%Y%m%d%H%M'
201611120946


Booting gets stuck for a minute when using Bootcamp on Windows 10 I installed Windows 10 using the official ISO and one of the serials I have with MSDN. When I reboot my Macbook Air 2013 it gets stuck on a black screen for around a minute and then start loading Windows. I only have a windows partition at the moment.

I tried resetting the NVRAM. Didn't help.

I followed the advice here but that didn't help either since it seems to be for Windows 7 only.

You probably have not blessed the Windows partition. On a Mac, the blessed partition is the one that the firmware will try to boot first.

Open the control panel and select the Boot Camp icon to open the window. Choose to reboot to the Windows partition. This should "bless" the windows partition.


What the font: the letter i used in Apple's information button I am wondering what typeface this is:

Hoefler Text Bold Italic

http://www.typography.com/fonts/font_styles.php?productLineID=100010

It was designed for Apple:

  Hoefler Text is a contemporary serif Antiqua font that was designed
  for Apple Computer to demonstrate advanced type technologies. Hoefler
  Text was created to allow the composition of complex typography; as
  such it takes cues from a range of classic fonts, such as Garamond and
  Janson. Designed by Jonathan Hoefler in 1991, a version of Hoefler
  Text has been included with every version of Mac OS since System 7.5.


How can I resize a window that doesn't have the grabbing part on the bottom right? I have Hulu desktop running and I want to make the window smaller, there are no lines which are usually present on windows for resizing on the bottom right corner, though. On windows I could right-click the title bar and choose size for these kind of windows, is there any way to do something similar on a Mac?

I tried pressing the green button on the top left, but that doesn't do anything.

Hard to find free softwares for this, I only found a donationware :

Window Wrangler

Otherwise, you can have paid solutions :

Cinch, which a nice and useful windows manager.
MondoMouse
Zooom/2


Toggling a file's "hidden" status Using Automator, I want to be able to toggle a folder or file's "hidden" status. How is this possible through the command line? (I'm giving the file's directory to the script via a variable.)

chflags hidden /path/to/file

See also:  http://osxdaily.com/2012/07/19/hide-file-mac-os-x-chflags/


How to change the recent files smart folder icon in the dock? I create a recent files smart folder, place it in the dock. I right click and choose display as folder. I get the following icon:

Is there a way to change this icon?

You can easily change any icon folder from any picture you want (copy the picture you want -> get info of the folder -> click the actual picture folder -> paste the new picture).
From Apple support to change picture of folder :
Create custom icons for files or folders on Mac
You can create a custom icon for any file or folder using your own pictures, icons downloaded from the web, or the icon from another file or folder.
Use your own picture or a picture from the web

On your Mac, copy the picture you want to use to the Clipboard.
One way to do this is to open the picture in the Preview app , choose Edit > Select All, then choose Edit > Copy.

Select the file or folder whose icon you want to replace, then choose File > Get Info.

At the top of the Info window, click the picture of the icon, then choose Edit > Paste.


How to change user name? I am rookie in mac and first time when I got mac I set user name as Admin therefore all that associate with the mac begin with name Admin.

I would like to change this name to Aleksey

I found in System Preferences tab where it could be changed

But I am not sure that if I change name I will not get errors in consequences , because as far as I understand such way I will change path.

Eventually I am not sure that path will be changed in all apps where it has been taken

If my explanation not clear feel free to ask

Thanks in advance!

If you have sufficient space on your drive to duplicate your user account temporarily…

Copy your home folder /Users/old-username to /Users/new-username.

sudo cp -a /Users/old-username /Users/new-username

Create a new user account in Users & Groups. Enter the new-username as the username when creating the account. You will be prompted with the following:

  The Users folder already contains a folder with the same name as the home folder for this account.

Choose Use Existing Folder.
Log out of your old-username and log in to your new-username.
Once you've verified everything is as it should be, you can delete the old-username account.
If permissions are incorrect, continue from step 7 of the next section.

If you don't have sufficient space to duplicate…

You even more so need a backup before proceeding with this method.
Create a new user account or use an existing secondary administrator account. This account must not have either old-username or new-username. Log in to this account. Make sure you are not using Fast User Switching and old-username is correctly logged out.
From this account, rename /Users/old-username to /Users/new-username using Finder.
In Users & Groups, unlock the preference pane, right-click on old-username and choose Advanced Options…. You'll be presented with the pane you screenshot in your question.
Change Account name to new-username and Home directory to /Users/new-username.
Quit System Preferences. Do not log in to new-username yet.
Shut down your Mac and boot into the Recovery HD by holding ⌘R on boot.
Open Terminal from the Utilities menu and run resetpassword. A new dialog will be shown.
Select new-username from the accounts list, then click Reset for Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs.
Once complete, restart and boot normally, then log in with new-username.


Backing up home directory, can I exclude ~/Library? I want to backup the home directory of my Mac. For reasons I won't go into, using builtin Mac backup tools is not an option and the backup cannot be too large. Luckily I already have my own software to do the backup, so the first point is taken care of. For the second point, I know that the data that is important would add up to about 5 GB, which acceptable.
When I took a look at my actual home directory however, it was way too big. It turned out that ~/Library alone takes about 50 GB.
What exactly is the purpose of this directory, and what sort of files are expected to be in it? What are the consequences of excluding it from the backup?

The Library folder contains all the preferences set for the applications you are using, login information for Mail etc, the local mail archive, your keychain and a lot of other configuration stuff. If you are using iCloud Drive it also contains the local copy of the drive content; and backups of your iDevices in case you don‘t use iCloud backup for them.
You may be able to recover most of it in case of data loss, but some things (e.g. your keychain or any locally stored mail) will be lost.
Given that external drives and USB sticks are rather cheap nowawdays it's most probably not worth the pain to fine-tune a backup script to include just the essentials from ~/Library.


Can two iPhones share same backup space on cloud? I have an iPhone 6+ and my girlfriend an iPhone 6. Can I backup her phone on my iCloud account? I have 200 gigs of space and would like to share backup space. Her phone is constantly displaying a message that her iPhone does not have sufficient space for backups.

Yes, you can backup as many devices as you have the ability to sign in to and have space for the backups in your iCloud, but iCloud Backup can only back up to the main iCloud account on a device.


Why do I need to "repair permissions" on my Aperture library in order to migrate to Photos? After installing Apple Photos as part of the 10.10.3 update and attempting to migrate my Aperture library I get an error message about "permissions" on my Aperture library:

What does this mean and why is it happening?

Apple often uses custom permissions to prevent users from going inside library files and deleting files that need to be in place since they are thumbnails and/or database files or referenced in database files.

Here's an official knowledge base article on the permissions required and steps to fix it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204484

Reading your alert, the step is probably precautionary to ensure that all the files are readable and ready to transfer.

You can check the locking with Finder - select the Aperture Library and choose File -> Get Info. Observe the locked button and expand the Sharing & Permissions portion if needed. You probably need Read & Write permission on the folder and all it's contents. If you wanted to dive into terminal, I'd start at the bottom of the article and work upwards.

I would let the tool work and contact AppleCare if it reports another error or doesn't fix the permissions after one pass.


iOS5 - "“Remind me to call Mum when I get home.” - How does it know when you're home? One of the features of SIRI showed the instruction:
“Remind me to call Mum when I get home.”

My question is - how does it know when you'll be home? Or is there a location based trigger for tasks?

You've got it exactly right.

In the video, the person had set up the phone to recognize 'home' as a specific address. iOS 5 uses its location features to determine when you arrive at the address of 'home' and alerts you when you do.

This feature can also be used to trigger alerts when you leave a place: "Remind me to pick up the groceries when I leave work."


How to automatically share my iPhone's internet connection with my MacBook I believe I heard from the Apple keynote that with the release of Yosemite and iOS 8 we will be able to automatically share the iPhone's internet connection without having to connect every time with hotspot (when within range). I now have Yosemite on my MacBook and iOS 8 on my iPhone, but I cannot see any options to enable this automatic connection. I currently connect with bluetooth to get my iPhone's internet connection.

Did I misunderstand or is there such an option?

iOS 8.1, I believe, releasing next Monday 20 Oct.

Ref : http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/10/17/yosemite-updaters-will-need-to-wait-for-mondays-ios-81-launch-for-sms-relay-instant-hotspot


Using webcam connected to MacBook inside a Docker container Has anybody figured out yet how to use an external webcam which is connected to a MacBook inside a Docker container?

I read that I have to pass this flag --device /dev/video0 to docker run, but I have a MacBook and there is no /dev/video0.

Host Machine: MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
External Webcam: Logitech C922 Pro Stream
Docker container: wusuopu/python-opencv3-dlib:py3.5

PS: I do not have an iSight camera anymore, I took it out.

According to https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/faqs/#what-is-the-benefit-of-hyperkit this is not possible.

Similar question is https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41023827/accessing-usb-webcam-hosted-on-os-x-from-a-docker-container

And possible answer is stream the camera into the container using ffmpeg according to a comment in https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37960828/webcam-streaming-from-mac-using-ffmpeg


Why scutil always try to modify system network configuration I set a global sockets proxy via 'Settings'-'Network'.

Then scutil always tries to revert my setting, then prompt a dialog to ask my password to allow this change. I can cancel it, but it will be popped up in few seconds.

Does anybody know why scutil wants to do it? And how to forbid this change forever?

It looks like it's a bug of Lion Mountain, and it has been fixed by Apple.

The dialog won't appear after updating to 10.8.2.


Do people actually add webpages to their home screen? Many web apps and even websites like to prompt users to add their page to their iPad's home screen. This is particularly useful for web apps since if the website is launched from the home screen, it will appear in full screen mode (without safari bar).

Is there data somewhere on whether the add to your home screen prompt actually works? Or how many people actually add web pages to their home screen?

Just looked at my Apache Server logs to see if there was a difference in the user agent string when a page is called by an Add to Home app vs directly from Safari.

And indeed there is a difference.

The web app is calling itself:

  "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X)
  AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/10B350"

While straight up Mobile Safari identifies itself as:

  Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X)
  AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350
  Safari/8536.25

This feature is very simple to implement using Matteo Spinelli's "Add To Home Screen" script.  You could deploy it on your site and the look at your server logs and see if anyone is actually using it.

http://cubiq.org/add-to-home-screen


Why isn't my iPod touch's calendar showing up in iCloud? I have enabled iCloud for my iPod touch and enabled Calendar sync, but my calendar events aren't showing up in iCloud when I login, even after I've manually backed it up to iCloud. What's the problem?

I had a similar problem with an iPad Calendar that wouldn't sync with [e.g., appear on] my other devices.

I found this link helpful:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=13675190&postcount=9

In my case, I turned off iCloud Calendar syncing on the iPad [in iCloud settings].  I then chose to keep the Calendar data on the iPad rather than delete it.

Next, I turned iCloud Calendar syncing back on in iCloud settings, chose Merge, and bingo, everything appeared everywhere.

Hope this helps.


Host same application with different design My question is similar to one posted in here but not exactly the same : Creating the same, double applications for iOS permitted?

We are building iOS application for museums, the idea is to create application(s), brand  it per museum by changing color, logo etc, update museum content and host it on app store.

All hosted application will contain similar functionality, but with different content, different users and different branding.

According to Apple review guidelines

  2.11 Apps that duplicate Apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them, such as fart, burp,
  flashlight, and Kama Sutra Apps

Does our application comes under the scanner of Apple because of similar functionalities between all of our hosted apps?

Only if there are already tons of apps that will let you navigate, say, The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History."  Then that one app for the smithsonian MAY be rejected.

But, I suspect there are not, so you should be fine.

Similarly, since you'll presumably be adding additional apps with different functionality, say the next one is for the Guggenheim, you should be fine.  The 2 apps couldn't possibly be used as a replacement for each other.

Apple's concern here is keeping out over-served functionality.  There are so many "fart" apps that yet-another-one can't possibly help any user anywhere beyond what's already available.  Museum apps are well outside of that scope, assuming you create a quality app with a great UI for museums that don't already have several hundred apps.


Switching to an open application via BetterTouchTool (making it active) Is it possible to switch TO an open application via keyboard shortcut in BetterTouchTool?

Currently I’m using a predefined action “Open Application” instead but it’s not quite the same as I don’t want to switch to the app. if it hasn’t been opened yet.

A free solution: Use BetterTouchTool to trigger an applescript similar to the following, which will activate Safari if it's running, and do nothing if it's not:

if application "Safari" is running then
    tell application "Safari" to activate
end if

A not free solution: Tie a BetterTouchTool trigger to a Keyboard Maestro macro, which will give you plenty of control over when the application gets activated. The following example would have the same effect as the above AppleScript:

There are many ways to tie BTT to KM, but the easiest is having BTT trigger the hotkey used by KM (in this case, CTL-OPT-SHIFT-CMD-S).

Obviously, both solutions would work for any application, not just Safari.


How can I play the sound from the audio in through my speakers? I have got a Macbook Pro 15" that has both an audio in and out port. Now I would like to play the sound from an external device through the speakers of my Mac.

How can I do that? I tried to just plug in the 3.5mm cable from my external device into the audio in port but I simply cannot make my Mac play the sound. However, in System Preferences -> Sound -> Input I can see that the Mac is receiving the signals.

What can I do?

If you don't have Garageband installed you can also use Quicktime.

Open Quicktime
Go to File -> New Audio Recording. You will see the following screen:

Click on the little triangle on the right and choose Built-in Input: Line in as shown in the screenshot.
Slide the volume under the record button up until you have the desired loudness.


Cut shortcut (cmd+x) doesn't work if I use the left cmd key (cmd+c does work with left cmd key!)? Perhaps similar to Command+C (copy) with the left command key does not work, but (left) ⌘+c DOES work for me.

They keyboard is an Apple US (with the 10-key), wired. I am using a razer mamba mouse (i only say this because it shows up in the Select Keyboard dropdown that i can set the modifier keys for in the Sys Prefs->Keyboard->Modifier Keys... menu)

I've already tried resetting the default keyboard shortcuts.

Update: I also cannot type a capital W using the left shift

Update: I have tried this with 2 different keyboards, but both are the apple US QERTY [sic] with 10-key. I have tried this on my laptop (rMBP) and on an iMac (both on Yosemite)

Update (with thanks to @bjbk for continued comments/questions): To clarify, I am saying that both systems (2 separate Macs, an rMBP and an iMac [incidentally, both with the drivers for the razer mamba mouse]) exhibit the same behavior described above. The builtin keyboard on the rMBP does not behave this way.

It may very well be that the Razer drivers are incompatable with OS 10.10 Yosemite.  According to Razer, it seems the latest driver only supports up to 10.7 Lion although the last modified date on the download site is 26 Mar 2015.

One fix may be to find and get the legacy drivers for your Razer device. However, it may be best just to contact Razer about the issue which may also lead to a solution.


2018 Macbook Pro & Dual Monitors I'm trying to hook up dual monitors (Samsung CF390) to my MacBook Pro, but when I do, I only have the desktop image projecting on both screens. When I go into Settings > Display, the "Arrangement" option isn't available.

I have both monitors' HDMI cables running through 1 USB-C to HDMI adapter. (The adapter has two ports.)

Is the solution to this problem having two adapters? My thinking is even though the adapter has 2 ports, the MacBook hardware or software can't Fully make use of both displays.

What can I change to get three total displays working on macOS High Sierra (10.13.x)?

I have the same issue. As far as I can tell, it's an issue with High Sierra. and DisplayLink that's not fully resolvable other than through downgrade to an earlier version of the OS. Here's the notice from DisplayLink:

  Important Information about macOS 10.13.4 and later

  DisplayLink has
  worked for many months to maintain support for its users during the
  transition from macOS High Sierra to Mojave. While functionality such
  as Ethernet and audio or charging, where implemented, is unaffected on
  all releases, display connectivity has been limited on macOS releases
  from 10.13.4 through 10.13.6.

  Developers/users with access to Apple’s fifth developer preview of
  10.14 Mojave, released on 30th July, will see full support has now been restored for multiple extended DisplayLink displays where
  DisplayLink driver v4.3 beta 5 is installed. We are doing wide scale
  testing of v4.3 beta against this preview and will release a new
  driver upon general availability of 10.14.

  Users of 10.13.4-10.13.6 should also use v4.3 beta 5 as it contains a
  workaround to enable one extended USB display (720p or 1080p). An FAQ
  details how to enable Apple AirPlay with DisplayLink display for
  extend or mirror mode.

Their workaround kind of works, but it messes up the resolution of the primary monitor and causes periodic flickering. Here's a direct link to that workaround: support.displaylink.com/knowledgebase/articles/1854724.

After updating to MacOS Mojave version 10.14 Beta (18A384a) and DisplayLink v4.3 beta, I can confirm that the "Arrangement" tab comes back and that my laptop recognizes both external monitors and the laptop display at the same time. However, both monitors are always black. The cursor still moves across all three screens, but that's about it. In other words, functionally multiple monitor capability is still broken as of the above MacOS version.

If you select mirror mode, then select "Gather Windows," and then change the external monitors' "Optimize for:" option to "Built-in Retina Display," you can get mirror mode to work nearly properly (there's occasional minor flicker), but there's still no solution for other modes (e.g. where each display is independently able to host windows).


Auto switch input source to English when entering Spotlight, typing URL in Safari, etc I don't have files with non-english names, and don't type non-latin URL's, so question is how to auto switch system input source in these occasions.

Using KeyRemap4MacBook, you could save something like this as private.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<item>
<name>test1</name>
<identifier>test1</identifier>
<only>SAFARI</only>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::L, VK_COMMAND | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::L, VK_COMMAND, KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTMODE_ENGLISH</autogen>
</item>
<item>
<name>test2</name>
<identifier>test2</identifier>
<autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::SPACE, VK_COMMAND | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::SPACE, VK_COMMAND, KeyCode::VK_CHANGE_INPUTMODE_ENGLISH</autogen>
</item>
</root>

It only works with those two shortcuts and it doesn't change the input source back later though. See the source for the key code values and predefined settings.

Alfred has an option to always switch to a specific input source:


synch, restore, backup I'm afraid I messed up my Iphone.  I plugged it into my computer for the first time ever.  It prompted me to backup so I did (silly me).  At the end of the back up it prompted me to log in with my son's account instead of mine.  Now my phone info is gone and my son's phone from 2011 is on my phone and my phone is gone!  Help

If you backed up your phone to the computer then you should be able to restore that backup to your iphone using itunes. If not hopefully you set icloud as your backup. You can restore your phone from icloud using these directions: http://support.apple.com/kb/ph12521. Hope it helps.


Do I need to get separate SATA cables to upgrade my SSD to another SSD, and my optical drive to an HDD? I have a 13" mid 2012 MacBook Pro, and I want to upgrade the storage capabilities. Specifically, I want to replace my 125 GB SSD with a 250 GB SSD, and my optical drive with a 1 TB HDD.

The SSD inside my MacBook already has a cabinet, I assume. Hence, I do not need to get another cabinet for the new SSD. I can use the same SATA cable too, correct? However, I need a cabinet for the HDD, and I was thinking of getting an OptiBay for my unibody Mac. I will need a new SATA cable to connect the new HDD, though, right? Do I need some kind of special SATA cable, or will any do? How long does it need to be? About 10-15 cm?

As for tools, I think all I need is a regular X screwdriver and a Torx size 6.

Have I assessed my needs correctly? I want to have everything in order before I begin the procedure.

I made a similar modification to my 13" mid-2009 MacBook Pro and used the OWC Data Doubler. You don't need to provide a SATA cable, rather the frame (OptiBay or Data Doubler) used to mount the hard drive in place of the optical drive will use the SATA cable formerly employed by the optical drive.

As for tools, I believe you will only need a Phillips screwdriver (size #00 or #0, I can't recall). Unless they are required for the OptiBay, I don't think you'll need any Torx drivers. The installation instructions for the Data Doubler can be found here and cover the tools required for all MBP models.

One tip for doing this procedure - use a long roll of tape stuck to your desk to keep track of the screws you remove at every step. If you're especially concerned about losing track of where things go, you can put the tape on a piece of paper and write down the location of each screw next to where you've taped it.

All the standard warnings about opening your computer apply here. In particular, be sure you have at least one backup of all your data.


How does file system mounting in macOS work I unmounted /dev using the following command: umount -f /dev.
I can still access mounted file systems. When I restarted my changes are still there.

Question: How does the mounting application know where to write to? I mean, disk are only available in /dev, and once that is unmounted, no process is supposed to get access to disks. I'm quite confused.

That is (as is probably clear to you) not how mounting works.

The contents of the /dev folder is mainly device files (as the name implies). Device files are "special files" in that they're really nodes in the file system, but the contents of these "files" are not stored inside the file system.

Device files are divided into two main types: block devices and character devices. A block device is something you can read/write blocks of data from/to (a block is a number of bytes). In contrast, a character device is something you can read/write single characters (bytes) from/to.

In this case, the file systems mounted on a normal Mac are usually block devices. For example hard drives, SSD's, etc. are normally available as block devices.

As we've now know that device files does not store their content inside the file system, but merely are indicators of a block or character device - how does it then work?

It works by storing a kind of "pointer" to a kernel representation of the device inside the file system. This is done by having each device file contain 3 pieces of information that is stored inside the file system, and that you can see by running "ls" in the Terminal for example:

$ ls -l /dev/disk0
brw-r-----  1 root  operator    1,   0 Jun  5 10:48 /dev/disk0

In this example the first "b" on the line indicates that this is a block device. Had it been a character device, the letter would have been a "c"

Then after "operator" (the group), the numbers "1, 0" appear. This means that this block device (/dev/disk0) "points" to the internal kernel device that has major number 1 and minor number 0.

The major number indicates what type of device we're talking about. The disk drives in your Mac all have major number 1. The minor number then indicates which disk and partition or volume that it is.

Now when you actually mount a file system, you do give the device file as an argument to the mount command. However what is really stored inside the kernel when representing the mount is not the path you've given, but merely the device information (i.e. the major and minor numbers).

So when you unmount /dev/, you're essentially removing the device files themselves from the / root. I.e. you can no longer browse those device files. However the actual devices still exist within the kernel, and the already mounted file systems just refer to those by their major/minors numbers, and thus keep working.


How do I trigger caps lock without caps lock key available? My old macbook lost its ctrl key, so I had to remap the caps lock key to ctrl. I have a scenario where I need the caps lock on for a while - is there a way to trigger a caps lock without using the caps lock key?

I could reset the caps lock, use it, and then remap it back to ctrl, but I am hoping I don't have to do that. I also tried the on screen keyboard viewer, but that does not have a caps lock.

I am on OS X 10.10.5 and my macbook has an intel processor.

Revert the key mapping Caps Lock -> Ctrl. Install Karabiner. Depending on your handedness remap alt_L (or opt_L) to ctrl and use alt_R (or opt_R) as your common alt key.

Remapping in the Karabiner context using the first example below means:
if you enable the radio button for "Option_L to Control_L" the left Option key will act as the left (and only on most portable Macs) Control key if hit and lose its original Option key function. The right Option key won't lose its function and still works as a normal Option key.

or remap cmd_R to ctrl:

If you don't like the remapping of alt/cmd/ctrl/R/L there are plenty of other possible remappings to emulate the CapsLock key. Just enter CapsLock in the search field and choose your preferred remapping:

You may even define your own key mappings (e.g shiftaltcmdC to enable CapsLock and shiftaltcmdR to release it again. These shortcuts mustn't be in use by the system or apps)

(The screenshots are taken running Lion. Since Karabiner doesn't run in Lion I'm using its predecessor KeyRemap4MacBook. The predefined modifications should be the same)


Ability to add non-SMS non-Apple 2FA to an Apple ID? I would like to add non-SMS, non-Apple multi-factor authentication to my Apple ID.

Specifically the "code generator"-type Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) based on RFC 6238 implemented by client apps such as:

Google Authenticator
Microsoft Authenticator
Yubico Authenticator
Authy
1Password
LastPass
etc.

I do not see any such option. Is this type of authentication available for Apple ID?
I am also interested in adding YubiKey or other similar non-SMS hardware or software multi-factor solutions.

Note: I am able to add Apple's proprietary "two-factor authentication for Apple ID" integrated within iOS and macOS as an alternative to SMS-based "two-step verification". This question is asking instead for a 3rd-party-compatible two-factor mechanism that does not involve using an Apple device signed in to iCloud.

Related:

Does TOTP in 1Password work with Apple ID?

Developer Apple ID’s to Require Two-Factor Authentication

No, you cannot use TOTP-authentication as implemented by for example Google Authenticator (i.e. RFC6238) with Apple-ID. The only supported system is Apple's own system, which works very similarly to TOTP.

This hasn't got anything to do with the SMS-requirement at all.

As a collary to the above, hardware-based OATH-TOTP solutions such as a YubiKey won't work with Apple-IDs either.


Download and Install Photoshop CS5 I want to transfer a legal, licensed copy of Photoshop CS5 from and old Lion iMac I am de-commissioning to my current El Capitan system.  I have the license number, but not the install media as this copy of Photoshop started off as CS3 and then I did an online upgrade to CS5.  So I don't have CS5 install disks.

So I go to Download CS5 products and download the OS X install file for Photoshop CS5.  However when I went to run the installer I was presented with this:

Obviously something has gone wrong.  However I am not sure if this is an artifact related to not having Java 6 installed (See Will Adobe CS5 with Java SE runtime work on 10.11 El Capitan?) or if the file is actually hosed.  But Is it possible to use Adobe CS5 with Java SE 7? makes me think I should get past an install.

I don't believe that I have Java installed (and I only saw that question when I was composing this one), but I also don't want to have to jump through hoops to get CS5 up and running again.

Update - When I right click on the installer and select Show Package Contents I appear to be able to see the internals without any problem.

As per the comment from user3439894 the issue was that I had

  System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Allow apps
  downloaded from:

set to

  Mac App Store and identified developers

Once I set it to be

  Anywhere

Then I could run the installer.

The error message I received was disingenuous and did not inform me of what the actual problem was.

Protip - Even though Adobe wouldn't tell me what my CS5 license number was there are ways to extract it from OS X.  It just took some googling.


Can I invert my Mac screen colors without affecting an ext display? I want to connect an external display to my MBPro running 10.11.2 for hosting karaoke.

I want to invert my Mac display without inverting the external display. I had planned to avoid video mirroring and drag the video window to the external display, but I'm told that won't do the trick.

In Display Settings inside System Preferences different color schemes or filters can be applied to each display. Try applying a regular filter to the external display and invert colors filter on the main display. If you have any other questions feel free to ask!


Battery performance on iPad in sidecar mode I'm thinking of getting an iPad as a second display using the sidecar feature.
Assuming the display be always on in sidecar mode and it's always plugged in to charge, would the iPad using its battery while it's charging? Or will it be drawing power from the outlet?
I'm wondering about battery performance (cycles) since the device would be on most of the day and it would need to charged often.

The iPad is always powered from the battery. It doesn't matter whether the charger is plugged in or not, the power is always drawn from the battery.
This is actually essential in ensuring that a sudden spike in power consumption (for example due to briefly engaging the CPU and GPU at 100%) doesn't result in system shutdown because the charger cannot supply enough power.
Ofcourse when the charger is plugged in, the battery is charged at the same time. If the power draw is less than the charger output, then the battery will be charged (until it reaches max) - otherwise you can still experience that the battery level drops while using the iPad.


Default volume too high for headphones Is there a way to change the default volume setting for headphones/line out, i.e. the one you get after plugging a jack in for the first time since you've turned your Mac on and started OSX?

I'm using a 2008 unibody (aluminum) Macbook, running Snow Leopard. And several times I've run the risk of hurting my ears because of that default value (half of the scale).

Take a look at breakaway. You can write a quick applescript to change the volume back and forth when when the headphone is connected/disconnected, and much more


MacBook Pro 8,2 (Early 2011, 15'' Unibody 2.3 GHz i7) - OS crashes randomly, after log in screen goes all white I have a Macbook Pro, randomly started running into issues when logging in after start up. Occasionally will get the desktop to load but shortly thereafter the OS crashes leading to a screen with multiple colored lines which sometimes resolve after varying amounts of time. Following the crash and after re-boot/log-in the screen will go to all white.

After many of these crash sequences I booted into Recovery Mode and did a complete wipe of the harddrive with a fresh install of macOS (Sierra). I created a new user profile and logged in. All seemed well with normal use but after about 15 minutes of function as usual it went back to the same crashing sequence and white screen after log in.

Suspecting a hardware problem, I ran AHT (apple hardware test) and cycled 4 times with the Extended Testing which read "No trouble found." for each cycle. Subsequent to this and suspecting a hard drive issues that is simply not being picked up by the AHT I booted again into Recovery mode to try running first aid on my hard drive and noticed that it is registering and being completely used with no free space (after a complete wipe and reinstall of macOS...it should be essentially empty).

I figure the complete wipe and re-install of mac OS would have solved any software related trouble that could be leading to this issue. That being said, I'm leaning toward one of three potential hardware issues being the source of my woes: hard drive, logic board or RAM. Right now the hard drive is my top suspicion but the clean cycles of AHT is confusing me.

Any ideas on where I can go from here to try and narrow down the source of the problem before I go trying to get any of the hardware replaced?

Many condolences. The 15" MBPs from 2011/2012 had a very high frequency of hardware failures on the logic board, specifically the onboard graphics. From recollection, it was a manufacturing fault that was not suspected by Apple's hardware designers until large numbers of them started to fail in the wild, leading to a class-action suit against Apple, which was kept very quiet. AFAIK, there is no economically sound way of fixing this issue.


Connecting to OS X server with Windows 7 I run an OSX server in my office (Previously Mavericks now upgraded to Yosemite) and I need to allow a few Windows laptops to the server.

I have never been fully successful at doing connect to the OSX server but I have had moments when I can see and connect.  Mostly I cannot connect at all, I don't know why that is. From Windows network, I can see the OSX server however when I attempt to Authenticate it fails.

One confusing thing that happens is that windows prompts me to log in again but forces my computer name as the domain. something like \mycomputername\name

When I see this it never connects.

I don't know if there is a trick to connect from my windows laptop or if I need ot config the server differently.

Welcome any and all insights!!!

You didn't mention what client or protocol/s you're using... could be you're talking about samba/cifs file sharing, and if so, there is an answer elsewhere on ask different (I'll try to find) that will fix your trouhle...

But I'll just throw this out there in case because I've done a lot of ARD/VNC and RDP the other way, and the issue that presents itself most (if definitely NOT a DNS issue) is that if the mac screen falls asleep, the client query for a desktop connection goes unanswered (very often), even if you check that box in the energy settings to wake for network access.

I have a couple solutions if that is what the problem is:

The simplest solution is to set the screen to never sleep, or set a hot corner in the Screen Saver preferences panel, and leave your pointer in that corner when not in use. Its recommended you enable, in the Securtiy preference panel, check on the "require password after..." (to not leave your console completely inviting to any user).

The other solution I use is to ssh into the machine and "wake it up" with a bash script that uses osascript to simulate a key press. I believe the idea originates from a Mac Hints post from a while ago, and its posted here:

#!/bin/bash
# wake up the screen
# (will simulate pressing the cursor key)

osascript="/usr/bin/osascript"

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to key code 123'

exit

ssh in, copy into file called "wakes" on server; leave somewhere in your $PATH, chmod +x wakes, run the command, then immediately attempt connection with the desktop sharing client.


Different pricing of apps regarding regions in country My customer asked me the following question:

"Imagine the situation you have an app that costs 0.99$. Is there any way to make this app free in certain area, such as chosen cities in a country? Obviously we would make a deal with city council that they allow this app to be free within the city"

The straightforward answers is "no, this is totally impossible", but after all I decided to ask the community here.

Maybe there is a way to set some promo codes in in app payments? I mean, the app download is free but to use this app after installation you must do some in-app purchase or fill the promo code to use the app for free. And these promo codes would be delivered to citizens in some way.

Do you have any idea how to approach such problem? Or maybe it's even pointless to look for any solution?

Thanks in advance

You can use the promo codes

  You can request up to 100 promo codes for every version of your app. To request promo codes for an app version, the version’s status must be Ready for Sale or Pending Developer Release.

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnect_Guide/Chapters/ProvidingPromoCodes.html

You can send gift

  Learn how to send iTunes Gifts in the iTunes Store, iBooks Store1, and App Store. In the iTunes Store, you can gift a dollar amount or books, audiobooks, music, movies, TV shows, or apps from your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac, or PC. Use these steps to send a gift from the iTunes Store.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201783

Or you can use the Entreprise Distribution and make the price by your own for every client.

http://mobiledan.net/2012/03/02/5-options-for-distributing-ios-apps-to-a-limited-audience-legally/


Change compile configuration of package installation in brew How can I change the compiler configuration when I use brew install? I want to compile vim with +farsi using brew. But it seems that +farsi is not available options in brew:

$ brew install +farsi vim
Error: No available formula for +farsi

I also tried this command:

$ brew install vim --+farsi
==> Downloading http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/v/vim/vim_7.4.052.orig.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/vim-7.4.052.tar.gz
==> Patching
patching file src/auto/configure
patching file src/osdef.sh
patching file src/os_mac.h
==> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --mandir=/usr/local/Cellar/vim/7.4.052/share/man --enable-multibyte --with-tlib=ncur
==> make
==> make install prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/vim/7.4.052 STRIP=/usr/bin/true

But still +farsi is not compiled with vim:

[ben@thebeast ~/vim/vim74]$ vim --version
VIM - Vi IMproved 7.3 (2010 Aug 15, compiled Aug 24 2013 18:58:47)
Compiled by root@apple.com
Normal version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
-farsi

In fact the only options available are these:

$ brew options vim
--disable-nls
    Build vim without National Language Support (translated messages, keymaps)
--override-system-vi
    Override system vi
--with-client-server
    Enable client/server mode
--with-lua
    Build vim with lua support
--with-mzscheme
    Build vim with mzscheme support
--with-perl
    Build vim with perl support
--with-python3
    Build vim with python3 support
--with-tcl
    Build vim with tcl support
--without-python
    Build vim without python support
--without-ruby
    Build vim without ruby support
--HEAD
    install HEAD version

Does this means that only subset of configurations are available in brew?

brew install vim installs vim 7.4.052
vim --version reports version 7.3

From above observation it is clearly apparent that these are two different vims. By executing vim --version you are invoking vim supplied as part of OS X (you can check this by which vim, which is going to report /usr/bin/vim, while brew-built programs are usually located under /usr/local directory.

To edit vim formula you just execute brew edit vim, yet you do not need to do this just to get your desired farsi support. As you can see from Vim Feature Table, farsi support is included with any build compiled with --with-features=big or huge. As brew builds are compiled with --with-features=huge, they already contain farsi support.

  /usr/local/bin/vim --version
  VIM - Vi IMproved 7.4 (2013 Aug 10, compiled Jan  1 2014 14:31:50)
  MacOS X (unix) version
  Included patches: 1-52
  Compiled by Homebrew
  Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
  ⋮
  +acl      +farsi      +mouse_netterm  +syntax
  ⋮

To use brew-built version of vim you might like to alias it with alias vim='/usr/local/bin/vim', or try any of other options.


How do I remove multiple mail rules using iCloud server? Using the iCloud server, is it possible to remove multiple rules at once (instead of selecting each rule individually)?

At this time, no, you can only delete them one at a time by clicking 'Edit' and then 'Delete'.

You can always submit feedback about this on the iCloud feedback page, or if you have a developer account, you can submit a bug report on this as well.

I personally wish these rules could be as strong as some of those in Mail.app, as well as synced between the two (iCloud mail on the web, and Mail.app on the computer).


Apple Script: 'activate' an application in fullscreen Im trying to run tell application "X" to activate on an application that is running in fullscreen, but its not working. Any ideas on how I can work around this and give focus to a running app in fullscreen?

Allow the Script Editor to access Accessibility in System Preferences, & try this script. You should define the application name properly.

set MyApps to {"Google Chrome", "Skype", "Finder"}

repeat with MyApp in MyApps

tell application MyApp

    activate

    delay 3

    tell application "System Events" to tell process MyApp

        set value of attribute "AXFullScreen" of window 1 to true

    end tell

end tell

end repeat

or if you have a single application then

tell application "Safari"

activate

delay 3

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"

    set value of attribute "AXFullScreen" of window 1 to true

  end tell

end tell


online automatic wallpaper changer I use a tool called variety which sets automatic wallpaper to my Linux machines via various websites like deviantart, wallpapers.net, flickr etc.

Is there such tool for MacOSX?

I use Irvue, by Leonspok.  You can get it on the Mac App Store and here.  It uses fantastic-looking, hi-res images from Unsplash.


Tab completion for hosts defined in ~/.ssh/config doesn't work anymore on Yosemite I'm trying to create my ~/.ssh/config file for simplify my work life on the server connection.

In Mavericks all worked properly and with the tab I was be able to autocomplete the hostname with file like this:

Host test-host-name
    HostName 192.168.1.2
    User root

The same configuration on Yosemite have a different behavior. When I type ssh t on the shell the tab does not autocomplete the hostname.

Do someone know if is something changed in Yosemite and now I need to do something to make it work?

You can enable bash shell completion by installing bash-completion via brew:

brew install bash-completion

Then add the following to your ~/.bash_profile:

if [ -f $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion ]; then
. $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion
fi

Source

(Edit: brew tap homebrew/completions is deprecated as of 2018.)


How to bring application to foreground using Spotlight/keystrokes (named windows/named applications)? I can open Spotlight with Command + Spacebar. That's nice, and I can search for the program I want in the foreground, but sometimes the application doesn't come to the foreground. Is there some series of keystrokes I can use to bring an application to foreground?

Sometimes visually searching for it in Mission Control is too hard when you have 10+ applications running. I'd rather just type.

Spotlight generally works, but if you have more than one open application window it doesn't quite work. Is there a way to put names on windows and then open them by name?

Is there a way to put names on windows and then open them by name?

No, there is no built-in mechanism in macOS to assign names to different windows of an app and access it by names.

  Spotlight generally works, but if you have more than one open application window it doesn't quite work.

When using Spotlight to search and launch an already running app, the window will be shown in the foreground in the following cases:

There's only a single open app window.
The app window(s) are not minimized, but hidden using the keyboard shortcut Command + H.

If the app is hidden while none of the window is minimized, invoking app name will show all of them.
If the app window(s) are minimized, only one of them is shown in the foreground.

The other open and minimized windows can be brought to foreground using either one of the following methods:

Right click on the Dock icon for the app and select the window. The minimized windows are shown with a leading ◆ icon in the context menu.
Bring the app to foreground normally using Spotlight. Now use the Application Windows Hot Corner action to see just the app windows, maximized or minimized in a Mission Control like view.


MacBook Pro keeps restarting - newbie I recently upgraded my MacBook Pro to Yosemite. Everything was fine ... then suddenly the MacBook Pro does not start up. It boots with some distorted graphics, and then just immediately restarts.

I tried Recovery by pressing shift key. Command + Shift. Nothing. Same thing...Apple logo..progress bar, grey screen, fan speeds up ... shutdown.

I tried Apple's recommendations. But surprisingly same sequence..

Option-Command-P-R -- It did give me sound twice and above sequence
repeats. (I don't see those icon etc for hardware test..why ?)
Pressed shift, same sequence repeats.
Command V Video here ... no error but same sequence ... it shows grey
screen and restarts.

What is the year and model of your MacBook Pro? There is a known graphics failure in the 2011 models of MacBook Pros that is now leading to a class-action lawsuit .

I would also try resetting just the SMC by pressing Shift+Control+Option+Power button at the same time while the computer is off and plugged into power. (You only reset the PRAM according to the steps you have done above.)


When using a redeemed code through Volume Purchase, who owns the copy of a B2B app, ultimately? I've been looking into various distribution options for enterprise-y iOS apps and one question I can't figure out remains: if my client does a volume purchase and chooses to use redeem codes to hand out to the end users, is it still the case that ownership of the app ends up at the end user's Apple ID? Are there any mechanisms (short of MDM) that allow the purchasing client to retain ownership?

Here is the relevant excerpt of the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions:

https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/volume/us/terms.html#VOLUME

  CONTENT CODES

  [...] YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THE OWNER OF THE
  REDEEMING ITUNES ACCOUNT WILL BECOME (i) FOR AN APP STORE PRODUCT, THE
  LICENSEE OF THAT COPY OF THE PRODUCT; AND (ii) FOR AN IBOOKS STORE
  PRODUCT, THE OWNER OF THAT COPY OF THE PRODUCT, AND SHALL BE ENTITLED
  TO ALL ASSOCIATED RIGHTS. SUCH LICENSES OR PRODUCTS ARE
  NON-TRANSFERABLE.

for short: only managed distribution retains ownership!


How to unsync an iCloud folder without losing the original source I have synced both my Desktop and Documents folders on my iCloud. iCloud is now full and I no longer would like to keep them in sync. According to this page (section called How to stop syncing Desktop and Documents Folder to iCloud Drive in macOS Sierra) you just have to uncheck the Desktop & Documents Folders in iCloud settings. When I do so, I get the following warning:

But what I aim to do is the opposite. I would like to keep the files on my current Macbook and unsync from my iCloud to free up space there.

When I manually navigate to my iCloud via Finder and remove the folders, the original files are removed with them. This is slightly confusing.

I just want to unsync the folders from the cloud. It's very straightforward in Dropbox.

Source:

iCloud is a syncing solution, unlike Dropbox which is more for backup/storage.  This is why it's different than you'd expect to turn this off.  Follow all the steps you've already taken until you get that warning message you indicated in your question.

On that message box, click Turn Off.  All your documents will still be available in iCloud but they will be removed from your Mac.

Getting All Files from iCloud Desktop & Documents Back from iCloud to the Local Mac

Open the Finder in MacOS and go to “iCloud Drive” (navigate via Finder or select “iCloud Drive” from the ‘Go’ menu)
Locate the “Documents” folder in iCloud Drive
Open another new Finder window and navigate to the local “Documents” folder
Select every file from the iCloud Drive Documents folder and manually transfer it to your Mac local Documents folder with drag & drop
Repeat the same process with “Desktop” on iCloud to get all contents from “Desktop” on iCloud to “Desktop” on the local Mac

You can either copy or just move the files from iCloud Drive, that is up to you.


Does the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter support Mini DisplayPort? I would like to use the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter to connect a DisplayPort monitor to my USB-C Mac.
Thunderbolt 2 and Mini DisplayPort use the same connector, so it seems like this should work.
Will this adapter convert Mini DisplayPort monitor signals to USB-C / Thunderbolt 3?

I'm specifically attempting to connect a non-Thunderbolt Apple Cinema Display to my Mac via Apple-branded adapters.

The Apple adapter is unfortunately not compatible with DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort monitor signals, despite the cables and ports having the same shape.
It can only be used to bridge Thunderbolt signals, not DisplayPort.
This is confirmed in the product notes:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMEL2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb-c-to-thunderbolt-2-adapter

Note: This adapter does not support DisplayPort displays like the Apple LED Cinema Display or third-party DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort displays. For more information, visit the Apple Support page for the Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207266

This adapter is not compatible with displays that use DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort, such as the Apple LED Cinema Display. Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 are not the same as Mini DisplayPort, though the ports have the same shape.

This adapter does work for the Apple Thunderbolt Display, but not for the Apple Cinema Display (DVI or Dual-Link DVI) or Apple LED Cinema Display (Mini DisplayPort)
Apple does not manufacture a first-party Mini DisplayPort to USB-3 adapter.


Keeping the menu dropdown open after clicking? Suppose I wanted to open a couple of bookmarks in my browser. To do this, I use the menu bar. I click on «Bookmarks» to reveal the dropdown with all my bookmarks and then select the bookmark. The dropdown closes and the browser opens the bookmark. Now I have to click on «Bookmarks» again and click on another bookmark, the dropdown again closes and the browser opens the bookmark. Is there a way to keep the menu dropdown opened after I clicked on an item? That way I could click multiple items in the dropdown way faster! I remember being able to do this in Windows XP some years ago and it was really handy. I think I had to hold down ALT when clicking on the menu item.

Thanks for any advice!

Edit for clarification: I'm only using the bookmark menu as an easy to understand example. I'm looking for a way to do this system-wide!

control F2 key gets menu bar focus in full screen app mode
set F Keys to standard function keys via keyboard prefs
keyboard shortcuts "Focus to Menu Bar"
default is Control F2 for menu bar focus
control F2 for dock focus


Using sudo command in shell script in Automator app? I'm planning to make a small Automator app to make these commands into something I can run regularly:

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/*
rm -rf ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/*
sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/*
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/*
atsutil databases -removeUser
sudo atsutil databases -remove
sudo atsutil server -shutdown
sudo atsutil server -ping
sudo rm -rf /var/folders/*

Since it involves sudo, which I understand is a dangerous command, is this recommended for someone new to Automator, and it won't damage the Mac?

I tried the command suggested at iMac not shutting down since upgrading to OS X 10.11, El Capitan to fix problems with my Mac shutting down (it's MacOS Sierra 10.12.6 on an old Mac Mini).

I would welcome any advice on this, as I know the basics of Automator, just whether it's recommended to do so with sudo commands as an Automator app.

Sudo is not (in and of itself) dangerous. Sudo merely removes protective restrictions, putting the burden of running safe code on you, rather than protecting you behind the scenes. Sudo can be dangerous when, for instance:

You make a coding mistake which has unintended consequences: e.g., if you intend to run:

sudo rm -Rf /Users/yourname/something/something/

but instead you type:
sudo rm -Rf /Users/yourname/ something/something/

(with an accidental space after 'yourname')

the second script (with the erroneous space) will delete all of the data for user 'yourname' without warning.
You run someone else's code which happens to be malicious. Malicious code run without sudo can do some damage, but malicious code run with sudo can compromise your system entirely.

As long as you're careful, sudo is safe enough. Just be aware of the potentials for harm.


How to view and delete Mac download history Yesterday I was told that every computer keeps track of everything you have ever downloaded.
My computer is a 2014 iMac that is running macOS v10.13 (High Sierra), so I went to apple.com and tried to find the info I need, but all of the information I could find was about seeing your purchase history for the App Store and iTunes store, or about re-downloading content from Apple or about featured downloads.
Does my iMac in fact have a record of everything I've downloaded? If it does, how can I view it? And can I delete that record if I want to?

Yes, macOS does keep a history of everything users download, although users can prevent items from being recorded in that history if they're using their browser's private browsing function or other software designed to ensure your privacy (e.g. the Tor browser, etc).
So, downloading anything in a typical browser (even right-clicking on an image and saving it) is recorded. However, if you're using a private (or incognito)  window (e.g. via shiftcommandN in Safari, Opera or Chrome, or shiftcommandP in Firefox) any items being downloaded will not be recorded in the history.
You can use a terminal command to view what is in your historical record. Note: it’s going to be one extremely long list and you’ll probably find viewing it isn’t very useful. Regardless, you can do this as follows:

Launch Terminal app (usually found in your Utilities folder within the Applications folder)
Once it opens, copy and paste the following command:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV* 'select LSQuarantineDataURLString from LSQuarantineEvent'

Press return

Terminal will now spit out a long list of addresses pertaining to your downloaded files.
To delete this history, you need to enter (or copy and paste) the following command in Terminal and press return:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV* 'delete from LSQuarantineEvent'
To confirm that you've deleted your history, just run the first command again.


"An error occurred installing macOS" in VMware? Heyo, I'm trying to build a Vagrant box for command line access to a macOS virtual machine, to make it easier to build macOS applications. I managed to script up most of the macOS High Sierra installation with packer, however the boot after SetupAssistant completes, fails with the message "An error occurred installing macOS", and I can't seem to find much more detail than that. Can someone recommend a VMX configuration or provide some tips for getting High Sierra installed better in VMware Fusion?
Trace

Installing: About 15 minutes remaining

...

Installing on "Macintosh HD"

...

An error occurred installing macOS. To use Apple Diagnostics to check your Mac hardware, shut down, press the power button, and immediately hold the 'D' key until diagnostics begins.
Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.
Restart

Screenshots

System Specs

Guest OS: macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Host OS: macOS 10.13 High Sierra
Hypervisor: VMware Fusion 10
Physical hardware: mid-2013 13" MacBook Air

Configuration
VMX: https://gist.github.com/mcandre/df4a69809afb8103ef37ae32371c6e23
ISO generation scripts, packer configuration, and VMX settings are available as a work-in-progress "macos" branch in my packer templates repository:
https://github.com/mcandre/packer-templates/tree/macos
Mitigation steps attempted
I've already tried:

Re-generating the installer ISO image.
Re-running the packer VM build.
Tweaking VMX settings.
Disabling SMC (which results in a VM that never finishes booting).
Increasing virtual RAM to 4GB.
Specifying the virtual hard drive as a solid state drive.
Using VirtualBox (unfortunately, packer sends the wrong scancodes to VirtualBox for macOS guests, so packer + macOS guests + VirtualBox doesn't integrate very well at the moment).
Pressing 'D' during boot (no change in behavior, no diagnostics displayed).

I'm new to hackintoshing, so I'm not sure if I'm missing some critical VMX configuration, or perhaps if High Sierra introduces further complications compared to earlier editions of macOS. Or even if an alternative EFI bootloader (Clover?) is necessary, I just don't know. I'd prefer to install macOS with as vanilla/default a configuration as possible.
If anyone else has experience getting macOS to boot in VMware, let me know how the VMX configuration can be improved, or if some kind of SMC toggling intervention is necessary to get the thing to boot better. I've already tossed so many hacks and workarounds into the mix that I'm starting to run out of ideas :P

After some more tinkering, I realized that packer was supplying a sloppy configuration to VMware Fusion, compared to how VMware Fusion prefers to configure macOS VM's. When I create the VM by using the VMware Fusion wizard rather than with packer, then the VM installs and boots successfully. Here is my working VMX configuration for posterity:

https://gist.github.com/mcandre/48f90963d9a24315024319cd62142f6a