Is there any workaround to install iOS 7 after Apple are longer signing it? Apple are no longer signing iOS 7 for devices which support iOS 8, but I want to jailbreak my iPhone 5.

There is currently no jailbreak available for iOS 8, so I want to restore iOS 7. Is there any solution for this problem?

There is a jailbreak available for iOS 8.1 now!  PanGu will jailbreak the iPhone 5, but you have to manually install Cydia.  Either using WinSCP for Windows or Cyberduck for Mac in conjunction with a command line and SSH into the iPhone 5.  One more thing, there is almost nothing available for the iPhone as the jailbreak just came out and everyone is scrambling to update tweaks to run on iOS 8.1.  But you can have at, "Hey Siri" all you want while taking phone calls on your iPad and sending texts from your Mac!

Oh, and I know you posted this a month ago, but figured this MAY help!


Increase sensitivity of Trackpad? I currently have the sensitivity level to the max, but I still feel its kind of slow for my liking. Is there a way I can make the trackpad on my rMBP even more sensitive ?

The setting in System Preferences changes the com.apple.trackpad.scaling key in ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences. You can also edit it manually:

defaults write -g com.apple.trackpad.scaling -float 5.0

The normal minimum and maximum values are 0.0 and 3.0. You have to log out and back in to apply the changes. Moving the slider in System Preferences resets the setting.


In iMovie 10, how do you trim the middle of background audio? I'm using iMovie 10.1.12 on Mac Mojave.  I have set an audio clip for some background music.  I was wondering if I could remove the middle of part of that clip.  I left clicked where I wanted to begin deleting, held the mouse down and slid the selector the right where I wanted to delete.  Then I right clicked and selected "Delete."  However, this is what happened

So when I play my movie, now there is a big silent gap where the Delete section was gone.  I don't want that.  I want the audio to seamlessly continue without a blank clip.  How do I (if possible) edit my audio so the deleted section disappears, but the rest of the audio continues to play?

Now there’s a gap in the background audio which you achieved by deleting your selection, drag the audio on the right towards the left so that the right edge of the left audio meets the left edge of the right audio.


Applescript run code at specific time I tried different way to run a script on a specific schedule / time,
I found Lingon quite handy, I also try using calendar but the result was very bad.

I wrote this :

repeat
    set myDate to date string of (current date)

    set myTime to time string of (current date)

    set myDateTime to myDate & " - " & myTime

    if myTime > "11:30:00" and myTime < "11:30:10" then
        display notification "demo - This is the time"
    end if
end repeat

which seems to work fine but obviously, generate a few notification.
How can I run a script only once when this condition is found ?

I thought I can play with some delay but then I'm worried I would miss the time condition.

This is just a slightly more efficient re-hash of the existing answer...

set gIsThisTime to false

repeat until gIsThisTime is true
    delay 60
    set myTime to time string of (current date)
    if myTime > "1:15:00 pm" and myTime < "1:20:00 pm" then
        set gIsThisTime to true
    end if
end repeat

set myDate to date string of (current date)
set myDateTime to myDate & " - " & myTime
display notification "time = " & myDateTime

Notes:
leaving out am/pm means it will trigger on either am or pm, whichever it hits first
it doesn't work on 24-hour clock, so 13:15:00 will not trigger


How do I upgrade my openssl? A symlink isn't working for /usr/local/bin/OpenSSL I'm having trouble updating my version of openssl so I can get Fastlane working.

Can anyone explain where OpenSSL should be, and how different environments hook into it?

MACOS:~ lamont$ openssl version
OpenSSL 0.9.8zh 14 Jan 2016
MACOS:~ lamont$ ruby -ropenssl -e 'puts OpenSSL::OPENSSL_VERSION'
OpenSSL 1.0.2k  26 Jan 2017
MACOS:~ lamont$ rm /usr/local/bin/openssl
rm: /usr/local/bin/openssl: No such file or directory
MACOS:~ lamont$ cd /usr/local/Cellar/openssl
MACOS:openssl lamont$ ls
1.0.2k
MACOS:openssl lamont$ sudo ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/openssl/1.0.2k/bin/openssl /usr/local/bin/openssl
Password:
MACOS:openssl lamont$ which openssl
/usr/local/bin/openssl
MACOS:openssl lamont$ openssl version
OpenSSL 0.9.8zh 14 Jan 2016
MACOS:openssl lamont$

If you run

brew info openssl

you will have the answer :

  This formula is keg-only, which means it was not symlinked into /usr/local,
  because Apple has deprecated use of OpenSSL in favor of its own TLS and crypto libraries.

  If you need to have this software first in your PATH run:
    echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/openssl/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile


How to change apple ID while it has been disabled for security reasons I just bought apple iPhone 4s from my friend but it throw an error "This Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons" is it possible that i change apple ID during this state? Or  is there any other way to change it?

According to this Apple KB article, it may be a case of entering the password incorrectly too many times, in which case you can try resetting the password at Apple's iForgot site.

Another option, if you don't have any purchases linked to that Apple ID, is creating a new one using a different email address. You just have to sign out of the current Apple ID (if that's even necessary) and sign up for a new one. All of that is done from within Settings -> iTunes & App Store, although the sign up process might be easier to do on a computer with a real keyboard, from within iTunes (Store menu -> Create Apple ID...)


How to make MacBook Pro sharing Wi-Fi from iPad? I connected from iPad to MacBook Pro (mid 2012) by USB. I turned on iPad personal hotspot and Internet Sharing works.

Now I want to share my MacBook Pro's internet connection too. I made the following setting but it is not working for me. In Wi-Fi options I set the following: Channel: 1, Security: WPA2 Personal.

How can I make it work?

This is a very interesting situation and one that didn't, for me at least, bring any clear-cut obvious answer. Here is what I found.
First, I created a very similar setup to yours. I connected my iPhone to my Macbook Pro and tethered USB. I had to forget my current wifi network so that I could actually share over my computer's wifi. So, first, double check that your computer doesn't have an active wifi connection (I couldn't tell from your screenshot). A MacBook Pro cannot receive and send a wifi connection - it is a one way street.
I then tried creating a network from the USB connection. This did not work. I then connected my ethernet cable and confirmed that internet sharing worked fine and it was just something about the USB that was problematic. I next proceeded to test Bluetooth tethering. I connected to my phone solely over Bluetooth and once again the computer created a wifi connection. (By the way, the wifi icon changes to a block of gray with an arrow pointing up when the sharing is working). I confirmed on my iPad that it created a perfectly good, and connectable wifi.
I went back and connected only through my USB connection and once again, the computer would not create a wifi. One thing to note about working with this is that there really aren't any errors. If it doesn't work, the only real way to tell is that it won't create a network. While that is fairly obvious, it would be nice to have some error saying why it won't share the USB connection.
The only thing I didn't try was rebooting, but I just started the computer this morning as it was shut down last night, so I see little chance that would work.
In conclusion:
I suggest that you either tether over Bluetooth (and sacrifice some speed, potentially), or just use your iPad to share wifi and Bluetooth.*
* I'm a little curious why you don't do that anyway, but that doesn't matter.


Sharing a folder with the terminal I'm trying to find a command to make a shared folder with the terminal to integrate in a shell script. But i couldn't find anything for making a shared folder on a MAC OS X client. Can you guys help me with this?

Take a look at this article by Mike Barron, NetBoot Part 4.

In the article Mike walks through the dscl commands he used to share folders on Mac OS X for the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols:

  The toughest one so far has been file sharing. In our lab we share all our Work partitions to the entire internal network over AFP and SMB. In the past we used SharePoints to modify the NetInfo database to do so, but this functionality has all been moved over to Directory Services. To complicate matters, SAMBA no longer relies simply on standard SMB configuration files in standard locations, and the starting and stopping of the SMB daemon is handled completely by launchd. So figuring this all out has been a headache. But I think I’ve got it!


'unknown file attribute: i' error on DefaultKeyBinding.dict file I would like to swap some key bindings on macOS Sierra. I have used Karabiner so far but unfortunately it is no longer working on Sierra.

So I tried to use DefaultKeyBinding.dict, but after I set it, I found that all the keys except ones that I modified were no longer working (the typing isn't reflected). I tried source DefaultKeyBinding.dict and got the following error:

/Users/me/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict:2: unknown file attribute: i
/Users/me/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict:3: unknown file attribute: i

Here is my DefaultKeyBinding.dict file:

{
";" = ("insertText:", ":");
":" = ("insertText:", ";");
"'" = ("insertText:", '"');
'"' = ("insertText:", "'");
"\\" = ("insertText:", "\U007f");
"\U007f" = ("insertText:", "\\");
}

What is the meaning of the error and what is wrong with this dict file?

Or use Karabiner-Elements, the supported successor to Karabiner.


Can Mojave be installed on separate APFS volume under Catalina? I am running Catalina as my primary OS but am finding that I'd still like to run some 32-bit apps. Is it possible to create a new AFFS volume, install Mojave and simply run a dual-boot system?

Things that did not work:
I have created a new APFS volume, but I cannot figure how to make it bootable.

I was able to download an official build of Mojave but cannot get to the install screen because of an error message telling me This copy of the “Install macOS” application is too old to be opened on this version of macOS.

Yes, this is definitely possible. I just created this exact setup with macOS Catalina (10.15.1) as the "main" OS, and a separate macOS Mojave (10.14.6) installation in an APFS Volume (same disk, same container).

Follow these steps:

Step 1

Download "Install macOS Mojave" archive

Click on this link which will open the Mac App Store on the Mojave page.
Click Get.
The Software Update window up from System Preferences will open showing the latest version of Mojave. Confirm that you want to download the software, you'll also see a warning that you are downloading an older version of the OS, ignore it.
Wait while the macOS downloads - it may take a while.
Once it’s downloaded DO NOT click on Open - you don't want to install it yet.

(from https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/downgrade-macos-3581872/)

Step 2

Create APFS volume

Open "Disk Utility"
Click "View" -> "Show All Devices" (⌘2)
Click on "Container disk1" and "Add APFS Volume..."
Enter Mojave in "Name" (leave "Format" as "APFS" - I also did not specify any size options)

Step 3

Create bootable installation media for Mojave

Follow the official instructions at How to create a bootable installer for macOS

In short summarized form:

Format a min 16GB USB stick using Mac OS Extended, call it boot, then run:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/boot

Replace /Applications with ~/Downloads in case the installer is still in your Downloads folder.

Step 4

Boot from install media, and install to Mojave volume

Reboot your computer, hold down the Option key (⌥) before the Apple logo appears
Choose the USB media (Mojave installer)
Click "Reinstall macOS" once the "macOS Utilities" screen appears
Select the Mojave volume when asked where to install

Once the installation is finished, you can use the "Startup Disk" program to set you main Catalina installation as the default. When you want to boot Mojave, just restart the computer, hold ⌥, and select "Mojave".


Backing up a MacBook Pro without a screen? I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 2013→2014) with a mini PCIe SSD (512GB, Solid State Drive).

There is a problem with my current operating system causing the video output to be corrupt. Native screen is blank. HDMI output is a bunch of crazy, snowy, flickering lines and such.

Although I'm fairly confident the rest of the system is working underneath the façade (or lack thereof). Apparently, it's not a GPU / hardware problem as I first thought (According to the in-store Apple tech "genius" guy; I was reluctant at first to agree, but now convinced).

I tried reinstalling the OS via safe mode recovery methods. No dice, but an externally (network) booted version of OS X ran perfectly. So I'm going to start again with a clean slate; a fresh factory-style install of the OS.

The problem is: I want to backup my personal data; obviously this has do be done first. Of course this is difficult without being able to see what I'm doing. And safe mode doesn't appear to have access to any personal data.

• Is there an adapter that I can use to connect this storage device (mPCIe) to my other laptop (USB)?

• Failing that, if there is another way;  any other methods or suggestions are also welcome.

Thanks.

If you have another Mac and a Thunderbolt cable, you can use Target Disk Mode. When starting up the problematic Mac press and hold T. Then connect the cable to the other Mac. It should mount and you can pull the files off like any other disk, provided its not encrypted.

Since you also mentioned you using NetBoot, consider booting into that image and copy the files as needed.


How do I record a screen cap video of the iPad? I'm looking for a method to record the video without actually filming the device. Does such a method exist?

Reflection (US$15) turns a (Lion or above) Mac into an AirPlay receiver that can handle mirroring.  Once you've got the mirrored display on a Mac, all you need is to capture that video, which is easy.

For example:

Start Reflection on the Mac.
Turn mirroring on (requires iPad 2 or newer or iPhone 4S or newer), selecting the Mac as the target.
Use a video screen capture program (Quicktime Player can do this, but there are lots of more advanced ones if you need more) to record the Reflection window.

No jailbreaking is required.

AirServer (also US$15) is another application that offers essentially the same functionality as Reflection (and was released slightly afterwards), but is also available for Windows, if you don't have a Mac to do the recording on.


Stop outlook blocking me when I use a VPN? If I leave Mail.app open and turn on a system-wide VPN on my MacBook Outlook (one of my email accounts) gets mad at me and disables my account and I have to use microsoft's outlook.com to sign in again and reset my password etc. because apparently "somebody else is using your account."

How can I stop this from happening?

Recently I've stopped leaving Mail.app open all the time so that I don't accidentally cause the problems when I start a VPN and forget to quit Mail.app first.

But this is a pain b/c of course I don't get notifications and don't get emails as soon as they arrive.

Is there a way to disable that account while a VPN is in use?

Or somehow stop these problems.

How can I stop this from happening?

This is expected behavior.
Microsoft (Outlook.com) uses location data (if available) as part of their security to validate authorization access; t's more than just your IP.
You can view all of your activity from Microsoft at the site:
https://account.live.com/activity

Using a VPN with Outlook.com
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) takes your traffic (all or some, depending on the policy set at the VPN server) and sends it through their network.  If you go to https://account.live.com/activity while connected to VPN, you will see that your IP address has changed (very significantly).  You are no longer "located" at your home, but now wherever your work's network gateway is located.
As such, (Microsoft) Outlook.com will detect this change and based on their security policies temporarily lock your access since it "appears" you went from one location to the next with the same cached credentials.
Turn on Two Factor Authentication
If you use two factor authentication (Microsoft Authenticator App), you can mitigate this somewhat.  Outlook.com will detect the change in location and ask you to authenticate (iPhone version shown):

Prior to locking your account, it should ask you to approve or reject the new sign in.
Your other option is to close Mail (or log out of Outlook.com), connect to the VPN and then reopen.  You will need to do this for each time there is a network change so there is a bona fide  log in as opposed to an authorization request based on stale cached credentials.


Download iOS without connecting iPad Is it possible to download the latest version of iOS without connecting my iPad?

I have ordered the iPad, but it has still not come. So can I download and keep the iOS update in the meantime? Because I think that the iPad would not come with it installed.

It is possible to download these individually. Many blogs provide links when new updates come out to the direct downloads. For example, heres a page that has links to IPSW's for 4.3.2.

It will come preloaded with the OS, you don't have to worry about that. Though, depending on delays and when you get it (And when it was packaged), you may have a minor update to do (ie, updating from 4.3.1 to 4.3.2).

While you can download these updates, its really not worth it - or there is no real reason to do so beforehand. And it adds an extra step to apply it. When you get your device, it will ask you if you want to update it (you have to option-click 'Update' in iTunes). This is a common way to apply beta iOS builds for developers.

So, to answer your question - yes, it is 'possible', but really not worth it whatsoever. And your final guess is incorrect - it will come preloaded with an OS. The only thing you have to do to start using it once you get it is plug into iTunes to activate it, then can either start using it, or apply applications, etc.


Is it possible to play music streams on iOs devices On My macbook iTunes I have an internet tab which has about 4000 music channels in total. Is it possible to play those in iOS device iTunes?

There are lots of possibilities. For example, you can stream directly to the device from the network.. Here is an article gauging three of these. It's a little dated, but you will get the idea. To stream directly from the macbook to your iOS device, you may be able to use Airplay. I think it depends on what specific computer and operating system you are using.

If these answers are dead ends, let me know and I can look some more. Please provide more system info, to help myself, and others make suggestions.


Restore a conversation in messages I accidentally deleted a conversation just now in Messages on iPhone. Is there anyway to undo this action or restore the deleted conversation in iOS 11?

The conversation still exists on my iPad but I would like to have the full conversation on my iPhone too.

Well, there is no real way of restoring it with one click. You could restore your iPhone with the latest backup file. So if you backed up your phone after you had that conversation, you could restore that back up, and you would have your conversation back. However, if you added any new things to your iPhone after your latest backup, they will be erased.


Does iTunes WiFi sync communicate with the Internet? When I use WiFi sync using my wireless router, is the data transfer completely in local network OR does it happen over the internet to iCloud or another service? Will the bandwidth used be deducted by my service provider?

If you iPhone talks to the internet while connected to WiFi, then yes, it costs your home internet bandwidth.  If it talks to the internet outside of of WiFi range, it costs your mobile internet bandwidth.

Syncing your phone with iTunes does not use the internet, it only uses the local network.  If your phone is configured to sync with iCloud, then it is using the internet.


Reboot an Application when it Takes too Much Memory Some applications start off with small memory footprints, but slowly grow to take up way too much RAM. Is there a way I can automatically detect when an app reaches a certain threshold, and then kill and relaunch the app?

I know that I can see the memory footprint on Activity Monitor, but that doesn't seem to be AppleScript-able. I can also see an application's memory footprint by using ps aux, but its numbers don't seem to match up with Activity Monitor's.

I'd appreciate any help with this

You can try cleanMyMac. It will show you available ram and allow you to clear it. You could also create a cron job that executes sudo purge to try to fix some of these issues. (though I know that solution isn't without its detractors and skeptics)

In my opinion, Applescript itself is a huge memory hog.

I've been trying to OCR a large number of documents via an Applescript that calls Abbyy Fine Reader. It will run for about an hour and then it crashes the mac (just prior I get an error saying all available application memory has been used).

I initially thought it was an issue with Abbyy and the size of the documents. But it turns out the problem is actually applescript. The My system has 16GB of memory. But Applescript would chew through that in less than an hour with this document dump.

I even tried hacking things by creating a cronjob that executes sudo purge every couple of minutes. That helped. But ultimately not a whole lot. The only thing that freed up the memory situation was to exit from Applescript.

All this led us to switch to controlling Mac applications with ruby using the rb-scpt ruby-gem. (That gem allows us to control any applescript scriptable application via ruby).

https://rubygems.org/gems/rb-scpt/versions/1.0.1

The ruby script solution fixed the problem of repeated crashing due to lack of available memory. I've been processing these docs for days (not hours) without a single problem. My available memory hasn't budged since I started the script. (ram monitored by CleanMyMac)

Applescript is fine for small jobs. But it simply isn't up to the task of doing serious work.


Is the MAC address of my VM different to the MAC address of the host? My landlord provides my connection to the internet and they are changing their network which requires me to register my iPhone and MBA. The instructions require me to use my MAC address at some point in the process. I run a VM using Parallels and all my mail goes to MS Outlook.

Do I provide them with the MAC address from the VM (Windows 7) or from Mountain Lion? Might they be the same?

The VM will use a virtual MAC address to map to the physical device MAC Address.  Keep in mind that if you provide the MAC Address of the Wi-Fi Adapter from your MBA, that you're now locked to using that device for connectivity.  Thus, your VM will need to use that device as it's bridged connection to the internet.

You should provide the physical hardware MAC address to allow your device and your VM access to the internet.


After the Update System is still showing the Old OS After the Update System is still showing the Old OS check the screenshot

and if i click on the system update there is no os update just some other updates.check the screenshot

please help me out

This happens to me occasionally—after installing the latest update my iMac reboots and it’s still running its previous version. I just run the update again, then everything updates correctly.

Just download and install the latest macOS Sierra Update image from Apple. As of June 6th, 2017, that would be 10.12.5.


Calling a script right after opening a type of file? Does any one of you know if it's possible to call a script right after opening a file.

For example : I want to relocate QuickTime in the top-left corner right next to my dock.

I  know how to do it with AppleScript (the location thing) but how can I call this script automatically ?

This is a bit of a hack, but try watching for changes to some file that is modified when the application opens a document.

Using launchd, you could save this as ~/Library/LaunchAgents/test.plist and run launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/test.plist.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>test</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>osascript</string>
        <string>-e</string>
        <string>try
tell app "System Events" to tell process "QuickTime Player"
set position of window 1 to {500, 500}
end
end</string>
    </array>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/username/Library/Preferences/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX.LSSharedFileList.plist</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

It won't work if you open multiple documents in a row, because launchd runs programs only at most every 10 seconds.


Use AppleScript to launch and manage Quicktime Player in the background I have a Perl-based audio player that runs on OS X, and I need to update how the audio files are played.  I'd like to use AppleScript to control the QuickTime Player, because it will do what I need, but am running into a couple of problems.

First, I need the QuickTime player to launch in the background. The way my Applescript is working now, it's putting the player in the foreground, which then requires users to click back on my Perl app to keep going.

Second, I would like to have playing a new audio file reuse the existing QuickTime Player window, so that there's only one player going at any given time.  So if a song is playing, and they choose to play another song, it stops the currently playing song in the window and loads up a new one in the same window.

Here's a fairly representative sample of the AppleScript that I'm working with.  I'd love to know if there's a way to accomplish both of those goals.

set unixFile to "/Users/minter/mp3/ThomasDolby-SheBlindedMeWithScience.mp3"
set macFile to POSIX file unixFile
set fileRef to (macFile as alias)

tell application "QuickTime Player"
    open fileRef
    play the front document
end tell

delay 3

tell application "QuickTime Player"
   stop the front document
   close the front document
end tell

So when I run this AppleScript, it pops the QT player window up in front.  If I run the script again, it creates a new window.  Both of those are the problems I'm trying to solve.

Any help would be appreciated!

How about this: It's not exactly what you want, but achieves roughly the same thing.

I seem to remember pre-OS X you could activate an app and keep it from being frontmost, but that appears not to be possible these days (or I imagined it.)

to replaceFrontQTPlayerWithFile(aFile)

tell application "QuickTime Player"
    activate

    try
        set frontDoc to front document
        close front document
    on error err number errNum
        if errNum is -1719 then
            -- There is no open document
        else if errNum is -10000 then
            -- Front doc exists, but does not really...
        else
            log err
        end if
    end try

    open aFile
    play front document

    -- Hide QTP
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "h" using command down
    end tell

end tell
end replaceFrontQTPlayerWithFile

on run
    set unixFile to "/Users/diggory/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Music/Underworld/Oblivion With Bells/01 Crocodile.m4a"
    set macFile to POSIX file unixFile
    set fileRef to (macFile as alias)
    my replaceFrontQTPlayerWithFile(fileRef)
end run


On iPad or iPhone, I take a snapshot of the screen looking at the screen sideway, but the snapshot is taken to be in Portrait mode? On iPad or iPhone, I take a snapshot of the screen looking at the screen sideway (Landscape mode), but the snapshot is taken to be in Portrait mode?  So if I send this photo to a friend or post it on Facebook, it will be 90 degree off...

(I mean taking a snapshot by pressing the Power and Menu button at the same time)

Any fix or hack to make it work better?  (this also looks like a bug that might be able to go into future release of iOS)

I can upload it to the computer and use the computer to turn it 90 degree... but what if there isn't a computer around?

You should be able to rotate images imported from a camera in iOS' Photos, so the functionality is there. For some reason it's not enabled for synced images or screenshots.

Instead of using a computer you can rotate images with an app providing the functionality. I think Myles also means this approach. Some free apps capable of image rotation:

PhotoPad
Adobe Photoshop Express


Recover deleted Encrypted OS X Extended volume I accidentally formatted an external 1TB HD to FAT file system using Disk Utility in Mac OS. The disk used to be HFS+ encrypted. Encryption was done when I created the OS X Extended partition, not using File Vault.

Any chance to recover any data at all? Can I somehow recover the partition information and rebuild the table?

Under certain circumstances a deleted external HFS+ encrypted volume can be recovered after the disk has been formatted to a FAT32 volume:

The whole disk has been encrypted (to one volume).
The whole disk has been formatted to one FAT32 volume. The GUID partition table has not been replaced by an MBR. The disk still has an MBR (instead of a PMBR) though.

Some internal invisible CoreStorage data structures mustn't be overwritten.

the CoreStorage volume header structure at the (previous) volume block 0 (= disk block 409640)
a second block at the (previous)  volume block 8 (= disk block 409648)
an encrypted metadata block starting at the 577456th last block and ending at the 573360th last block (size 4096 blocks)
several Disk Label metadata items in the last 16392 blocks of the (previous) volume

If nothing has been written to the FAT32 volume those parts shouldn't be overwritten.

To recover the encrypted volume you have to use Terminal and do some math.

Detach any external drive except the mal-formatted one
Open Terminal and enter:

diskutil list

to get an overview and the disk identifier of the external disk. Below I assume the disk identifier is disk1
Make a backup of the whole disk with sudo dd if=/dev/disk1 of=/Volumes/BackupVolume_Name/disk1.bin just in case something goes wrong or for a future with advanced recovery tools.
Now get the partition table of the disk with:

sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk1

You should get a similar result as this one:

      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         MBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640       2008
     411648  133804032      2  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
  134215680       2015
  134217695         32         Sec GPT table
  134217727          1         Sec GPT header

The first partition is the EFI volume, the second the FAT32 volume of the external disk. Your partition 2 is much larger than the one in the example though.

Even if you get a different output with no GUID partition table but only an MBR

      start       size index   contents
          0          1         MBR
          1          1
          2  134217726     1   MBR part 11

you can continue: encrypting a disk with FileVault requires a GUID partition table - so your disk previously had one. The probability to recover a FAT volume on a disk with a MBR seems to be much lower though. Apparently parts (namely some metadata and volume headers) may be overwritten by FAT32 file system stuff.

The same disk containing an encrypted external HFS+ volume should look like this:

      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  133545904      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  133955544     262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  134217688          7
  134217695         32         Sec GPT table
  134217727          1         Sec GPT header

The first partition is the EFI partition with a fixed size and start block, the third one is an Apple_Boot partition with a fixed size and start block relative to the last block of the disk and the remaining disk space allocated to the encrypted Core Storage Logical Group. All partitions are aligned to the physical block size of the disk (4096 Bytes).
To restore the old partition table you have to unmount the disk, delete the actual partition table and do some math to create a new one:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk1
sudo gpt destroy /dev/disk1
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk1
sudo gpt create -f /dev/disk1
gpt add -b 40 -i 1 -s 409600 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B disk1

Now get the last block number of your disk (in my example that's 134217727) and substract 262183: LastBlockNumber-262183 is the start block of the 3rd partition (Apple_Boot). Add this partition with:

gpt add -b LastBlockNumber-262183 -i 3 -s 262144 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk1

Check the size of the unallocated disk space between partition 1 and partition 3 with:

sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk1

The size of unallocated disk space (UnAlloc) between index 1 and index 3 is probably the size of the old encrypted volume. The size has to be divisible by 8 - please check this! Add this as a partition with:

gpt add -b 409640 -i 2 -s UnAlloc -t 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk1 #with UnAlloc= size of unallocated disk space found above

After entering the last command you should be asked for password of the encrypted disk. if not then try:

diskutil cs list

to get a list of CoreStorage items. Try to mount the encrypted volume with:

diskutil cs unlockVolume LVUUID

with LVUUID: the UUID of the encrypted Logical Volume (usually the last one listed). If your main volume is also encrypted choose the proper LVUUID!

If the volume mounts successfully save the most important files and folders to an external volume because mounting the encrypted volume doesn' t necessarily mean that the volume isn't corrupted.

Unmount the volume and run diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk1 and diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk1. The last command may completely corrupt the disk!

This might still fail. The encrypted volume may still be recoverable though. But then I need more information, because special (invisible) non-file system items have to been read directly from disk with a HexEditor and then restored/replaced.


Applescript error -10000 when saving Mail attachments in Mojave 10.4.6 My script for the Mail app saves attachments from each message. It was working fine and suddenly started generating this error in macOS 10.14.6 Mojave:

--> error "To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info." number -10000

The script line that resulted in this error was:

save mail attachment id "2" of message id 33167 of mailbox "Trash Later" in "/Volumes/Backup/email attachments/ATT00001.jpg"

I tried changing the permissions of the target folder using "chmod 775" but no luck.
Apple's documentation has this cryptic description of the error:

-10000 The Apple event handler failed.

Any suggestions?

Following a hunch that it had to do with the steadily increasing new permissions requests, I added the "Script Editor" app to this preference:
System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Full Disk Access

The error -10000 disappeared and the script is back to saving attachments.
I'll update if the error returns.


Are all bluetooth keyboards slow to respond? I've been given a MacBook Pro (now running macOS High Sierra 10.13.6), and a third-party bluetooth keyboard. I have a number of issues with the keyboard:

it's not very sensitive - many keystrokes get missed
if I leave the computer for a few minutes I have to wait about 10 seconds before I can use the keyboard again
it disconnects while I'm typing
the function keys are not affected by the keyboard setting in System Settings (I always have to press fn+ a function key, although the built-in keyboard is affected

I have a couple of wireless keyboards for my Windows PCs, and they don't have any of the above problems. I spoke to an Apple retailer, and they told me I would have all the same issues with a genuine Apple Magic Keyboard. I find it incredible that Apple would sell such an inferior product. I don't want to spend AU$179 just to find out I still have all the same problems.

Was what I was told by the Apple retailer accurate that a genuine Apple Magic Keyboard would have all the same issues?

No! What you have been told is simply not true!

I have been using Apple Wireless keyboards for 8 or 9 years and have not experienced these problems. Neither have I experienced similar problems with a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.

That said, without further troubleshooting it's impossible to say why you're having these problems. It could well be that the issue has nothing to do with your keyboard and something else is at play here, but the simplest way to rule that out is to try another wireless keyboard and see what happens.


MacOS High Sierra : Xcode failed to download Use the purchase page Error during installing Xcode 9.3 Yesterday I update MacOS Sierra to MacOS High Sierra than I remove xCode 9.2 after that when I try to install xCode 9.3 from App Store, It gives me below error:

Xcode failed to download, Use the purchase page to try again
I tried below solutions.

1. Remove Account and again add it.

2. https://gist.github.com/ferbass/3ecc06a8ae992365bf73

3. Xcode failed to download. Use the Purchases page to try again (But There's no Debug menu in MacOS High Sierra)

4. Try to install xCode with Different account but facing same error.

5. Other Applications are downloadable but facing error only in xCode installation.

below are screenshots

I had the same issue and finally got this working, however I'm not sure exactly which step made it work, so I'm posting all of them.

From How to fix / Reset App Store app on Mac OSX - El Capitan:

Delete:

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.appstore
~/Library/Caches/storeaccount
~/Library/Caches/storeassets
~/Library/Caches/storedownload
~/Library/Caches/storeinappd

I didn't have some of those folders, but I did have a couple of extras that looked fishy, so I deleted them too:

~/Library/Caches/storeassetd
~/Library/Caches/storedownloadd

Run sudo softwareupdate --clear-catalog [Note: I did this but I don't think it helped]

From http://osxdaily.com/2016/10/08/mac-app-store-temp-cache-folder/ (paraphrasing):

Quit out of the Mac App Store
Open Terminal and run open $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/
Hit Return and the com.apple.appstore folder will open in the Finder of Mac OS
Delete the contents of this folder

And finally:

Navigate to ~/Applications in Finder and move Xcode to the Trash [Note: This step was necessary for me, but ymmv]
Reboot
Launch App Store. Search for Xcode. Install it fresh.


Can anyone access Time Machine backups from a stolen HDD? My external drive with all my Time Machine backups has been stolen. Can anyone access this data or will they need my Apple ID and/or password?

Short answer - assume YES, and immediately change all your account details, Apple and email ID, cloud access etc. I would also inform your bank, online stores and everyone in your contact book (that they might receive a false comm purporting to be you).

Even with an encrypted drive, forensic level software and hacks (as used by the Police / Military and available to download), can circumvent most protection. For example, I would start by putting the HDD in any Mac, interrupt boot and attempt to change the encryption / Apple ID at root level. This will circumvent an Admin account password / provide access to the keychain on a Mac and it might work for the physical drive if I got lucky. Or I would try replacing the HDD's circuit board with one from an identical model - if the encryption is managed through memory on the board, its now gone.

Having said this, criminals generally fall into too categories, dumb / impatient in which case they wont bother with an encrypted device or capable in which case they will probably be into the data within 24 hours.

When we remove a drive (at work) with any sensitive client data, we physically destroy the internals and spread the pieces or incinerate them. You should bear this in mind if selling your Mac also. Wiped does not mean unrecoverable. Always remove the drive.


How do I access the files in a deleted user account? /Users/Abby is the home folder of a user account that has been deleted. Check out the screenshot:

While logged in as work (which is no longer an account I use for work, but I can't be bothered to change the name of the home folder), the files in /Users/Abby are do-not-enter.

I want to get into them to see if I've left any stuff behind, but I can't log in as Abby (since the user has been deleted).

While we're here, I'm not completely sure how I managed to delete this user account without deleting its home folder (or putting its home folder in a Deleted Users folder). This all seems... quite odd.

I did all this user deletin' and messin' around in Lion and have since upgraded to Mountain Lion.

Here's a few different ways you can access the old user's files:

Recreate the deleted account, and log in with it:

In System Preferences > Users & Groups, click the padlock icon and then the plus button to create a new user
name the User "Abby" - the OS should ask you if you want to use the existing home folder - choose to do so
from the Apple menu, choose "Log out"
log in as "Abby" and you will have access to the old account again

Use the "System Administrator" account to access the files:

navigate to the folder "/System/Library/CoreServices/" and open "Directory Utility.app"
Click the padlock
in the "Edit" menu, choose "Enable root user"
from the Apple menu, choose "Log out"
log in as "System Administrator" (or "root") and you will have access to the files in "/Users/Abby"

Change the permissions of the old home folder:

Right-click the "/Users/Abby" folder and choose "Get Properties"
Click the padlock at the very bottom of the "Get Info" window
Click the "+" button at the very bottom of the "Get Info" window
Select your current account from the users list
Give your current user (at the very bottom of the "Get Info" window) to have "Read & Write" privs
From the gear menu choose "make (me) the owner"
From the gear menu choose "Apply to enclosed items..."

If you want information on how this occurred, I just answered a similar question yesterday


After typing sudo I can no longer autocomplete commands by pressing Tab In a Terminal, if I type beginning of any command by pressing tab I can see the rest of that command.

However this feature does not work with any words I type after sudo.

How can I complete command names even after I write sudo?

OS X has not turned ON as many completion possibilities at the guys behind Ubuntu. In order to add autocompletion to sudo, you should simply add to the file $HOME/.bash_profile

complete -cf sudo

The description of complete and its options is briefly defined in the bash built-in commands manual page (see man bash). Although the -c and -f commands are not obviously detailed, one can find their description under the "-A action" explanation.


How to access Keychain of my user from cron? security list-keychains print:

"/Users/vitaly-zdanevich/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"

but the same command from cron return:

"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"

from cron I tried

security default-keychain -s "/Users/vitaly-zdanevich/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db && security list-keychains"

but result is the same.

In the help of cli-utility security I did not found any other way to explicitly set the path to the db.

Yes I know that Apple says that better way is to use launchd instead of cron, but I сurious to know - it is possible to manipulate my Keychain from cron?

Read the --help of the command that you intended to use:

$ security delete-generic-password --help
delete-generic-password: illegal option -- -
Usage: delete-generic-password [-a account] [-s service] [options...] [keychain...]
    -a  Match "account" string
    -c  Match "creator" (four-character code)
    -C  Match "type" (four-character code)
    -D  Match "kind" string
    -G  Match "value" string (generic attribute)
    -j  Match "comment" string
    -l  Match "label" string
    -s  Match "service" string
If no keychains are specified to search, the default search list is used.
        Delete a generic password item.

so the solution is:

* * * * * security delete-internet-password -l 'git-codecommit.us-east-1.amazonaws.com' '/Users/vitaly-zdanevich/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db'

last arg string - is it the path to the Keychain db.


Cannot unlock Users & Groups settings I was making some changes recently, trying to rename my user account from the macOS High Sierra System Preferences, and it seems I've locked myself out from making any changes to Users & Groups now.

When I click the lock icon (Click the lock to make changes) I am prompted for a User Name and Password. No matter what I input in these fields I am unable to unlock the preferences. I am sure I know my user account, otherwise I wouldn't be able to log into the computer, and there is only 1 user on my Mac.

I've also tried with:

sudo dscl . -merge /Groups/admin GroupMembership <username>
Password:
<username> is not in the sudoers file.  This incident will be reported.

So it seems the name change is causing a mismatch between what's in the sudoers file, so I basically have no user with admin access right now.

Does anyone know how I can reset these, even from the command line?
Thanks in advance!

You're best bet is probably to just boot into macOS Recovery mode and then use the resetpassword command in Terminal to reset your password.

More specifically:

Power off your Mac
Boot into Recovery Mode by holding down the CommandR keys while powering up your Mac
If prompted, select your language and press enter
Go to Utilities > Terminal.
Enter resetpassword (all one word, lowercase letters)
Press Return
Select the drive with your account (typically the main drive)
Choose your account using Select the User Account.
Enter a new password
Re-enter the same password
Enter a password hint
Click Save
Ignore the warning about the password changing
Click OK.
Shutdown your Mac by going to Apple > Shut Down
Restart your Mac normally and use the new password to log into your account
Once logged in, test to see whether you can unlock the Users & Groups preferences pane

Next steps

If you still can't unlock the Users & Groups preferences pane after the above steps, it may well be that you have no Admin account on your Mac. If so, refer to the following for further info:

I don't have administrator account on my mac
From Standard to Administrator


Interpreting constant kernal panic I have very frequent kernel panic calls.

Here is a report on one of them.

I have no idea what is causing it.

Fri Jun 27 11:21:45 2014
panic(cpu 1 caller 0xffffff7fad305f7c): "GPU Panic: [<None>] 3 0 a0 d9 9 8 0 3 : NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000100: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0x102c00000 0xffffff813c9b8000 0x0e7150a2, D0, P3/4\n"@/SourceCache/AppleGraphicsControl/AppleGraphicsControl-3.5.26/src/AppleMuxControl/kext/GPUPanic.cpp:127
Backtrace (CPU 1), Frame : Return Address
[…]
      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
         com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[B889D3AB-CCC0-3FCD-A83E-D2E3E4CB537B]@0xffffff7fab95b000->0xffffff7fab992fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[244D4E48-78E6-3369-8D76-285C66EF9BF4]@0xffffff7fab6be000
         com.apple.driver.AppleMuxControl(3.5.26)[B67CD59F-1344-37BC-8A9A-46D6D3DCA13D]@0xffffff7fad2f7000->0xffffff7fad30afff
            dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl(3.5.26)[C0F9A79F-167E-3A68-873C-5CE17B97FB11]@0xffffff7fad2ef000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily(1.4)[045D5D6F-AD1E-36DB-A249-A346E2B48E54]@0xffffff7fac2f2000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[244D4E48-78E6-3369-8D76-285C66EF9BF4]@0xffffff7fab6be000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[B889D3AB-CCC0-3FCD-A83E-D2E3E4CB537B]@0xffffff7fab95b000
            dependency: com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert(1.0.4)[E04639C5-D734-3AB3-A682-FE66694C6653]@0xffffff7fad2f2000
         com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman(8.2.6)[DB59C243-61DE-3B0C-86C3-6D89446F6F14]@0xffffff7fab9b4000->0xffffff7fabc27fff
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[244D4E48-78E6-3369-8D76-285C66EF9BF4]@0xffffff7fab6be000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.4.1)[B93BBFC9-9ED5-3DDD-8CED-5EDA081BB997]@0xffffff7fab99e000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[B889D3AB-CCC0-3FCD-A83E-D2E3E4CB537B]@0xffffff7fab95b000
            dependency: com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl(3.5.26)[E971FED4-805F-3462-9D93-1919EBE3DC82]@0xffffff7fab9ae000
         com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAGK100Hal(8.2.6)[AE5D65B5-1E26-3509-97B9-C68D97C21143]@0xffffff7fabc33000->0xffffff7fabddffff
            dependency: com.apple.nvidia.driver.NVDAResman(8.2.6)[DB59C243-61DE-3B0C-86C3-6D89446F6F14]@0xffffff7fab9b4000
            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[244D4E48-78E6-3369-8D76-285C66EF9BF4]@0xffffff7fab6be000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: WindowServer

Mac OS version:
13D65

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 13.2.0: Thu Apr 17 23:03:13 PDT 2014; root:xnu2422.100.13~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: ADD73AE6-88B0-32FB-A8BB-4F7C8BE4092E
Kernel slide:     0x000000002ae00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff802b000000
System model name: MacBookPro10,1 (Mac-C3EC7CD22292981F)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 3525601653

last loaded kext at 3285490337: com.apple.filesystems.autofs    3.0 (addr 0xffffff7faca77000, size 45056)
loaded kexts:
[…]

Lets try to narrow it down.

Start in Safe mode (hold shift) to exclude the GPU and 3d party
Use Apple Hardware Test (hold D) to check for problems
Reset your NVRAM
last not least reinstall osx


Disable auto-save in Preview (only Preview): Mojave edition This has been asked before, on earlier OS versions, but doesn't seem to have gained satisfactory answers. I'm looking for a way to disable auto-save in Preview (only).

Background:

In OS X Lion, Apple introduced the concept of Auto-saving, Versioning and Restore (or Persistence, in which an application would reload the documents it previously had opened).

This works well for certain types of application, e.g. document-creation apps, but not for Preview, where users might not want to modify original images and PDFs, but rather to make changes to copies. It can also be easy to make accidental edits, immediately over-writing the original.

It used to be possible to prevent auto-save in Preview with the following Terminal command:

defaults write -app Preview ApplePersistence -bool no

However, this no longer seems to work, notably because Apple changed the default preference for all apps to close windows at Quit, instead of persisting on relaunch. Apple also seems to have split Auto-save and Persistence as two separate options, whereas previously they were intertwined.

I can of course set System Preferences > General to Ask to Keep Changes when Closing a Document. This works, but disables Auto-save on all applications. Checking this preference sets NSCloseAlwaysConfirmsChange in .GlobalPreferences from false to true. However, trying this key-value pair in Preview's own plist doesn't set the behaviour just for Preview.

In short: I'm asking if anyone knows a method which might disable auto-save only in Preview, without my having to lock all my original image files.

I guess it may be that I have to use some other image viewer and editor, though there aren't many that fill Preview's shoes, because Preview already exists. (The alternative is to knock up a read-only version of Preview in Xcode...)

Per Turning Off Auto Saving In TextEdit And Other Mac Apps on the "Mac Tricks and Tips" website:
Open System Preferences
Go to "General"
Enable "Ask to keep changes when closing documents"


Will use of FireVault reduce lifetime of SSD? I want to setup my FileVault in Retina MacBook Pro 13. Will it reduce lifetime of my SSD a lot?

I can't see file vault impacting the life of the drive since it's a block level encryption and doesn't add or subtract any overhead in terms of what data is written.

Put another way, if you asked - "Does writing 80% zeroes to a drive reduce the life of the drive over writing 80% ones?" the answer would also be no. The life of the drive is based on power on hours and write volume and not the exact values of the data being written.


How Can I Stop My Mac From Reopening Applications After A Power Failure? I live in the woods and lose power frequently. When this happens, MacOS tries to restore every application that was open when the power went out. I don't want it to do this. How do i prevent this from happening.

Please note, i am not asking about preventing apps from opening after a restart.

Hold shift whilst logging in to temporarily disable Resume from re-opening applications.

Apple KB article: Automatically re-open windows, apps, and documents on your Mac


Add student status to Apple store app I am a student who also has the iOS Apple Store App on their iPhone.

Is there a way in viewing and buying products with a student discount through the app or can I only use my student discount on apple.com/uk?

It's currently not possible to use the education store on the Apple Store app and you'll need to use the website.


How to log wifi speed and strength? My wifi drops out multiple times per hour. It says it is connected but it goes to 1kb/s up and down and nothing works until I turn wifi off, then back on. Then it will work until it doesn't.

I want to log the speed and strength so I can diagnos and maybe use to convince my ISP that they have an issue (they provide the connection and the wireless router).

What app can log the speed and strength of a wifi connection? I googled but only found Windows bloatware type apps.

You can follow Apple's own steps on how to diagnose your WiFi connection. You can look specifically for the report section in that page, which explains how to and where to save the resulting data.

As a TL;DR, look in Spotlight for Wireless Diagnostics and click Window in the menu bar, there go to Logs.


OSX Mavericks doesn't reboot/shutdown/logout from menubar sudo reboot or sudo halt works when executed from terminal. But, Apple Logo -> Shutdown/Restart/Log Out User doesn't work. Strangely, Apple Logo -> Sleep works.

I've executed bunch of defaults write and setting changes in the Terminal recently, and I'm not sure which one triggered this problem. Unfortunately, I didn't take any snapshots or backed up original state.

Which files should I look into regarding the enable/disable of reboot/shutdown/logout from menubar?

How do I fix this, or where do I start looking?

Since no one knows what you did in Terminal in the past your best option is:

Reinstall Mavericks from AppleStore.

It will not temper with you personal data.

It will however rest any changes you made to the system and preferences.

see this for instructions how to.


What happens to your voicemail greeting when you "erase all contents and settings?" I've run into an interesting scenario that hadn't crossed my mind before.  One of our employees is preparing to leave the organization.  She will be turning in her iPhone and is requesting that we remove all of the data from it.  Not a problem, Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Contents & Settings will do the trick.

However, she has recommended that we leave a voicemail greeting (the clip people hear when they reach your voicemail) with a notice that the caller should call our main number rather than wait on a response from her phone number.  This makes sense, but I'm not sure if that greeting will be wiped as well when we clear her phone.

I suspect that the greeting is stored on the carrier's end, rather than locally on the iPhone, but I'd like to check first.  Does anyone know for sure?

Make back up.

Scan your Mac to locate iPhone backups. Then locate the voicemail greeting by going to this location:

System Files/Home Domain/Library/Voicemail

Inside the Voicemail folder locate the greeting.amr file. Select it and click the Export button to save a copy on your Mac’s Desktop. Double-click this file to listen to it to make sure it’s the file you want to retrieve. If so, you’re now ready to restore this file to your iPhone.


How can 3 different Apple Music users share the same Apple TV? (family or not family plan) I have a 4th generation Apple TV, and listen to Apple Music on my watch (with bluetooth) and my iPhone.

I want to prevent anyone who uses the Apple TV from playing or saving music that changes my "For You" playlist on the TV. (this seems to be a curated list of songs that is based on my past listening history).

How can I separate users on a shared Apple TV?  ... or is Apple TV supposed to be used for a single person?

You can set up multiple Apple ID's on the Apple TV and have each user switch every time they use it.

You may opt to create a separate/new account that you leave signed in, so that somebody doesn't accidentally use yours (requiring you to sign in and out of your account every time).

  How to add multiple accounts to Apple TV

  Before you can use multiple accounts, you need to log into any and all
  additional accounts you want available.

  Launch Settings from your Home screen. Click on Accounts. Click on
  iTunes and App Store. Click on Add new Apple ID. Enter the additional
  Apple ID username. Click on Continue. Enter the additional Apple ID
  password. Click on Sign In.

  How to switch between multiple accounts on Apple TV

  While you have multiple accounts you can only use one account at a
  time. That means switching!

  Launch Settings from your Home screen. Click on Accounts. Click on
  iTunes and App Store. Click on the account you want to use.

  You'll now be able to download or re-download any apps or content
  available on that account.

  Family Sharing

  Multiple accounts work with Family Sharing, so kids can switch to
  their accounts and "ask to buy" just like on iPhone or iPad.


Mac OS X 10.6.8 server migration to new hardware (not Lion) I have a aging iMac with 10.6.8 server, user accounts in OD, and user shares.  We have a newer mac mini with 10.6.8 server that I want to transfer over to.  Can you tell me the steps/document to help me accomplish this?  I see the apple doc for xfer to Lion, but not 10.6.8

Using Migration Assistant in 10.6 you should be able to do this fairly easily.

Check out the following KB article from Apple : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413


Add admin username & password to the keychain How can the admin's username password, be remembered or added it to the keychain so these annoying prompts would be less frequent?

The app referenced here (Anvil) is not relevant.
I'm looking for a way to loosen up the the prompts for credentials.

You can go about this the other way around.

Open Keychain Access and find the items you need and modify that item so that the app in question is white listed for the password or credential being used.

Once you are in Access Control - you can white list certain apps or all apps. This can be automated if the dialog has an "always remember" or "don't ask again" check mark so that the ACL can be set properly without needing to enter Keychain Access from the back end on a case by case basis.


How can I use the full resolution of a Macbook Pro Retina 15"? It is supposed to be a 2880 x 1800 pixel display, but System Preferences won't let me set it higher than 1920 x 1200.

Go to System Preferences -> Display.
By default, it should have been at full resolution, but if not, then
Select manually the resolution to 2880x1800.


How to sync position, bookmarks and notes over iCloud on ePub books I recently bought several ePub books from the Humble Bundle and from Smashing Magazine, hoping that I would be able to side load them into iBooks and then use iCloud to sync position, bookmarks, highlights and notes. I read that this should be possible here: http://blog.robertsalsbury.com/2012/08/15/ibooks-annotation-epub-and-icloud-syncing/

However after downloading the same files on my 2 devices (an iPad mini and an iPhone) this is not working. Nothing is getting synced!

Has the feature been removed, or am I missing something?

By the way I do not, nor will I ever want to, plug in my devices to my Mac. iCloud all the way for me.

Edit: I am using the latest version of iOS (6.0.1) and the latest version of iBooks (3.0.2) on both devices, and am logged in to the same iCloud account. I have some purchased books in my library and they are syncing fine.

I finally got this working by signing out and signing in again in the iBookstore. It then asked me if I wanted to sync, I said yes, but it still didn't work, so I went to Settings and saw that the sync switches were off, and now it works. Phew!


Can an iPhone 6s Plus battery be recharged after going real dead I just bought a new iPhone 6 four days ago and hardly used except to browse first page, never paid attention to the battery until really dead.

Can an iPhone 6s Plus battery be recharged?
Ive been trying recharging both from the plug and laptop and still no sign of power on.

Yes, iPhone batteries normally can be charged after going dead (especially after only a few days). It can often take several minutes before coming on.

Since your phone hasn't come on yet, it could indicate a hardware problem and you should take it to an authorized Apple store.


Is there any way to upgrade a mid 2007 iMac to macOS Sierra? I recently got this used iMac, and was hoping I could use it for development work. I had an old Mac OS X Snow Leopard install disk, which I used to upgrade as far as OS X El Capitan, and wasn't able to get farther than that.

At the time I thought this was fine; after all El Capitan isn't that old, right?

But apparently I was wrong. I've been working with Xcode recently, and everything was going fine until I started trying to install and use CocoaPods.

Most of the pods nowadays have been updated to work with Xcode 9, and (only by a few little details), are not backwards-compatible with Xcode 8.2.1 (the farthest I've been able to get).

So, currently I see two ways to solve the problem (other than buying a new Mac, which I don't have money to do).

I could find a way to install macOS Sierra (preferred).

I've looked into the MacOS Sierra patcher program, but this computer isn't supported.
I'm absolutely willing to try a hardware upgrade. What do you guys think about this post on iFixit? It uses the same EMC as my Mac.
I could find a way to upgrade to a newer version of Xcode (9 or later)

This solves the current problem, but not others that I've encountered as well.

Here is the EveryMac page for my Mac. Any help with either of these would be great.

OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 is the last supported release of macOS for your model of iMac. The latest release of Xcode that can be installed on your machine is Xcode 8.2.1 with macOS 10.12.2 SDK and iOS 10.2 SDK.

It is not officially possible to install macOS Sierra or use Xcode 9 (or later) on your iMac.


Can a 2nd Generation iPod Touch be upgraded past 2.2.1? I've got an iPod Touch 2nd Gen.  It has Software Version 2.2.1.  When I click 'Check for Update' in iTunes it says it's already running the latest version.

Is iTunes right?  I thought I could update to iOS 4 (I only want to upgrade so I can get Bluetooth on the thing so I can use it in the car).

Yes, it can. My 2nd gen touch is running 4.2.1 just fine and dandy. (It appears that, like the iPhone 3G, they won't get 4.3, though.)

I'd recommend to download the 4.2.1 update from Apple directly and option-restore the update to your device.


I can't add video to a Keynote on iOS I have a movie/video on my iPad.  It is located in the video file (not the photo album).  When I go to Keynote presentation to add this particular video and click on media, all that comes up are photo albums so I can't seem to access this video in the video file and therefore can't add it to Keynote.  What to do?

Yes, it's possible, but your video must be in one of the photo albums or your Camera Roll.

In Keynote, tap the Add Object icon at the top-right of the display in Keynote for iOS:

Tap the Media tab in the selection screen that appears.
Tap the photo album that contains your video.
Tap the video thumbnail you want.
Tap Choose.

The thumbnail for the video will be placed on the slide and will play when tapped on.


Photos are being swapped between both iphones I had iphone4 which I sent overseas to a friend. And I purchased iphone5 which I am using. Just lately I've been getting his photos that he takes and photos which I take of my family are going to his "gallery". I am not sure why but pls help. I need to know why this is happening and what I can do to stop this.

When you sent your iPhone 4 to your friend, the device was not properly wiped first. As a result, all of your accounts are most likely still signed in on his device.

The best recommendation is to completely erase the device. To do this instruct your friend to go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. This will wipe the phone and restore it to factory settings. Your friend can then proceed through setup and plug in his own accounts.

If your friend is not willing to wipe the entire device, I recommend he signs out of all of your accounts. He will want to go to all of the following places to do so:

Settings > iCloud
Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Settings > Messages
Settings > FaceTime
Settings > iTunes & App Stores
Settings > Music

You may also have apps that were left installed on your iPhone with your account signed in as well (Facebook and Twitter, for example), that you may want to also check.


External Disk not recognized, can't unmount, cannot erase I have an external drive which is only recognised running diskutil list in Terminal, not in the GUI version or Finder:

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk1
1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
2:                  Apple_HFS Backup                  250.0 GB   disk1s2
3:       Microsoft Basic Data XHDD                    249.6 GB   disk1s3

I have tried the following:

diskutil verifyDisk disk1

Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting
Error: -69808: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup

diskutil verifyVolume disk1sn
diskutil repairVolume disk1sn

Error starting file system verification for (bad disk ref): Disk object invalid or unable to serialize (-69810)

diskutil repairDisk disk1

Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
Error: -69808: Some information was unavailable during an internal lookup

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ Untitled disk1

Error: -69888: Couldn't unmount disk
or:
Error: -69877: Couldn't open device

For the first error I did subsequently:

diskutil unmountDisk force disk1

Which most of the time was sucessful. If not, I even tried to find processes that interfered with the drive (found here: stackex/os-x-cant-unmount-disk)

sudo lsof|grep disk1

Which did not find any processes.

In fact, now i can't even get to the unmountable part and alwas get the:

Error: -69877: Couldn't open device

Is this thing really done or is there more to do here?

When the command line cannot erase the disk, it’s time to reseat and replace all cables or take that drive to another Mac to eliminate a hardware failure.

You are using the correct erase syntax so this is major macOS side failure (unlikely but certainly possible) or hardware failure (likely).


Can I browse all the words in single list view in the Mavericks dictionary? So I'm riding the Mavericks to a rodeo - OS X 10.9.2 :)

The built-in dictionary is way cool, but is there a way to browse all the words in the dictionary? Like, there will be a list of all words on the left of the screen, from "A" to the very last word, say "zygote (or not^^)". So can I browse all words, rather than look up a certain word?

I think the best you can do in the built-in Dictionary.app is type a single letter in the search box, like "a" and get a list of up to a 1000 words that begin with it.

You could also write a simple app of your own and use Apple's API for accessing the system dictionaries: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/DictionaryServicesProgGuide/access/access.html


Macports cccc terminates when run - how to solve One tool I really appreciate when analyzing source code for software is Sourcemonitor, but unfortunately it is only available on windows.  Having searched around for alternatives on my mac, it seems that cccc is a tool that fits the bill.

I installed it via macports but it terminates when I run it.  This is the error I get:

Parsing
libc++abi.dylib: terminate called throwing an exception
Abort trap: 6

Does anyone know of a way to fix this error?

Because I don't know your story, there's possible issues which can be found over Google:

You've installed MacPorts then upgraded your OS
You've installed MacPorts then upgraded XCode where produced ABI by compiler has been changed (such as migration from gcc to clang)
You've built some libraries from ports with one compiler, other part with different one (e.g. some library has been built with clang and later you've switched to gcc).

In these cases the best you can do is reinstalling your MacPorts from scratch without mixing compilers.


Why do some characters are not displaying correctly in this website? If I go to this website: https://www.w3schools.com/charsets/ref_utf_misc_symbols.asp I can see some of the first glyphs, but later down the page most are missing.

In their place, I can only see the "missing character" glyph, which looks like an empty block.

What does this happen? Am I missing some font? Should I install some extra font in my Mac OS?

Is this the expected behavior of my OS, or is it a bug?

By the way, the above website's glyphs render just fine in any other OS I've tried (both Linux and Windows).

Browser: Latest Chrome
OS version: High Sierra 10.13.6

You presumably need to download and add a font.  Try Symbola.

If you have an iOS device, I think you should find the same behavior.  Apple's supplied fonts do not cover all of Unicode, which has well over 100,000 characters.

To check whether your MacOS has a font covering a specific character, you can open Character Viewer (Edit > Emoji and Symbols), select Unicode, and find the hex number.


iMac display has discolored tan lines I have a 24 inch, mid-2007 iMac purchased used. I don't know the original owner and it's out of warranty.

On the display is a series of tan or yellowish horizontal lines - all an approximate inch apart, for a total of about eight or so. The spacing between is regular. They're wider (about an inch wide) at the left and right edges of the screen and taper to nothing at the middle of the screen. They are particularly noticeable on light-colored or white backgrounds, such as a Pages document, most web sites, etc.

I'm certainly open to disassembling the iMac and getting at whatever it may be (the onboard GPU?) that's causing the problem. In fact I have opened the machine for an HD replacement and fanned and cleaned, but to no result.

I also use smcFanControl to boost the fans, as I thought it may be poor cooling in the machine, but this has no effect.

Does any one have ideas or suggestions as to what is causing these discolored lines?

This looks like a backlight uniformity issue.

This is where the screen isn't being evenly lit by the CCFL bulbs behind it. Some of them are outputting differing amounts of light and cause this perceived 'discolouration'. The lighter colours really do show it.

Unfortunately, this is one of the disadvantages of a CCFL backlight system as opposed to something like LED backlighting - backlight uniformity can become an issue, especially with time.

You'd be looking at a screen replacement - outside of warranty, that's gonna cost you.


How can I get the original Sierra installer now that High Sierra is out? I can’t find the installer and presume Apple deleted the Mac OS Sierra installer from the app store search as well as our collective purchased apps pages.

I'm running Sierra at the moment, and I upgraded from lion.

How can I get the previous Sierra installer now, in case my update to High Sierra goes wrong?

If you downloaded the Sierra installer before using your Apple ID, you should be able to download it again using the Purchases tab in the Mac App Store. If the installer does not show up in that list, try downloading it directly from the Mac App Store.

I do want to point out that it’s quite easy to reinstall macOS in case something goes wrong while updating. Just make sure you have a backup (e.g. with Time Machine) and you should be fine. In case something does go wrong, press and hold the power button to force you Mac to shutdown. Turn it on and immediately press and hold cmd + R until you see the Apple logo. You should now be able to reset your Mac from there.


How do you get Messages to go online automatically during login? How do I get Messages to go online when I start my Mac? It does start automatically but doesn't go online automatically. Any idea how?

PS:
I should mention that I am not talking about iMessage but the Messages chat application that lets you interface with gtalk, yahoo messenger etc.

Two ways to do this.

First, if you have messages set up in notifications, then you'll get your messages even if Messages is closed (and you can send messages from the notifications as well).

Second, if you actually want to launch Messages at login, add Messages to your Login Items list in the User & Groups system preference.


iMessage on Mac not working when using VPN iMessage stopped working properly when I use VPN on my Macbook Pro (Mavericks), making me unable to send or receive messages.

It says the user is not registered and highlighted in red/pink, but after I disconnect VPN, everything works fine.

Make sure TCP port 5223 is open through the VPN—this port is required by iMessage.


Apple's display adapters over USB-C/Thunderbolt adapter I just got a new MBP, and I bought a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, assuming I could use the VGA, DVI and Ethernet adapters that I already had, so I would only have to buy 1 adapter instead of 3 more expensive ones.

The ethernet adapter doesn't seem to work, and I can't get picture using the DVI or VGA adapters. I'm having trouble finding documentation - is that setup supposed to work? If so, what should I check?

That's the way it's "supposed" to work, but judging by the reviews on both Apple's own website and on Amazon, (two and three stars respectively), it's not doing so well.

There is however, the Cable Matters Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt Adapter that gets high reviews though (IMO) is not as good looking as the Apple design.  Though for me, it could look like a brick as long as it worked.

That said, generally speaking, I don't like converting signals, it's just another potential point of failure; instead I like going from "native connection to native connection" so it not only reduces the number of physical conversions, but the protocol conversions as well.  While this will be a sore spot with many of Apple customers that invested heavily in adapters for their previous generation MacBooks, the consensus is that USB-C is here to stay.

Your best bet is to put those older adapters up on eBay and get new ones.


How can I make Logitech a 4K PRO MAGNETIC WEBCAM work with a mid-2011 Mac mini? I have a Logitech 4K PRO MAGNETIC WEBCAM which I bought to use with a mid-2011 Mac mini, 2.3 GHz, running High Sierra.
I've used an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter and a Thunderbolt cable to plug the webcam in, using the Thunderbolt 2 port of the Mac mini.

It is built to work with the Apple Pro Display XDR. I inferred from the technical specs that it should work with other hardware like 2018 MacBook Pro, just not at 4K so I hope my inference holds for my Mac.

I hoped the adaptor would overcome the lack of a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port on my Mac mini; the Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter is fully bidirectional for many other devices.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/HMUC2Z/A/logitech-4k-pro-magnetic-webcam-for-pro-display-xdr
https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/4k-pro-magnetic-webcam

However, it does not work. If I run an app like Photo Booth it says, 'There is no connected camera.' I do not see the webcam in system information. Apparently, it should appear under Privacy settings, if nowhere else.

What can I do to make it work, please?

I appreciate that I'm not running the latest OS, however, the latest one is Catalina, and presumably the webcam will work on the version after Catalina, as well as continuing to work on Catalina, so I don't see 'latest OS' as being restrictive.

Thanks to Steve Chambers and bmike.
Logitech did respond after a little while, and advised that I return the webcam. I returned it to the Apple shop, which reimbursed me.


Sign out of YouTube on iPhone video app uploader I uploaded a video to my YouTube account from a friend's iPhone.  Now I want to to sign out so that he can upload videos from his own account, but it's no longer prompting to login to a YouTube account or giving an option to log out, it's just leaving my account signed in.  Help?  Thanks.

Start the YouTube app on the iPhone
Select ".../More" at the bottom right
Select "Sign out" at the top left


Inactive memory vs swapping I'm trying to process a large dataset in java, and so I set my -Xmx11G.

1 thing I observed is, when I use xmx and the Jvm starts, the amount of inactive memory jumps up by about that much. Later, I see my swap file jumps up, but my inactive memory still has about 7gb left. Why is the os not utilizing the inactive memory but insteads swap out to disk???

The general answer is that Java's pattern of memory usage differs from other apps as it uses garbage collection in a fixed size memory thus getting all the memory it might use up front rather than getting it when it is needed..

The start is the JVM allocating the memory, then I think its garbage collection tends to access the memory often or else you have allocated the large Java dataset and only accessing part of it. Thus the 11G of memory is accessed but not often enough to be marked as active. A C based program won't have a background thread looking at all the pages of memory so pages can be inactive long enough to be swapped out.

From experience albeit on other OSs Java really slows down if any of its memory is swapped and you adjust the size of its VM so it does not. If you need more memory then get more RAM or alter the algorithm to use less.


Mount Ext4 on El Capitan I recently installed OS X 10.11 on my Mac.

I tried to read a SD card with an Ext4 partition which wasn't even shown in Disk Utility, although diskutil did show it as a Linux partition.

I can't seem to mount the partition (the mount command seems to have changed, but I haven't explored this fully).

I had FUSE for OS X installed and updated to 2.8.1.
I also had fuse-ext2, but even though this was shown in Preferences, it shows "Not Installed".
I tried to re-install from the sourceforge site, but got the following error:-

This package is incompatible with this version of OS X and may fail to install.

Has anyone any solution to allow Ext4 partitions to be mounted.

Try using ext4fuse.

ext4fuse This is a read-only implementation of ext4 for FUSE. The main reason this exists is to be able to read linux partitions from OSX. However, it should work on top of any FUSE implementation.

Basic usage, where N and M in /dev/diskNsM are the disk and partition numbers (such as 7 and 1) of your Ext4 ("Linux") data. You can find these appropriate numbers for your machine in OS X' Disk Utility or by running diskutil list on the command line.
mkdir -p "$HOME/tmp/my-linux-mount"
ext4fuse "/dev/diskNsM" "$HOME/tmp/my-linux-mount"

On macOS Sierra the option -o allow_other is needed, as in:
ext4fuse /dev/diskNsM $HOME/tmp/my-linux-mount -o allow_other

Install both ext4fuse and osxfuse using Homebrew.
brew cask install osxfuse
brew install ext4fuse

According to the docs, you might also have to add <your user> to the operator group. Here using whoami to find your current username.
sudo dscl . append /Groups/operator GroupMembership "$(whoami)"

See also the fix for problems clicking "allow" for the "System Extension Blocked" message for osxfuse, and the osxfuse docs for mount options, such as allow_other and defer_permissions.


How do I Get Info for multiple items in one window? When selecting multiple items in the Finder and hitting the ⌘+I shortcut, OS X produces one window per file, which is painful when attempting to view a summary of, for example, the total size of a number of files at once.

How can I view info for multiple files in a single window?

There are two modifier keys that allow you to view grouped info for multiple files (note that the names are derived from what the Finder's File > Get Info menu item changes into when the relevant modifier key is pressed):

⌥+⌘+I (alt/option + cmd + I): This opens the Inspector, an independent window that tracks info for whatever the selected files in the focused Finder window are. The Inspector updates as you change selection (or change which Finder window is focused), and remains until it is closed.
^+⌘+I (control + cmd + I): This opens a Summary Info window, which aggregates info on multiple selected items. Unlike the Inspector, however, it is static and always displays info on whatever items were selected when it was opened, regardless of changes to which items are selected in the Finder, or which Finder window has focus.


Turn on Do Not Disturb mode on all devices from one device Has anyone found a way to turn on Do Not Disturb mode for every device from one.

Often times when I'm trying to work and people won't shut up I turn on DND mode on my MBP but then my iPhone will start dinging away. So I turn on DND mode there too. Then iPad starts up etc. This is an almost endless process. There's an additional 2 other Macs tied into my iCloud account. I've been tempted to just turn it off completely but it's about as handy as it is annoying.

Also find that when I need to turn DND mode off I forget on 1 device or more causing some annoyance if I actually need the notifications.

Ideally I'd like to be able to activate DND mode globally from my MBP.

I'm curious if anyone else has seen a possible solution to this.

Make a shortcut home automation with that (and be sure that everywhere your logged in same apple id )


Exporting jpg to pdf: file size grows significantly When I used Preview's "Export" feature to export a 1.4MB jpg file to a one page pdf file, the resulting pdf is as large as 14MB, which is really surprising and annoying. I tried to reduce the file size, for instance by "reduce file size" quartz filter, but the pdf became so reduced (56KB) that the result was not readable at all.

Is there anyway to remedy this? A built-in solution is greatly appreciated.

PDF supports JPEG encoding, so the size should not increase very much at all. It should be able to wrap some header info around the jpeg stream and call it a day.

Unfortunately, Preview is very good at viewing PDFs, but when writing PDFs tends to use a subset of PDF that is easy for it to parse, but not space-efficient.

I'm sorry to say this, but you will need to look for a different program that can leave the JPEG alone and shove it in the stream.  Acrobat can do this, as can pdftex or convert from ImageMagick. There are probably others.


How to put the email signature at the bottom in replies? I'm facing a strange problem on my iPhone with the email signature in a reply. Whenever I send a new email, the signature appears at the bottom of the new mail (as it should be):

<some mail content>

--
Company
Name
Phone Number

So everything looks good. However, when I reply to or forward a mail, the signature appears right in the middle:

<Here is where the cursor stands>

--
Company
Name
Phone Number

<Original email>

That means, that the original mail has gotten part of the signature and I manually need to cut & paste the signature to the end of the mail. After wasting an hour of searching google, I still can't find a solution for this. So does anyone here know how to fix this?

The Apple Mail app on your iPhone does not allow for the positioning of your signature to be altered. Oddly, the Apple Mail app on your Mac does allow for that.

There are alternative email applications on the iPhone which do allow this to be configured. AirMail is one of them. At $5, it's not a free application.


Why XAMPP listens on wrong IP address? I have a problem with fresh installation of XAMPP. It listens on my local IP address 192.168.64.2 instead of local host 127.0.0.1

Where can i change this so that it listens on my localhost?

I think the problem is that you installed the XAMPP VM version that executes a virtual machine on macOS. Check on the XAMPP website and download the normal version. Hope this is the case and that this info helps.


iPod Shuffle (4G) doesn’t charge I didn't charge my iPod Shuffle for a long time. One day I plugged it to my computer and tried to charge it. The charging light doesn't blink, and it looks like the iPod is already dead.

Can someone help me to solved this problem? How can I revive it?

My shuffle began to give me difficulty with charging as well. I use it frequently when I exercise but often when I would try to connect it to the charger, the charge light would not turn on. Repeated attempts, rotating the iPod so that it was engaging the cable in various orientations, would sometimes result in success. I figured the internal connectors were to blame. Had the same problem on multiple shuffles. Then I noticed a bit of green discoloration at the base of the connector cable & wondered if the problem might be with the cable, not the iPod. I sprayed the connector with contact cleaner & sanded it with fine grit sandpaper until the green was gone & the contact areas had been roughed up a bit. Sprayed with contact cleaner again & went to try it out. Now all seems well, even with old shuffles I had thought were permanently unusable. Now I have 4 shuffles, all charged & working. Examine the connector on your charging cable & make sure it looks clean!


Cannot change ssh port on High Sierra As subject: I cannot edit the file ssh.plist which is located in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons.  I want to change the sshd port.

I tried to use 'information' in the finder and unlock it.  This didn't work.    I tried:

As root, I tried..

macos:LaunchDaemons root# pwd && chown $USER ssh.plist
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
chown: ssh.plist: Operation not permitted

I also tried to cp the file to my own Desktop, edit it in situ and cp it back.

macos:LaunchDaemons root# pwd && cp /Users/darren/Desktop/ssh.plist .
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons
cp: ./ssh.plist: Operation not permitted

I did this before - a while back.  I think it was maybe the one before Sierra, but I don't recall the 'code name' of that release.

Has Apple locked this file down definitively?

Has Apple locked this file [/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist] down definitively?

Yes, they have, you need to disable SIP (System Integrity Protection), but note that editing ssh.plist is not the only option to change the SSH server port, there are other ways to achieve the same result.

There are (at least) 4 ways to change the port sshd listens on:

Modifying /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist:

Pros: cleanest way to configure sshd, sshd started with System Preferences>Sharing>Remote Login listens on new port.
Cons: convoluted setup (requires two restarts and disabling/re-enabling SIP).
Use case: definitive change of sshd port.

Creating a new plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh2.plist:

Pros: dual operation of sshd listening on standard and new port.
Cons: CLI-only method to start sshd on the new port.
Use case: sshd must listen on both the standard port and the additional port.

Modifying "ssh" entries in /etc/services:

Pros: simplest method, no need to deal with SIP, sshd started with System Preferences>Sharing>Remote Login listens on new port.
Cons: side effect: ssh defaults to new port when connecting to remote server (there's a workaround for that).
Use case: temporary port change or testing sshd running on a different port.

Redirecting port 22 to new port with packet filter:

Pros: no need to deal with SIP, sshd started with System Preferences>Sharing>Remote Login seems to listen on new port.
Cons: somewhat non-transparent (sshd configuration is untouched but sshd listens on another/additional port) and confusing (firewall status in System Preferences not reliable), tiny side effect (remote client thinks it is connecting to port 22 (through env variables SSH_CLIENT and SSH_CONNECTION)).
Use case: definitive or temporary change of the sshd port, sshd must listen on both the standard port and the additional port.

Let's take a closer look at them. (When choosing the new port, make sure it is not used by another service by running sudo lsof -i -n -P | grep <your port>.)

1. Modifying /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist

This is the method you tried, let me describe it here for completion:

Restart your Mac and hold down ⌘R immediately after your Mac begins to restart to enter macOS Recovery.
Select Utilities>Terminal from the menu bar.
Type csrutil disable to disable SIP.
Select Apple menu>Restart.
Log in, edit /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist and modify the Listeners section. For example, to change the port to 2222:

Restart your Mac and hold down ⌘R immediately after your Mac begins to restart to enter macOS Recovery.
Select Utilities>Terminal from the menu bar.
Type csrutil enable to enable SIP and restart.

SSH server will now listen on the new port and you can start sshd as usual through System Preferences>Sharing>Remote Login.

2. Creating a new plist /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh2.plist

This method is nicely described in this answer, which basically says:

Copy /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist to /Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh2.plist to create a new sshd startup script.
Modify the label in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh2.plist to differenciate the new startup script from the built-in one, for example by appending a number "2":

<key>Label</key>
<string>com.openssh.sshd2</string>

Modify the port in the Listeners section as in the previous method. For example, to change the port to 2222:

<key>Sockets</key>
<dict>
   <key>Listeners</key>
   <dict>
      <key>SockServiceName</key>
      <string>2222</string>
      <key>Bonjour</key>
      <array>
          <string>ssh</string>
          <string>sftp-ssh</string>
      </array>
   </dict>
</dict>

Start sshd on the new port:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh2.plist

(To stop it, run sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh2.plist)

The SSH server will now listen on the new port. You can still use System Preferences>Sharing>Remote Login to start another instance of the SSH server that listens on the standard port (22/tcp). launchd will listen on both ports:

$ sudo lsof -i -P -n
launchd     1           root   42u  IPv6 0x9df385961b132cdf      0t0    TCP *:2222 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   44u  IPv4 0x9df385961c81db1f      0t0    TCP *:2222 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   45u  IPv6 0x9df385961b132cdf      0t0    TCP *:2222 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   47u  IPv4 0x9df385961c81db1f      0t0    TCP *:2222 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   48u  IPv6 0x9df385961b133e1f      0t0    TCP *:22 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   49u  IPv4 0x9df385961b22d51f      0t0    TCP *:22 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   50u  IPv6 0x9df385961b133e1f      0t0    TCP *:22 (LISTEN)
launchd     1           root   51u  IPv4 0x9df385961b22d51f      0t0    TCP *:22 (LISTEN)

3. Modifying "ssh" entries in /etc/services

To change the sshd port with this method, proceed as follows:

Edit /etc/services, look for these entries:

ssh  22/udp  # SSH Remote Login Protocol
ssh  22/tcp  # SSH Remote Login Protocol

and replace port 22 with a port of your choosing.

You can enable SSH with System Preferences>Sharing>Remote Login and sshd will listen on the new port.

Why does this work? If you take a look at the Listeners section of the /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ssh.plist file, you will see that sshd is configured to listen on the port assigned to the service named ssh in /etc/services:

<key>Sockets</key>
<dict>
    <key>Listeners</key>
    <dict>
        <key>SockServiceName</key>
        <string>ssh</string>
(...)
</dict>

This is undoubtedly the simplest method, but it has a drawback: the SSH client will expect remote SSH servers to listen on the new port (instead of port 22) (thanks to jcaron for the hint). That is, ssh reads /etc/services to find out which the default SSH port is.

Fortunately there is an easy solution for this: uncomment Port 22 in /etc/ssh/ssh_config (see man ssh_config for more information).

4. Redirecting port 22 to new port with packet filter

The method uses the macOS packet filter (PF) to redirect all requests received at port 22 to the new sshd port (thanks to Andrew Morton for the idea):

Create a new anchor file /etc/pf.anchors/sshd with contents (replace 2222 with a port of your choosing):

rdr pass inet proto tcp from any to any port = 2222 -> 127.0.0.1 port 22
# If you want `sshd` to listen on port 22 too, comment out the line below
block drop in quick proto tcp from any to any port = 22

Add the "sshd" anchor rules by editing /etc/pf.conf (the order is relevant!):

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
# Load sshd redirect rule
rdr-anchor "sshd"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
# Load other sshd rules
anchor "sshd"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"
# Tell PF where to find the sshd anchor
load anchor "sshd" from "/etc/pf.anchors/sshd"

Enable and reload the packet filter:

sudo pfctl -F all -ef /etc/pf.conf

(To disable it, run sudo pfctl -d.)

Note that:

the macOS firewall (System Preferences>Security & Privacy>Firewall) is under the hood the packet filter, so that when you disable the packet filter on the command line, you are also disabling the firewall, even if the Preferences Panel doesn't reflect the change.
SSH clients will think they are connecting to port 22 through the SSH_CLIENT and SSH_CONNECTION env variables.

Editing sshd_config doesn't work

Users running sshd on other operating systems may be tempted to edit the SSH daemon configuration file, /etc/ssh/sshd_config. In macOS, however, editing the Port directive in /etc/ssh/sshd_config won't achieve the desired result.


Where is java? Java Control Pannel has disabled "View" button and Terminal still response with "No Java runtime present, requesting install" I installed java from the oracle's website. Now I have a Java Control Panel in the System Preferences. But in the tab "Java" of Java Control Panel there is the button "View" disabled.

And if I ask the Terminal for java -version I get only:

No Java runtime present, requesting install.

Still having the following in the Java Control Panel (Your system has the recommended version of Java):

Starting some application, which requires java (e.g. Aptana Studio) it alerts with:

To open “AptanaStudio3,” you need to install a Java SE 6 runtime. Would you like to check for and install one?

What are the problems here? Sounds like the installation didn't enabled Java for the System.

Update:

OSX 10.8
java 7u40 (JRE, not JDK)
no previous version of java installed (clean install)
logging in with different user accounts provides the same behaviour
/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/ is empty

Oracle's JRE for OSX does not install all you need for development work. This now means that you do not get /usr/bin/java which in earlier non OSX versions you did. The OSX JRE now provides enough to run Java plugins from your web browser.

If you want to do development you need the JDK currently Java SE 7u40 which is here.


How do I transfer audiobooks from iPod Touch to iTunes? I have an older iPod Touch (Model MC547LL/A) with audiobooks purchased from iTunes.

The iTunes Store won't let me re-download the audiobooks and I don't have a backup.

How can I transfer the audiobooks from my iPod Touch to my iTunes library?

If I remember correctly, iTunes doesn't let you copy media from your iOS device to iTunes; likely to prevent piracy. If you have purchased the audiobooks from iTunes, you should be able to download them back. If not, which it appears you can't, you may have to contact Apple Support.

Edit:

  Apple told me that if the author has made any edits to the book, they change the serial number and they won't allow you to re-download-even though I purchased the book!

The only thing I could come up with that made any sense is that you can't update content in iTunes. Music, Books, TV Shows, etc. are usually never changed when they are published. If the author of these audiobooks made some changes to it, they would probably have to submit a new book. This happened to me once when a music artist added a few songs to their album. He created a new album and took the other one off the store.