IPod Classic - music gone I turned on my iPod Classic 128 GB and all music content was gone.  I charged it and the Apple symbol appeared and then it turned on with no songs/music at all.
I have not connected to iTunes at all recently.
Please advise.

kristeen

My old classic used to do that kind of trick to me periodically.
I always suspected that the disk format was not particularly robust.

I found the only way to get it going again was to Restore it in iTunes & reload the whole library again - don't plan on being in a hurry, it takes ages.

One thing I did learn over the years was to always leave the lock button on [the little slider at the top, slid to show the red dot underneath] all the time unless I actually needed to interact with it.

Also to never leave it locked if I was about to connect it to iTunes, otherwise it would hang.

Remembering those two would let me run far longer before it played tricks on me the next time.


How can I pair my Apple Magic keyboard to my mac without USB Cable? AFAIK you have to pair using a usb cable, but my macbook has only USB-C cable and I don't have the adapter with me.

Is there a workaround?

I don't know if this was because of lower battery or just that it needed to be plugged in, but simply by connecting a charger (from the wall) to my keyboard and then going to MacBook's Bluetooth I was able to connect/pair it.
This makes me wonder how you can avoid accidentally pairing another person's keyboard or potentially highjacking a few of keyboard strokes...

Credits: https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/comments/6z3u9k/is_there_a_way_to_pair_a_magic_mouse_without/dmsa4jk


Question about network (Are these results of arp a normal?) I have a question regarding my network; can anyone tell me if this is a problem or not?
When giving the command arp -a in the terminal, I see all my connected devices, but there are a bunch of IP addresses that have a different IP numbers and I don't recognize them.
See my log:
Mac-mini-2018-van-Richard:~ richard$ arp -a
? (192.168.1.1) at 90:72:40:9:37:e on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.2) at b8:ec:a3:21:d0:37 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.3) at 74:a:bc:10:4b:7c on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.4) at d8:49:2f:23:79:13 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.5) at 84:c0:ef:c0:2b:4e on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.6) at bc:99:11:94:b4:98 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.7) at 18:b4:30:d2:a4:f1 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.9) at e0:33:8e:d1:94:34 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.10) at 0:6:78:32:14:25 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.12) at 48:d7:5:ef:41:c2 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.23) at 5c:f4:ab:63:e3:30 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.27) at f8:46:1c:a0:58:19 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.29) at 40:cb:c0:ac:3d:fb on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.44) at f0:18:98:e8:6d:6 on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.52) at dc:a6:32:6f:ad:72 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.55) at 0:6:78:20:a:9f on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.56) at 50:de:6:9a:7f:19 on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.59) at 3c:6a:9d:14:38:6d on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
? (192.168.1.255) at ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff on en0 ifscope [ethernet]
all-systems.mcast.net (224.0.0.1) at 1:0:5e:0:0:1 on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (224.0.0.251) at 1:0:5e:0:0:fb on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (225.11.89.110) at 1:0:5e:b:59:6e on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (225.255.255.255) at 1:0:5e:7f:ff:ff on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (227.72.38.171) at 1:0:5e:48:26:ab on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (230.128.242.42) at 1:0:5e:0:f2:2a on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (230.226.118.14) at 1:0:5e:62:76:e on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (232.140.250.183) at 1:0:5e:c:fa:b7 on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (234.51.79.222) at 1:0:5e:33:4f:de on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (236.85.84.112) at 1:0:5e:55:54:70 on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (236.202.5.112) at 1:0:5e:4a:5:70 on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (237.30.215.60) at 1:0:5e:1e:d7:3c on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (239.140.109.112) at 1:0:5e:c:6d:70 on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (239.255.255.250) at 1:0:5e:7f:ff:fa on en0 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
? (239.255.255.250) at 1:0:5e:7f:ff:fa on en1 ifscope permanent [ethernet]
broadcasthost (255.255.255.255) at ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff on en0 ifscope [ethernet]

Can anyone tell my if the IP numbers starting with 2 are okay or can they be harmful?

Those IP’s are fine.

the 225 address are usually broadcast addresses (Class E)
Three are Class D IPs and is reserved for Multicast.  They're not even valid IPs for network nodes.

They are perfectly safe and pose no threat.


kernel panics on sleep, M1 Macbook Air Big Sur The new M1 Macbook Air with latest and greatest Big Sur 11.0.1, 11.1 and now 11.2 has kernel panics with high regularity.
Any suggestions on a remedy, or things to try? Much thanks.
panic(cpu 4 caller 0xfffffe0024233d9c): Sleep transition timed out after 35 seconds while calling Quiesce/Sleep action callbacks. Thread 0x73.
Debugger message: panic
Memory ID: 0xff
OS release type: User
OS version: 20C69
Kernel version: Darwin Kernel Version 20.2.0: Wed Dec  2 20:40:21 PST 2020; root:xnu-7195.60.75~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101
Fileset Kernelcache UUID: 3E6AA74DF723BCB886499A5AAB34FA34
Kernel UUID: 48F71DB3-6C91-3E62-9576-3A1DCEF2B536
iBoot version: iBoot-6723.61.3
secure boot?: YES
Paniclog version: 13

an iPhone has been connected, which may be related, when disconnecting it there are fewer kernel panics and the panic message is now slightly different
panic(cpu 2 caller 0xfffffe00274efd9c): Sleep transition timed out after 35 seconds while calling Quiesce/Sleep action callbacks. Thread 0x73.
Debugger message: panic
Memory ID: 0xff
OS release type: User
OS version: 20C69

Running the hardware tools in safemode reports everything as fine--no hardware issues.

I believe I'm getting the same problem/fault.
New iMac Pro with clean install (obviously) of macOS 11 (from today 11.2.1) three times in 60 days I have come back to an unattended (and so, presumably sleep-induced) ungraceful restart with the login (not wake) screen. But - in my view, significantly - 57 times I have left the machine on and come back to everything normal.
Twice I have had a k/p on shutdown - also (I believe) related to some sort of timeout… external device(s)? Not iPhone.
Happy to share logs. But don't know my way around (system?) logs well enough to know which, where and what to look for.
kextstat reveals only Apple kexts installed.
The only other thing I do think might be relevant is the fact that my Time Machine icon in the Finder sidebar often spins for several hours (!) after a TM backup - and the logs show multiple lines like these:
Feb  8 16:51:44 iMac-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.05000000-0500-0000-0000-000000000000[20917]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[115]
Feb  8 16:51:59 iMac-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.02000000-0400-0000-0000-000000000000[20924]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[115]
Feb  8 16:52:56 iMac-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.02000000-0500-0000-0000-000000000000[20941]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[115]
Feb  8 16:53:32 iMac-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.mdworker.shared.0A000000-0300-0000-0000-000000000000[20902]): Service exited due to SIGKILL | sent by mds[115]

often by the hundred; which make me think more than ever of failed time outs.
TIA for any guidance :-)


Remote Erase through Find my iPhone — Changed Password My iPhone was stolen (with the SIM card ejected, on my seat). When I logged in to iCloud it made me reset the password, which meant my Apple ID password was now different from the one on my iPhone when it was stolen.

I figured there was no way I could find my iPhone, so I hit Erase. 3 days later I got a message saying my phone was erased. Is that a lie, because my phone had a different iCloud password on it than when it was stolen? It was running iOS 8.

When I first checked Find my iPhone it was offline and pending erase. Then I got an email at 1 am saying it was erased.

Changing your password would have no incidence on whether your iPhone was able to receive an Erase command from iCloud. The reason it took 3 days for your iPhone to become erased is that without a SIM card it had no Internet connection.

What must have happened is the thief inserted a SIM card into the iPhone after a few days, at which point your iPhone connected to the Internet and received the command from iCloud to erase itself, which it did. That’s when you got the confirmation.

You can read up more at iCloud: Erase your device.

  After you set a device to erase

  If your device is online, the remote erase begins. A confirmation email is sent to your Apple ID email address.

Addendum to address lingering concerns:
Unless you can verify that the email is not legitimately from Apple (which you can do by viewing the headers on a desktop mail client), I’m confused as to why you would insist on believing that Apple is lying to you. Apple has a vested interest in making sure your account and devices are safe.

Your iPhone is linked to your iCloud account by a secure token rather than by sending a username and password every time a connection is made. When your iPhone connected to the Internet, iCloud instructed it to wipe itself before telling it its session was expired. It would make no sense for a logout request to supercede a wipe request.

In fact, when a device is compromised in any way (such as theft), changing your password immediately is a good first step towards protecting your account. If changing your own password helped the thief get into your device (by disabling remote wipe), you’d be even more at the mercy of said thief.


Converting filenames with embedded backslashes to directory tree I recently extracted a ZIP file that I expected to contain a path hierarchy but turned out to be a flat archive of files with backslashes in the filenames. So I ended up with something like:

$ ls -1d ./*
SomeFile.txt
Foo\OtherFile.png
Bar\Baz\Faz\foo.txt

All of these are just siblings in the same single directory. In my actual case, there are several hundred files, so making the directories and moving things by hand would be tedious at best.

My current plan is to write a small Python program to put them all where they belong, but I was wondering, is there a quicker easier way to do it from the command line?

Python to the rescue!

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys, os, os.path

def treeify(filenames):
    for fn in filenames:
        parts = fn.split("\\")
        pathparts = parts[:-1]
        basename = parts[-1]
        path = ensurepath(pathparts)
        os.rename(fn, os.path.join(path, basename))

def ensurepath(parts):
    if len(parts) == 0:
        return "."
    path = os.path.join(*parts)
    if not os.path.exists(path):
        os.makedirs(path)
    return path

if __name__ == "__main__":
    treeify(sys.argv[1:])

Invoked like:

$ ~/scripts/tree.py *


Change Apple ID for a user when the e-mail cannot be confirmed Over time I've used different e-mail addresses for different things with Apple: Apple Store, Support, I-Tunes, Apple Developer and while I still have control of the addresses, I cannot confirm my Apple ID with any of them. I have now created a new ID with yet another e-mail address that I could confirm and for which I've activated 2FA. However, I don't seem to be able to associate this id with my local user account and I can't associate any of the other e-mail addresses with the new one, confirmed one. All Apple's documentation seems to assume that it's possible to login with the accounts and has no information about what to do when the confirmation doesn't work (I receive e-mails with the confirmation code, but Apple doesn't like them). Can I dissociate my local user from an Apple ID?

I spent some time with Apple Support on this but we only succeeded in bricking my system so that I couldn't create any kind of accounts (so existing accounts for Google, etc. were lost and not replaceable)!

The Apple support script suggests you delete the accounts from ~/Library/Accounts and elsewhere before running defaults delete MobileMeAccounts. Now, the acccounts in ~/LibraryAccounts are in an SQLite database which is readable and editable with the sqlite3 program so changes are always possible and removing the files should be considered a last resort. I was also required to reinstall MacOS and reset the permissions for my home directory, takes a while as it's 200 GB. I also tried reinstalling from Time Machine (takes forevever) and failed here. Fortunately, I'd also created a backup with Carbon Copy, which is both faster and more useful.

Relevant, at least for me, because I couldn't sign out from the account I can use but can't confirm, is the MobileMe stuff, which is what Apple called accounts before it introduced iCloud.

However, again deleting anything without creating a backup is asking for trouble. Fortunately, profile information can be exported and imported so you can make a backup and even make changes. To make a backup defaults export MobileMeAccounts - > accounts.plist. This will create an XML file which you can edit in a suitable editor or with XCode. You can then make changes such as removing a broken account and then import it using defaults import MobileMeAccounts accounts.plist. If you then restart the machine or logout and log back in, you should be able to create associate the account with a different Apple ID. This worked for me

This still doesn't solve the underlying problem as to why Apple will not accept certain Apple ID accounts as valid accounts and, apparently, it will also not let you merge them. But they can be added as additional accounts so that purchases from the App Store, etc. should still be usable.


Boot OS X install from one Mac on another Mac It seems I can't boot a system installed on one MacBook in another MacBook.

My laptop needs a few days of servicing, so I thought it would be easiest to clone an image of my OS X install on USB drive, then boot from this USB drive on another laptop. Unfortunately all I get is a grey "no-no" circle.

What I actually did was:

Using Disk Utility I cloned MacBook's (let's call it "A") boot partition onto USB partition.
I can successfully boot MacBook A using this cloned partition.
If I plug USB drive into another MacBook ("B") and turn it on: the operating system on USB partition appears as available in bootloader screen (with orange icon) - but I cannot actually boot from it. Screen remains grey and a grey disabled sign is displayed.
The same happens if I simply use original A's drive in USB case (so this is not a cloning problem).
The same happens if I try to boot MacMini using USB drive.

Is it normal behavior, that OS X install is bound to the computer it was installed on?

Is there something I can do to override this behavior and force my MacBook B to boot with operating system installed on A?

A is MacBook Retina 15" and B is MacBook Retina 13".

OS X version is 10.8.

Try this:

Install a fresh copy of OS X 10.8 onto your USB disk (just download the installer from the Mac App Store and select the external disk as target drive).
Boot from the newly installed OS X.
Using Migration Assistant, transfer your data and configuration files from MacBook A's startup disk. You'll have to select the option "From a Mac, Time Machine backup, or startup disk".
Boot from the external USB drive.

I know it's not a clone, but Migration Assistant does fairly well and preserves all your data.
I did this when I had to transfer my system (OS X 10.9 on a "classic" MBP 13" late 2012) on my new SSD drive. It worked very well. I did not lose any data.

If it doesn't work, your problem may be that you're trying to boot a version of Mac OS X earlier than what came with MacBook B. Maybe installing Mavericks will do the trick.

See this article on Apple KB in order to know the original OS X version shipped with your hardware.


Printing remotly from your iPhone or IPad using an app I want to print stuff from my iPhone or IPad. My printer is connected to a PC. I saw there is an app called PrintCentral that after configuration should do the trick. It is a bit pricey, so I want to know:

a) Is PrintCentral a good app?
b) Is there a free or cheaper alternative?

EDIT: My PC is running Windows XP

FingerPrint (OS X & Windows) is a paid application that enables a printer connected to your Mac or PC to become an AirPrint printer. It is a paid application.

For Windows

There is also a free program for Windows. You can download the files here. One they are downloaded, unzip the zip file and run the AirPrint_Installer.exe Then run either AirPrint iOS 5 FIX - 32Bit.reg or AirPrint iOS 5 FIX - 64Bit.reg depending on if you are running a 32 or a 64 bit version of Windows. Go back to AirPrint_Installer.exe, make sure "Service Startup" is set to "Auto" and click "Start". Reboot your computer. All these instructions and troubleshooting instructions can be found in the links above.

For Mac

AirPrint Activator is a free application that allows you to turn any shared printer into an Airprint printer. I have used it quite a bit now, and I highly recommend it. It has a very simple and easy to use UI:


Bluetooth icon keeps randomly disappearing from menu bar in High Sierra From some unknown reason, the bluetooth icon keeps disappearing from the menu bar at random. I have to open up settings and activate "Show bluetooth in Menu Bar" regularly. Why does this happen and how can I stop it from disappearing?

Using inductive logic, and under the assumption that you didn't "un-tick" the box, then it must be software. My best guess would be software associated with a device that uses Bluetooth. One way to check that is:

Hold down shiftoption while clicking the BT icon in your menu bar. You should see all the usual options, plus one called Debug. From here, things get version dependent, but you should at least have a Debug option giving you more options to reset the Mac's BT module, or any connected Apple BT devices. Some earlier versions of mac os, prior to 10.13.6, are reported to also have a "BT log" option.

And so this might be the first stop, reset devices one at a time in a process-of-elimination mode.

If you're more conversant with BT, Apple has some tools that might help pinpoint an errant device causing the "un-tick". One of these tools is referenced frequently, and called Bluetooth Explorer.app (download). It's part of Apple's developer's toolkit. Another tool available in the same download is PacketLogger.app. Bluetooth Explorer.app would start on my system (10.13.6), but refused to display the GUI, making it useless. But apparently it does run on some systems, so YMMV. However the PacketLogger.app started without drama. It has features that may help find a particular message or message type - if you know what to look for :)

Yeah, I agree, fairly remote possibility that a BT device is the cause, and that these apps will pinpoint it, but if all else fails...


What is the chatLengthEstimator.cmsketch file located in the Library/Suggestions folder? (Mac OSX) I stumbled upon the Suggestions folder /Users/zezuz/Library/Suggestions  while browsing through my MacBook Pro, running High Sierra. (which btw, I never knew even existed)

In the folder is a file named chatLengthEstimator.cmsketch. I tried to view it but no program I have can open a .cmsketch file. Clicking the "search App Store" option resulted in nothing.

A google search also returned little, but it seems that it's some sort of sample or database file, possibly related to TIDB?

My questions are:

What is a .cmsketch file?
What is, specifically, the chatLengthEstimator.cmsketch file and why is it being "suggested" to me?

Thank you in advance for your help!

The files in ~/Library/Suggestions are used internally to support some of macOS's machine learning features, like Spotlight Suggestions, Suggested Contacts, and data detectors. These files are not being suggested to you.

A .cmSketch file probably contains a count-min sketch data structure. It does not contain any human-readable data. Given the name of this file, it is probably used to estimate how often, or for how long, you chat with your contacts on iMessage.


Is there any wired headphones solution to make calls while charging iPhone 7? There are lots of hardware to listen to music while charging iPhone 7 but is there any way to make calls and charge iPhone 7 at the same time?

Using a lightning headset?
Using a 3.5 mm headset?

To answer your first scenario, this article covers some options. The first one is this charge and listen device:

Belkin Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar


Print PDF with crop marks I have an A4 PDF document that has content all the way to the border and I want to print it out.

Hence I print out on A3 sized paper (i.e. I print on paper twice the size) and then cut it to the actual size.

Is there an easy way to add crop marks to the document when printing it?

If it’s a simple PDF document, you could possibly open it with Inkscape and then add crop marks with Extensions > Render > Printing Marks…. Or maybe Scribus, with Print… > Marks.

Very hacky but might help somebody in a tight corner.


How to get the three finger 'scroll to top' back in mountain lion? Remember in Snow Leopard there was a gesture using three fingers to scroll to the top of webpages? Has anyone worked out a way of getting that back?

In Trackpad System Preferences, set 'Swipe between pages' option to three fingers.  Quick scroll to top and bottom seems to work, at least in Firefox.


Adding a playlist to a cleared iTunes library, to be synced to half-full iPod my Apple-curious father has come up with a novel question - I was wondering if anyone had advice as how to solve?

Being fond of a certain type of music, he's gradually filled up his iPod with his music collection. As everything he owns has been transferred, he's blanked his iTunes account and no longer updates his iPod. All his music is in one place, for easy, portable, listening.

Problem is, now he has to add more - a playlist for an event he is DJ'ing at (no, really).

Adding this playlist to his blank iTunes account, and then syncing to the iPod would erase his music library stored on that iPod, would it not?

Sorry if there's an obvious answer to this - particularly if the answer is to sync the iPod back to iTunes to fill up his account, then add the extra tracks and move everything back to the iPod. That was my suggestion - wanted to double-check in case his beloved tracks are lost forever...

I never ever recommend using an iPod as the only form of storage for music. Inevitably that iPod will become lost, stolen or dead, and his music will be gone forever.

That said, there are two suggestions for what you asked. The first is to place the iPod into "manually manage" mode. This kbase article from Apple is a good guide that covers the different methods for different generations of products.

The second, recommended suggestion is similar to what you mention in the question. First move the music back to a computer. You will need special software to do this, such as the cross-platform CopyToy. Once the music is back in iTunes on the computer, create this new list and sync ALL of the music over. The iPod will be wiped of all of its music and replaced with the same songs, plus the new playlist. And while he's at it, have him backup his iTunes Library so he doesn't lose his music.


How do I upgrade git on Mac OS X? I have git on /usr/bin/git (I think was Xcode install) but it is 1.7.5.4 and I want to use the current version 1.7.7

Is there a way to uninstall that version and use the new one?

None of the current answers will upgrade Xcode git. They will only install a newer version of git.
Xcode has changed its mind several times about the best git location. Depending on how long ago you have been installing Xcode you will see git binaries at:
/usr/bin/git
/usr/local/git
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/libexec/git-core/git

Even if you update the PATH, Xcode will stick to its version. The only way I know to force it to use the newer version is replacing those git binaries by a link to the new one you installed.
ln -s /opt/local/bin/git /usr/bin/git

Repeat for the other path. Notice I use a symbolic link, not a hard one. Otherwise Xcode would replace your other installation during an upgrade


Connect iPod Touch to WiFi with hidden SSID is it possible to connect an iPod Touch to a WiFi network whose SSID is hidden? If so, how can this be achieved?

Regards,
Christoph

If the SSID is hidden, that means you don’t see the network’s name, so the only way to connect is by manually typing the SSID.

You have to select “Other” from the list of WiFi networks.


New Hard Drive Install Failure I have a problem with my 2012 Macbook Pro, I'm trying to install a new WD Black 750 GB SATA III 7200 RPM in it. The problem is when I try to reinstall OS X Mountain Lion, it didn't find the drive I just installed. When I try to erase all the data from it and turn it into an OS X extended file format, Disk Utility returns  an error saying that it couldn't format it. I'm really stuck right here, has anyone else encountered the same problem and know how to resolve or get around it? Any answer will be much appreciated. Thank you.

You'll need to put a GUID partition table on the disk first - and then create a single Mac OS X Extended Journaled partition for OS X.


Password to Join FaceTime Call I am conferencing a few friends over FaceTime video in the near future and would like to add a fun feature to the call. I want that as I call my friends and they accept the call, they are greeted with a prompt and must enter a password before joining the call. Does anyone know if such a thing exists? If not, is there a way to implement it myself?

Thanks,
Charles

No, that feature does not exist for FaceTime calls and you could not add a password to a FaceTime call yourself.


Repeating FolderActions log messages I'm getting these log messages repeatedly:

Sep 14 11:52:17 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Sep 14 11:52:17 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 9 seconds
Sep 14 11:52:23 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 3 seconds
Sep 14 11:52:25 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 1 seconds
Sep 14 11:52:28 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 9 seconds
Sep 14 11:52:32 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 5 seconds
Sep 14 11:52:33 paulbook com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[288] (com.apple.FolderActions.folders): Throttling respawn: Will start in 4 seconds
...

How can I stop this?

The messages are shown because folders in the WatchPaths array of ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.FolderActions.folders.plist are modified more often than every ten seconds. I don't know any way to change the throttling policy of launchd. But you could get rid of the log messages by just keeping the program running for ten seconds or longer.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.apple.FolderActions.folders</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>osascript</string>
        <string>-e</string>
        <string>tell application "Folder Actions Dispatcher" to tick</string>
        <string>-e</string>
        <string>delay 10</string>
    </array>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/username/Desktop</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

The changes can be applied by reloading the property list or by logging out and back in.

launchctl unload -S Aqua ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.FolderActions.folders.plist
launchctl load -S Aqua ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.FolderActions.folders.plist

The property list gets overwritten when you add or remove folders with folder actions in Automator or Folder Actions Setup.


Ooops. How can I re-install the Mac App Store? I'm running Mac OS X version 10.7.2.

There's this app called app-zapper. It helps to remove the library and cache files from apps when you want to get rid of an app by "zapping" it. I needed to shave some space. I'm using Pixelmator now instead of Photoshop, so I tried to zap my Adobe folder but instead my App Store app got zapped. I didn't realize it till my trash was emptied. The rest writes itself.

I've tried reinstalling 10.7.2, extracting the App Store.app file from 10.7.2 package (it's incomplete) and re-downloading the snow leopard extracted one (don't work on lion).

How can I re-install the app store?

Many options are available to you:

Restore it from your backup
Copy it from another Mac running 10.7.2
Download and apply the current combo updater (often they contain entire programs, but it's not a guaranteed thing)
Reinstall Lion and upgrade to 10.7.2 - if your Lion install is lower than 10.7.2 try not to run programs until they are all patched up to the same version as your existing software.


How to enable USB android tethering on OS X Mountain Lion without using Easy-Tether (Lite) I can tether fine to Windows 7, but on my Mac OS X Mountain Lion, it does not recognize the USB network.  I can install Easy-Tether (Lite) but that comes with some restrictions (e.g. no secure web pages, so no gmail), so I'd like to use the built in tethering of Cyanogenmod 7 that I have on my Android phone.

Is there anyway to fix the Mac OS X Mountain Lion install so that it properly recognizes the USB network connection?

I'm guessing this isn't your preference, but the paid version of Easy Tether comes with the appropriate Mac OS X kernel extensions - so you could just pay the one time fee (currently $10) to have this feature programmed by someone who has done the work.

I'm fine with you not selecting this answer, but wanted it here for others that might need a solution that gets around the restrictions in the Lite version of the tethering software.


Will restore from iCloud backup erase podcast.app queue (iOS)? My iPhone is sluggish so I want to restore it.

Concerned I’ll lose my long podcast queue if I restore. Would iCloud/iTunes restore retain my queue?

Just restored my iPhone (from backup) using iTunes and my Podcasts queue WAS restored!

Restore will NOT remove Podcast Queue.


How can I watch MegaVideo/DivX videos on my jailbroken iPhone 3G? I'm looking for a way to play megavideo (flash) and divx on my iPhone 3G which is jailbroken. Flash seems to require 3G S and above (like everything these days sigh)

Should I be able to do this, I will be able to replace my Sky box with my iPhone, as I can get live TV on there through TV catchup and access my iTunes library, I just need to be able to stream flash and divx and I'm set.

I've tried imobilecinema and that didn't play any audio or video and openstream (vlc4iphone) didn't work either.

Flash does not run on any version of the iPhone. You can try using a program like Air Video which will live transcode your DiVX files into a format the iPhone will play back using your computer.

As for playing it natively on your iPhone, VLC (Video Lan Client) is working on a native client but it's not available in the App Store yet.


Why is "System" taking over 100 gigs of storage on my Mac? The System Information app popped-up today telling my disk is nearly full (65 gigs of 256 gig drive).
➥ That tool reports that "System" is taking 132 gigs. What exactly do they mean by "System", and why is it so large?
I find it hard to believe that macOS Mojave 10.14.6 is itself so large as to take more than half the smallest size drive that Apple ships. Not so long ago Apple was shipping Macs with 128-gig drives.
The Activity Monitor app reports "Swap used" as 3.8 gigs. But that still leaves 128-gigs as inexplicably bloated.
My Question is similar to What is 'System' on mac laptop storage?. But the accepted Answer there is weak and seemingly incorrect.
(I won't even bother asking what is "Music Creation" and why is it 2 gigs when I don't create music.)

System is everything on the disk that takes up space and does not fall under other named categories. Unless you have a spotlight issue or the system is still indexing, I would use a tool like Daisy Disk to get a second opinion on system.  Have seen it where a category doesn’t finish indexing so perhaps you have 80 GB of documents, but the indexer crashed at 80 MB and system looks bloated when it’s not.
While that’s running, be sure to take advantage of all the Apple steps to clean things you don’t need: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206996
If system remains larger than you like, back up and do an erase install. When you log in, you convince yourself the system is not bloated, but the things you've brought to the Mac are what use the disk space. After that, migrate your data or import things again.
To save a double erase, here are sizes of a survey of system sizing per system after importing apps and setting up users and using them for a week to a month:

Mojave: 23.17 GB
Catalina: 11.31 GB
Big Sur: 14.95 GB (M1 with Rosetta)

After an erase install, you should be even slimmer on the system sizes than listed above.


Ports closed on macOS Sierra Can't Use Apple Services -- Terminal Help? OS: Sierra 10.12.2
System: Macbook11,3 MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) with a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 and 16 GB TAM.

I cannot use Messages to sign into my iMessage account. I get:

  An error occurred during authentication.

This has been for over a month and I have gone to the Apple store and called support. Support passed it to engineering and it faded away. This is the error:

All of the ports seem to be blocked, or at least they do not show up on a port scan out of Network Utility. When I use lsof -i | grep httpall I see are Chrome windows which happen to be open.

I left off last time with my pf file being disabled. So that's not it. Any ideas?

Note: I was troubleshooting earlier and made some leeway. This is not the same question as earlier, it has advanced. I am now specifically looking for terminal commands.

Check the ports. This might help -- not sure how to proceed after: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202078


Trying to get Sublime Text 3 working from terminal I am trying to get the Sublime Text to work with Git from the following tutorials
http://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/osx_command_line.html and https://help.github.com/articles/associating-text-editors-with-git#using-sublime-text-as-your-editor

I created a bin directory with mkdir ~/bin and run the line ln -s "/Applications/Sublime Text.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl" ~/bin/subl I have then tried the command subl --help but get the following error

-bash: subl: command not found

If I go to my Finder I can see subl in the bin folder in my username. What am I doing wrong?

You need to add ~/bin to your PATH variable. In Terminal, type cd to return to your home directory. Then, type bin/subl .profile to open your ~/.profile file. If it doesn't exist, Sublime will just create an empty file. Add this line to it:

export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH

and save the file. Close out of Sublime, and restart Terminal. You now should be able to use the subl command from any directory.


Can I detect Facetime screen shots? Can I somehow know if the other caller is taking a photo (screenshot) while we are on FaceTime? I need to know if they are secretly taking photos of me.

No, there's no way to tell...unless, of course, they have their volume cranked and you can hear the camera shutter sound.


Unable to use chromedriver following OS upgrade Error: “chromedriver” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.

Updated OS is Catalina, version 10.15.2 (19C57).

chromedriver was working fine prior to the OS update. I've tried both the local chromedriver that was working previously as well as a newly downloaded copy.

What can I do to get this running again?

Open system preferences, security and privacy, General tab and click "Open Anyway" or similar. It will ask for root password.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mh11784/10.15/mac/10.15

If that doesnt work, try the following, courtesy of user365987

Open a terminal window and run this command to find the location of chromedriver:

which chromedriver

Once you find the location, open that directory with MacOS Finder.
Ctrl + Click the chromdriver file.
Select Open on shortcut menu.
Click Open on the dialog.

See Open a Mac app from an unidentified developer


Did Ronald Wayne ever disclose his reasons for leaving the company so early? I’m curious about Apple history, and this has puzzled me for a long time.

For any Apple fans like me, it’s a famous fact that Ronald Wayne sold his share of Apple very early on for only $800. Does anyone know why he sold it? I haven’t been able to figure this one out.

From the Ronald Wayne's Wikipedia page:

  Wayne received a 10% stake in Apple. Less than two weeks later, on April 12, 1976 he relinquished his equity for US$800. Legally, all members of a partnership are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any partner; unlike Jobs and Wozniak, then 21 and 25, Wayne had personal assets that potential creditors could seize. The failure of a slot machine company he had started five years earlier also contributed to his decision to exit the partnership.

Here's an interview by Steve Wozniak, where he describes situation leading to Wayne's exit.


Restoring a previous "session" (with various open tabs) in Safari—macOS Sierra How do I restore a previous Safari session during which I quit the application while numerous tabs were open?

There is NOTHING in Preferences that I could find where this could be made possible.

I looked in Preferences > General ...

NO "Close windows when quitting an app" option as one Answer suggested.

Nothing.

macOS 10.12.6 Sierra

Open the Last Closed Tab in Safari on the Mac

Safari lets you undo your action of closing a tab--as long as you act promptly. If you close a tab by mistake and then open a new tab, you won't be able to restore the closed tab with the shortcut below, because the undo feature only works on your last action.

Reopen Closed Windows in Safari on the Mac

You can also reopen a Safari window with the tabs you had open even days after closing the window or quitting Safari.

If you have more than one Safari window open and close one by mistake, go to the History menu and select "Reopen Last Closed Window."

If you quit Safari and want to restart it with all of the tabs you had open last time, go to the History menu and select Reopen All Windows from Last Session.


Is it possible to make a hotkey for switching audio output? I am using external monitors. Because of this, whenever my mac goes to sleep, it automatically redirects output to the monitor. This is annoying to fix, as I have to move my mouse and click to fix it every time. Is there a way to set a hotkey to toggle the sound output for me? something like command+shift+s

Since you only have the two output devices, the following code will toggle between the two.

tell application "System Preferences" to ¬
    reveal anchor "output" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound"

tell application "System Events"
    tell application process "System Preferences"
        repeat until exists tab group 1 of window "Sound"
            delay 0.1
        end repeat
        tell tab group 1 of window "Sound"
            if (selected of row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1) then
                set selected of row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1 to true
            else
                set selected of row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1 to true
            end if
        end tell
    end tell
end tell

quit application "System Preferences"

I test this as an Automator Service using a Run AppleScript action and then assigned it a hot-key combo and it works on my system having only two sound outputs.  The tricky part is going to be finding a hot-key combo that isn't assigned to any or all apps already.

As an example commandshifts is Save As... in Safari, but if the Desktop has focus when pressed it works to trigger the Service.

Open Automator.
File > New > Service, with setting as shown in the image.
Add a Run AppleScript action an replace the default code with the code Above.
Save the Service as, e.g.: Toggle Sound Device
Assign it a keyboard shortcut in: System Preferences > Keyboard >  Shortcuts > Services


What is the function(s) of the hidden Debug menu in Disk Utility? What is the function(s) of the Debug menu and why is it hidden by default?

The Debug menu mostly gives access to functions in relation to hidden partitions (e.g. the system-restore-partition in Lion).  see Debug Menu

Most likely the Debug menu is mainly for Apple internal use (their techs dealing with stuff probably found these functions useful) so it's hidden by default.


iMac 27 late 2009 - Grey screen shows at startup on yosemite iMac screen stuck while watching youtube.

After restart system stuck on grey screen :(

Tried All these given below

Did reset PRAM
Did Hard Drive Verify
Re-install Yosemite
Clean install Yosemite
Working in safemode

I had the same Issue on my old iMac - it turned out to be defective Memory of the Graphics Card (due to overheating).

I changed the Graphics Card and fixed the problem. There is a very well written tutorial on how to change the Card on iFixit. The only problem would be to find a replacement Card - i paid about 360$ for mine.


Only use part of screen? My screen is broken, but perfectly straight along one side and the rest (majority) of the screen is perfectly fine.  I would like to adjust my display so that my computer thinks that the display ends where the screen is broken.  Are there any utilities, command line or otherwise that would help me here?  I have a 15-inch 3360 x 2100 retina display with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB graphics card.  The computer is Early 2013.

SwitchRes X might be able to help you, it can modify screen settings that are usually inaccessible.

There is a custom resolutions section


Deleted Messages still take space on iCloud When I logged into my iCloud account with Safari I saw, that backups on my iCloud take approx. 2GB:

what was a bit strange for me because locally checking (ie. from system preferences -> iCloud), they take about half of that size:

Then I looked up into other positions on the list and saw Messages take the rest of the 2GB I saw firstly:

It is strange for me, because as you can see in first image, there is no such position as Messages on the bar, only bigger Backup position. Then I deleted all the messages on my iPhone to see if anything changes, but it did not change anything in the size of messages shown in system preferences. I do not know if it is some kind of error, or messages will disappear from iCloud later.

You might have a backup from one of your old devices still saved in your iCloud account. From an iOS device, try to check by going to Settings>iCloud>Manage Storage>Backups. This page will list the backups and associated device with the backup. On my account, the total size matches the total size of the Backups listed in Safari.


Mac High Sierra not able to open MacMail, iCal for more than 5 seconds I am facing some issue with iCal and Mail Application. As soon I open it closes it self within 5 seconds.

http://g.recordit.co/8q6iIK6cFS.gif

I have tried following things

Delete Following files

com.apple.mail.plist
com.apple.mail-shared.plist
/Users/users/Library/Mail/V4/MailData/Envelope*

Reset NVRAM

Start in Safe Mode

However nothing is working.

As long as your clock is displaying the correct local time, resetting NVRAM won't affect Mail or Calendar. I'd suggest being more aggressive in cleaning out of Mail's database files and then re-testing:

delete Mail.app's (~/Library/Mail/) data folder (not just its contents)
re-delete both /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist & ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist
re-delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail-shared.plist (if it was re-created)
re-test


How to recover dashboard stickies on macOS Catalina? According to the article Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years, dashboard has been removed within macOS 10.15, Catalina. I had some Stickies with information stored in dashboard and I would like to recover it if possible.

There are currently a couple known methods to recover stickies (or anything else that was on the dashboard).

Stickies from the dashboard have automatically been imported into the Stickies application. Simply open /Applications/Stickies.app and they will appear there.
All widget save data/preferences are still in the original place. This means that as per https://superuser.com/a/608039, the plist for the dashboard stickies are in ~/Library/Preferences/widget-com.apple.widget.stickies.plist.
The most obvious: before updating to Catalina copy over your stickies to different place such as text edit or the stickies app.

Note: In this file they are stored within html tags that are in HTML Entity form. You can use a converter and then strip tags.


Mac app icons became blank I don't know exactly when, but some of my app icons became blank and some keep toggling between normal and blank. It looks like this:

This is my macOS version:

and since I've having a lot of bugs recently, I'm considering reinstall macOS on my MacBook. Is there a easy way to restore the data and applications back after reinstalling the system? I've made a macOS thumb drive with the newest version but I haven't done this on mac before and I don't know how to restore the data. Thanks!

update:

Here's something strange: I backed up my data, erased my entire SSD, and did a clean install of macOS High Sierra. After that I didn't do any restoring actions. I simply copied my documents back, not even copying the apps. And after I run league of legends (or approximately the same time) on my eternal hard drive, my apps begin to turn into blank like that again :(

Before installation I though it must because I'm using the computer for so long and install so many strange things it becomes junky, but after this installation my problem came back again and it's apparently not about anything about the prior system. I think it have several possibilities: 1. my hard drive got infected by some Mac virus (I haven't seen any before but the strange behavior of my computer makes me think that way); 2. somethings wrong with my computer (most likely the SSD) 3. when I run league on my hard drive somehow it triggers an error. I am suspecting the league because every time I try to run it directly it always says the app is damaged and I must open the package and run :league of legend client" within the app package to launch the game. Does anyone have any ideas about this problem? It is really annoying and any help would be greatly appreciated.

This issue is caused by League of Legends.

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/bug-report/rA0p1rYx-client-updating-on-mac-high-sierra-messes-up-other-application-icons

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do until Riot acknowledged the problem and deploy a fix.


sending texts messages to my own cell number and it always dupicates it why I sometimes send text messages to myself in the form of pictures, and it always sends me them in duplicate. one on the right and on the left hand side of my screen. does anyone know why my phone would do this?

You send one message (it's on the right side) and you recieve one (it's on the left side).


New Finder windows are opening in tabs when I want them to open in a new window If I have a Finder window open, whenever I try to open another Finder window it opens as a new tab in previous window. The checkbox in Finder Preferences is not checked. See image below.

I'm trying to learn applescipt and i'm on the part where I open multiple Finder windows. I can't do that part as easy as it is because all I have is one open window with several tabs. How do I get folders to open in a new window?
If i open my home directory in Finder and then click on a folder, the folder contents just replaces the earlier window contents.

To expand on ankii's comment... Have a look at Prefer tabs when opening documents: under System Preferences > Dock where the default setting is In Full Screen Only; however, it can also be set to Always or Manually.
In Finder > Preferences > General when [] Open folders in tabs instead of new windows is unchecked, and Prefer tabs when opening documents: under System Preferences > Dock is set to Always, then Finder will open a new tab instead of a new window.


Audio jack converter for iPhones I purchased a set of studio headphones from Audio Technica. Turns out, the pin is 3.5 mm and is too big for my iPhone 5. Is there some sort of adapter that I can buy that will convert the pin to the one for an iPhone? (Links to the suitable product at RadioShack would be appreciated :))

The iPhone jack is 3.5mm.

You probably have the 1/4 inch (6.3mm) and that is why it does not fit.

When looking for a adapter make sure it has 3 black rings and not 2. That is the iPhone required plug.


Updating to OS X 10.10.2 broke Quick Look previews for HTML files After updating to OS X 10.10.2, I can no longer use Quick Look on HTML files – I just get a blank preview window, and the issue persists through a reboot. But all other files types work fine.

Is there a cache I can clear or something else I can try to get this working again?

Known bug on Apple's Bug Radar as Bug # 19639311

10.10.2 quick look broken for HTML files

qlmanage -t <path_to_html_file> produces a small thumbnail of the HMTL file
qlmanage -p <path_to_html_file> just gives me a blank quicklook preview

This doesn't happen with a .jpg file I used as a control sample.


Change Safari search suggestions language on iPhone The search suggestions in Safari always suggest results in Dutch to me, despite using my phone in English, and my Google set to English by default.

I am Dutch and live in the Netherlands, so I guess this is intended behaviour, but I find the Dutch wikipedia pages to be lacking quite often, for example.

Is there any way to change this language?

Welcome to the Non-World Wide Web !

In the good old days, search engines respected the principles of the World Wide Web. Then they started to alter their outputs according to guessed language and guessed location.

Your problem comes from the search engine used by Safari : Google or Bing or another one.

You may try these possible solutions :

Go to the Web site of the search engine, and look into its prefs.
Write to the search engine’s editor. And be patient.
Switch Safari to another search engine.
Use a proxy to disguise your location. I don’t recommend this workaround, it is dirty, we shouldn’t have to do this.


using iSync plugins in OS X 10.7 and later iSync is being phased out from OS X. In 10.7 Lion, it doesn't come with it pre-installed any more.

I have purchased an iSync plugin for my mobile phone. I am currently using iSync in Lion using a version downloaded from the Internet (in a previous version of this question that didn't work, but this has since been resolved, it was an installation glitch). So at the moment, everything is fine, but I'm not sure for how long this will work.

Will I still be able to sync contacts and calendars with my mobile phone (a Samsung B2100) once iSync won't work on OS X at all any more (presumably when Mountain Lion comes out in may)? Is there a product that will continue to work that can deal with iSync plugins?

Works a treat*

No guarantee that it will continue to work a treat!


What video cards are compatible with Mac Pro (Original)  1,1? Anyone know which video cards are available/supported/will work on the Mac Pro (Original)  from December 2006 also known as MacPro1,1 in the system profiler?

"Available", "supported", and "will work" are three very different things.

The officially compatible video cards for the original (1,1) Mac Pro are:

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
ATI Radeon X1900 XT
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 (and family)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

These are the only cards that are supported in an original Mac Pro. Unfortunately, most are not particularly available any more. Apple no longer sells any of these cards, except the Quadro FX family (which is super-expensive and not consumer-oriented). I believe most, if not all, of the above officially supported cards are all Apple-specific variants. There are various non-Apple versions of the above, which may or may not work in a Mac Pro, depending on firmware compatibility (sometimes it is possible to program a Mac-compatible version of the firmware into a non-Apple card's non-volatile flash, thus enabling the use of a non-Apple version in the Mac Pro). But the bottom line is that it is not really possible to purchase these cards anymore (except for the super-expensive Quadro FX and maybe a small quantity of the others that can be found used on Amazon or eBay).

That said, there is at least one other card that is currently (as of Summer 2011) available that will work in an original Mac Pro. Although it is not listed as being officially compatible (and therefore not officially supported), there are numerous accounts in the Apple online store from customers who have reported that the ATI Radeon HD 5770 works just fine out-of-the-box in their original Mac Pros. I too purchased one from a local Apple Store and installed it in my original Mac Pro (running OS X 10.6.7), so I can state for a fact that this card does work just fine, and it doesn't require any hacking (no drivers to install, no firmware to be flashed) -- it just works right out of the box. It also performs quite a bit better than the older officially compatible cards. It also works just fine in Windows under Boot Camp (after downloading and installing the Boot Camp drivers from the ATI/AMD website).

The only caveat (and it is a very minor one) is that the installation instructions that accompany the card deviate somewhat from what is actually required in the original Mac Pro, due to minor variations between the internals of the older Mac Pros and the newer ones. For instance, the instructions mention sliding a PCI cage (to move a retention bracket), but the bracket is not present, and the cage doesn't move in the original Mac Pro (each PCI slot has it's own small retention "clip" instead). Also, the power connector on the motherboard is in a different location in the original Mac Pro.

If you do some research, you will find various other reports of users having success with other cards (especially various ATI Radeon variants). Oftentimes, it involves updating the firmware (flashing). However, the Radeon HD 5770 is the only currently available card I am aware of that will work out of the box.


How do I unhide purchases from the App Store? Possible Duplicate:
  Is possible modify the App Store purchased listing (delete or hide some/unhide other hidden apps)?

I hid an app listed in my purchased list by accident, how would I go about getting in back?

Go to your account in iTunes on your computer by selecting your Apple ID on the top right in the iTunes Store.
Select view hidden purchases.
Find the app and unhide.


Resetting password for Macbook I need to factory reset my Macbook but cannot recall the password.
So I used Cmd+R during startup and go to terminal and typed 'resetpassword'
according to this advice
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5309334?tstart=0

Now 'Reset Password' application appears but there is nothing where I have to select the volume containing the user account.
Why does this happen?

The Mac was probably encrypted with FileVault 2.

You don't normally have to enter a password to start up in single user mode, but if FileVault 2 is enabled, you do. If FileVault 2 is enabled, you can't use the Reset Password application to reset the password of an account either.

If FileVault is enabled, I don't think there is any way to erase and reinstall OS X without knowing the password or the encryption key. When I enabled FileVault on a VM and started up from the recovery partition, the erase tab was missing from Disk Utility, and I couldn't create another partition from Disk Utility. When I tried selecting Reinstall OS X, the list of volumes did not include the Macintosh HD volume.

If the previous owner enabled the option to store the recovery key with Apple, you might be able to retrieve the recovery key by contacting Apple support:

  Typing in the wrong login password three times prompts you if you have the ability to retreive your key from Apple. Click the triangle-button next to the prompt that appears to reveal a Recovery Key text field (which replaces the password text field) and AppleCare contact information, along with your computer's Serial Number and a Record Number. You need to provide these pieces of information in order for AppleCare to retrieve your recovery key.

If you can't get the recovery key from Apple and you can't contact the previous owner, your only option might be to replace the hard drive.

(I also copied and pasted instructions for three ways to reset the password of an account below. None of them can be used if FileVault 2 is enabled and you don't know the password though.)

  Using Reset Password.app on the recovery partition

  Hold command-R on startup.
  Select Utilities > Terminal.
  Run resetpassword, which opens the Reset Password application.
  Select the volume and account and reset the password.

  Using dscl in single user mode

  Hold command-S on startup.
  Run mount -uw /.
  Run launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.opendirectoryd.plist in 10.7 or later or launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plist in 10.6 or earlier.
  Run dscl . passwd /Users/username newpassword, where username is the username and newpassword is the new password.
  Run reboot.

  Creating a new admin account

  Hold command-S on startup.
  Run mount -uw /.
  Run rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone.
  Run reboot.
  Go through the steps of creating a new account.
  Reset the password of the old account from the Users & Groups preference pane.


Vertical monitor setup with Yosemite I have a MBA (m2011 - Yosemite) with an external monitor setup (Dell 2007FP). I would like to use the Dell monitor in vertical mode by trying to rotate 90 degree in Display setup but the screen stay in horizonal resolution (black area above and below).

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Depending on your version of Mac O/S there should be controls in "Displays" that allow you to rotate the display. On the Snow Leopard mac I have at work there is a menu to the right that says "Rotation:" and a menu with Standard, 90, 180 and 270 degree selections available in it.

I seem to recall it looks a little different in newer versions of Mac O/S


How do I edit PDF Annotation Text Properties after creation? When I have a form that I don't want to print out and write on, I can simply use Preview.app's PDF Annotations feature in order to fill in the necessary fields, and print out the final result.

I have now done this and completely filled out a PDF file, but I'm making a few last minute changes and have run into a problem. The first couple of fields have an annotated text size that is nearly double that of the rest of the fields, and I wish to shrink them to be closer, if not exactly the same size.

But I am unable to do so;

If I click on the text field, as if to resize or move it, then open the Text Properties field and begin changing properties, they do not take effect. If I select text within the text field and again attempt to change properties, they still do not take effect.

Shy of deleting the field and re-typing it with the text properties adjusted prior to doing so, why am I unable to edit text color, size, etc.?

It does work in Lion, the way you tried it.

In Snow-Leopard you have to select the text itself to change the font(size) by first clicking/selecting the text-field to get the selection rectangle (for re-sizing or moving - as you described) and then click a second time on your text to select all the characters. Now your text should be selected (visible by the highlighting) and you will be able to change the font-size in the Text Properties field.

Edit 2012-01-04:

I could reproduce the problem described and also found a simple solution. If you open your pdf and re-arrange pages or rotate them and then try to change the formating of existing text fields it (sometimes) fails.

The solution/fix is to click the window (menu-)bar of the "Fonts" window, then click on your text field again and finally chose the new font variant → and it will be applied :D


Recover MacBook with full disk after failed OS upgrade I tried to install the latest MacOS and the installation failed because there was no enough space. From there on every time I try log in to my account a status bar appears and then the whole system shuts down. Same thing happens in Safe mode.

In recovery mode I tried a clean OS install but the wizard said that there is 0kB free on my disk. I imagine the installer from the previous upgrade attempt is still somewhere on my disk, taking up a lot of space.

So I tried launching a terminal and deleting random unneeded files.

After having deleted probably between 500 and 1000 MB of data, I tried restarting and logging in, but the system shuts down at the same point in that login status bar.

FileVault is enabled on my laptop.

How can I recover my laptop?

There are a few good suggestions here. In the end the approach that solved my problem was starting recovery mode, and deleting a lot of unneeded files from my hard disk.
(There was a lot of leftover stuff in Library/Application Support from applications that I have long ago uninstalled.)

After I freed up ~20GB of data, I could launch a reinstall of MacOS from recovery mode, which did the trick.


How can I see the phone number dialed after I initiate a call? In the Phone app (iPhone 5, iOS 6.1.2), I click on a contact's number, the call is initiated and starts ringing.

For a brief moment at this point, the label of the number (home / work / etc…) is displayed alongside the contact's name, but it quickly is removed and replaced with the call timer counting up and only the name (and picture of the contact) are shown.

How can I see the number that is being called during a phone call?

You can't - in a straight-forward way.

The best work-around is to tap the "Contacts" button on the call screen. This will bring up your list of contacts which you can then select to see the number(s).

The good news: iPhone remembers you position in the contacts when you initiated the call so you don't have to scroll down all the way from "A" contacts.

The bad news: Hopefully you don't have more then one number for a contact. If you do (and most probably do), there is no way to know which of those 2 or 3 numbers you choose when you called the contact.

Interestingly enough, iPhone is nice enough to tell you which (of several under a single contact you are calling) number you are calling when you add a second call. Apparently as of iOS 6.1.3, iPhone no longer does this.


What date format was this file I downloaded in? I downloaded a HTML template as a ZIP a few years ago and one of the files was in this form:

20160822105352-testing-1.html

What sort of date format is that in, UNIX or some other?

That could match ISO 8601 without time zone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601


Restored/Wiped- Automatically enables Location Services like in LOST MODE? iPhone 4s with iOS 7.

Like in LOST MODE where the Location Services is automatically turned on eventhough it was OFF before you lost your iPhone, it will give it's location once the device connects to the internet - (already clarified, thank you so much!). Now the question is, Is it also the same when you restore/wiped the iPhone? Will it automatically enable the Location Services after being restored (as long as they will connect it online)?

The only thing that matters on iOS 7 is whether you have fine my phone enabled. Also, you can't turn off location services when you have find my phone active.

If so, you can't get iTunes or the device to erase itself unless you enter the password for iCloud account that is enrolled.

If you do factory erase it, it still won't re-activate unless the iCloud password is entered. So, to answer your question - location services is likely not re-enabled since the device lock prevents activation of the OS and opting in to location services before the wipe. It would either require access to the source code or servers from Apple to know if location is tracked in is case, but my intuition is no.

If you enable lost mode, that locks the device, but it still is traceable and can be located. Just as if you didn't enter lost mode.

If you erase the device, that removes the data and tracking ability once it connects to the Internet and receives the self-destruct message. It still displays the lost message, but you can't track it.


iTunes shows my iPhone 6 has several audiobooks and music from CDs but the phone itself says no content This happened with the most recent update. I tried reinstalling iTunes and shutting down phone without success. My audiobooks are downloads from public library as MP3s.

Learned the convoluted and frustrating methods to make them be audiobooks rather than music and to not shuffle the chapters with "Get Info" and they are still listed in my iTunes library. Most of my music is from my own CDs.

I can get 1-2 audiobooks to download at a time if delete everything supposedly on my phone in iTunes then add to the iPhone's playlist again. If I add another book or album it deletes the previous ones.

Suggestions?

After looking at many sites on this, I gave up and just transferred my audiobooks back into music on my computer, then sync; the phone does not notice they are just another mp3. Inconvenient but ...


2009 Macbook A1278 with only win10 loaded, need mac os x but cant install it? I was sold a Macbook a1278 and it only has some weird version of windows 10 on it (Everything is all red and inverted colors and the os seems to be all messed up). I tried doing many different things and I have a USB with mountain lion ready to install but nothing is working. What can I try? It has no mac os x utilities or anything at all. I tried booting up internet recovery and the computer fan just spins and black screen..

Boot into recovery mode and if that doesn't exist wipe the entire disk and then boot using the USB drive.
You can wipe the disk by removing it from the macbook if recovery mode doesn't work.


`devfs` runs in fully capacity continuously Run df and it reports from MacOS:

    Filesystem    1024-blocks     Used Available Capacity iused               ifree %iused  Mounted on
    /dev/disk1s1    118284248 89296708  25200204    78% 1280499 9223372036853495308    0%   /
    devfs                 186      186         0   100%     644                   0  100%   /dev
    /dev/disk1s4    118284248  3145860  25200204    12%       3 9223372036854775804    0%   /private/var/vm
    map -hosts              0        0         0   100%       0                   0  100%   /net
    map auto_home           0        0         0   100%       0                   0  100%   /home
    /dev/disk2s1    126712832 29139200  97573632    23%  227650              762294   23%   /Volumes/Transcend

The devfs entry occupies physical space of 186, while it runs persistently in full capacity on my Mac.

What's the mechanism behind it?

It is a shim to hold just the directory entries needed to abstract the hardware devices and software outlets that the system mounts over /dev

Pay it no mind.


Remove/Reset Login screen message Recently, I wanted to put a message on my Login (not Lock Screen) screen and I did it with the following command:
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText "Message"

It took some time to appear for some reason but now I've been trying to remove that message for a while using the same command but leaving the "Message" part like "", as you can see in the following example:
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText ""

Yet, it does not disappear. Still there. How can I force my Mac to remove it?

You can reset a preference using defaults delete:
sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText


How to use iTerm along with the default bash terminal? I want to use iTerm with my default bash terminal because there is a lot of customization that i have done to my .bash_profile and I don't want to lose it or perform all the hard work again.

You are mixing up a couple of things here. Note there is no such thing as bash terminal.

iTerm and Terminal are applications that start up a defined program - by default it is /usr/bin/login. This program starts a shell (listed in /etc/shells) by default this is /bin/bash.

bash reads ~/.bash_profile if it is started by login (or with a -l parameter), bash does not care if it is started by iTerm or Terminal. (There might be environment variables set depending on what starts bash e.g. ITERM_* from iTerm and TERM_PROGRAM by both)

iTerm and Terminal store their defaults in different places (both within ~/Library/Preferences) and do not write to ~/.bash* files.

Thus your ~/.bash_profile will be run by both iTerm and Terminal and will not be affected by them except if you test on certain variables


What extension exist for Safari to watch Youtube videos using a foreign IP? In Germany many (music) videos get blocked on Youtube because Youtube and the GEMA have not yet managed to agree on a deal for copyright fees.

This struggle has been going on for years now and there exist plenty of legal solutions for Firefox and Chrome to use a proxy service - provided by an extension - that will enable you to watch the video using a foreign IP (preferably, US or UK).

Are there extensions for Safari that enable you to watch Youtube videos using a foreign IP?

this is a common problem, due to possible copyright infringement issues.
you can add the following proxy-url to your bookmarks and use it in combination with copy/paste. sure that is not exactly what you have asked for, but it works and the amount of time is the same!

01 and here is a list of other possible proxy-hosts


How to prevent Spotlight from playing YouTube videos when I paste a YouTube URL into Spotlight When I copy and paste a YouTube video URL into Spotlight (CommandSpace), it automatically starts playing that YouTube video in a miniaturised web browser embedded in Spotlight.
How do I turn off this behaviour? In fact I would most prefer to completely get rid of that embedded web browser entirely.

The reason I often paste stuff into Spotlight is that I use it like a second clipboard/storage space for text.
It's really convenient, a single keybind away. I often paste text there if I have to copy/paste something else intermittently, or need to be reminded of something a few moments later.

With macOS 10.15 Catalina, as a workaround, you can first type a character and then paste the URL to fool Spotlight and prevent it from displaying a Quick Look preview. After editing the URL, you just need to pay attention not to copy that first character.
With macOS 11 Big Sur, none of that is necessary, as Spotlight no longer displays a preview:


Can OS X services be split up across multiple OS X Servers at different locations? My company has two offices, in two different cities.  I'd like to use a colo to host our OS X Server, which will manage Open Directory data, device management, VPN, shared file storage, mail, messaging, and most of the other services that OS X Server offers.

At each office, then, I'd like to have a Mac mini running OS X Server to manage that office's LAN and, hopefully, be that office's hub for Software Update service.

Is it possible to divvy up services across multiple OS X Servers in this way?  If so, are there any pitfalls I should be wary of going forward?

I know Software Update service cannot be replicated. You can however, run multiple Software Update servers. You just have to point the client to which Software Update server you want to use.


Dark theme for El Capitan? How can I enable dark theme of GUI? I can not believe that it is not possible. As I googled - theming was possible at the past but now for security reasons I need look to the bright screen at night.

Quote from flavours.interacto.net:
Apple introduced a new security policy on OS X El Capitan, preventing every process (even privileged ones) from modifying system files, either on filesystem or dynamically at runtime.

No workaround?

I can suggest the following:

You could use the Freeware 'XtraFinder' (http://www.trankynam.com/xtrafinder). There is a workaround for OSX 10.11 to enable and it works great. I use it for File- and Folder Colors/Labels, a feature i missed very much and now i got it back ;-)
The function you are looking for is "bright Text on dark background" for which you can define the colors to your liking for the window content. You cannot change the color of the window Frame, Title and Tabs, though.
You could use the commercial 'Pathfinder' (http://www.cocoatech.com/pathfinder/). It's often promoted as a Finder-Replacement and has tons of useful functions. One of them is hidden in the Preferences - the "Appearance"-Settings. Here you can configure nearly all display elements of PF. They offer a 30 Day Trial.

I hope one of these help you solve your Problem.


"The Installer information on the recovery server is damaged" when installing macOS Sierra Im trying to reinstall macOs Sierra but get

In the log I only get

Any help appreciated!

You need to restart the Mac and keep holding ⌘+R, and you will get the Internet Recovery screen. Connect to WiFi or via Ethernet and you will be to reinstall the OS.
A couple things to watch on machines that have been off for a while:

check the date and time, if they are not within 4 minutes of reality, the check for valid software can fail.
Be very clear if your macOS installer was downloaded a while back, the signing certifications can be expired.
Be aware that even an unexpired certificate can fail to install if there are errors in the network or disk.


How can I add text in Final Cut Pro X? One thing I really hate about Final Cut Pro X is the inability to add basic text, like you could on all previous versions of Final Cut Pro.  It seems all text has to be entered as "titles" - and although you can edit these titles to look like basic text, it really isn't the same thing.

Is there any way to get basic text in Final Cut Pro X?

You could doit with Control-T to add the basic text title.


Macbook Air Full Factory Reset? I want to reset my Macbook Air Early 2015 but not just simply deleting the disk and reinstall it with macOS Utilities menu. What I mean is "full factory reset." I want it to be like it just left the factory, at least in the software side. Like SMC and NVRAM reset etc. Or deleting the disk resets the things that I mentioned?
If not, when should I reset them? After deleting the disk and before installing the High Sierra (I will downgrade from Mojave to High Sierra) or after installing the High Sierra?
And are there any other things that can be reset like SMC and NVRAM? If there are, please mention them.

There are so many terms used in the question that indicate a misunderstanding of what a "full factory reset" is.
First off, your MacBook Air (or any computer and not limited to Apple) is not a phone;  there's no "factory reset."  In fact, "full factory reset" is not correct either.  You can "reset to factory defaults" which is a term used for wiping the custom configurations of your device so that it will behave like it was just removed from the box.  It doesn't, however, return it to the OS/firmware that it originally shipped with.  If you applied any firmware updates, you can't roll those back - and it wouldn't be prudent to do so.

I want it to be like it just left the factory, at least in the software side. Like SMC and NVRAM reset etc.

The SMC and NVRAM have absolutely nothing to do with software.  The SMC handles power, battery charging, fan control, etc.  There's nothing in the SMC that has anything to do with how you personally interact with your computer; there's no identifiable information.  The NVRAM sets your pre-boot environment variables and your Find My Mac token.  There's nothing in NVRAM that's personally identifiable and necessary of resetting.
I wrote an a short piece on what Resetting the SMC and NVRAM actually does. (it's part of a broader answer).  It's not necessary to reset either of these.

Or deleting the disk resets the things that I mentioned?

No. I assume you mean erasing your disk.  Your disk contents has nothing to do with the SMC.  As far as your NVRAM goes, pretty much the only entries in NVRAM related to your disk is where the the boot and recovery partitions are located and this info rarely changes from computer to computer.  You could reset it, but it will likely go back to what it was before.

After deleting the disk and before installing the High Sierra (I will downgrade from Mojave to High Sierra) or after installing the High Sierra?

Why downgrade?  Most users would want to know that the Mac runs the latest and greatest operating system, not one from three years ago (2017).  However, if you want to go this route, all you have to do is boot using the keyboard combo ⇧ Shift⌘ Command⌥ OptionR.  This will install the version of macOS that came with your Mac or the closest version still available (this one reason is why "full factory reset" is not applicable to computers).
See:  How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery
TL;DR

And are there any other things that can be reset like SMC and NVRAM? If there are, please mention them.

As mentioned, SMC and NVRAM reset are useless - doing this will accomplish nothing.  It won't hurt anything if you do so, if you feel better doing it, have at it.  I just want to make you aware that these resets, that are way too often cited, aren't very relevant.
What you should do is the following:

Ensure you've backed up your data

Sign out of iTunes/Music (de-authorize your computer), iCloud, Messaging, etc.

Remove any accounts you may have added (like Mail, Exchange, Social networking, etc.)

Unpair any Bluetooth devices you may have connected

Remove any firmware and File Vault encryption passwords you may have enabled

Wipe your drive and reinstall macOS

⌘ CommandR - Install the latest macOS version installed with your Mac
⇧ Shift⌘ Command⌥ OptionR - Install the version that came with or closest to when your Mac was shipped from the factory
Before proceeding with the installation of  macOS, use Disk Utility from the Recovery Boot Menu to wipe your drive

Turn off your computer once you get to the "Welcome" screen.  When the new user gets it and turns it on for the first time, they will get the "new computer experience" like it came from the factory.

The key is to un-link your Mac from you both physically and online.  Removing firmware and File Vault passwords will ensure the new user can use the Mac without going back to you for them.  Wiping the drive ensures your data is gone and not just "hidden" in a different user account.  Removing online links (i.e. iCloud) ensures the new user can link it to their account and keeps you and your data out of the mix.


How can I prevent text messages going to my Mac? I have just bought a MacBook Pro and all my text messages are coming through to it before coming through to my phone.

I don't want this. I have followed help tips by opening Messages app but can't find the iMessage preferences to change it as advised by other people.

Open Messages.app from the Applications folder, or Spotlight (⌘-space).
Open the Preferences window from Messages → Preferences or press ⌘,

Select the Accounts tab.

Select your iCloud account and uncheck the Enable this account option.


Mojave quicklook stuck at loading Some days after installing Mac OS Mojave my quick look startet showing the spinning icon in the finder sidebar and when i press space on media files (.jpg, .png, .gif, .psd, .pdf, etc.).

Here what i tried so far:

Rebooted in safe mode (no effect)
Deleted com.apple.finder.plist and relaunched finder
The approach suggested here Quicklook not working

When trying the last approach my termnial freezes when i try to force reload the list using qlmanage -r.

I then tried to generate a preview of an image, and got this error

I'm thinking maybe one of these apps could be causing trouble, but they didn't do in High Sierra:

Dropbox
Adobe Creative Cloud
iCloud drive (synced with desktop)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, for now i'm using Adobe Bridge to search files.

A combination of the answers in here + killing all QuickLook-related processes fixed it for me. I have been experiencing this ever since the Mojave update. No reboot required.

qlmanage -r commands always got stuck for me, too.

Fix TL;DR version:

Delete DropboxQL.qlgenerator from ~/Library/QuickLook (Credit to suntrop)
Restart Finder
sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force (Credit to Dishoperator)
Kill all QuickLook-related processes
Restart Finder

Fix detailed how-to version follows

For those not very familiar with what the above means.

To get QuickLook working when previewing files with spacebar:

Delete DropboxQL.qlgenerator in ~/Library/QuickLook, as per suntrop's suggestion.

Open Finder
Press ⌘+G
~/Library/QuickLook
Look for a file named DropboxQL.qlgenerator, it will probably be the only one
Delete it, and then delete it from Trash

Restart Finder:

Press ⌘ ⌥ ␛ (Command + Option + Escape)
Find Finder
Click Relaunch

To get thumbnails to work:

Run the Terminal command Dishoperator suggested:
sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

It doesn't do any harm, it just updates the kernel caches
Open Terminal
Paste sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force
Type in your password (it will not appear as you're typing)
Press Return
It will take ~30s to a couple minutes depending on your machine

Open up Activity Monitor (⌘+Spacebar, type in Activity Monitor)
Order by Process Name
Force quit quicklookd

Click on quicklookd
Press the X stop-like button in the top left
Press Force quit

Force quit all instances of QuickLookSatellite
Keep force-quitting until none of them are left

Make sure you order processes by name to see them all at once

Restart Finder (see point 2. Restart Finder: again if you forgot how)

Keep having problems?

Since this is now working for me, but in case it still doesn't for you, here are some apps that would normally be suspects but are NOT the cause. This should narrow-down your search:

Dropbox (was a problem)
Sketch 52.2
Principle
CraftManager
Photoshop CS6
Illustrator CS6
Bear
Highland 2
Kindle
Atom, PhpStorm, Sublime Text, Caret
p4merge
Slack
Screenhero (don't know why I still keep it)
SourceTree
Chrome, Safari, FireFox
Franz
1Password
Spotify
Shazam
TeamViewer
Steam
Flux (don't know why I still keep this one either)
Microsoft OneNote
Bartender 3
PSequel
Postico
GoToMeeting
Kaleidoscope
MindNode 5
Podio
Fluid UI
Gliffy Diagrams
Conceptboard
Moqups
Wireframe.cc
Graph.tk
SketchUp, Layout, StyleBuilder
Google Keep
VLC
Trello
Asana
LiveMinutes
Zoom
Amphetamine

And remember to clean up useless apps from your laptop. Which I clearly don't.


Start Terminal in AppleScript At work I'm overseeing several users who use MacBooks to connect to our enterprise environment.

One of our vendors has an old server which users access via ssh. I've created an Automator workflow to launch terminal, set it up the way they like (legacy color scheme and font) and get them to the ssh prompt from the server. I get some unexpected behavior in that when the Automator workflow runs, it opens two Terminal windows, then window I want (ssh client) and then another regular Terminal login.

If the ssh window is closed, Terminal remains open, and the next time the workflow is run, the window isn't visible until the user manually switches to Terminal.

The other peculiarities I'm observing seem to be tied to the fact that the AppleScript spawns two Terminal windows, and then the users simply closing the window rather than quitting Terminal when exiting. Is there a better way to do this? Could I have Terminal quit by default when the "Close Window" button is hit?

Caveats:
This is a controlled environment. I'm pushing my luck with vendor support using Terminal already, they didn't want to support anything other than Linux ssh. 3rd party applications are not acceptable solutions.

You can force Terminal to become frontmost by adding the line:

activate application "Terminal"

into your applescript.

if you launch Terminal with:

tell application "Terminal" to open location "ssh://user@example.com"

then Terminal won't open an extra window.


Mac OS X Finder filter image by orientation How can I filter images by orientation in Finder to show only portrait/vertical images or only landscape/horizontal images?

From https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3481136:

Search for images by pressing Command + F

Add a search attribute

Pick the "Orientation" attribute

Set "equals" to

0 if you want landscape/horizontal,
1 if you want portrait/vertical


Blacklist wireless access point in macOS I am the network admin of a small company.  We have a rogue wireless access point broadcasting our SSID that's not connected to the network.  Occasionally, the Macs in the area will attach to this AP and will then have no network access.

I have identified the MAC address of this WAP/device.

Is there a way to blacklist the MAC address of this specific AP so that the Mac workstations/laptops don't try to use for network access?

(Fair warning, I'm a Windows guy, so please provide instructions a 5-year old can understand :-) )

Thanks in advance!

Unfortunately macOS does not provide a way to blacklist a specific access point. On some other operating system you can do this via the BSSID (basic service set identifier) of the access point.

You were referring to a MAC, but it is not really a MAC - but rather a BSSID. The BSSID is usually derived from the actual MAC of the access point though, but it is not the same.

I would look at two ways to solve the problem:

The first would be to try and find the rogue access point by connecting to your Macs remotely and issuing the following command:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -s

This command gives you a list of the access points in range - including the BSSID. If you automate this command to be run on all computers, you should be able to narrow down which computers can detect that access point, and with which signal strength. Hopefully this will allow you to find the rogue access point.

The second way to try and solve the problem is to work the other way around - namely by specifying which access point your desktops connect to. I.e. do not block a specific access point, but instead specify which to connect to (a kind of white list).

You can connect to a specific access point using this command:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport --associate=<SSID> --bssid=<BSSID>

You must replace "" and "" with their corresponding values.

If you have multiple access points of your own, you'll need to create a small scirpt to select the known-good BSSID with the best signal strength obtained from running the previously mentioned command.

There's also a third party utility that supposedly makes it easier to associate to a specific access point:

https://github.com/qpSHiNqp/airport-bssid

However it seems it hasn't been updated since 2016, so it might be out of date.

It is used like this:

airport-bssid <interface> <bssid> <password>

where you need to replace ,  and  accordingly. Interface could be for example "en1".


disable siri permanently in big sur Every time my Big Sur Macbook Pro does an automatic overnight update and reboots, it presents a checkbox offering to enable Siri.  Can this perpetual nag be disabled?
(In System Preferences, I leave the checkbox "Enable Ask Siri" unchecked.)

One way to do this is via MDM policy.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mdm/siri-restrictions-mdm993369d06/web

If you don’t have an MDM, I recommend trying JAMF now for free since it is supported and free for the first few devices. You can fine tune things like the menu bar as well.

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/blocking-siri-on-macos-sierra/

You might try these profiles as well but that operation can be fiddle without the MDM setup completed.


External Sonnet 550 eGPU not providing enough power for MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) I have an external Sonnet box https://www.sonnetstore.com/products/egfx-breakaway-box-550, and it is not charging my notebook fast enough, e.g battery still draining when the MacBook screen is open. Especially with docker and compiling and IPad as an external display. When the screen is closed, all good enough, e.g 3-4 powers of gaming until the battery is 0.

I tried to plug in external power adapter (native) when eGPU is powered, but MAC does not switch to it, despite Apple states, that it will use a source with the most power.
However, if I change the order of load, e.g. plug power first, then Sonnet, then the battery is charging from the native adapter and all good.
Still, it is sad that need two cables and eGPU is not powering enough
Is there any way to fix it? Maybe to switch power read from another source? E.g. some command in terminal to use the specific USB-C port for power or whatever?

If you have a new box that you're still able to return, you could consider buying the 650 model instead of 550 model that you currently have. The 650 models supports charging the laptop with up to 100 watts, whereas the 550 model only supports 87 watts.
In regards to switching power source and your comment regarding that you think Apple incorrectly states that the source with the most power is used:
The 2018 version of the 15" MacBook Pro comes with a 87 watts charger. So it is actually rates to supply the same amount of power as your Sonnet box. Therefore I don't think you can expect the laptop to switch to it when you connect it.
It is only the newer models from 2019 and on that comes with a 96 watts charger.
You could consider buying the newer 96 watts MacBook Pro charger to ensure more power is supplied to the laptop, but you'll still have to plug in two cables this way.
There's no command in Terminal that allows you to choose a different power source for charging.


Can I backup using Time Machine and restore to another account? I am planning to re-install the OSX when Mavericks release. I am also actually planning to change my username after re-installation.

I need to backup my whole personal folder under username "a", but if I changed my username to "b", Can I still be restoring my personal data to "b"?

I know generally there is no problem for this, but I am wondering if iTunes library still recognise my new username and locate my every music file location?

You cannot directly restore to another account from Time Machine, but you can rename the user after the restore. After the fresh installation of OS X, restore the data and then do the user rename.

Follow the process outlined in Changing user account short name to rename your user "a" to user "b".


Voice Memos (ios app) recording to Google Drive Is there any way to upload the Voice Memos recording to Google Drive? As far as I see it only allows you to share via Email and Message.

If not, Is there an alternative to do this?

I found this: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dictonic-voice-recorder-for/id652076268?mt=8

But I think there might be a free one.

Send it to yourself via text. When it arrives, click on the file download icon. Save to Google Drive (must have the app already on phone).


Purchasing Affinity designer on mac If I purchase Affinity Designer on my iMac will I be able to use the app on my MacBook as well? I'd like to know if it works on one device or on any device that my iCloud account is signed into.

Mac App Store apps can be used on any Mac signed in with your Apple ID.

Can I use apps from the Mac App Store on more than one computer?
Apps from the Mac App Store may be used on any Macs that you own or control for your personal use.

Mac App Store: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


Cannot boot thumb drive on MBP 2017 to install Linux I just received a new MBP 2017 (14,3), which has only USB-C ports. I have a passive Lention USB hub, which allows me to plug in traditional USB devices e.g. a thumb drive.

I want to dual-boot Linux on this machine. I've created a bootable thumb drive with Linux on it. The problem I'm having is that on reboot, when I press the option key to show me boot devices, the thumb drive does not show up. This has worked fine in the past with older models of MBP.

What should I do to get around this?

My only thought is that the machine is not able to enumerate devices on the hub. I don't currently have a USB-C -> USB adapter. Has anyone else experienced this and if so, what did you do to overcome the issue?

The passive hub works perfectly when in use in OSX.

up for one answer above, plus make sure that the adapter you're using is the right adapter for running the external hard drive's operating system. I had a 2015 MacBook Pro and I was running kali linux on an external hard drive. I was forced to buy the 2017 version since my dad needed a new computer and he wanted the 2015 MacBook I had. I mindlessly just picked out a USB-C to USB adapter, and that adapter worked for reading and transferring files from different hard drives, but when I try booting the kali linux hard drive, it would ask "which hard drive to boot" after pressing the option key, but it would end up having a black screen when I chose the kali. I almost deleted the kali linux operating system I had, and all the files in it (repeat/repartition drive, etc) but a light bulb came to my head and prompted me to check the box of that stupid adapter I bought...sure enough, it was only a USB-C to Type A USB. This may not be the same case for you, but my problem was solved when I bought a different adapter for the USB-C connection for the 2017 Mac.


Installing homebrew after upgrading to MacOS High Sierra Recently I upgraded to MacOS High Sierra (10.13.4). After upgrade my homebrew seems to have stopped working. So I uninstalled the homebrew by executing the below command

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/uninstall)"

I tried to install homebrew again by executing the below command

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

But the installation failed with the error as discussed here.

Then I tried executing the command as suggested in the above issue.

sudo chown -R $USER:admin /usr/local

But it did not work because of the issue discussed here.

I executed the below command as suggested above

sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*

It gave me some Operation not permitted warnings.

Then I again tried to install homebrew. Now it is showing me the below logs in console

...
==> Installation successful!

==> Homebrew has enabled anonymous aggregate user behaviour analytics.
Read the analytics documentation (and how to opt-out) here:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Analytics.html

==> Next steps:
- Run `brew help` to get started
- Further documentation:
    https://docs.brew.sh
sudo: /etc/sudoers is owned by uid 504, should be 0
sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting
sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin

Can some one let me know what does the last set of warnings / errors denote? Can these be ignored?

The warning at the end is telling you that the root user (denoted by default with the uid 0) doesn't own the /etc/sudoers file anymore. This is bad. At some point you may have accidentally changed this, perhaps by mistyping a command. The sudoers file denotes which users and groups are allowed to escalate to a root privilege set by prefacing a command with sudo and typing their login password.

The chown command you've been using above changes the ownership of files from one user and/or group to another. Because you've changed ownership of the sudoers file you probably won't be able to sudo yourself out of trouble as the sudo command won't run for security reasons if the sudoers file from which it draws its configuration is owned by a user other than root (this is why homebrew is spitting out the last error message above).

I'd suggest the following:

Enable the root user using Apple's instructions here (under the section 'Enable or disable the root user').
Open Terminal and switch to the root user by typing su - and entering the password you assigned to your root user account in step 1.
As the root user, change ownership of the sudoers file back to root and the wheel group with the following:

chown root:wheel /etc/passwd

Follow the instructions in step 1 again but this time disable the root user again.

You should now be able to use the sudo command again with your regular admin user. You can run sudo ls for instance in a new shell; if the contents of the current directory are listed and you don't see that ownership error above then all is well.

Although this falls outside the bounds of your question, I'm concerned that if you've unwittingly changed ownership of the sudoers file while attempting to change ownership of /usr/local/ you may have done this to other important files as well. Run ls -l /etc/ and examine the output of that command. The third column in from the left shows the user who owns a given file. By default, pretty much every file in the /etc/ directory is meant to be owned by root (an obvious one is /etc/passwd). If you see the majority are owned by another user (your own username for instance), the problem is far more extensive than your sudoers file.

As a general point, you need to be very careful running any command prefaced by sudo. Only run commands in your terminal if you understand the command and know exactly what it will do when passed a given set of options/arguments. There are some safeguards provided by the more recent Mac operating systems with System Integrity Protection (SIP) but you can still wreak plenty of havoc on your system.

If you want to learn what a particular command and its various arguments do, try checking the manual first by typing man + the command you want information on (man sudo or man chown for example).