Can replacing wires fix a display I dropped my laptop on the ground.  For about 7 days the display would not work though the hard drive was fine.  I could use the computer with a different display.  The display has magically started working again but it has flickered off for a few seconds twice over a period of ten minutes.  Perhaps the only thing that is wrong is that some wires went ajar during the dropping and they just need to be replaced.   Can one purchase wires and easily replace them?  I have a Macbook Pro Retina Mid 2015.

No, on the newer MBPs, the display cable is basically integral to the "Display Assembly" part, even if it is just the cable that was damaged it is not replaceable on its own, not "easily" by any reasonable standard.
Realistically if the display cable is seriously damaged you need to replace the entire display half of the laptop.
If it is only the display connector that is damaged, it may be possible to repair but the smt soldering needed for such a job means it would not be easy either, though you might be able to find a third party repair shop that could do it for you without replacing half the laptop.
Though I don't think it is likely, if the problem is that the display cable connector simply came loose, then that would be an easy fix. But I feel that would just be wishful thinking.


Can AppleTV be used to display web page on TV? We work inside an open space in computing, and we need to display 3 critical webpage (fullscreen mode) on 2 televisions (= 2 apple tv).

I was wondering if the apple TV's:

can it be controlled via my macbookpro (end 2013) to browse and display another page quickly (from tab to tab).
I need to display 3 webpage in fullscreen for only 2 television, so I will need to change tabs few times a day and I don't want to physically go to the TV each time.
Can the apple TV change from tab to tabs inside the browser each X minutes ?

As far as I'm aware, there is no web browser for the AppleTV as of today; perhaps this will be added as an app for the 4th generation model?

That being said, the only way that I'm aware of displaying web browser contents in the device is to use AirPlay mirroring. From what I understand, any Mac produced since ~2011 should have this ability as long as it is of the Core i5/i7 ilk (the Core 2 Duos can't do this natively).

There is no way for the Apple TV itself to control Safari or any other apps on your MacBook Pro, however there may be an app that could do that for you, I'd check the Mac App Store.


Yosemite causing problems with Keychain I recently updated to Yosemite. Now when I log out and then log back into my computer, I have to enter my credentials for all my applications. At the same time, dozens of windows pop up from applications that are not even open, asking for me to enter the keychain password.

There are a number of different options to try to fix recurrent Keychain Access issues.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6724601


Can I force my Mac to make better use of the inactive memory? I use mysql and it takes up to 2.5 GB of my ram. I checked activity monitor and saw that I have 1GB of inactive memory but it never changes even if I have only 10MB active free memory. Is there any way to force the inactive memory to be used?

You can think of inactive memory like free memory that's been reserved for a recently closed application, but ready to be consumed by other uses when the 'truly' free memory has been exhausted.  If you have 1 GB of memory (for the sake of making this discussion easier) on a freshly booted system, imagine the OS uses 300 MB and you open an app that uses 200 MB.  You now have a total of 500 MB used, and 500 free.  If you close that app that was using 200 MB, the memory is marked inactive and you'll now have 300 used (OS), 200 inactive, and 500 free.  If you open an app that requires 600 MB, it'll use the free memory then pull from the inactive pool.

You can free inactive memory by opening Terminal.app and typing (without the $):

 $ purge

You can, also configure MySQL to use more memory but if you're not having performance problems I'd leave everything alone:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-configuration.html
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/memory-use.html

For more information on inactive memory in OS X:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1342 (search for "inactive memory")
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20010613140025184
http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Performance/Conceptual/ManagingMemory/Articles/AboutMemory.html


MacBook Pro 2012 15" can’t boot When I turn it on, it shows the Apple logo and starts loading up to about 50%, then the screen turns black. Running the hardware test shows this:

Alert! Apple Hardware test has detected an error.

4MEM/61/40000000: 0x79d53990

Running the system file diagnostics shows this:

What error is that? How can it be fixed? I don’t have a back up and can't risk losing my data.

The error code indicates that the Apple Hardware Test tested your RAM-modules and found a problem with at least one memory module.  In order to solve this you'll need to have the RAM module replaced (i.e. hardware repair).

If you have the 15" MacBook Pro (mid-2012, non-retina), you can buy a new RAM module yourself and replace it fairly easily.

If you have the 15" Retina MacBook Pro (mid-2012) the RAM module is soldered on the logic board and not easily replaceable. In this case, contact Apple or a repair shop for help.


Why can't I run my MacBook Pro in clamshell mode? I'm following these instructions to use my mid-2009 MacBook Pro in clamshell mode with a Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard and trackpad are paired with the computer and I've got the external display hooked up, but the computer is going to sleep when I shut the lid. I have Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer checked in System Preferences, so I can hit some keys to wake the computer while it's closed. It wakes up and shows me the lock screen, where I start typing my password... only to have the computer go right back to sleep after a second or two.

Why won't it stay awake?

Clamshell mode behaved properly when I was using a USB keyboard.

I'm currently using NoSleep to work around this problem, but I'd like to know the root cause.

The only time I have seen this model fail to work reliably is when there was a problem with the AC power (and it then was continually, but momentarily on battery and sleep is the correct answer) or when the lid isn't securely closed (a drop has bent things inside, or the lid doesn't close firmly, or the stand allows the lid to wiggle open/closed a touch.

Have you poked around a bit to see if any of the things can be isolated (lid movement, power supply, connecting a USB device just to avoid a bluetooth drop from making it think it should sleep now).

You don't need these changes permanently, but just to isolate why it might work sometimes and not another. If it fails all the time, you might need it serviced since Lion has worked out most of the sleep/wake screen issues associated with clamshell mode. (and there sure were a lot on 10.6 when we didn't know the VRAM was being allocated, but not reallocated on lid opening events as described in the support article you mentioned)


How do I get my computer to reboot when it crashes when it tries to wake up? I have a 2013 MacBook Air and it won't wake up from sleep. Worse, it won't let me hold down the power button to force it to power off so I can just cold boot. It just shows a black screen when I open it, and when I hold down the power button, it just goes back to sleep. Then when I wake it, it shows a black screen again, repeat step 1.

How can I use my computer again??

Regardless of the state of the Mac, holding down the power button will always kill it and allow you to cold boot. Make sure you're holding the power button down long enough—hold it down longer than you think is necessary.


Use USB Iphone tethering for Macbook and use AirPort for Printer I already set up the iPhone tethering to have Internet on my Macbook via the iPhone phone-line. I'm using it via USB because I want to use the Wifi from the AirPort for a connection with my printer - which works as well.

The problem is: It won't work at the same time, leaving me offline as soon as I connect the AirPort with the printer. It seems like that my Macbook prefers the AirPort for Internet, but doesn't recognize that my printer is no internet-connection. So the iPhone tethering is still on, but I don't have internet access...

Anyone with a solution for this specific problem ?!

You need to set the service order for the wifi to be below the USB tether. Apple provides instructions here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18458?locale=en_US

Simply drag the Wifi entry down below the USB or the USB up above the wifi.


Can I have two mac users share one iTunes library on the same mac? I have my iTunes library that lives under my account.  There's about 20 Gigs of music and I sync the music to my own iPod.

My wife now has her own iPod.  She wants to log in under her own account, see the iTunes library and customize it for herself; for example, make her own playlists, set her own star ratings to her favorite songs, and so on.

Is this possible?

It is a tiny bit ugly - but there are formal steps to accomplish exactly what you wish. Home Sharing doesn't work so well when both accounts have completely separate libraries - each in the usual home folder - so that's not a good thing to try.

The best workaround is to agree to store the media in a shared folder. It's more work to add the same music to both libraries - but you both have totally independent backups, playlists, play counts, ratings and apps.

This works really well and you can easily recombine later or split her or your account to another mac or PC any time you choose by taking a copy of the reference files as well as the library organization files.


Chrome on Mac UTF-8 in URL strange behavior I have URLs with non-ascii chars that behave strangely on Chrome 79 on Catalina 10.15.3
I was not able to reproduce it with Chrome 79 on Windows, neither with Safari.

If I have the following chain in the URL bar ∀ ∀∀∀§, the last three ∀ get bigger then the first one. Try copy pasting it in your Chrome URL bar. If I remove the § or put a space before the §, all the ∀ return to the same (smaller) size.

google.com does not seem to care about the size difference in the URL, but my Java WebServer is not able to parse the URL if the ∀ and § are adjacents.

Update : I've just upgraded to Chrome 80 and the problem does not appear any more...

It seems to be the case with all tall characters at the end, for example the dagger(†)(U+2020), the double dagger(‡)(U+2021) and box drawings light vertical and horizontal(┼)(U+253C) show the same effect.
My guess is that chrome doesn't handle those "tall" characters well and tries to show all characters in a "word", limited by for example a space or a comma, as the same height.
I also could not find another place in macOS where this was the case, so I guess it is a chrome Bug. You can file a bug report in the menu under the help section or in the google issue tracker.


How to create bootable Mavericks external USB hard drive from Sierra? I'm trying to create an external hard drive that can boot off Mavericks to run old software that doesn't work on later versions of OS X / macOS. The only Apple computer I have available is a MacBook Pro 13 inch Retina, mid 2014 which is running Sierra. According to Apple's documentation, the original version of OS X that came with this computer should be 10.9.4, so I don't understand why it wouldn't be supported.

I've tried creating a bootable USB installer by cloning the base system .dmg that comes with the App Store installer, as well as using the USB image creator that comes with it. In both cases I can choose it as a bootable device, but immediately get a "prohibited" symbol and the installation does not continue.

I've also tried using a USB 2.0 device instead of 3.0 to boot, and using Carbon Copy Cloner instead of Disk Utility to create the bootable device. No luck in either case.

You are correct that your model MBP did originally ship with Mac OS X 10.9.4.

However, in October 2015 Apple released a firmware update for the EFI Boot ROM of this model. My guess is you updated the firmware (it was an extremely important update to address a security risk). If so, your MBP is unable to boot into any version of OS X prior to 10.9.5.

You can read more a brief description of the MBP111.0138.B16 (2015-002) firmware update or more detailed info here.


Is there any place to download Apple Configurator 1.3? I would like to use Apple Configurator for our Store iPads, but I can't upgrade my iMac to 10.8 (min. Requirement for AC 1.4) right now.

Where can I get 1.3 or any other version that I could install on 10.7.5?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ldzpp9ajy7y82k/Apple%20Configurator%201.2.1.zip

I found it on https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com

Hope it will work.


Could not activate iPhone because "activation server cannot be reached" I just purchased an iPhone 5s and attached to my iCloud. After that it seems that App Store applications were not installing properly. I did a factory reset and the following screen is shown:

Could Not Activate iPhone
Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server cannot be reached. Try connecting your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a few minutes.
If this problem persists, contact Apple Support at apple.com/uk/support
Try Again

You’ll need to either connect to iTunes to activate or take the device to another network (or perhaps both).

Hopefully it isn’t an issue with the device itself but you’ll need to work through the support links provided for sure if a second network connection fails you as well.


Can't download app that is compatible with my IPad I was trying to download Call Of Duty Mobile which is compatible on Ipad Mini 2 but I can't download it and says it's not compatible, I checked again and I still can't download it on my Ipad Mini 2

Call Of Duty Mobile isn’t compatible with iPad Mini 2.

The App Store page says:

That’s why you won’t be able to download it.


MacOS is showing a badge notification on System Preferences. How can I make it disappear? The badge notification is because it wants me to upgrade to Catalina. I never want to upgrade to Catalina because my hardware is too old to be run under any newer version of MacOS than I already have.

How can I dismiss this particular notification or otherwise make the notification badge go away?

I tried System Preferences --> Notifications, to see if I could disable all badge notifications from the System Preferences app, but that doesn't appear to be an option. And really, I don't want to disable all notifications from System Preferences, I just want to tell it to to stop nagging me about the Catalina upgrade.

I had the same complaint. I removed System Preferences from the Dock, and and haven't been bothered by the badge nag.

System Preferences is still easily available in the Apple Menu > System Preferences.

And you might review this Stack Exchange question for an alternative solution.


Can't edit "Gmail SMTP Server" on iOS 10.3.1 I'm having problems recently with sending email from my gmail account on my iPhone using the mail app (keep being told username or password is incorrect, when they definitely are not).  In trying to troubleshoot, I wanted to edit my SMTP server settings, but there is only one "Primary Server" shown and when I tap it to edit (it has no username or password so I wanted to manually add them in), everything is greyed out, and nothing can be edited.  Not only that, but I can't even turn it off because when I flip the switch to deactivate it, there is no way to "save" the change, and as soon as I back out of that page in any way, the change is lost and the server remains activated.

How can I edit this SMTP server's settings?

Well I'm really not sure why this changed anything, but I logged out of my Google account from my desktop browser, then logged back in.  Immediately after so doing, I sent a new email on my phone from my GMail account, and it worked perfectly fine, without a hitch.  Go figure!


Won't let me download apps on the app store help It says "verification required before you make a purchase you must tap continue to verify your payment" but the apps are free i've tried taking off the card too but that wont work

It may be confusing but even when the app is free you are asked (should be asked) for your Apple ID and password to proceed. Provide your credentials (no matter if the app you're going to download is free) and it really should work...


Uploading Photos to iCloud on iPhone 4 My iPhone 4 has many photos. I would like to have them all uploaded to iCloud, but I don’t have an option to enable iCloud Photo Library.

How can I upload all my photos to iCloud?

The iPhone 4 is limited to iOS 7.1.2, which does not support iCloud Photo Library.

If your iPhone gets backed up to iCloud, then your photos are in iCloud, although you cannot view them at iCloud.com, or from another Apple device.

If you want your photos synced to iCloud Photo Library so that they can be viewed from iCloud.com and from other Apple devices, you will need to backup your iPhone, upgrade to a newer iPhone that supports at least iOS 8, and restore your backup onto that new iPhone. From there, you can enable iCloud Photo Library and sync your photos across all your Apple devices.

Another option is to export all your photos to a computer, then upload them to iCloud through a web browser at iCloud.com. To do this, plug your iPhone into your Mac, then press ⌘ cmd space and enter Image Capture. Select your iPhone, the photos you want to Import onto your Mac, and a folder. Do note that this is a manual process you would need to repeat on a regular basis.

The easiest option would be for you to upgrade to a new iPhone and use iCloud Photo Library.


MacBook Air charger doesn't light up but is charging Okay so my MacBook Air is charging but the charger doesn't light up like you know that red light? How to fix this? Is it broken?

It sounds like you have an issue with your SMC. Don't worry, it should be easy to fix, here is Apple's support document on it. SMC Reset

Since you have an Air, you will want to follow these steps.

  Shut down the Mac.
  Plug in the MagSafe or USB-C power adapter to a power source and to your Mac.
  Using the built-in keyboard, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the keyboard, then press the power button at the same time.
  Release all keys, then press the power button again to turn on your Mac

This can be a bit tricky to do, but try to follow the steps exactly as outlined

Good luck!


Updated Bash via Homebrew (from 5.0.17 to 5.0.18). Now I get Error message after starting Terminal Updated Bash via Homebrew (from 5.0.17 to 5.0.18). Now I get this Error message after starting Terminal:

[Command not found: /usr/local/Cellar/bash/5.0.17/bin/bash]

[Could not create a new process and open a pseudo-tty.]

Any help would be highly apprciated. TIA

One thing that’s easy to set and easier to forget later is if you have your terminal program run a specific command rather then leave you in the default shell that chsh configures.
Have a look there after a brief inspection of your dot files before debugging the startup files systematically is my advice.


Does Time Machine have a separate phase just for encryption? I'm making an encrypted Time Machine backup for the first time. I had assumed it would encrypt the data as it was writing it, but now I see that (after leaving it alone for several hours) the Preferences pane for Time Machine shows a progress bar with the word "Encrypting…". Does that mean it writes the backup in cleartext and then encrypts it all in a separate phase?

I'm using 10.9.5.

I assume you're backing up to a directly attached drive (USB drive or something similar)? When you select a local drive for encrypted backups, it converts the entire drive (or at least the volume you selected) to encrypted format, then starts backing up your data into it.

Basically, it's encrypting the current contents (probably most blank, but it encrypts blank space as well). Once that one-time conversion is finished, it'll start backing your data up, encrypting that as it goes.


I don't know why my retina MacbookPro keeps crashing and how to fix My mid2014 retina pro keeps crashing, can't boot into safe mode and can't choose utilities when booting into recovery mode because no mouse commands are accepted. (not sure what key combo would choose a utility such as disk recovery) it resolves itself over time--not sure how.

I Kept the log from last night's crash == 92 pages so i tried to post what might be relevant but i really have no idea.  Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

12/10/14 6:24:28.000 PM kernel[0] BUG in process suhelperd[305]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (1 total, 1 external, 0 legacy-external)
12/10/14 6:24:24.836 PM com.apple.audio.DriverHelper[202]   The plug-in named AirPlay.driver requires extending the sandbox for the IOKit user-client class IGAccelVideoContextMain.<<<<Note:  there are 6 of these with different devices
12/10/14 6:24:27.000 PM kernel[0]   Sandbox: appleeventsd(26) deny file-read-metadata /Library
12/10/14 6:24:27.000 PM kernel[0]   Sandbox: appleeventsd(26) deny mach-lookup com.apple.ocspd
12/10/14 6:24:28.000 PM kernel[0]   USBF:    9.686    The IOUSBFamily was not able to enumerate a device.
12/10/14 6:24:28.739 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]    (com.apple.imtransferservices.IMTransferAgent) The _DirtyJetsamPriority key is not available on this platform.
12/10/14 6:24:28.739 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]    (com.apple.imtransferservices.IMTransferAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.
12/10/14 6:24:28.740 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]    (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.
12/10/14 6:24:28.763 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]    (com.apple.imfoundation.IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent) The _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is not available on this platform.
12/10/14 6:24:28.847 PM logind[70]  -[SessionManager getClient:withRole:inAuditSession:]:241: ERROR: No session dictionary for audit session 100014
12/10/14 6:24:28.847 PM logind[70]  _SMGetSessionAgent:73: ERROR: __SMGetClientForAuditSessionAgent failed 2
12/10/14 6:24:28.000 PM kernel[0]   BUG in process suhelperd[305]: over-released legacy external boost assertions (1 total, 1 external, 0 legacy-external)
12/10/14 6:24:29.289 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]    (com.google.keystone.daemon[317]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.google.Keystone.Daemon.Administration
12/10/14 6:24:29.289 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]    (com.google.keystone.daemon[317]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.google.Keystone.Daemon.UpdateEngine
12/10/14 6:24:29.296 PM GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon[317] -[KeystoneDaemon logServiceState] GoogleSoftwareUpdate daemon (1.2.0.7709) vending:
    com.google.Keystone.Daemon.UpdateEngine: 2 connection(s)
    com.google.Keystone.Daemon.Administration: 0 connection(s)
12/10/14 6:24:29.301 PM mds[34] (Server.Warning:445) No stores registered for metascope "kMDQueryScopeComputer"

This is a Diagnostic not a repair

Following might show what is making it crush.

Copy/Paste the following in to your Terminal (located in the utility folder).

syslog -k Sender kernel -k Message CSeq 'n Cause: -' | tail | awk '/:/{$4=""; print}' | pbcopy

The output will be copied to your clip board.


Help identify what uses the CPU when the Activity Monitor list of all processes does not help Problem

After rebooting, and with only Activity Monitor open, my MacBook Pro (10.6, i7) shows a very high idle % (98% or higher) but then shortly after drops down to 40% - 50%.

In the Activity Monitor list of all processes:

nothing accounts for this drop.

Five questions

What is the reason for the drop in the idle percentage?

Does OS X run something that is not listed as a process in Activity Monitor?

Does it shut a CPU or two down?

Is there a way to force it to give me the full attention of the CPU, even though I'm not using it?

For what's below, are there better ways to measure how much total system impact an app has, since the app cpu% doesn't show all the secondary activity an app causes a system to complete?

Background

I'm trying to measure the performance of a particular app, and one of the metrics, since some of the app activity is performed inside the kernel in the form of system calls, is CPU idle %.

If OS X runs stuff in the background I can't see, or turns CPUs off or slows them down, then it obviously impacts my measurements.

Testing seems to show that the culprit is Intel's Turbo Boost technology, which disables processor cores on the fly without telling the OS.  Since they aren't running the CPU idle process, activity monitor doesn't account for them, and it appears that the machine is under 50% idle when the reality is that it's near 100% idle.

At the moment it doesn't appear as though this can be easily disabled or controlled under OS X: How can I disable CPU throttling and CPU disabling?

Turbo boost is built into many Core i7 and i5 processors, and some of the latest Core i3 processors.  You will have to check your processor version against intel's list of Turbo Boost capable processors to find out if yours has it.  If you don't have sandy bridge, you probably don't have turbo boost.


How to delete saved versions in Mac OS X Lion The new Versions feature in Lion stores old versions of the document I'm working on in case to revert back to some older version of the document.  However, how can I delete the version files for a given document?

There're hidden files in the /.DocumentRevisions-V100, but I'm afraid I cannot just simply delete that folder.

If you want to delete old versions from a document directly:

Click besides the document name in the window title to access the version history
Time-machine like view opens, with document history on the right hand side
Clicking on the same menu as in step 1 in a history version will allow you to delete just this version
Option-Clicking will allow you to delete all history versions at once


Fully charged MacBook Air turns off when power cord removed I have a MacBook Air, 2009, with a recently replaced Apple battery in December 2012. Recently, when power cord comes off, the computer shuts down. Also, it usually will not restart unless power cord is attached.

The battery is dead.
The computer (in this case your MacBook Air) turns off because there is no more/not enough charge in the battery.  If it's necessary to have the power adapter plugged in when trying to turn it on, it's a sure sign that the battery is  discharged.
There are a number of utilities that you can get (paid and free) that will look at your battery status:

coconutBattery
Watts
Battery Health

These are all good, but in my opinion, I would much rather use built in tools to get this info.
Using Terminal, just issue the command:
$ system_profiler SPPowerDataType

That will give you all the power settings related to your Mac.  The output can be rather lengthy; the info you need will be at the top.  You can limit it to just the battery info by tweaking the command as follows:
$ system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep -i "charge information" -A 10

Results:
Charge Information:
          Charge Remaining (mAh): 3433
          Fully Charged: Yes
          Charging: No
          Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 3517
      Health Information:
          Cycle Count: 941
          Condition: Service Battery
      Battery Installed: Yes
      Amperage (mA): 0
      Voltage (mV): 12343

Here we can see that the battery is in need of service. (Coincidentally, I have a MBP with the exact same symptoms you have, so the output here works perfectly!)  The key here is that under "Amperage" we get a "0" which means there is literally no current coming from the battery (Note: even though it may have voltage, if there are no amps, it won't have the "power" to supply).
If we unplug the power adapter, the battery has nothing to supply so the computer shuts off.
The Fix
You just need a new replacement battery battery (I suggest getting ones with at minimum a 12 month warranty; 18 month is better).  From personal experience, the more "warranted" batteries lasted much longer.  Definitely  avoid the ones with less than a 12 month warranty no matter how inexpensive they are.

To replace the battery; it's actually very simple.  Just remove the screws holding the back cover in place.

Then, just remove the screws holding in the battery and swap.  Just be careful when disconnecting the battery from the logic board. Don't yank it off, use a spudger or similar tool to disconnect the molex connector by "wedging" it off.

Reverse the procedure to reassemble.  Make sure you note where each screw comes from as they are different.
That's it.  Your MBA will now be able to hold a charge like it did when new.


All user accounts on iMac running OSX 10.10.5 vanished on login screen So a few nights, ago our iMac (OSX 10.10.5) started to run slowly, so I figured that all 4 family members have active logins – so one by one, I logged everyone out then rebooted the machine.

When it started to reboot, the iMac entered the safe mode loading process and never completely rebooted; it just hangs there around 50%.

I managed to get the iMac to boot up to at least the login screen, but all four users are gone and only the Guest option exists.

None of the usernames and passwords for any family member work. I've tried resetting passwords via Terminal and also to activate and use the root single user, but nothing works. When I run ls /Users, I can still see all the folders of the users.

I'm at a loss as to where to start. I'd happily rebuild the OS from scratch if I could backup the disk from Terminal in some way.

Any suggestions on restoring the user accounts or backing up from Terminal?

Backup first, via a second Mac if possible:

If you have a second Mac, you can put the troublesome one in Target Disk Mode:

During startup, hold the "T" key.
Connect the two devices with Thunderbolt cable, or Firewire
The Target Mode device should mount like an external disk on your second Mac.
Make your backup.

After you have a backup (or choose not to make one)...

Try to create a new (admin) user:

Boot back into Single-User Mode (CMD-S) during startup.
Mount the drive: /sbin/mount -uw /
Remove this file: rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
Restart the computer: reboot
Go through Setup Assistant

Once you have a new Admin user, see what you can do with the accounts.


Can I backup my new iPhone 6s from my 5s that has an older ios installed? If i use iTunes backup from my old device will it just backup my data and settings? I'm worried it will downgrade my ios. And I want the latest update..

Yes. Restoring from a backup from an iPhone with a previous iOS version installed will work just fine - only data and settings will transfer. Other than using iCloud, using iTunes is Apple's recommended way to transfer data and settings.

iTunes can only install the latest available iOS version (and updates) from the update servers for the type and vintage of device that requests it. This means, for example, that early iOS devices, such as the iPad1, cannot be upgraded past iOS 5.1.1.


I can't change langauge with my Logitech Bluetooth keyboard using custom keyboard app When I use a custom keyboard app (like gboard), my Bluetooth keyboard can't change its language (from English to other)

But when I use Apple's default keyboard (after deleting the custom keyboard option), my Bluetooth keyboard can change language very well.

Why does it work with Apple's default keyboard? Is there any way to change language with a Bluetooth keyboard too?

Specs: iPhone - iOS 9.3.4

Only Apple keyboards let you use different hardware layouts in iOS.  No 3rd party keyboards allow for that feature yet as far as I know.


What is the CTRL+x+e equivalent for MacOS's Terminal? In Ubuntu's (and other Linux systems) terminal, CTRL+x+e, which opens an editor to allow you to edit your command at leisure, with multiline support, and once you save and exit, it would return to terminal with the full command ready to execute.

I've tried the same combination in Terminal (both with Cmd and CTRL) and it didn't do anything.

Googling the combination + macOS just gave me random tutorials about useful keyboard shortcuts in terminal and in macOS in general.

Does anyone know of the equivalent key combination for the MacOS Terminal? Does it even exist?

Control+X+E works on the macOS Terminal. Generally CTRL is not substituted for Cmd in terminal commands.


Automate iOS build installation on devices We have a large number of iOS applications which we would like to install on several devices. Is there a way to install the ipa files from a dropbox location?

Create a plist like this:

<?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>items</key>
  <array>
    <dict>
      <key>assets</key>
      <array>
        <dict>
          <key>kind</key>
          <string>software-package</string>
          <key>url</key>
          <string>https://example.com/path/to/file.ipa</string>
        </dict>
      </array>
      <key>metadata</key>
      <dict>
        <key>bundle-identifier</key>
        <string>com.mybundle</string>
        <key>bundle-version</key>
        <string>1.0.0</string>
        <key>kind</key>
        <string>software</string>
        <key>subtitle</key>
        <string>My App</string>
        <key>title</key>
        <string>My App</string>
      </dict>
    </dict>
  </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Make a link to open this plist with itms-services, then click the link on an iOS device:

itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=https://example.com/path/to/manifest.plist


Indicates fully charged when not 100% I recently (less than 1 month ago) purchased a new Macbook Pro 13". Love it so far, but have a question on the battery. It never reaches 100% - usually it makes it up to 96% then the light on the charger goes from amber to green, and the charging indicator says "fully charged".

I've tried recalibrating the battery as described here.

Should I just take it to the Apple Store and have someone look at it? Is this a typical behavior?

My 17" Macbook Pro battery, is at 95% after 260 cycles!

So this is not normal for such a new battery.

You should go to an Apple Store and probably they will replace it for you!

From Apple website:

  The built-in battery of your MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air is designed to deliver up to 1000 full charge and discharge cycles before it reaches 80 percent of its original capacity.


4th generation 32gb ipod touch not working with boston docking station My old 2nd generation 8gb touch played through and charged on my Boston docking station. But now my ipod will not play nor charge. Is there some kind of updated docking attatchment i can get for my boston?

To answer that question, you need to contact the Boston company's technical support department.

There was an issue some time ago when Apple rolled out iOS 4 and several third-party iPod interfaces designed for iOS 3, notably those of Volvo car stereos, could no longer work correctly with the new version of iOS. Apple changed the specification for interfacing, in an undocumented way with no advance warning, and certain devices were effectively rendered incompatible if the customers with devices running iOS 3 innocently updated to iOS 4. This was a rotten outcome for consumers, as there was no way to revert to iOS 3 short of jailbreaking and a difficult downgrading procedure, which Apple would certainly not support.

Your new iPod runs iOS 5. If you have an older model Boston dock, designed for iOS 3, perhaps this is related to that problem. Hopefully the Boston company can explain to you what the situation is and what can be done about it.


Uploading files to iCloud I am essentially looking for a way to upload files from my iPhone that it does not recognize or can handle with the goal of keeping them for later use on my computer.

I see lots of ads for Dropbox, Skydrive, etc, that would let me grab files on my iPhone and keep them safe until I can get to a full computer (especially limited-time-availability files that must be downloaded within a timeframe.)

So my question is, can't I do this directly with iCloud?

I'm dealing mostly with files iOS doesn't understand, like proprietary formats, but there may be some images etc. It goes without saying all files must be stored untouched, without any kind of compression being applied.

On iOS, the short answer is no. There is, unfortunately, no app that allows you to manage the file system, in the manner that you are speaking, in iCloud.


Is it normal to hear the MacBook fans all the time even if they run at 2000rpm? I have an early 2011 15” MBP (2.3GHz i7 8GB) and I’m annoyed about the sound of the fans. I know how a defective fan sounds, but these do no sound abnormal, but what what is abnormal is that I hear them even when computer is almost not used.

The fans are running at ~2000rpm and ~64 C.
I do have a SeeThrou Satin Case which I bought from Apple, so I suppose it should have a major effect
No signifiant HDD or CPU activity observed with Activity Monitor
Yes, usually I do keep it on my lap, eventual on bed and have to use a pillow or something else to isolate me from its heat.

This annoys me because I would like to have a quiet work environment and not having to to start music just to hide the FAN noise.

What can I do to solve the noise problem?

What you can do is use the laptop on a solid underground. Especially if you use a pillow (which where you laptop completely sink in), the pillow is covering the laptop's ventilation holes. And it's even stated in the user manual:

  Do not push objects into the ventilation openings.

The exhaust is the screen hinge, but the intake is most likely all the other cracks and holes in the case. And if the laptop can't take enough fresh air (since you're covering most of the cracks and holes with your pillow/blanket/lap), the fans have to work very hard to get all the hot air out.
Try to lift up your Mac as you're sitting on your bed, does that improve the activity of the fans?

But no worries, you're laptop won't suffer from the heating. And if it get's too hot, it will shut itself down (to prevent damage), so then you'll know you've gone too far :)

Another thing what makes your Mac blow like a turbine is playing flash-files or converting stuff, but I guess you're not doing that since you haven't got any high CPU or HDD activity.


Runnng Yosemite on late 2015 iMac 21.5" Does Yosemite run on late-2015-iMac-21.5"? It comes with El Capitan. I would like to install Yosemite instead.

Usually you can't downgrade OS X below the version the hardware originally got delivered with, mainly because drivers for newer hardware etc. are not available in the older versions. The late 2015 iMacs come with architectural and graphics changes compared to previous models, so older OS X versions may have problems here.

If you are looking for specific behavior etc. only available Yosemite, you could install it in a VM though.


1993 Apple Color Classic Lets all take a long journey back about 21 years ago when apple released their color classic. It was pretty awesome right? Well I managed to get my hands on one but I have some sad news.

When I go to power on my wonderful dinosaur I get nothing. And by nothing I mean, no fan spinning, no lights, no hard-drive POST-ing.

Could anyone give me a hint to as what is wrong with my Mac.

My idea is

-3.6 Volt  battery is dead

-Power supply is shot

ALSO, I do not have a keyboard or mouse connected, but I do not think that, that would cause the fan to no start.

Any help or suggestions would be fantastic.Thanks all!

Our "Cousin" has a number of good suggestions.

The "BIOS" which is just the firmware of the machine and not strictly speaking a BIOS needs to be there and non-corrupt just like he said.

You do need a battery and it needs to be good, it won't boot without it. That is what I would replace first. Just pop it out of the machine and take it to a batteries+ store or some such near you. They can test it, if it's good there are other (potentially more serious) issues. If it is bad, buy a new one.

Once installed just try switching it on.

If it is STILL not working it could be a bad power supply or any one of a hundred (literally...) other things. And depending on how much money you want to spend and how good you are with a multi-meter and some Googling for sites with repair info, you might get it up and running.

JUST ONE THING THOUGH It is very important to be very careful working in one of the all-in-one Macs with a built-in CRT like the Color Classic.

There will be a big red wire going into a rubber "boot" attached to the back side of the CRT. Stay away from that, there can be enough residual voltage stored in that tube to kill you. And no I am not exaggerating or just trying to scare you. Stay away from that wire, especially where it connects to the tube and the other end in the power supply. I have worked on a lot of old style all-in-one Macs and you can safely work in them. Just be careful and stay far away from that wire.

If a new battery did not do the trick, I would disassemble it: Motherboard, drives, RAM, etc. (but stay away from the high voltage power supply and the big red wire. Clean contacts and look for capacitors that have swelled up, broken wires or scorch marks. Re-assemble and try again.

That should at least get you started...


How to check if invisible items are visible? How do I check in AppleScript, if invisible objects are visible?
If visible, do: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0
in invisible, do: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1.

That should be one script, so I can change the visible with one click. Is that possible with AppleScript?

An alternative to grgarside's script, this doesn't need you to restart the Finder, just refresh open windows.

Can be saved as an app or in Automator, as a Service.
I have it as a Service, triggered on  Cmd ⌘    H  from System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services - which required me to change the 'Hide Finder' key command in …Shortcuts > App Shortcuts to something other than default.

To add as Service, launch Automator then File menu > New.
Select Service in the dialog then drag Run Applescript to the new Automator window.
Copy/paste the script inside the on run - replacing (* Your script goes here *) & Save. It needs only the default parameters for everything else.

In System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services it will be added as the last line. Set any trigger key command you like.

If you use  Cmd ⌘   H  the same as me, you'll need to change Hide Finder to something else - I just used a garbage shortcut as I never need that command…

set newHiddenVisiblesState to "YES"
try
    set oldHiddenVisiblesState to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
    if oldHiddenVisiblesState is in {"1", "YES"} then
        set newHiddenVisiblesState to "NO"
    end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles " & newHiddenVisiblesState

tell application "Finder"
    set theWindows to every Finder window
    repeat with i from 1 to number of items in theWindows
        set this_item to item i of theWindows
        set theView to current view of this_item
        if theView is list view then
            set current view of this_item to icon view
        else
            set current view of this_item to list view

        end if
        set current view of this_item to theView
    end repeat
end tell

The script itself reads the current state of the invisible flag (less elegantly than grgarside's version but just as effectively;) then toggles each open window to another view type - list, icon etc then back again.

Edit: Just refreshing the windows no longer works in El Capitan, you now have to restart the Finder.
New version for El Capitan

set newHiddenVisiblesState to "YES"
try
    set oldHiddenVisiblesState to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
    if oldHiddenVisiblesState is in {"1", "YES"} then
        set newHiddenVisiblesState to "NO"
    end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles " & newHiddenVisiblesState & "; killall Finder"


external monitor won't go full screen with MBP 13" 2020 I searched but couldn't find anything relevant.
I have a 2020 Macbook pro 13" that's updated to the latest OS. I got a secondary external monitor AOC 24B1H 24" LCD Monitor (1920x1080 @60Hz). I connected it thru a vava usb-c Hub and found that the image on the external monitor would only expand to about 90% of the screen, leaving a black boarder that's not being used (but can be used). I tried connecting it thru a different Anker usb-c hub and still got the same issue, that the screen is only 90% full with there being a black boarder that's not supposed to be there. I even used a friend's monitor with both hubs and found that the same issue came up with that monitor as well. Both monitors work well with other laptops and connections, showing the image at full screen using 100%.
I'm thinking it's an issue with the 2020 MBP 13" but can't seem to resolve the issue. I even tried to use switch res x and didn't manage to resolve the issue. Does anybody have any ideas?
images

UPDATE: I fixed the issue! I had to reboot the computer in safe mode and it fixed the image issues.


Auto-launch Waze when connected to Bluetooth Is it possible to have the Waze app on iPhone automatically launch when I connect to my car BlueTooth?

No, you can't script apps to auto-start on iOS.  Perhaps if it's jailbroken you could, but I'm pretty sure that's beyond the scope of what can be supported here.


Terminal command to bring up shutdown dialog? I know how to shutdown a Mac from Terminal, but is there a way to actually bring up the shutdown dialog you get from Apple → Shut Down…?

You can send loginwindow the kAEShowShutdownDialog Apple event:

osascript -e 'tell application "loginwindow" to «event aevtrsdn»'

The four letter codes for Apple events are listed in AERegistry.h. See this answer for more information.


I think I messed up the Fusion Drive on my 2TB iMac I want to ask you how can I get back together my Fusion Drive (merge HDD and SSD together). I was installing Windows 10 and during installation it crashed and I was not able to boot in Windows neither OS X. I also lost recovery partition, so I am going to install it with internet recovery or with my installed OS X on my external HDD. Thanks for any advice

Preparation:

Detach any external drive (especially your external Time Machine backup drive)
Restart to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing alt cmd R at startup.
The prerequisites are the latest firmware update installed, either ethernet or WLAN (WPA/WPA2) and a router with DHCP activated.
On a 50 Mbps-line it takes about 4 min (presenting a small animated globe) to boot into a recovery netboot image which usually is loaded from an apple/akamai server.

I recommend ethernet because it's more reliable. If you are restricted to WIFI and the boot process fails, just restart your Mac until you succeed booting.

Alternatively you may start from a bootable installer thumb drive (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan) or a thumb drive containing a full system (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan).

Rebuild Fusion Drive

All data on the disks will be deleted.

Booted to Internet Recovery Mode open Utilities → Terminal in the menubar and enter:
diskutil cs list to get a CoreStorage listing.
Copy the Logical Volume UUIDs one by one, if any are listed.
Now delete all Logical Volumes with diskutil cs deleteVolume LVUUID.
Copy the Logical Volume Group UUID, if any is listed. It's the first listed in the listing of diskutil cs list.
Then delete the Logical Volume Group with diskutil cs delete LVGUUID.
Enter exit and quit Terminal
Open Disk Utility. Enter 'Ignore' if you are asked to fix the drives.
Choose your SSD and erase it: 1 Partition Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), GUID Partiton table and hit Erase.
Please check that the size is ~121 GB

Example:

Choose your HDD and erase it: 1 Partition Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), GUID Partiton table and hit Erase.
Please check that the size is ~2 TB

Example:

Quit Disk Utility and open Terminal
Enter diskutil list

Example (your disk identifiers and sizes are different of course: Your volume SSD probably has the Identifier disk0s2 and the size 121 GB and your volume HDD probably has the Identifier disk1s2 and the size 2.0 TB):

Enter diskutil cs create "Name" IdentifierSSD IdentifierHDD
In your case probably diskutil cs create "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk1s2.

Copy the resulting LVGUUID

Example:

Enter diskutil cs CreateVolume LVGUUID jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" 100%.

Example:

Enter diskutil cs list
Check the size of your Logical Volume. It should have the size ~1.121 TB
Quit Terminal
Open Disk Utility and check your newly created volume for errors
Quit Disk Utility
Open Restore OS X. Install and configure OS X. The original OS X your Mac came with will be installed.
After configuring OS X, download the newest available system installer with App Store and upgrade your system.


Synology: Time Machine backup keeps stopping without errors EDIT: It appears this may not in fact be a Synology issue, as I'm now experiencing the same behaviour trying to run a Time Machine backup to a newly-formatted local USB drive.
I just bought a Synology DS220j mostly to replace my dying Airport Extreme, which I was using for Time Machine backups from my MacBook Pro (10.14.6). So far, I've been unable to complete a single TM backup to the Synology.
The main problem is that the backup always stops after backing up only a few tens or hundreds of megabytes, usually with no errors in the Time Machine preferences pane or in the Console, but very occasionally with a "Could not complete backup" notification.
I've tried doing a new backup from scratch, and I've tried seeding a backup from my last good sparsebundle file on my previous backup disk (after fsck-ing it for errors). I've tried over SMB, and I've tried over AFP (which I've now turned off again, as I know it's deprecated and generally doesn't play too well with Synology).
Currently, I'm running a cron job on my Mac that runs 'tmutil startbackup' every 5 minutes. This is my second attempt at that—the first time, it nearly got to the end after a couple of days, but then the "amount remaining to backup" just kept increasing faster than it was backing up, so that backup never finished either. (I don't think that's a Synology problem, though—seems to be a known issue when using TM with a NAS, though I don't know how to solve that either.)
Can anyone suggest anything to make this less painful, and preferably, Just Work?

New information has come to light. The Mac may need directory repair, significant space freed or just an erase install based on multiple clean Time Machine starts failing.

It’s hard to pick apart backup issues with such a custom setup.
I recommend you start with the “nurse” procedure at the bottom of my answer - working up to fsck and safe boot as appropriate. Exclude three folders and let a minimal backup complete. Consider throwing away the old backups and starting with a clean slate, no restrictions or fancy settings - let Time Machine think it can use the entire disk.
/Users
/Library
/System

If the interface asks to skip all system files, say yes. Once you have hourly backups going well. Remove things from the exclusion one by one and focus on disk corruption on the source if that’s where the backups hang.
Also, disable cron forcing things while stability is not present. Let the normal triggers work until you’re solid is my advice. Also, The Time Machine Mechanic and Backup Loupe are invaluable tools for me working on problematic Time Machine situations. Yours seems overly not easy, so something is causing you pain that hopefully can be identified and remedied.


How do `stat` and `file` differentiate symlinks? I was doing my routine work today and it seems the stat and file commands in the terminal don‘t show if a file is a symbolic link:

flow2k@myPad:dir ln -s aa.iml superlink
flow2k@myPad:dir stat superlink
16777220 11057327 lrwxr-xr-x 1 flow2k staff 0 6 "Dec  2 13:25:34 2017" "Dec  2 13:25:34 2017" "Dec  2 13:25:34 2017" "Dec  2 13:25:34 2017" 4096 8 0 superlink

How can I see whether something is a symlink?

The l in lrwxr-xr-x shows that is is a (symbolic) link.
Use readlink file to show where the symbolic link points to.

The stat manual page states:

  When invoked as readlink, only the target of the symbolic link is printed.  If the given argument is not a symbolic link, readlink will print nothing and exit with an error.


"is a directory error" in bash I have very limited knowledge of bash, and I haven't been able to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I'm trying to follow the steps in this blog post: Using Mendeley and Dropbox to sync your pdf library across computers

However, when I run the terminal commands I get the following error:

~/Library/Application\ Support>cp -r Mendeley\ Desktop/ ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/
-bash: /Users/XXXXXXXX/Library/Application Support: is a directory

Everything I've read online seems to suggest that this command is correct.

The author of the linked article probably had a modified bash profile (like explained by the user user3439894 in the comments to your question) or had problems to copy and paste the commands.

Use the following instead:

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support
cp -r Mendeley\ Desktop/ ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/
mv Mendeley\ Desktop/ _backup_Mendeley_Desktop/
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley\ Desktop .

Please don't forget to include the dot . at the end of the last command. The last line means: create a soft link of the folder "~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley Desktop" at your current working directory (which is "~/Library/Application Support").

Explanantion:

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support: change the working directory to "/Users/YourUserFolder/Library/Application Support".
cp -r Mendeley\ Desktop/ ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/: copy the folder (including the content) "Mendeley Desktop" into the folder "~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/"
mv Mendeley\ Desktop/ _backup_Mendeley_Desktop/: rename (move/backup) the folder "Mendeley Desktop" to "_backup_Mendeley_Desktop".
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley\ Desktop .: create a soft link of the folder "~/Dropbox/Mendeley/db/Mendeley Desktop" at your current working directory.


Sierra 10.12.6 incremental update caught in reboot loop I have automatic updates turned on.

This morning I was prompted to reboot in order to install a new (incremental) update. However each time I reboot I get the Apple logo + installation progress bar that takes about 15 minutes to complete.

Clicking "UPDATE" forces a reboot but fails to advance the situation. I've tried twice. I've also tried a plain old reboot twice.

How to resolve?

Download the ComboUpdate 10.12.6 (direct d/l link: macOS Sierra 10.12.6 Combo Update). Open the downloaded dmg and launch the pkg file inside. Reboot when asked.

Alternate solution: clearing the App Store cache often seems to fix the problem.

Quit the App Store
Open Terminal
Run open $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/
Delete all contents in that folder
Open the App Store again and wait for it to check for updates


App Store still shows download option for Mac OS High Sierra? I have already installed macOS High Sierra.

But it still shows download option in the App Store.

  Also, the some of the new features that High Sierra is providing like Automatic stopping of videos with sound in Safari, was already updated in my system before I even clicked the download button for installing macOS High Sierra.

The download button in App Store is there by design, so you can download a backup copy, a copy for another computer, virtual machine, etc.

Safari 11, the version in High Sierra, is available as a update for Sierra and El Capitan, which enables features like autoplay sound blocking. You probably had auto updates enabled if you don't remember installing it.


How to route traffic out a non-standard interface using pfctl? I have a VPN which has setup a default route, which is (of course) different to my gateway. All my traffic therefore gets routed through the tunnel.

however i would like to exempt certain apps from going through the tunnel.

Using pfctl i was able to do the following:

pass out quick route-to (en0 192.168.0.1) group specialgrp flags any

To send all traffic from apps belonging to the "specialgrp" (gid) out the standard gateway rather than the tunnel.

This works, in so far as the traffic does appear on the standard gateway when i use tcpdump - however the source ip address is not correct, it's set to the address given to me by the VPN (a 10.0.0.0/8 address) rather than my local ip address, as a result the app can't operate, as the source ip is incorrect.

How do i correctly set the source ip of the outgoing packets so that they're set to the ip address of my computer, rather than the VPN?

thanks

You could try some kind of re-write script - the tcprewrite tool in linux (it may not exist in OSX) can rewrite packets stored in the a tcpdumpfile. You could then couple this with TCPrelay which, er, replays the re-written tcpdump pcap files.

https://linux.die.net/man/1/tcprewrite

If that seems too much effort (tbh, I could see why) you could try some proxy software that offers some kind of re-write capability. A quick google has shown Charles to be one such, imagine there are others. There is a cost associated with this one, but you can trial it.

https://www.charlesproxy.com/documentation/tools/rewrite/

As I say, I'm sure others are available. No affiliation with Charles, just the first one that I found.


How to select a photo from Mac OS photos from an open/attach dialogue box When in messaging apps such Telegram Messenger I sometime want to attach a photo. In these cases I am presented with a dialogue box like the below:

As the photo is invariably in my iPhoto (or more recently Mac OSX "Photos") library, it is very difficult to navigate to the photo I want via this dialogue. I also can't seem to drag and drop from Photos and a copy/paste results in the image file path being pasted rather than the image itself.

Is there an easy way to insert photos into apps of this nature? Note this is not restricted just to messaging apps, but any app that offers importing of photos where one might want to use something from their OSX library.

If you scroll down in the sidebar, you should have a "Media" section with a "Photos" item:

When you select that, you are presented with a photos browser, where you can select any photo from the Photos app:


Should I use a Thunderbolt adapter or a USB 3.0 adapter for ethernet? I've just been Googling about this, but I can't find definitive information (some sites claim things that I'm unsure of).  Which is faster for connecting an ethernet cable to a MacBook Pro - a Thunderbolt adapter or a USB 3.0 adapter?  I've seen some claims that Thunderbolt can do a full gigabit while USB 3.0 can only do 100mb - but then again I've seen many USB 3.0 adapters advertised on Amazon as being capable of "10/100/1000 gigabit."  So, what's the verdict?  Which is faster?

(EDIT: I've also just noticed that some USB 2.0 adapters are listed as "10/100/1000 gigabit" capable.  Are they really as fast as the USB 3.0 and potentially Thunderbolt adapters?)

SHORT ANSWER

The answer to your question as asked in the title is it really depends on what ports you have available, personal preference, cost, etc.

I say this because both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt are faster than ethernet, so it doesn't matter which way you go from a speed point of view.

More specifically (and at the risk of oversimplifying it):

Ethernet supports up to 1Gbps*
USB 3.0 supports up to 5Gbps
USB 3.1 supports up to 10Gbps
Thunderbolt 1 up to 10Gbps
Thunderbolt 2 up to 20Gbps
Thunderbolt 3 up to 40Gbps

*In the overwhelming majority of cases, although 10Gbps ethernet networks do exist.

So, as you can see, it doesn't matter because they're all faster than the ethernet you're converting to.

LONG ANSWER

I'm adding this longer answer due to the various comments below my original answer.

For starters, ethernet can actually support up to 10Gbps. However, in 99.9% of cases (okay, I can't cite a source for that figure - I'm just making a point) this will not be a practical consideration for users unless they intend to connect to an existing 10Gbps ethernet network. While 10Gbps ethernet is starting to gain some traction in terms of network infrastructure, this is only happening in some of the largest organisations or those that have a particular need for this type of setup (such as ISPs, Cloud providers, data centres, etc). It is also worth noting that Apple has never launched a computer (not even Mac Pros or Servers) that natively support 10Gbps ethernet.

One of the reasons for a slow take up rate of 10Gbps ethernet is that it requires full duplex point-to-point links (typically via network switches) and as a result half duplex operation and repeater hubs do not work in 10Gbps ethernet networks. So converting existing ethernet networks to a 10Gbps ethernet network is no trivial matter and is quite expensive. All that said, I expect the deployment of 10Gbps ethernet networks to really start taking off more broadly due to the demands of HD video editing and the requirement of more organisations to have high-performance shared storage systems.

But in terms of typical consumers, this is not something worth considering when wanting to add an ethernet port to a computer and making a decision on the type of adapter they need.

A word about latency

A lot has been made about latency in the comments. While latency is a factor - especially when large networks with many network devices are involved - it's less of an issue for typical consumers.

Does latency matter to typical consumers?

Yes and no. A user on a home network who needs to transfer some photos and documents from a MacBook to an iMac is not going to be too concerned if it takes a couple of seconds for the transfer to commence. On the other hand, if the same user is browsing the web and it takes a couple of seconds for a page to start loading, that can be enough for them to move on to something else. So, latency can be very important to the overall user experience, but how important it is also depends on the application. If we spend hours on the internet we want our pages to load quickly, and latency can definitely affect this (just talk to any Satellite internet user). On the other hand, if we only transfer files across a home network occasionally, it's less important.

So, what is latency?

At the risk of oversimplifying things, latency refers to the delay in transmission time that occurs while data remains in a device's buffered memory (e.g. bridge, router, etc) before it can be sent along its path. While it seems to only be hardware related, latency is in fact affected by both hardware and software factors. Some are listed below:

Hardware factors

Traversing the network medium
Traversing network switches and devices
Transmission through the PCIe bus
Memory access times
Length of network cables
Etc etc

Software factors

Firmware running on the adapter
The device driver controlling the adapter
Operating system execution
The portion of the network stack that data has to transmit over
Etc etc

Regardless of the factor involved, the impact of latency on network bandwidth can be temporary or persistent.

How is latency measured?

In terms of ethernet networks, latency can be measured with different tools and methods, such as specified by IEEE RFC2544, netperf, or Ping-Pong (no, not the table tennis game). Put very simply, the main difference in these various methods is the point at which latency is measured. Regardless though, while excessive latency can limit the performance of network applications by delaying data arrival, this delay in a typical consumer network is less likely to be noticeable because there aren't usually too many network devices in consumer networks. That is, because there are less adapters, bridges, routers, etc involved between the source and destination, the total latency should be less. While users can do pings and traceroutes to measure this delay, in real world home applications (e.g. transferring files) it's not going to be noticeable unless there is a problem somewhere.

So, is latency a factor in determining the type of ethernet adapter one purchases?

Yes and no. In a sense this is irrelevant in a small/home network because there just aren't going to be many network devices. But if you have to make a decision on which type of adapter to purchase for 6 computers per room in a building of 10 rooms where all the computers are on the same ethernet network connected by multiple bridges etc, then it is much more relevant.

Thunderbolt v USB 3 re latency

So, which type of adapter is better in terms of latency? Generally, a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter is likely to have a lower latency then a USB 3 to Ethernet adapter. But, as manufacturers focus on bandwidth or throughput when they publish specs, you're not going to find it easy to try and quantify this or compare adapters.

So, why would I prefer a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter? To be honest, in a small/home network I probably wouldn't as I think the difference would be negligible and unnoticeable to the naked eye (so to speak). For me, the choice would come down to what ports I have available (or am willing to sacrifice) and the cost. But if it was a large network my preference for Thunderbolt is based on the real world experiences of users in particular fields.

For example, in the music production industry users have found that with audio devices capable of being connected either through Thunderbolt or USB3, that the overall audio latency of the connection is about 1ms for Thunderbolt and 4.5ms for USB 3. Now, these speeds can be impacted by other factors, but since these setups involve the exact same equipment, it appears that for whatever reason the Thunderbolt connection is faster (probably because Thunderbolt is allowed almost straight access to the CPU).

Whether this difference would be replicated in terms of a typical ethernet network is unclear. By that I mean connecting a PC to specialised audio equipment directly via Thunderbolt is different to connecting a PC to an ethernet network via a Thunderbolt or USB 3 adapter. Even if it was replicated, while audio latency may be noticeable to music professionals, the transfer of files and documents is different again.


Mirroring iPhone 4 (iOS 7) to Mac without AirPlay Mirroring As the iPhone 4 does not support AirPlay Display Mirroring, is there any way to mirror the phones display OTA onto a Mac (or even any other computer) without using a non-OTA method such as a VGA/HDMI adapter or either Veency, ScreenSplitr/iDemo, or Display Recorder (I have no intent on recording the screen, however the 'Live View' feature of Display Recorder does not work on this device)?

Note: This particular phone is running iOS 7.0.6 and is jailbroken.

I don't have any experience with jailbreak, but I think one possible solution would be to see if you can run a VNC server on the iPhone.  VNC is a screen sharing protocol: the server runs on the machine whose screen you want to view and control, the client runs on the machine that you want to sit in front of.

I did a Google search for "iPhone VNC server" and came up with this link which describes how to set up Veency (jailbreak required) to do this.


My WD drive is not showing in finder but I can see it in disk utility with a grey color I can't see my external Hard Drive in finder but i can see my hard drive in disk utility but in a grey almost transparent color. When I try to run a "first aid" this is what i get as an error:
Running First Aid on “BENJA'S HD” (disk2s2)

Repairing file system. Volume is already unmounted. Performing fsck_exfat -y -x /dev/rdisk2s2 Checking volume. Checking main boot region. The volume  could not be verified completely. File system check exit code is 1. Restoring the original state found as unmounted. File system verify or repair failed.
Operation failed…

Any idea what I can do? thanks!

As the message said your drive is connected but it's not mounted. I recommend the 3rd party app Mountain which gives you better access to all your volumes. You can mount, unmount, and eject volumes by just clicking. The app is not free but there may be a free trail period. Using Mountain you can mount your volume.

I am in no way affiliated with this software. I'm just a happy customer.


The podcast app is displaying the incorrect subscribed podcast I am using the official Apple iOS podcast app.

A strange thing started happening 2 months back.

I have 5 podcasts that I subscribe to, one of them being the Joe Rogan Experience. One day the Joe Rogan podcast wasn't there anymore and a Christian podcast had taken its place probably a sign.

I unsubscribed from the Christian one, searched iTunes for the Joe Rogan podcast, and resubscribed. For a full day the app displayed the correct podcast but then magically changed back to the Christian one.

Now when I try unsubscribe and resubscribe, to the Joe Rogan podcast, it magically subscribes to / displays the "Intelligence Squared US debates" podcast. I don't live in the US so this is probably not a sign

I am using an iPhone (9.3.1) and podcast app (2.4)

If I download a different podcast player app (Overcast) and subscribe to the Joe Rogan experience it doesn't change to the random podcast. But the problem still remains in the apple podcast app.

I did a search and didn't find anyone else experiencing the same problem. Any ideas on what the problem could be or a possible solution?

Note that all the podcasts getting mixed up are hosted on Libsyn. There appears to be an issue with certain international CDN's caching rss feeds incorrectly, or so say Libsyn. They have got to fix this issue once and for all. It's still happening to us in 2018.


Builtin VNC stops working after waking headless Mac mini from sleep (black screen) I'm running a Mac mini (late 2012) with OS X 10.8.2 as a media center PC and streaming server. It's not running 24/7 - instead I'm using a schedule to wake it up in the evening and putting it back to sleep at midnight. So far, so good.

For some reason the built-in VNC server stops working when the Mac wakes up while the attached screen is turned off. I can login and can also move the cursor but the screen remains black.

A workaround is to use RealVNC but I prefer to use the built-in VNC service since it doesn't cost extra money and has better multi-user support.

This was eligible for me: edit /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Kernel Flags</key>
    <string>darkwake=0</string>
</dict>
</plist>

and restart your mac. Mountain Lion forces me to enter password twice but it wakes up and works.


Can I use target disk mode using an USB 2.0 to Firewire cable? Since the graphics card of my MacBook Pro from early 2011 is broken I need to save my data per target disk mode. This could be easily done using a FireWire or a Thunderbolt cable.
But my problem is that I only have access to a MacBook from 2008 without FireWire. I could borrow a USB 2.0 to FireWire cable but first I would like to know if the connection from a MacBook with USB 2.0 port to my broken MacBook Pro with FireWire port is even possible. Do you know if this would work?

Thanks in advance!

I can't find a specific Apple KB reference, but the consensus seems to be that you need Firewire, Thunderbolt or USB-C; USB 2 doesn't appear to be supported.

From the MacSales blog - Mac OS 101: How to Boot and Use a Mac in Target Disk Mode

  What You Need
  The list is short, but essential.

  Two Macs. That may seem obvious, but it makes sense to point out that Target Disk Mode only works between two Macs; you can’t chain multiple Macs together. All of the connection types (FireWire, Thunderbolt, and USB-C) support hot connecting, meaning you can connect a cable between the two Macs while they are powered on. We recommend shutting down both Macs before proceeding, however.
  An appropriate cable to make the connection. Ideally, you should connect similar ports; that is FireWire to FireWire, Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt, or USB-C to USB-C. There are, however, exceptions. Using adapters to connect Thunderbolt to FireWire will usually work, as will Thunderbolt to USB-C. But not all adapters are known to work correctly in Target Disk Mode, so if you can, connect directly to the same port type.


Is restoring a Time Machine backup on a clean install of OS X Mavericks still a 'clean' install? I would like to upgrade to OS X Mavericks. Also, I think it would be a good chance to clean up my system.

My question is: If do a clean install of OS X Mavericks and then restore my machine from a Time Machine backup, then…

would this still be "clean"? …or would this just be the same as upgrading my system the regular way?
will I lose any data/settings/apps?

Thank you guys for your help!

If you reinstall 10.9, don’t choose "Restore from Time Machine Backup". Make a simple install after you reformatted your drive with Disk Utility.

After the install, the setup process will start and you can choose if you want to restore from Time Machine. I would recommend you to deselect the System to restore, just your home directory and your applications. So you will just restore your data (docs, music, pics), your applications settings (~/Library) and the application bundles from /Application.

This the closest you can get to a "clean" install, without manually migrating your data and setup again every single app.


Removed first partition, how to resize second partition into the free space? Mac Mini running Sierra.

I have a 500GB internal drive, that was partitioned into two volumes because at one point I wanted to test upgrading from Mavericks to Sierra but wanted to make sure everything worked before I would commit to it.  Everything has been working for a long time now so I'd like to remove the "old" system and reclaim that space.

My Diskutil List showed both drives and their corresponding Recovery HD partitions.  I did a diskutil erasevolume on both the old system volume, and the old recovery HD.  They are now gone, and all that's left is my Sierra volume and its recovery HD.  But now I can't get the Mac to allow me to reclaim the old partition's space.

Here is my current diskutil list:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            249.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *8.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS TM iMac                 8.0 TB     disk2s2

I've tried diskutil resizevolume but every time I do I just get The new size must be different than the existing size despite specifying a different (larger) target size.

Additionally, in Disk Utility I cannot create a new additional partition anymore, as DU seems to think the entire available space is now only the 250GB of my Sierra partition.  Creating a new partition only eats into my 250GB partition's space.

How can I reclaim the missing half of my hard disk?

I assume, to added Sierra, you shrunk the Mavericks volume and created the "Macintosh HD" volume for Sierra. Installing Sierra created the "Recovery HD" volume. When you deleted Maverick you created free space above the Sierra volume. You can not add this free space back to the Sierra volume. You can only add free space if the space is directly below an existing HFS, Core Storage or APFS volume.

If you want to confirm where the free space is, then here are a few ways:

The sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0 command will show the logical sector blocks used by each partition. The command will also show the free space between each partition in logical sector block units. In the days of OS X, you could run this command on the boot drives. Starting with macOS, System Integrity Protection (SIP) has to be disabled to do this.
Use the diskutil info -plist disk0s# command to retrieve partition number # start and size byte values. You need to repeat the command for each partition on a drive. Next, you can compile a table similar to the output from the gpt -r show /dev/disk0 command. Basically, free space is any space not allocated to a partition, the Protected Master Boot Record (PMBR) and the GUID Partition Tables (GPT).
Write a BASH script that would automate way number 2.  A free script can be downloaded from this site. Assuming your downloads goto to the default Downloads folder, you can get the free space by entering the command shown below. Note: You do not need to enter sudo or disable SIP.

~/Downloads/driveinfo-1.0.1/driveinfo -cbestin disk0

  Frankly, I do not know if driveinfo is compatible with Sierra. If driveinfo is not compatible you will just get an error message saying so.

To reclaim the space, you have a few options:

Backup the Sierra volume using Time Machine or some other method. Erase you internal drive, create a new volume spanning the entire drive, then reload everything.
Use the gpt and newfs_hfs to create and format a new volume above the existing Sierra volume. You could then clone the Sierra volume to this new volume. I could post the steps for this, but I would first need the output from gpt -r show /dev/disk0 or ~/Downloads/driveinfo-1.0.1/driveinfo -cbestin disk0.


Who makes compact backpacks specifically sized for Macbook Air 11/13" So I'm trying to skate this through as on-topic because I'm interested in items specific to the Air 11" or 13", rather than "what's a good laptop case". (I.e. third party hardware specific to Apple products.)

I'm guess a significant portion of those toting an Air bought it for the portability, which of course is immediately made irrelevant by stuffing it in a backpack with an inch of padding designed to hold a 15.4" beast. So my question is who makes a backpack sized to hold an Air without a lot of wasted space? That is, I'm talking about the laptop compartment itself, not the overall size of the bag.

I have a 13" MBA (bought in July 2011). I have the McKlein Montclare 15494 Small Netbook Laptop Case, and I love it! Here's a URL:

http://www.mckleinusa.com/15474S.html

Apologies though - not a backpack, more a messenger bag or briefcase sort of deal.

I own one in black. It exactly fits my 13" MBA, so obviously you'll have a little extra room if you've only got an 11". I like the amount of padding in the bag, and because it's on the thin side, it "encourages" me to keep my junk to a minimum.

FYI, I can slide my iPad 2 in next to my MBA, and that's about exactly how big the padded sleeve part is.


How to troubleshoot multiple apps on Mountain Lion all missing toolbar icons? My machine awoke from sleep, and third party apps as well as Finder, Preview and Safari's toolbar only shows the blank buttons similar to the image below.

After restart the machine, the problem persists. I also tried using Disk Utility to verify / fix the permissions on the Apple installed software to no avail.

How can I troubleshoot or fix this?

Reboot in safe mode (hold Shift on start), login to your account and restart. I don't know what's the reason for icons disappearing but the above fixes it.


How to record soundcard audio and output to speakers with the BlackHole driver? I have installed the open-source BlackHole driver on macOS High Sierra and have set BlackHole 16ch as both the Input Device and Output device (e.g. via Option+click on the volume icon in the Mac menu bar).
With this setup when launching QuickTime Player > File > New Screen Recording clicking the chevron now allows selecting BlackHole instead of the microphone, and the captured recording uses the better quality audio directly from the sound card rather than the microphone.

The problem is that while recording there is no real-time audio output via the speakers.
Tried adding a Multi-Output Device in the Audio MIDI Setup.app (it appears in Spotlight if you type "audio") and enabling both BlackHole and Built-in Output as shown in the screenshot below, and then selecting the Multi-Output Device as the Output Device in system sound settings (or via "Use this device for sound output" in Audio MIDI Setup), but then there is no sound from the speakers and the soundcard audio does not get recorded.
[
Is it possible to both record the sound card audio and output it in real time to the speakers?
NOTE: The audio I need to capture is not from the microphone but from an app.

The steps below are for BackgroundMusic, another open-source driver which works pretty much the same as Blackhole. The same steps have also been verified to work with BlackHole.

In the Audio MIDI Setup.app create a Multi-Output Device and select the checkboxes for Built-in Output and Background Music.
Option+Click on the top-right speaker icon in the Mac menu bar and under Input Device select Background Music.
Under Output Device select Multi-Output Device as shown below.

You'll notice that after setting Output Device: Multi-Output Device the volume slider and the volume control keys won't work anymore. BackgroundMusic adds a menu icon in the top bar which you can click and use the volume slider in the dropdown that appears.

Both BlackHole and BackgroundMusic seem to cause occasional crashes of the Audio MIDI Setup app, and are not yet 100% stable and reliable (at least not on the MacOS version I tried), but they do work. I would classify both drivers as 'not-100%-stable' at the time of writing.


How do I retrieve a specific photo from iCloud backup of my camera roll I just received an iPad for Xmas. I took a video through the iPad camera, which was stored in my ipad camera roll. I turned on the iCloud backup of photos previously. Last backup was before I deleted the video. Can I get back just that video without having to restore all iPad contents?

I guess with videos and Photo Stream you're out of luck.

From the iCloud: Photo Stream FAQ:

Does Photo Stream support video?

No. Photo Stream only works with photos.

With a local backup you could use something like the iOS Backup Extractor to extract the iOS files, including your video.

Don't know about iCloud backups and extraction of specific parts.

Good luck.


How can I create a photo slide show of one face from iPhoto's faces? I really like the view in the Faces section of iPhoto when you are identifying possible matches.  You get the closeup of just the picture and you can see all of the ways the person has changed over the years (assumine you are actually looking at a match).

I would like to automate the process of generating a slideshow that shows only the person's face.  Does anyone know of how it might get done in iPhoto or with a third-party product that could leverage iPhoto's faces data?

First: You can't do it with iPhoto, it's just not a feature.

Next: Those faces thumbnails are stored inside the iPhoto Library package - in the Data folder on some versions, the Thumbnails folder on later ones.

If you make an alias to that folder you could possibly access them that way using another app. However, they are scattered hither and yon throughout the folder, in multiple subfolders and may well be difficult to find. That said they include they all include _face0 in the filename so a Smart Folder will help find them

But... However, these are very small (200 - 300 pixel on the longest side) images and it's unlikely that they will perform well in a slideshow.


Why does the combination fn+⌘+delete doesn't work? As a new user of MacOS - coming from the Windows world -, I'm trying to quickly learn how the Delete key works here and what are the possible combinations with other keys.

However, while listed in this article (recent, Oct. 2016): https://medium.com/productivity-freak/macos-keyboard-shortcuts-41c8184f65a6 the combination fn + ⌘ + delete doesn't seem to work. I tested in Notes, as well as Google Chrome (I thought at first it was a bug in Chrome).

I'm using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 (16F73) with an AZERTY keyboard (French layout).

I don't know why it gives that shortcut, but try control-k.

See https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201236


Drivers not working on Windows 10 installed (CLI process) on external SSD running on Mac mini - EFI Started But Screen Black After Win Logo I followed the steps listed in https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/384447/9058 to install Windows 10 via CLI but am stuck at step 7.
I restarted my Mac Mini and held down the option key. The Mac HD and and EFI HD came up. I clicked on the EFI. The Windows Logo or insignia (the little boxes)came up and it looked like all was well for about a minute or so and then the screen goes black. The Mac Mini remains on but the screen is blank.
How can I proceed from here?
The following is a picture of my screen in Windows Terminal
Almost to the end but stuck over the $WinPEDriver$

Oh well, it was an adventure typing inside the terminal or CLI.
How do I continue from here? Thanks!
Update 1
Dear David, Here is a picture of my Terminal. It seems the last command wasn't accepted.

Update 2
Dear David,
I tried these new commands but as you can see, they didn't produce the results we were hoping for.

Where do I go from here? Thanks!
Update 3
Good Evening David, Here is a picture of the results of latest command.

Thanks!
Update 4
Good Evening David, F10 not working once I reach the screen below.

You mentioned it may be a driver issue that is not loading. Below is a picture of WINSTALL listing.

What steps should I take from here? Thanks!
Update 5
I successfully copied the 2 individual folders inside of Windows Support folder to WINSTALL drive as seen below.

It worked!!! Below is a picture of Apple Update in process!

I can't begin to express my gratitude for working so patiently and consistently with me. Below is the finished product. Windows running on my Samsung 500GB drive.

I made the mistake of purchasing my Mac Mini without enough storage. I thought I could add more later. As you probably know, the storage is soldered in and adding more is not possible. An external drive is necessary. I started 2 months ago with Jeff at 9 to 5 Mac on YTube. Then it was Chris K's YT channel. Thank goodness I stumbled onto your website here at Stack Exchange. I realize you will have to edit these comments but I wanted you to know what a tremendous service you provide. Thanks!!!!

I was able to recreate the problem shown in the image you posted. Apparently, at least the driver for the internal drive has to be loaded from the WINSTALL volume before the dism command will work properly. I update the instructions so you will proceed with the GUI steps for installation until the window below appears.

At this point, the drivers have loaded, so you can proceed and open a Command Prompt window and start entering commands.

I changed the examples in my answer to be from an actually installation of Windows 10 (1909) on to a external HDD connected to a 2018 Mac mini. I also changes some of the steps, so you should thoroughly review the answer before proceeding.

Let me know, if you have any other problems.

Update 1

The image you posted was a bit blurry. A far as I can see, you did type the following command in correctly.

chflags nohidden /Volumes/WINSTALL/label/.d*

However, I believe you had pathname expansion disabled. This would cause the error message shown in the image. I replaced the command with two commands, that do not require pathname expansion.

I should note that according to the history, you entered the command give below, which should have produced an error message.

bless --folder/Volumes/WINSTALL/label --label "Windows"

You should have typed the command given below.

bless --folder /Volumes/WINSTALL/label --label "Windows"

This command would have produced the following files.

/Volumes/WINSTALL/label/.disk_label
/Volumes/WINSTALL/label/.disk_label_2x

If these files do not exist, then the new commands given below would fail.

chflags nohidden /Volumes/WINSTALL/label/.disk_label
chflags nohidden /Volumes/WINSTALL/label/.disk_label_2x

Update 2

Your "Update 2" given no indication that a failure occurred. In other words, the image shows that the command appeared to work correctly. However, since the chflags command is causing problems for you, I decided to remove the the use of the chflags entirely from my answer. Instead, I added the following Windows command to step 8.

attrib -h t:\label\*

Update 3

The command attrib is a part of Windows. The command works when entered in a Microsoft Command Prompt window. The command will not work in a Apple macOS Terminal application window. You do not have to enter the attrib command until step 8. During step 8, you will have a Command Prompt window open.

Update 4

To open a Command Prompt window, you are suppose to press the shift and F10 keys at the same time.

You copied the WindowsSupport folder to the WINSTALL volume. The instructions in step 4 stated to copy the contents of the WindowsSupport folder to the WINSTALL volume. The $WinPEDriver$ and BootCamp folder should appear in the root folder of the WINSTALL volume, as shown below.

Update 5

I am glad to see you have successfully installed Windows 10. If you feel my answer solved your problem, then I would ask you to accept my answer. This will place a green checkmark next to this answer. This helps other users identify that a solution was found.


Where do you get games for the click wheel iPods? I've got an iPod classic, and I can't for the life of me find any of the games that work with it on the iTunes Store.

I know they are there, because I've seen them recently I just can't find them.

Open the iTunes store, click the triangle at the end of the App Store tab at the top, and choose iPod Click Wheel Games at the very bottom.


Is there a definitive reference or introspection capability for Applescript? Is there some canonical place I can find a reference for the scripting capabilities various things have in AppleScript?

For instance, I'd like to automate iTunes a little bit. Looking around on the web I see iTunes supports get album of current track and current track has several properties: name, artist, etc. But nowhere can I find a reference for all of iTunes' properties, or capabilities other than current track. That info may be on Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes somewhere, but then that's iTunes specific, I want a general reference for all apps.

Similarly, Google Chrome has some scriptability. How can I discover what it can do? It's a third party product and Google has written some of their own docs, but they seem incomplete.

A website AppleScript reference would be great. Even better would be if AppleScript has some introspection abilities so I can just ask iTunes itself what it supports with AppleScript code. (Honestly I hate the language, but it seems to be the only way to access a lot of neat things in MacOS apps.)

Most apps that can be scripted with AppleScript will have a dictionary you can open with AppleScript Editor (File > Open Dictionary). The app's dictionary will then list details for each of the commands and classes that can be used with it in an AppleScript script.

Creating an AppleScript dictionary is up to the app's developer, so you may occasionally come across apps with poorly documented, incomplete or outdated dictionaries, but it's still usually a good place to start.


File Sharing Mac-PC results in Permission Changed and Locked Files Recently I decided to recycle one of my old Macs into a home-file-sharing-server.

The Mac running Yosemite is connected to a router with Ethernet and is running PLEX server. A hard drive is also mounted.
Everything workes fine. I can access the Mac with ARD, start and control downloads with remote Transmission, and Manage my Plex server... everything from work.

Sometimes I download from another Mac on my local network, aiming my server as a destination folder... never had a problem.

But when my wife tries the same from her computer, everything changes.

I Shared two folders. Created her an account and Added her account to the sharing permissions of theses two folders.
So far so good, she can mount those two folders on her PC running W$7.
She can open uTorrent. She can select my shared folders as destination folder for her downloads (after login-in).

But when she creates a new folder into the Shared ones, the Permissions are changing. With Cmd-I, I can see that I'm not even present in the permissions lists (red Wrong-way sign). I have to add myself into the permissions list on my own computer.
Then comes the downloaded files. This one is always lock (lock box checked) and lock icon.

The result is that Plex cannot add the freshly downloaded files and that I have to interfere into a normally automated process which is pointless.

Don't need to add that I am using the "Apply these settings to all content" options... But its not working for New files. I'm using SMB setting for her to access my folders

I have look for answers but can't find one matching my needs.

Please give me a hint if you can,

Regards,

Quentin

Thx douggro.

I've just finished solve my problem and you helped a lot. Os X Server was an easy solution. 20 minutes between download and success.

On Yosemite client I already created a groupe yesterday, that I basically called "Sharing".
With the file-sharing Options of OsX Server I had more options to set this groupe as I intended to do, and more particularly by spreading permissions to children files and folders.

OsXServer also allow you to create dedicated folder for groups which is a quite good solutions also. But didn't even needed it since the files-sharing options did really good !

So now my wife can access the server with dedicated rights, download stuff and PLEX catch newly arrived files, on the go !

Thx !


Keychain: Beachball When Visualizing Password I can use the passwords in the keychain when opening a program, but if I try to display the password in the keychain entry I get asked for the root password. When entering the root password the beachball is displayed and never disappears. The program does not completely hang because I can abort the operation with esc. Still while the beachball is present I can't do anything else. Other passwords which are stored in the cloud (e.g. wifi pw) can be accessed.

The file rights are:
-rw-r--r--@ 1 username  staff  442368  8 Dez 18:53 username.keychain

I recently updated my Mac to El Capitan and repaired the file permissions with Disk Utility.

It is a problem with MagicPrefs and el capitan:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/29270520#29270520

Disabling MagicPrefs does the trick.

As always after an hour trying and googling I found the answer 5min after a post ;-)


Space in Volume Name; can you remove? I have two drives in my machine:

An SSD with the OS on it
a HDD with all my data.

I have a symlink on the SSD for my home directory on the HDD so /Volumes/SSD/Users/Ross/ points to /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/Ross. The Macintosh HD drive is the original boot disk. I'm trying to get rid of the space in the volume name, but when I do I get all kinds of errors. I thought it was a simple as updating the symlink but it doesn't seem to be.

I tried just option-clicking the drive and renaming, which worked but I started to get a lot of application errors.  For example, Terminal won't even open. Also, a lot of the Ruby gem installers don't handle spaces well.

Yes, you can remove it, but you'd need to Reboot for it to take effect.

I don't recommend renaming it - the vast majority of applications handle the space just fine.

If you have a handful of problematic programs, then just create a soft link to your desired location:

sudo ln -s /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Ruby\ Stuff /Ruby


hackers - tracking my iphone I've received 7 emails from Apple that my phone was tracked using Find My iPhone, can I call apple and find out who the device belongs too? I've already changed my password.

Change your password (to make sure whoever is logged in can't change it).
Go to icloud.com.
Go to Settings.

Click "Sign out of all browsers currently logged in."
Change your password again (by now, they should be logged out).

As far as calling Apple to find out who did this, it is unlikely they will be able to tell you. You can try and call at 1-800-MY-APPLE.

Hope this helps.


Any way to edit Autoping app? I found a free menu bar app (AutoPing) that works well at allowing me to keep a visual check on whether my internet connection is up or down (I live in a country with frequent instability in connectivity).

However, I'd like to change the placing of the numeric output to the left, not the right, of the indicator icon, or if necessary get rid of it, because all I really need is the green or red indicator.

I'm a complete beginner. Anyone know a way to edit such an app in the way I'd like?

I tried opening up package contents, but I don't immediately see what (if anything) can be changed to tweak the app.

p.s., I looked for the developer, but it ends up being an ISP and though I mailed them some days ago I got no reply.

You may find Menu Meters from Alex Harper @ Raging Menace more to your liking. It is customizable, in that you can decide what to display or not. I use it on all my macs.

In addition to monitoring network throughput, it can also monitor disk, CPU and RAM. It is also freeware. If you use it, donate to the coder!