How to simulate Airplane mode? I'll be overseas and don't want to be racking up roaming or whatever other charges.  Typically I would use the Airplane mode, but I still want to be able to take photos that have the geo locations recorded.

So I want to know whether turning off Settings/Cellular/Cellular Data will take care of what I want (e.g. remove the chance that I'll be inadvertently charged for something)?  It says Cellular Data...does it mean I have to turn off Cellular Voice somewhere or does this do the trick?

Just remove your SIM. Then there's no chance of incurring any cellular charges, as you won't be able to connect to any network, but wifi and GPS should still work. (If you have a CDMA phone with no SIM then you can't roam anyway.)


Mac Mini can't unmount disk in Recovery Mode I need to wipe my Mac Mini and reinstall OS X. Booting into recovery mode (holding command+option+R), I try to erase the disk in Disk Utility but it says it cannot unmount the disk or gets stuck on "Unmounting disk" with an infinite loading progress bar.

I have also tried booting into the recovery partition by holding down option at launch, but the same applies.

Way by Terminal..

Use diskutil list in a Terminal instance to list all volumes and find yours.

Then do hdiutil eject disk?

Replace the ? with your disk number, making sure you are not trying to eject the main hard drive :) It is probably called "Disk1"

Here is a Sample when I insert a USB stick and run diskutil list

disk0 is my hard drive and I can NOT eject that one

disk1 is the USB and I cam eject it.


Do I have to enter my real and true information when making Apple ID account? Do I have to enter my real and true information when making Apple ID account?
My country is not offered, it is not on the list of countries when I have making an Apple ID account. So, I can not enter my real and correct street and my true  city in which I live. Can I enter false information? Is it allowed or punishable?

I don't believe that it's punishable if you were to get caught, Apple's not a government branch, so it's not like it would be fraud (I don't know how Apple would find out, anyway). Do you have any relatives or friends in the US or Britain or any of the other eligible countries that would allow top use their address?

That's the best thing to do. You can search here on people that did what you did and then ran into problems when they wanted to switch to their country when it arrived. Your call if the risk of having two accounts outweighs the benefits of having an account today.


Question about root rights I have a question about this post and it says that if you want to leave out the "sudo" in front of it, the following is described
how to run `hping` without `sudo`
sudo chown root:wheel /usr/local/Cellar/hping/3.20051105/sbin/hping3
sudo chmod u+s /usr/local/Cellar/hping/3.20051105/sbin/hping3
Now comes what I don't quite understand.
Is it correct that hping is allowed to run with root rights only because root is the owner?
It is still far from being authorized it is only said that root can make changes to this file or do I get it wrong?

User Richard Wick posted an answer which explains that the command has to call the setuid function in order to elevate the privileges of the command.
So changing command ownership to root and adding the s bit to the command's file mode is not enough. The command itself must also be written to ask the operating system for root privileges.


How to restore a hidden file in Time Machine - can't find data file? I followed the instructions in this question but still cannot restore my address book and iCal data. I found what I thought was the data file for the address book, AddressBook-v22.abcddb, but when I tried to import it, Address Book didn't recognize it as a valid importable file. What is the filename of the correct file to import from my TM backup? And I couldn't find anything that looked like an iCal data file.

My back story is that my hard drive crashed on my iMac, and I brought home a new Macbook Air to replace it. I'm just trying to copy my Address Book and Calendar data from my external hard drive backup to the Macbook.

Open Applescript Editor, in Applications > Utilities then copy/paste this to a new script...

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

Then Save as an application, which you can then just double-click to toggle showing/hiding invisible files.

You don't need to kill the Finder for this toggle, a refresh is sufficient - & faster.


A fast encryption for external hard drive Is it possible to set up encryption such that backups are still
reasonably fast? I will accept a 25 to 50% degrade in performance,
but not a 10x blowup in time to completion.

I have an 4 TB external hard drive, and I would like to use Time Machine on it to backup my 1 TB MacBook Pro (with SSD). The backups will happen manually every couple of weeks or so. Let me stress that leaving the external disk plugged in at all times is not an option.

Apparently I have a few options:

Normal hard drive, click on "Use Encryption" when connected with Time
Machine. (configuration I had until now). Seems way too slow; also,
every time I connect it I have to wait for ages until the drive is
decrypted and I can actually use whatever is on disk. Way too slow.
Format the drive and use Mac OS Journaled Extended, Encrypted.
This will encrypt the whole drive, as I understand it. But will it be
faster than option 1)? How do the encryption of 1) and 2) work
together? I am quite confused at this point.
The third option is to format the drive, use MacOS Journaled Extended
(not encrypted) and just use time machine without encryption.

Backstory

The first time I connected it to TimeMachine, it asked me if I wanted to encrypt the data. I thought "Sure, why not" and agreed. I waited for ages the first time (as it had to back up tons of data). A couple of weeks later I come back to backup again; this time it was about 20 Gb of data. It again took ages, and most of the time it was stuck on encryption.

I left it on the whole night, and the morning it was still encrypting (probably something went wrong in this particular case though, as it was 56% at 23:00 and 57% at 09:00 in the morning). But anyway it takes several hours for the decryption process, then there's the actual backup, and then several hours again for the encryption process. Honestly, I cannot have backups taking a whole day. I need to plug it in, wait 3-4 hours, then go on with my life. If I can do this with encryption, good. Otherwise I will have to remove encryption.

Mac OS Journaled Extended, Encrypted

I have external Time Machine drives formatted as Mac OS Journaled Extended, Encrypted. The encryption is fast enough not to be significant.

With this set-up, I have not experienced any problems or unacceptable back-up times. I too disconnect drives between back-ups.

Formatting and Mounting

Format the external drive using an encrypted format. This will ensure the whole disk is encrypted. Time Machine thus is no longer involved in the encryption process.

On connecting the drive, macOS will ask for the drive's passphrase. You can choose to remember the passphrase in your Keychain.

Encrypting

If Time Machine is handling the encryption, you will see a Sparse Disk Image Bundle in your external drive. This disk image file will be named after your computer.

If FileVault is handling the encryption, you will see a folder called Backups.backupdb in your external drive. This folder will contain a folder with the name of your computer.

You want the second, FileVault to transparently handle the encryption.


Can I force the Finder's Go Menu to open a new window? The Finder's Go menu offers a bunch of shortcuts to commonly used folders, like Applications, Utilities, Downloads, etc.

However, when I try to jump to one of these folders while I already have a Finder window open, Finder takes over my current window to open the special folder.  This happens whether I use the menu or the keyboard shortcut.

Most of the time, I'm trying to open a new window so I can quickly pull up something (like a utility) or to move/copy files between one of the special folders and another location.

Is there a way to have folders from the Go menu open in a new window or a new tab under Mavericks?  I think old versions of OS X had this as a default behavior.

Not sure you can open one directly, but Cmd/n  Cmd/shift/[letter] is pretty quick & will achieve the same result.


How can I remap mousebuttons in macos mojave I use a wireless mouse (Anker vertical wireless) and the buttons which are supposed to go back or forward in a browser just turn on scrolling by mouse-movement. I'd like to remap these two buttons to their original purpose but have failed to find a solution.

This works like a charm and is free software: https://sensible-side-buttons.archagon.net/


Office for macOS: Word document opens in a tiny window I'm using Office for Mac version 16.25 (2019) on a Mac macOS High Sierra. Whenever I open a Word document or create a new file, it opens in a tiny window, which occupies less than 25% of the screen size. I can resize it, which is a pain, but if I close and reopen, the window again opens small.

I've found answers that involve editing the default template (.dot) file.  This has no effect. What used to be easy now appears impossible.

How do I resolve this issue?

Close all Word documents.
Open a blank Word document.
Resize the window to the preferred size.
Finally quit Word by using Menu bar command Word → Quit Word or using the keyboard shortcut Command + Q.

Next time when you open your Word document it should remain in the previously set window size.


Issue installing GCC using homebrew (scipy package dependency) I am attempting to install the scipy (Scientific Python, including matplotlib) package using homebrew, and I noticed that it fails when it needs to install a dependency (gcc version 4.9.0).

I attempted to install it on multiple OSX versions, and even a manual method, but the error always occurs at "make bootstrap" portion.

First method:

brew tap Homebrew/versions
brew install gcc49

Result:

make[4]: *** [all-multi] Error 2
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[2]: *** [all-stage1-target-libsanitizer] Error 2
make[1]: *** [stage-bubble] Error 2
make: *** [bootstrap] Error 2

Second Method:

wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-4.9.1/gcc-4.9.1.tar.bz2
gunzip gcc*.bz2
tar -xf gcc*.tar
./configure --prefix=/usr/gcc-4.9.1 --with-gmp=/usr/local/Cellar/gmp/6.0.0a --with-mpr=/usr/local/Cellar/mpfr/3.1.2-p8 --with-mpc=/usr/local/Cellar/mpc/0.26 --program-suffix=4.9.1 --enable-languages=c,c++,fortran --with-system-zlib --enable-stage1-checking --enable-plugin --enable-lto --disable-multilib

Result:
Similar output to first one at the end of output.

Anyone know how to install this correctly, or do I need to use xcode?  Will that even work with the scipy package installed through homebrew?

---------- UPDATE -----------

Tried suggestions.  That is the "brew install gcc" and "brew install scipy"

It fails at installing gcc either way, after doing those commands I get the following.

==> Installing dependencies for scipy: gcc, numpy
==> Installing scipy dependency: gcc
==> Downloading http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gcc/gcc-4.9.1/gcc-4.9.1.tar.bz2
Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/gcc-4.9.1.tar.bz2
==> ../configure --build=x86_64-apple-darwin14.0.0 --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/4.9.1 --enable-languages=c,c++,objc,obj-c++,fortran -
==> make bootstrap
mkdir common
mkdir common/.deps
config.status: executing default commands
make[1]: *** [stage2-bubble] Error 2
make: *** [bootstrap] Error 2

READ THIS: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/wiki/troubleshooting

These open issues may also help:
gcc: compatibility 10.10 (https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/pull/31466)
gcc 4.8.3 bottle has invalid omp.h header (https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/issues/29670)
MacOS.(gcc|clang|llvm)_version can return nil (https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/issues/18781)

It's caused by your new OS X Yosemite, try the following command to install gcc on Yosemite

    brew install https://raw.githubusercontent.com/denji/homebrew/gcc/Library/Formula/gcc.rb


How to prevent displaying the total sum of A + B if columns A + B are empty I have inserted a running total formula in my numbers sheet.
It sums the total of Column H, which works fine.
However when cells in columns H are empty it will display the last sum, which I do not want.

How can I prevent displaying the last sum when Column A and B are empty?

You can extend the formula to check whether the value in the column to the left is empty or not:

=if(j3>0;sum(h$2:h3);"")


How can I change OSX's spinning beachball pointer animation? I want to change the spinning beachball pointer animation used in OSX to indicate an application is not responding to system events, to something else, like a funny GIF, or maybe just a different icon. Is anyone familiar enough with the operating system to know where files for that animation are stored? Is it a script? Is it just a GIF? Is it even possible to change it?

Here's the image I mean:

If you go to /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/cursors you'll might find something useful :

MBP-Thomas in ~
○ → cd /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/cursors

 MBP-Thomas in /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/HIServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/cursors
○ → ll
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  41 root  wheel   1,4K 13 sep  2013 .
drwxr-xr-x  39 root  wheel   1,3K 26 mai 23:30 ..
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 busybutclickable
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 cell
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 closedhand
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 contextualmenu
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 copy
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 countingdownhand
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 countingupandownhand
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 countinguphand
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 cross
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 help
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 ibeamvertical
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 makealias
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 move
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 notallowed
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 openhand
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 pointinghand
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 poof
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizedown
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeeast
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeeastwest
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeleft
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeleftright
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizenorth
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizenortheast
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizenortheastsouthwest
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizenorthsouth
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizenorthwest
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizenorthwestsoutheast
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeright
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizesouth
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizesoutheast
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizesouthwest
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeup
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizeupdown
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 resizewest
drwxr-xr-x   5 root  wheel   170B  9 déc  2013 screenshotselection
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 screenshotwindow
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 zoomin
drwxr-xr-x   4 root  wheel   136B  9 déc  2013 zoomout

Which are a lot of folder containing cursor pictures


Photos on iphone 7 deleted after update I got a new iphone 7 while on vacation and started taking photos on it right away. When I returned, I plugged my phone in the computer and registered with iTunes. Then my phone reverted to my last icloud update and all my photos taken on vacation were deleted. Is it possible to get these back? Thanks.

That's odd -- maybe iTunes restored a backup when you plugged it in? The "setup as new or restore from backup" screen in iTunes when you first plug in an iPhone is confusing, so maybe you chose restore from backup?

If so, we should check to see if iTunes made an "emergency" backup before restoring the old backup. Open iTunes and select Preferences from the iTunes menu (Mac) or Edit menu (Windows).

Do you see a backup listed in there from about the time that this happened, maybe with a date stamp in the name? If so, you could either try restoring that backup (a little heavy handed) or use a third party tool to go look in the contents of the backup. (I work on a tool called Decipher Backup Browser -- the free trial will let you poke around and preview all of the camera roll photos to see if you have a backup with your photos. https://deciphertools.com/decipher-backup-browser.html)


Can I use an encrypted disk image for my home folder? At work, several people use my machine.

Can I set my home folder to be inside an ecrypted disk image?

How would it work as far as mounting/unmounting whenever I log in/out?

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) and OS X Lion (10.7)

Open Disk Utility.

File => New => Disk Image from Folder.

Select the directory you want to encrypt (home directory).

Click Image.

Set the Image Format to be Read/Write and the encryption to 128-bit AES.

Choose a password.

Accessing the Encrypted Folder & Contents

Open the encrypted folder image with a double-click, treating it as a normal disk image.
Enter the password used during the initial encryption setup – do not check Remember password.
Access the encrypted folder and the contents as a mounted virtual disk, you can modify, copy, edit, delete, and add to it.
When finished, close the files and eject the virtual image to re-secure the folder and files and require a password for future access.

More Pertinent Information
You will want to store the encrypted disk image somewhere accessible enough, since you will be using a double-click to try to mount the folder image in Finder, and of course you will need the password to access the files.
With a readable and writable encrypted disk image, you can treat it as a normal folder and copy, delete, or move files from the image. Anything brought into the image while mounted will become encrypted automatically under the same protective layer with the same password. When you are finished working with the folder and want it password protected again, simply unmount the disk image. Regaining access again will require the password before it can be mounted and available.
3rd Party Apps/Snow Leopard Compatible

Knox- Create as many encrypted vaults as you want, each with separate passwords. Then schedule automatic backups. You can even reformat USB sticks and external drives as encrypted Knox vaults - moving files between Macs has never been so simple and secure.

Espionage-Unobtrusive and intuitive, Espionage is the most advanced encryption solution for Mac OS X, yet easiest to use. Espionage lets you encrypt individual folders and application data, and interact with them straight from the Finder.


Finder "Always open with" ignored On my Macbook Air (El Capitan) -

Why is it that when I select Open With>Other...

Enable all applications

check the checkbox Always open with

It still makes me do it all over again,... every time!!!

I am trying to open xml files with Chrome.  But every time I select one from Finder and do open with...

If I just choose Open then XCode opens it.

What does the Always open with checkbox actually do? Is it for decoration only, and has no function?  It doesn't do what I think it should.  Please advise.

If you want to open all xml files in Chrome, you need to click the Change All... button in the File | Get info (cmd+i) window.


My iMac has been hacked via sshd. What now? My iMac runs Mac OS X Yosimite 10.10.1

I accidentally had "Remote Login" enabled in my Mac's system preferences, so the sshd was running.

I just notified in Little Snitch's network monitor window, that it logged about 90 connections from different servers to sshd. I checked the ip addresses on http://ipinfo.io and all the logged ip addresses are located in China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

It seems to be pretty bad.

I looked around a little bit in the available network protocol of Little Snitch and found out, that the ip addresses appearing in the sshd log also appeared in the logs of several other processes, including

sh
DDService64d (apparently DDService64d is part of the Drobo
Dashboard - I have a Drobo 5N installed in my LAN)
launchd

all with user "root" (including the sshd logs).
I thought user root was disabled by default on Mac OS X, but this might all be results of the hack...

So the question now is how to proceed?

Of course I switched off "Remote Login" (sshd) on the machine.
I disabled the root user with the "dsenableroot -d" terminal command
I changed my admin password

I use a cable modem for internet connection (FritzBox 6360). UPnP is switched on (and I use this feature for several apps).
There where several mappings to port 22. I removed all these.

But probably this won't be enough.

Since my computer definitely is compromised I don't really trust it anymore.
What should I do now? Erase the whole thing and re-install all new?
That would be a huge amount of time going down the drain.

And what's about the DDService64d access?
Is my Drobo 5N also compromised? Is there a way to check this?

My TimeMachine backup is also saved on the Drobo 5N, so even if I decide to erase the computer and start all over again, how can I be sure, that it isn't compromised again by the TimeMachine backup on the Drobo?

Any advice?

If you are absolutely certain that your Mac has been hacked I'd strongly recommend that you erase your hard drive, reinstall OS X and manually copy you data back from Time Machine:

Back up your Mac.
Restart and hold Command+R to enter OS X Recovery (http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4718).
Select 'Disk Utility' and reformat your hard drive (http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5849).
Quit 'Disk Utility' and select 'Reinstall OS X'. Note that (from http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4718):

  Reinstalling OS X using Recovery requires broadband access to the
  Internet using a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection. OS X is downloaded over
  the Internet from Apple when OS X Recovery is used for reinstallation.
  You must use DHCP on your Wi-Fi or Ethernet network to reinstall OS X
  using OS X Recovery. If you bought OS X from the Mac App Store, you
  may be prompted to enter the Apple ID and password you used to
  purchase OS X.

When OS X is up and running, plug your external Time Machine drive, open it in Finder, open the folder named after your Mac and then the 'Latest' folder (http://www.macissues.com/2014/04/14/how-to-restore-files-from-time-machine-manually/).
Browse to 'Applications' and copy non-Mac App Store applications back to '/Applications'. Note that some apps (for example VMware Fusion) won't work properly if copied, you must reinstall them with the installer provided by the manufacturer.
Install Mac App Store applications from the App Store.
Browse to 'Users/[your username]' and copy Documents, Pictures, Movies, Music, and any other folder that contains important data to your new home folder.
I would refrain from copying 'Library', although that's where your settings are located. If you have iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Safari, Notes and Keychain synchronization enabled most of your settings will rebuild themselves just fine. You may want to selectively copy application settings from 'Library/Application Support' after checking the files' contents.
If you share your Mac with other people repeat steps 8. and 9. for their accounts.

iCloud synchronization is especially important for Keychain, and I talk from experience: I had a pretty hard time exporting and importing Keychain after installing OS X Yosemite from scratch without restoring from a Time Machine backup.

A piece of advice: It is best practice that the login account you use on a daily basis doesn't have administrative rights. You should create an administrative account instead. I usually call it admin:

while my account is 'Standard'. The side effect is that OS X will prompt you to type admin's password every now and then, for example to edit settings in System Preferences:

Good luck!


how to set 3840 pixels wide for external 4k monitor On a Macbook Pro early 2013, I am trying to run a 4k Samsung TV.  It's almost working (though the text is awful, I think it's just that the TV is not really suitable).  The issue I want to ask about is that the Mac is sending a 4096 pixel wide signal to the TV, instead of 3840.  The TV accepts the signal fine, and then trims off a strip from the left and a strip from the right.  In other words, it's doing what used to be called overscanning.

This leads to critical parts of the picture missing, because of the controls that live in the top-left and top-right corners of the screen.

The TV has a function where it tells you the input characteristics, and it indeed reports 4096x2160.

How can I tell the Mac to run the external display at 3840x2160 instead of 4096x2160?

Apple support officially a small number of 4K Display. https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht6008

So, If you want to display your 380x2160 resolution, you can try SwitchResX. That allow you to display your own custom resolution to the screen.
http://www.madrau.com/srx_download/download.html


How to see the phone numbers a message was sent to? I sent a message to several people, and one of them indicates that they never got the message. Is there a way that I can email a copy of the message showing all the phone numbers the message was sent to?

No.

The iMessage function will send delivered and read receipts for messages delivered by Apple's Push Notification Service, but not through the carrier's SMS network.

You would have to send each message individually if you wanted to know if each message is received, but that also depends on the recipient opting in to share read receipts. If their devices are not configured to send back that confirmation, you need a mechanism that is outside the band of Messages to know a message was received. (like calling them, asking, sending a link that tracks cookies and they identify themselves in this interaction, etc...)


Im trying to use xcrun altool to get my app notarised, what is --asc-provider parameter? I'm trying to notarise my app from apple using xcrun altool, the documentation shows the following :
xcrun altool --notarize-app
--primary-bundle-id "com.example.ote.zip"
--username "AC_USERNAME"
--password "@keychain:AC_PASSWORD"
--asc-provider <ProviderShortname>
--file OvernightTextEditor_11.6.8.zip
but I couldn't find the parameter to provide to the --asc-provider can any one let me know what it is and where to search for that parameter. All other parameters I have found and fine. Help me out I'm new to mac.

altool manual page
The manual for altool can be viewed by running the command man altool. The manual states:

--asc-provider provider_shortname
Required with --notarize-app and --notarization-history when a user account is associated with multiple providers.

Without your knowing, it is unlikely that your account is associated with multiple providers.
asc-provider
If you believe you need a provider, see Apple's Customizing the Notarization Workflow:

You can omit the asc-provider option for the notarization call if your credentials are associated with only a single team. Otherwise, use the option to indicate the provider short name for the appropriate team. Starting in Xcode 11, you can use altool to get a table of providers, provider short names, and team IDs associated with a given username and password using the list-providers option:
xcrun altool --list-providers -u "AC_USERNAME" -p "@keychain:AC_PASSWORD"


Split View same app twice? Is it possible to view 2 apps at the same, eg. 2 × Mail, in Split View?

This is not possible in iOS 9. Only one instance of an app can run at any given time.

There is a small change in iOS 10 allowing two instances of Safari to run concurrently, but that is a special case. To do that, long-press a link, and select Open in Split View.


Can i map other folder to Launchpad I am using OSX 10.8.
Is it possible to map an extra Application folder to launchpad so that launchpad will pick .app from that folder too ?

I have osx install disk names OSX and i install apps in 'Applications' folder. Now i have added one more disk named "Macintosh" i have installed some programmes in that disk too. I want to get the apps in Macintosh>Applications in Launchpad.

There should be a way right ?

Does that makes sense ?

You can try to "symlink" the files on your other partition to your Applications-Folder.

For example:

ln -s /Volumes/Macintosh2/Applications2/App.app /Applications/

Launchpad follow the symlink and show the Apps.


"Restore Windows Key" Define command as keyboard shortcut I don't love windows but I do like the ability to search applications but pressing the windows key.

I do not want a multi key shortcut like cmd + space.  Is there a way to define the command key to bring up spotlight?

This is how you do with Karabiner and El Captain.  Just put this in your private.xml.  If you change command+space to open Launchpad it works well also.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Make command key activate spotlight.</name>
    <appendix>(Send an escape key event when escape key is pressed alone.)</appendix>
    <identifier>private.escape_to_control_escape</identifier>
    <autogen>
      __KeyOverlaidModifier__
      <!-- from -->
      KeyCode::COMMAND_L,
      <!-- to -->
      KeyCode::COMMAND_L,
      <!-- alone -->
      KeyCode::SPACE, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L
    </autogen>
  </item>
</root>

This is also interesting for Sierra https://github.com/tekezo/Karabiner-Elements/pull/247


MacBook Air headphone jack causing mac to go into sleep mode So my MacBook Air continuously flickers between on and sleep modes. It stays on only when I plug in the headphone jack and keep it at an angle pressed. I took it to the store and I was told it could be that the logic board is shorting.

I would like to know if someone had this issue before and if it's an easy fix by opening the laptop. Also, my laptop is not under warranty.

Generally speaking, the MacBook Air has a MagSafe DC In board that also has an audio connector.

It's very conceivable that there is a broken connection on this board that "fixes" itself when you put pressure on the headphone jack.  Technically you could fix this, but it's probably simpler to just change this board out.

If you provide me with your specific make and model, I will provide you with a more accurate PN# and a link to the repair documents.


Formatted a Bootcamped drive as a dynamic disk, now can't boot to either Mac or Windows I was trying to create an extra partition to get a file from the Windows side of my Macbook Air to the Mac side, and I accidentally made the disk dynamic without realizing it. I am now unable to boot to the Mac side (holding Alt to go into the system manager at startup doesn't even list the Mac partition), and the Windows side blue screens during boot (goes so quickly that it doesn't even get to the error code before restarting).

What can I do to fix the issue? I don't know how to make a bootable flash drive that a Mac will recognize, and Disk Utility (via Internet Recovery) couldn't do anything.

Here's some advice offered to others in situations I believe are markedly similar to yours:

"Saving my Data. Convert Dynamic Disk to Basic NTFS" [Contains a link to an open source software repair utility] http://www.allroundgeek.com/2011/05/saving-my-data-convert-dynamic-disk-to.html

"Convert Dynamic disk back to basic" [Contains links to commercial software repair utilities]
http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/running-windows-anything-else-your-mac/208489-convert-dynamic-disk-back-basic.html

"How to recover Bootcamp NTFS Partition" [A multi-page walkthrough of tailormade hex-editing, command-line and open source remedies offered by a knowledgeable (and patient) individual to an ongoing parade of Bootcamp users who unintentionally created dynamic (a/k/a Windows LDM) NTFS drives which will not boot into either Windows or OS X.]
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1405449


How can I create a new Recovery Partition on EXTERNAL disk? I want to enable encryption on an external FireWire disk. The disk has been formatted a while ago (2+ years), and when choosing "encrypt volume" from the Finder context menu, Mountain Lion refuses with the message:

  A Recovery system for the targeted disk is required

Turns out: You need a Recovery Partition (RP) on the external disk you want to encrypt. Mine does not have one, as it was formatted when there were no Recovery Partitions.

Reformatting the drive does create a new RP, but I can’t do this because I have no spare disks where I can swap the data to.

This hint is not useful, as it deals with internal disks.

So I am looking for a way to create a Recovery Partition on the external disk so that I can enable encryption for this disk. (How) can this be done?

EDIT: Yes, there is space on the disk for another partition. diskutil list:

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME           SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme               *320.1 GB   disk2
   1:                        EFI                209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS le_disk        306.7 GB   disk2s2

EDIT II:

Output from an other disk. Here, encryption of a partition (FreeSpace-500) has worked directly from Finder. Note that the (invisible) boot partition created during the process is called Boot OS X, and not Recovery HD.

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                    *2.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS TimeMachine         1.5 TB     disk2s2
   3:          Apple_CoreStorage FreeSpace-500       503.3 GB   disk2s3
   4:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X           134.2 MB   disk2s4

Manually Cloning a Recovery Partition

This process worked for me on an external USB drive, but I don't have a Firewire drive or encrypted partition to test with, but it should work for you.

Requirements

Existing recovery partition on your internal drive (or elsewhere).
At least 650 MB of free space on your external drive (a previous version of this answer required more space, but I fixed the first section to only use what's required).

Add New Partition

Notes: this process is not destructive, provided you have sufficient free space on your drive.

In Terminal, run diskutil list. You should get output like this:

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *120.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh SSD           119.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *320.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Portable                319.7 GB   disk1s2

Make note of the identifiers for your existing recovery partition (in my case, disk0s3) and the main partition on your external drive (disk1s2).
Run diskutil info disk1s2 | grep 'Total Size', replacing disk1s2 with the identifier for your external volume. Note the number of bytes listed.
Run diskutil resizeVolume disk1s2 Xb JHFS+ Temp 650002432b, replacing X with the total number of bytes from step 2 minus 650002432. This will repartition your disk, giving us a new partition with exactly enough space for the recovery partition.  Note: A recovery partition is not always 650002432 bytes.  Find out the exact size by checking diskutil info on the partition you want to copy.
The resizeVolume command will print out the new partition map (like in step 1), make note of the identifier for the new partition (labelled Temp).

Clone Existing Recovery to the New Partition

Run the following command in Terminal to clone the recovery partition to the new partition, replacing disk0s3 and disk1s3 with the appropriate identifiers for your partitions:

sudo asr -source /dev/disk0s3 -target /dev/disk1s3 --erase

You will be asked for your password, and to verify that you want to erase the contents (type y followed by enter), then the cloning process will begin.
Unmount the recovery partition if it's mounted, then run sudo asr adjust --target /dev/disk1s3 --settype "Apple_Boot". Be sure to replace disk1s3 with the appropriate identifier. This sets the proper partition type, which stops OS X from auto-mounting the recovery partition when you attach your external drive.

If everything completed properly, you should have a working recovery partition on your external disk.


Remove Add-in from Office 2016 for Mac After installing an add-in (.xla) which worked once, I'm trying to remove it so I can install an updated version.

So far I've:

deleted the .xla
removed the check box in Tools > Add-ins
removed it from the list
Quit Excel completely
reopened Excel.

I get an error that Excel can't find the plugin, it's back in the Add-ons list, and the Add-ins toolbar is still there with the Add-ins buttons.

Did all the same stuff again, this time with a reboot thrown in. No change.

Where is it storing this?
I looked through the plists in the Excel bundle, but couldn't find any references.

You have to do this through "My Add-Ins"

In the Insert Menu, select Add-Ins and then the submenu "My Add-Ins"

Click the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner of the Add-In you wish to remove.  Then click "Remove".


Automator fail with ffmpeg bash line I want to batch convert .m4a music from iTunes to a flash drive as .mp3
This bash script... (source https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1614765)

for f in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -acodec libmp3lame -ab 256k "${f%.m4a}.mp3"; done

...achieves this, but I'll like use set up an Automator Folder Action to do this for me.

AFAIK, the automator in this screen shot should work but does not.

I'd read some stuff - which I didn't really understand - about "$f" needing to be in quotes, but it already is.

Any advice, please?

Automator supplies arguments (file names) to the shell script.
Try:

for f in "$@"
do
    case $f in
        *.m4a)
             /absolute/path/to/ffmpeg -i "$f" -acodec libmp3lame -ab 256k "${f%.m4a}.mp3"
             ;;
    esac
done


Is there any way to upgrade my jailbroken iPad to a higher jailbreakable iOS? I have a jailbroken fourth-generation iPad running iOS 6.1.3.  I'd like to upgrade it to some higher iOS, but not the latest iOS (10.3.3 or 11), since no jailbreak exists for that.  My question is, is there anyway I can upgrade my iPad to an iOS for which a jailbreak exists?

I think the short answer to my question is "blobs".  In the old days there was just SHSH blobs, but now the terminology is more complicated, like SHSH2, ApTicket, and TSS.  In any case, how do I check if I have the right kind of blobs  to do the kind of upgrade I want?  Are they still saved in Cydia like in the old days, or what?

Short answer

No, unfortunately not.

Explanation

Without any manually saved SHSH blobs for your desired version of iOS and your device you cannot upgrade to this version of iOS.

Check https://api.ineal.me/tss/status to see which firmware versions are currently being signed by Apple.

As of today Apple signs only this iPad 4 (iPad 3,4; 3,5; 3,6) firmware:

10.3.3    14G60

Additional Resources

You may check whether there are SHSH2 blobs available for your device:

https://tsssaver.1conan.com

You can get you ECID by

Lauching iTunes
Connecting your device using a Lightning cable to your computer
Selecting your device in iTunes
Clicking the serial number twice


Different "Preferred Networks" for different Network "Location" The question is: can I have different "Preferred Networks" when switching from one to another Network "Location"?

This issue has been discussed before at Ask Different: Can't I use different WiFi networks for different Locations?. However, I do not like a solution that ought to use some external App.

I would appreciate any comment! Thanks!

Each of your Locations will show WiFi.

To differentiate by location you have to rename them.

To do that click on the Gear box icon at the bottom of the location screen and choose rename service.

Now you can get creative in naming the service to your liking in each of the Locations. The WiFi function will remain.


How to install Windows 10 on unsupported Mac? Is there any way to install Windows 10 on unsupported Mac (iMac mid 2011) without resort to various tricks with virtual machines?

A different user recently posted a similar question on superuser. Since my answer was accepted as correct, I will repost it below.

The Basic steps to install 64 bit Windows 10 are as follows. I assume here that your current configuration is the default "Out of the Box" OS X installation.

Download the correct Boot Camp Support Software for your Mac.
Transfer these files to a FAT formatted flash drive. For your Mac,
use the same software as for a 64 bit Windows 7 installation. These
files can be found at Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621
Use the Disk Utility to reduce the size of your OS X partition. In
the empty space, create a FAT formatted partition with the label
BOOTCAMP.
Burn the Windows 10 iso file to a DVD. You can use the Disk Utility
to do this. I always use a RW DVD. This takes longer to burn, but is
reusable.
Restart the Mac with the DVD in the optical drive. Hold down the
alt/option key and select the DVD icon with the label Windows.
Install Windows to the Boot Camp partition. You will have to tell
the installer to reformat this partition as NTFS. DO NOT CHANGE THE
PARTITIONING DURING THE INSTALLATION PROCESS.
At some point during the installation, the computer will reboot.
When it does, it will boot to OS X. This is to be expected. Go to
System Preferences and instruct OS X to boot back to Windows. The
installation process will continue.
After the Windows installation has completed, install the Boot Camp
Support software stored on the flash drive. To accomplish this, you
will have to right click on the icon and select Compatibility Mode.

I do not consider the process to be that difficult. The most challenging step is creating the FAT formatted partition labeled BOOTCAMP. If something goes wrong, you are in danger of loosing data on your OS X partition.


Do the MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) have different cooling systems depending on the GPU I read here that the thermal throttling of the i7 and i9 on the latest MBP (2018, 15-inch) can be significant.

I also got information that the cooling system is different when the MBP is upgraded with the VEGA GPU: is this correct?

This would mean that paying the extra for the VEGA GPU could also have a positive impact on the CPU performance, and thus big a global gain.

I hope this picture answers your question, my previous post was absolutely wrong, that's why i deleted it.


How to remove an image or movie from iDevice but not from iCloud Photo Library? Since I turned iCloud Photo Library on on my iPad, I have all my pictures from Photos on Macbook. These not downloaded yet (little thumbnails) are loaded fully onto my iPad when I try to preview them. But the question is how can I do this from the other side. What to do to have it on iCloud but on on my device. Once I need it I download my movie again, and it is working on my device again. Is it possible? I cannot find this.

I assume your problem resides in the fact that Photos app is taking too much space on your iPad.

If this is the issue, your best solution for managing space and keeping a synced Photo Library across devices is to enable Optimise iPad Storage under Settings -> Photos & Camera -> Optimise iPad Storage on your iPad.

The Photos app on your iPad will then manage which photos are kept at high resolution and which are just stored as thumbnails. You can also activate the same preference on your Mac's Photos app, under Photos -> Preferences -> iCloud Tab -> Optimise Mac Storage on the top bar.

Unfortunately, there's no way to delete a photo exclusively in one device once iCloud Photo Library is enabled.


How to programmatically construct the name of application used to open directories? This Emacs LISP script reveal-in-finder.el allows one to quickly open a directory in Finder from an Emacs buffer which has the directory opened in it in dired mode.  But on my computer, I uses Path Finder instead of the standard Finder.  If I run open /path/to/dir on command line, it opens the directory dir in Path Finder rather than Finder.  Any idea how I can modify reveal-in-finder.el to open directories in Path Finder?

An indirect solution I'm currently using is M-!, and type open . in the mini-buffer, which opens the directory in the system-default application, which is Path Finder on my computer.


Run 10.10 on a machine upgraded to 10.14 Are there any firmware updates, or other changes, done by the 10.14 installer that could cause a 10.10 system to not work?

To quell all the "why would you want to do that?" questions, here's the scenario:

At my work I have a Late 2013 Retina MacBook Pro (model MacBookPro11,3) that, until recently, I kept on 10.10 on in order to use a suite of tools for work that interface with some older hardware. It's the only Mac we have.

We just managed to buy a newer version of the hardware. It's tools are modern and can run on 10.14 without issue. However that older hardware will be moving to another room to be used elsewhere so we still need to interface with it to configure it. The older tools don't support the new hardware and can't run on 10.11 or above, the newer tools don't support the older hardware and require "a modern version of MacOS" (the developer recommends 10.14, doesn't say anything about previous versions).

A VM is not an option as there isn't the ability to do FireWire passthrough to a VM with the ThunderBolt to FireWire adapter.

My plan is to dual-boot the machine with a 10.14 install and a 10.10 install. To configure the new hardware, boot to 10.14. To configure the old hardware, boot to 10.10.

My worry is that running the 10.14 installer will upgrade firmware on the machine to a version that is incompatible with 10.10, and thus the dual-boot would not work.

I haven't heard about such incompatible firmware updates.

I have dual-booted 10.14 (Mojave) and 10.11 (El Capitan) on the 2013 Retina MacBook Pro, which is almost the same configuration - and that worked without problems as far as I recall.


Why can't I access this Ext4 partition using FUSE? I have installed FUSE for OS X. During installation I ticked the "compatibility layer" option. I have rebooted after installation.

I have an external HDD with one NTFS partition and two Ext4 partitions. Operating systems are installed on the partitions.

I am only able to mount the NTFS partition. The Ext4 partitions appear in Disk Utility, but nothing happens when I try to mount them.

What can I do to access them?

Make sure to install the fuse-ext2 package as well. FUSE is just the compatibility layer, it needs filesystem-specific implementations to be useful.


Show the Mobile Safari Debug Console on demand Using the same iPad for testing and casual browsing makes the handling of the Mobile Safari Debug Console a little annoying.

Is there any way to enable it on demand (ie on my test sites), without turning it on for all sites?

No.

You can only turn it on or off, there is no way to set it only to certain sites.

Instead of using the (limited) debug console on the iphone, try using Safari on a desktop and set the user agent to iPhone (From in the Developer Menu, to enable the developer menu, open Safari preferences and choose Advanced where there is a checkbox to enable it).

You should then be able to catch almost all of the console logs, as Safari and MobileSafari are naturally similar. Although there are things you will need to use the iPhone for (like viewport issues)


Secure setting for shell for unused root account The security patch to Apple's root login security flaw — to 10.13.1 (17B1003) — has changed the shell setting reported by

dscl . list /Users UserShell

for root to /bin/sh (from /bin/bash). What does this accomplish? It's been suggested that for extra security I should set the shell for root to to /usr/bin/false. Does it still make sense to do that?

Basically bash and sh are two different shells, have a look here. Maybe an Apple employee liked sh more than bash and changed? :-)

This question and answer discuss login shells in some details. But the short answer is yes, it always makes sense to put the login shell for root to something non-existing.

(Technically it is not always, but in those cases you hopefully don't have to ask that question :-) )


How do I remove "nearby cocktail bars" on iOS 9? A friend of mine in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) asked me if I knew of a way to remove "nearby bars" from his iPhone. This appears when you swipe left and the built in Maps feature displays this.

You can open settings -> general -> Spotlight Search, then turn off maps. This is a workaround, but it will not give you gas stations or anything of that type either.


OS X 10.9.4 - How can I limit the number of failed login attempts? With OS X 10.9.4, how can I limit the number of failed local login attempts?

I'm looking for something similar to the Windows Account Lockout Threshold mentioned here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh994574.aspx

If you use OS X Server (which is pretty cheap these days) you can change the global password policy.   http://www.wikihow.com/Image:ServerAppUsrsGrps8.png


Why won't my iPod Touch play in Bose SoundDock speakers anymore? I have owned and enjoyed the Bose SoundDock speakers for a number of years; during this time it has worked great with my iPod Mini, Video iPod, and iPod Touch. The speakers have an iPod dock that you seat the iPod in and the audio is played through the speaker.

These speakers predate the iPod Touch by many years and won't recharge the iPod Touch when plugged in. That's fine, I mention it because whenever I plug in the iPod Touch into the speakers the iPod Touch shows a message that recharging isn't supported.

Recently, when I dock my iPod Touch in the speakers the warning that it can't recharge comes up, but no sound is played through the speakers. Instead, the iPod Touch's existing speakers play the music. Plugging in my Video iPod still works as expected - the sound comes out of the Bose speakers.

I've tried undocking and redocking, wiggling it once docked, and so on, but I am unable to get the iPod Touch to play through the Bose speakers. Any idea what's going on here? This is frustrating since I use these speakers quite often...

EDIT: Some further clarifications. My iPod Touch is a 2nd-gen iPod Touch (if that matters). It is, and has for some time, running software version 4.1. I have not tried updating to 4.2 or restoring the iPod's original settings. Also, the speakers continue to work with my iPod Video, so I'm pretty certain the problem lies somewhere with the iPod Touch and not the speakers themselves.

Since it’s practically impossible to diagnose a problem like this without physical access to the iPod and the SoundDock, I’m going to give you a few ideas of what I’d try to do:

If you have access to another iPod, try that of course, if that works, we’ve found a problem with your particular iPod.
If you have access to another SoundDock… well, put your iPod in those and see if the problem lies in your SoundDock.
Since the last two were two obvious (and you probably thought about them), let me tell you that you can go to an Apple Store with both devices and try the above combinations there. I’m sure that you will find another SoundDock in an Apple Store to try your iPod and that they also have iPods so you can try your Sound Dock. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
In any case, the remaining obvious alternative is to restore the iPod, either to factory settings (and later using a backup) or to restore a backup (so you don’t lose everything).
The final idea, is to try 4.2, but that should be the last step. You don’t want 4.2 to introduce new “undiscovered” problems on top of your old problem.

Sadly, there isn’t much else we can do from here. The can’t charge or incompatible device message is “ok” most of the time (I had that problem too with a car adapter), but it worked anyway.

I’m sorry I can’t come up with a better idea.

 Just had this same problem... I fixed it by spraying a Contact Cleaner on my Ipod/ITouch.. and it works after... sometimes, Dust or Dirt will cause bad connection between the Unit and the Sound Dock Port *


Can I get rid of the Mickey Mouse glove? The cursor changes to a mickey mouse glove when hovering over links. I'm coming from the Linux world and there doesn't seem to be an option in the settings that can change it, it is driving me insane. Wondering if there is a 3rd party app or hidden setting that affects it. Thanks.

Mousecape may be the answer for you. It has not been updated since last July (though notes from February 2014 claim compatibility with Yosemite...not sure how that's possible) so YMMV, but it may be worth a shot.

On the page linked above, make sure you click on 0.0.5 and NOT "cursor flip". Clicking on cursor flip will download a related program that is not what you want.


How to merge folders based on file content rather than filename I have multiple folders containing thousands of deletion-recovered files from multiple recovery scans.

As per usual with deletion recovery, the recovered files have different names than the originals, and different names from one recovery scan to another.

So, short of writing a custom program, is there a tool (or product) that can compare files by content and ignore the filenames?

Ideally, it would allow deletion of recovered files when they content-match files in an "original" directory tree (e.g. iTunes library folders),
and, allow merge of two folders based on file contents rather than filenames.

Why wouldn't you have a script to loop over all the files and rename them with the value of a hash based on the file contents.

md5 file.png
MD5 (file.png) = d5438a3187b73fa362dceb269e158908
crc32 file.png
87a1ffdd
shasum -a 256 file.png
34d126a6990b59dd45a4d7d19e471943569060bc54cb3b42b3d0be1934f16f11  file.png

I've listed these in order of fastest to slowest on my Mac - you should test for a few files if you can't just let the script run overnight and do care about performance of the script.

Then you could merge based on file name since the same content would be the same name, barring any collisions in the space of the hash.

When is CRC more appropriate to use than MD5/SHA1?


Rename iTunes TV episodes to include season and episode number in file name I'm in the process of switching from iTunes to Emby server to stream videos to my Apple TV. Emby does fine with movies, but for identifying episodes of TV series it needs the season and episode number in the file name.

Unfortunately, iTunes names TV episode video files using just the episode name. It has the episode numbers in its tags and database, but it doesn't put them in the filename. So a typical file location is:

TV Shows > Jeeves and Wooster > Season 1 > Jeeves Takes Charge.mp4

But what I want is:

TV Shows > Jeeves and Wooster > Season 1 > Jeeves and Wooster S01E01.mp4

Even just adding the episode number at the beginning would be great:

01 Jeeves Takes Charge.mp4

My library is large enough to make doing this by hand a pretty big time sink. Can iTunes be coerced to do it automatically? If not, is there a third-party tool or other ready-built solution? I'm sure it can be done in Applescript with Exiftool, but I'd prefer not to reinvent the wheel if someone else has already done it.

I still don't know if there's a way to compel iTunes to do it automatically, but I managed it with Applescript and ExifTool. In case it's useful to anyone else, below is the full script. You'll need to install ExifTool first. You can run the script to choose one file at a time, or export it as an application to do drag-and-drop.

It renames episodes like:

Show Name S01E01 Episode Name.mp4

which is a format recognized by Emby, Plex, and other media managers.

It processes folders recursively, so you can drag your entire TV Shows folder onto it in one go. It will skip files that aren't video or don't have the expected TV show metadata, and when it's done it pops up a dialog to tell you how many of each it encountered.

(*
Rename TV Episode to include Season and Number

Drop or select files or folders.
This script will check each file for metadata tags for TV show name, season number, episode number, and episode name and rename each file in the format:
Show Name S01E01 Episode Name.mp4

It will ignore files that don't match one of the extensions in the extensionList below. By default, mp4, m4v, mkv.
It will skip files that don't have all four of the desired meta tags.
If the show name or episode name contains illegal characters (colon, forward-slash, back-slash) it will replace them with "_" for the filename.

ExifTool must be installed. You can find it here:
https://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

Make sure the pathToExifTool matches your system. The included one is the default.
*)

property pathToExifTool : "/usr/local/bin/exiftool"

property whitelistTypes : false
property whitelistExtensions : true
property whitelistTypeIDs : false

property typeList : {} -- eg: {"PICT", "JPEG", "TIFF", "GIFf"}
property extensionList : {"mp4", "m4v", "mkv", "avi", "wmv"} -- eg: {"txt", "text", "jpg", "jpeg"}, NOT: {".txt", ".text", ".jpg", ".jpeg"}
property typeIDsList : {} -- eg: {"public.jpeg", "public.tiff", "public.png"}

global numberOfItemsRenamed
global numberOfItemsIgnored
global numberOfItemsWithoutMetaData

-- If opened without a drop, choose a file and simulate a drop
on run
    open {} & (choose file "Select a file")
end run
-- process files dropped or selected
on open theseItems
    set numberOfItemsRenamed to 0
    set numberOfItemsIgnored to 0
    set numberOfItemsWithoutMetaData to 0

    processItems(theseItems)
    reportResults()
end open

on reportResults()
    -- build the output string
    set output to "Renamed " & numberOfItemsRenamed & " file(s)."
    if numberOfItemsIgnored > 0 then
        set output to output & "
Ignored " & numberOfItemsIgnored & " file(s) with unrecognized filetype."
    end if
    if numberOfItemsWithoutMetaData > 0 then
        set output to output & "
Skipped " & numberOfItemsWithoutMetaData & " file(s) with insufficient TV metadata."
    end if
    display alert output
end reportResults

-- processItems takes a list of items and passes them one at a time to processItem()
on processItems(theseItems)
    repeat with i from 1 to the count of theseItems
        set thisItem to item i of theseItems
        processItem(thisItem)
    end repeat
end processItems

-- processFolder takes a folder and passes the list of contents to processItems()
on processFolder(thisFolder)
    set theseItems to list folder thisFolder without invisibles
    -- processFolder has its own loop due to different syntax for fetching aliases from within a folder
    repeat with i from 1 to the count of theseItems
        set thisItem to alias ((thisFolder as Unicode text) & (item i of theseItems))
        processItem(thisItem)
    end repeat
end processFolder

-- processItem takes an item and passes it to the appropriate next level
-- (processFolder for folders, processFileAlias for approved files, or nothing for non-whitelisted files)
on processItem(thisItem)
    set the item_info to info for thisItem
    -- if a folder was passed, process it as a folder
    if folder of the item_info is true then
        processFolder(thisItem)
    else
        -- fetch the extension, filetype, and typeid to compare to whitelists
        try
            set this_extension to the name extension of item_info
        on error
            set this_extension to ""
        end try
        try
            set this_filetype to the file type of item_info
        on error
            set this_filetype to ""
        end try
        try
            set this_typeID to the type identifier of item_info
        on error
            set this_typeID to ""
        end try
        -- only operate on files, not folders or aliases
        if (folder of the item_info is false) and (alias of the item_info is false) then
            -- only operate on files that conform to whichever whitelists are in use
            set isTypeOk to ((not whitelistTypes) or (this_filetype is in the typeList))
            set isExtensionOk to ((not whitelistExtensions) or (this_extension is in the extensionList))
            set isTypeIDOk to ((not whitelistTypeIDs) or (this_typeID is in the typeIDsList))
            if (isTypeOk and isExtensionOk and isTypeIDOk) then
                -- everything's good so process the file
                processFileAlias(thisItem)
            else
                set numberOfItemsIgnored to numberOfItemsIgnored + 1
            end if
        end if
    end if
end processItem

-- processFileAlias takes a fileAlias and rename the file as a TV episode
on processFileAlias(fileAlias)
    set originalInfo to info for fileAlias
    -- get the file extension (to use when renaming, later)
    set originalName to stripExtension(the name of originalInfo)
    try
        set originalExtension to the name extension of originalInfo
    on error
        set originalExtension to ""
    end try
    -- prep slots for the desired metadata
    set seasonNumber to ""
    set episodeNumber to ""
    set showName to ""
    set episodeName to ""
    -- use exifTool to get the desired metadata
    set theLocation to POSIX path of (fileAlias as text)
    set exifToolOutput to (do shell script pathToExifTool & " -TVShow -TVSeason -TVEpisode -Title " & quoted form of theLocation)
    -- break exifTool output into lines
    set oldTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return
    set exifToolOutputList to every text item of exifToolOutput
    -- now extract tags from each line
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ": "
    set tagList to {}
    repeat with eachItem in exifToolOutputList
        set itemName to trim(true, text item 1 of eachItem)
        -- use items 2-end in case there are :s in the value
        set itemValue to (text items 2 thru end of eachItem) as text
        if itemName = "TV Episode" then
            set episodeNumber to itemValue
        else if itemName = "TV Season" then
            set seasonNumber to itemValue
        else if itemName = "TV Show" then
            set showName to itemValue
        else if itemName = "Title" then
            set episodeName to itemValue
        end if
    end repeat
    set isAllDataPresent to (episodeNumber is not "" and seasonNumber is not "" and showName is not "")
    if isAllDataPresent then
        -- pad the numbers so they alphabetize nicely
        set seasonNumber to padNumberWithZeros(seasonNumber, 2)
        set episodeNumber to padNumberWithZeros(episodeNumber, 2)
        -- build the file name
        set newFileName to showName & " S" & seasonNumber & "E" & episodeNumber & " " & episodeName & "." & originalExtension
        -- remove illegal characters from name
        set newFileName to replaceChars(newFileName, ":", "_")
        set newFileName to replaceChars(newFileName, "/", "_")
        set newFileName to replaceChars(newFileName, "\\", "_")
        -- rename the file
        tell application "Finder"
            set name of fileAlias to newFileName
        end tell
        set numberOfItemsRenamed to numberOfItemsRenamed + 1
    else
        set numberOfItemsWithoutMetaData to numberOfItemsWithoutMetaData + 1
    end if
end processFileAlias

(*
Everything after this is utility extensions for dealing with text
*)

on stripExtension(this_name)
    if this_name contains "." then
        set this_name to ¬
            (the reverse of every character of this_name) as string
        set x to the offset of "." in this_name
        set this_name to (text (x + 1) thru -1 of this_name)
        set this_name to (the reverse of every character of this_name) as string
    end if
    return this_name
end stripExtension

on trim(theseCharacters, someText)
    -- Lazy default (AppleScript doesn't support default values)
    if theseCharacters is true then set theseCharacters to ¬
        {" ", tab, ASCII character 10, return, ASCII character 0}

    repeat until first character of someText is not in theseCharacters
        set someText to text 2 thru -1 of someText
    end repeat

    repeat until last character of someText is not in theseCharacters
        set someText to text 1 thru -2 of someText
    end repeat

    return someText
end trim

on replaceChars(this_text, search_string, replacement_string)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the search_string
    set the item_list to every text item of this_text
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacement_string
    set this_text to the item_list as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return this_text
end replaceChars

on padNumberWithZeros(thisNumber, minLength)
    return text (minLength * -1) thru -1 of ("00000000000000000" & thisNumber)
end padNumberWithZeros


Is it possible to install Xcode 9 on a mid 2009 MacBook Pro 17 inches? I'm looking for a MacBook to develop iOS apps and I've found this mid 2009 17 inch MacBook Pro at a reasonable price.

Does Xcode 9 run on it?

Not officially, no.

Xcode 9 will require macOS Sierra 10.12.4 to run. Unfortunately, the Mid-2009 17" MacBook Pro can only run the latest version of OS X El Capitan 10.11.6.

However, unofficially the Mid-2009 17" MacBook Pro can run macOS Sierra by virtue of the macOS Sierra Patcher Tool.

If this is something you want to consider doing, make sure you read all the information on the macOS Sierra Patcher Tool page as it contains important information you should weigh up before proceeding. If it was me I would not proceed without a full backup ready so you could recover your system if all goes bad.

NOTE: I have not seen Xcode 9 actually installed on any unsupported Mac, so cannot confirm that it would work on one which has macOS Sierra installed as a result of the macOS Sierra Patcher Tool.


Why screenshot of same content appears more saturated on iPad 3 retina vs. Macbook Air LCD? When I scale a screenshot of the same image from my iPad 3 retina to that on my MB Air the resulting image appears more saturated (unsure if it's a uniform saturation). Why does this happen? Can I transform my screenshot from my LCD monitor to match a screenshot from my iPad 3 by changing the resolution, saturation, contrast, etc?

You could, but how would you know which is correct?

You would need accurate profiles for both screens. This could be done with colorimeter hardware/software, something like ColorMunki (No affiliation, it's just what I use myself), which can calibrate both your Mac & iPad screens [also PCs, if you have them]

An app like Photoshop [& possibly Gimp, though I've never used it] could then do the translation between the two, though once your screens are correctly calibrated, you may not need to.


Connect to my mac from my Ubuntu failed! I have turned on the remote login in system-preference, but I got this when I try to connect my mac from from my ubuntu. Any ideas?

$ ssh -vvv lakeat@129.74.164.130
OpenSSH_5.9p1 Debian-5ubuntu1.1, OpenSSL 1.0.1 14 Mar 2012
debug1: Reading configuration data /home/danny/.ssh/config
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 19: Applying options for *
debug2: ssh_connect: needpriv 0
debug1: Connecting to 129.74.164.130 [129.74.164.130] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
debug3: Incorrect RSA1 identifier
debug3: Could not load "/home/danny/.ssh/id_rsa" as a RSA1 public key
debug1: identity file /home/danny/.ssh/id_rsa type 1
debug1: Checking blacklist file /usr/share/ssh/blacklist.RSA-2048
debug1: Checking blacklist file /etc/ssh/blacklist.RSA-2048
debug1: identity file /home/danny/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /home/danny/.ssh/id_dsa type -1
debug1: identity file /home/danny/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1
debug1: identity file /home/danny/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1
debug1: identity file /home/danny/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_5.9
debug1: match: OpenSSH_5.9 pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_5.9p1 Debian-5ubuntu1.1
debug2: fd 3 setting O_NONBLOCK
debug3: load_hostkeys: loading entries for host "129.74.164.130" from file "/home/danny/.ssh/known_hosts"
debug3: load_hostkeys: loaded 0 keys
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
Connection closed by 129.74.164.130

Looking at the output there seems to be some problem with your RSA keys. I did look up this and read a comment over at Superuser: https://superuser.com/questions/408565/i-am-getting-this-error-ssh-exchange-identification where they talk about, that you have to allow your user to log-in, inside the sshd_config file on the computer you are connecting to (in your case your OSX computer):

sudo nano /etc/sshd_config
AllowUsers yourname@*

I've never encountered this problem myself but it's worth a shot in my opinion.


Why does F3 not work as Find Next in Chrome? I've already set up in system preferences, checkbox Use all F1, F2,... as standard function (checked on).

But still after  Cmd ⌘   F   on Chrome, pressing  F3   won't do anything... I expected Find Next would go.... only way is pressing  Cmd ⌘   G

any chance?

F3, like the previous poster said, is a Windows convention.  Cmd+F is how all applications within OS X do a "Find".  However, you can re-map your Windows favorites to OS X with no problem.

If you want to make F3 = "Find Next" in Google Chrome, you can set that up yourself.

Go to [System Preferences] --> [Keyboard] --> [Shortcuts]

Select App Shortcuts and then click the "plus sign" to add a new one.  You will get a dialog box like the one below

Select your Application that you want to create the shortcut for, in this case Google Chrome.

Now, here is the most important part:  Type the name of the menu command exactly as you see it.  Go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and select the command from one of the menu drop downs.  In this case, it's "Find Next"

Enter that into your new Shortcut and assign the key you want, in this case F3.  It should look like this:

Click "Add" and you should see it show up as an new Shortcut.  Head over to Chrome and you will see that "Find Next" is now mapped to F3


Editing an Mailbox configuration file I want to use Sublime Text to edit a text file within one of my installed Applications. The application I am trying to edit is Mailbox. I have been trying to edit the following file - /Applications/Mailbox (Beta).app/Contents/Resources/compose.css.txt. I have been trying to rewrite the css on lines 21 to 25

body {
   background-color: transparent;
   font-family: "Helvetica Neue", san-serif;
   font-size: 14px;
   margin:0; }

When I change the typeface to comic sans for example, mailbox stops functioning. Is there a way to make this change without corrupting the application?

An image of the error after editing the txt file has been embedded below;

From what I could tell, Mailbox now stays open after it displays the message, and crashes.

Since the crash had a bunch of JSON processes in it, I figured maybe that the lines were encoded, and since Comic Sans MS does not have the same number of letters as Helvetica Neue, I figured that was the problem. I then changed Neue to Bold, and made it the same number of letters.

Since it stil crashed, I believe it is not actually corrupted. I believe there is a encoded hash, or some sort, in the binary. Since the edit changed the hash, that may be the problem.

TL;DR: It is not possible unless you patch the binary in some way.


How to change the default shortcut for "move focus to next window" to something else? On Slovenian keyboard it's impossible to click the default shortcut.

Go to "System Preferences" -> "Keyboard" -> "Shortcuts" -> "Keyboard" -> hold the option key and left mouse click on the current shortcut on the right side from "Move focus to next window" -> then enter your new keyboard shortcut.

picture of UK defaults showing different backtick


Is there an iPad PDF reader that allows in-app dictionary customization? I want to use my iPad to read PDFs of my textbooks. There are often vocabulary terms which I would like to create my own definition for and then be able to click on that word or phrase later in the PDF and see my definition.

This seems different from the standard note function which only puts the text in the location where it was defined. I looked through reviews of PDF readers and none of them mentioned specifically what I am looking for.

I am willing to pay up to $10 for this.

Is there an app that has what I am looking for?

PDF Expert lets you choose from the different Apple dictionaries available (whether they are installed or not), if that is what you are searching for. If what you look for is another, custom type of dictionary where you can load your own dictionaries, I don't think PDF Expert can do so.


Messages in iCloud behaviour I have 3 devices, on the MacBook, I have messages preference set to "keep forever", on the iPhone , I have it set to "delete after 30 days", and I have an older iPad, so its not up to date.

If I turn on messages in iCloud, whats going to happen?

Will the phone continue to delete after 30 days but allow the MacBook to keep forever? or will messages be deleted from iCloud after 30 days in accordance with the phone settings?

or do all messages end up in iCloud regardless of those settings?

When one enables Messages in iCloud, iOS alerts you that the setting on the device will be changed to Forever. Forever is the only setting available when Messages in iCloud is enabled.

The goal of keeping all Messages in iCloud is that each device should sync up each and every message they have (some will have forever and all messages they received, some will have gaps and some will have duplicate messages).

You'll no longer back up any messages when you do an iCloud Backup. All participating devices will show the exact same set of messages.

  When you use Messages in iCloud […] your content is automatically stored in iCloud. That means they're not included in your iCloud Backup.


Where can I find an Mavericks driver for my Alfa AWUS036H I have a MacBook Pro Intel Core i7 and have just installed OS X Mavericks (10.9.2) and now can not use my Alfa AWUS036H USB antenna. It seams there are no new drives for this model. Is there a workaround for this or can another model be recommend the runs on OS X Mavericks?

From the Alfa web site (no direct link to FAQ entry available):

Q: Does AWUS036H has driver for Mac Lion?
The AWUS036H works on 32-bit Mac only. If your Mac system is running on 32-bit CPU and you just upgrade the Mac OS to latest version then your AWUS036H is still compatible to it. However, if you just purchased Mac system with 10.6.8 or later version who is running on 64-bit Mac system then you have to boot your computer into 32-bit in order to run the application with device. And you can find the installation guide through our blog @ http://alfanetworkinc.blogspot.com/2011/08/install-awus036h-onto-mac-os-107.html
To identify whether your Mac system is running in 64-bit or not, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3770
If you like to use wifi adapter with default 64-bit Mac system then we’ll suggest following models -  AWUS036NH, AWUS036NEH, AWUS051NH, AWUS036NHR and AWUS036NHV.


Disable OS X feature to reopen windows at login time In Mac OS X Lion, when I do Apple > Shut Down, there is a checkbox that says "Reopen windows when logging back in".

Even though I constantly UNCHECK the box, it seems OS X doesn't care - and still opens some Finder windows and sometimes Chrome...

How can I turn this feature off?

This bug has been fixed with the Lion update 10.7.4:

The OS X Lion v10.7.4 Update includes fixes that:
Resolve an issue in which the "Reopen windows when logging back in"
setting is always enabled.

(click here for more information)


MacBook Pro Early 2008 Fan running while in standby The fans in my MBP (MacBook Pro4,1) continue to run after closing the MacBook.
This is not because of the CPU running under high power, it's also happening when the CPU has done nothing for about 15 minutes. The fan runs either for about 5 hours or as long as it takes the MacBooks battery to get empty.

Info:
- I'm running 10.9.2
- I have this problem for about 2 years
- I ran an Apple Hardware Test
- I resetted the SMC and the PRam
- I reinstalled the MacBook with the original reinstall DVD (OS X 10.5.2) and updated version-by-version (10.6 -> 10.7 -> 10.8 -> 10.9)
- I replaced the battery
And it's getting worse with the time (until now, it stopped after about 5-10 minutes, but since last December, it doesn't stop anymore)

Note: Some people might say this is a duplicate of this question, but it's different, as in my case, the fans won't stop.

It would make sense from my point of view to look for a certified Apple Service Provider or Apple Retail Store and ask them about replacing your Mac thermal grease. Chances are they offer this in a sort of "spring cleaning" program. Over time the thermal paste between your CPU and GPU and the heat sink dries up and doesn't do what it is suppose to do. This can happen but doesn't mean it is, sometimes the fans just get full of dust and need to be cleaned out. The important thing is just making sure the mac is getting good airflow and that its vents are several inches (6-8) away from anything that could be obstructing airflow.


How can I assign more than 2 phone numbers to a contact on my iPhone? A large proportion of contacts I have gained over the years have more than two current numbers.

Examples include: home, work, mobile; home, NZ work no., US work  no., Spanish work no; etc

I have only worked out how to add two numbers to particular contact; after that, when you click add there is no other options.

This is crazy, this is 2010, I must be doing something wrong, can you help me out?

I can add as many phone numbers as I want on the iPhone. When you're in edit mode in the contact, there's always a blank line under current phone numbers where you can start typing a new one.

If you click on the label of the number, you can select a label (work, home) and even a custom label if you scroll to the bottom of the label selection list.


Firewall rules ambiguous? In the stock OSX firewall settings I can add applications to the rules table, and then give them a red dot (block) or a green dot (allow).

I've got 6 apps in the table. Some green some red.

But what about the hundred other apps on my mac? Are they blocked or allowed?

The firewall is designed to block incoming connections unless permission is granted (with the exception of certain essential system services and "sharing" services, such as File Sharing and Screen Sharing). The first time you use an application and it requests incoming network access, you will be prompted to allow or disallow. It is then added to the list and your decision is noted.

See OS X: About the application firewall on Apple's support website.


Unusual "Size" value displayed in Finder; meaning of arrows in Size column While investigating an issue of iCloud failing to sync on my iMac I noticed a couple of unusual things in Finder.  In the "Size" column some values were preceded by an upward-pointing or downward-pointing arrow.  One of the folder items had an arrow and a particularly odd "Size" value consisting of the text "760... 1 byte".  The ellipsis did not expand into more text when I expanded the Size column to its maximum width, as indicated here:

I have not been able to locate a description of what the arrows displayed in the "Size" column are intended to signify.  I'm guessing they could be iCloud-related data transfers. Does anyone know what they indicate?

And does anyone know what that Size information for the "ESP32" folder is indicating?

Incidentally, taking the above image with the Grab utility - which is set to use iCloud storage - immediately "fixed" my iCloud sync issue which is what I had originally intended to write a question about.  I almost feel like adding a Community question to suggest that as a possible solution to fixing a "stuck" iCloud sync issue.

The up arrow means the file is uploading. The reason for the unusual size is because that's the size that has been uploaded. Not the size of the total file. Once the file finishes uploading to your computer it will have a "normal" looking size and the arrow will disappear.

Downloading 4 files/folders at once will slow them all down. So just be patient.


Mavericks Disc Image I want to make a USB bootable to downgrade from Yosemite to Mavericks. I don't have Mavericks in my recent purchases in the App Store because my Mac shipped with it. Recovery mode just installs Yosemite. Does anyone have a link to where I can download the OS X Mavericks installer?

In order to reset your Mac to your shipped OS you just need to boot it from Recovery Mode, but install from the Internet. It's probably installing Yosemite because you might be restoring from a backup or your possibly doing a Recovery from the drive (which in this case would be the current OS recovery: i.e., Yosemite)

Here is the difference between the two:

If you use the Recovery System stored on your startup drive to reinstall OS X, it installs the most recent version of OS X previously installed on this computer.
If you use Internet Recovery to reinstall OS X, it installs the version of OS X that originally came with your computer. After installation is finished, use the Mac App Store to install related updates or later versions of OS X that you have previously purchased.

See the how-to-guide and additional information reguarding Recovery HERE

NOTE it states in the docs that it automatically detects when the Recovery System on the startup drive isn't available, however you can manually elect this in the Recovery menu


"The installation failed. The installer could not install the software because there was no software found to install." I'm getting this error on my mid '11 Mac Mini (running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6) when I'm trying to install an audio plug-in by Presonus, the demo of OrangeVocoder 10th Anniversary Edition. The software manufacturer is in Germany and this is just the demo, so I doubt they will be much help. The first thing I tried was downloading a new copy of the DMG file, but it gave the same error when I attempted to install.

I believe the problem is because I had this installed previously, but I recently uninstalled it. After reading this Apple thread I opened the .MPK file (Show Contents) and copied the contents to the desktop and tried to install from there, but got the same error. I also used Terminal and navigated to /private/var/db/receipts and deleted two .plist files that referenced the software. Lastly, I tried this command to disable code-signing check, but it didn't help either: defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify -bool true

Worth noting that the DMG is not signed (I checked with terminal command codesign -dv path\ to\ DMG) but the DMG does indeed pass image verification in Disk Utility.

At this point I am out of ideas, but I really need this plug-in for a project I'm working on. Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I found a solution! I was able to install the program by using this shareware: CharlesSoft Pacifist.


How to fix OD diradmin account? I am unable to add new accounts nor delete existing accounts in Open Directory despite being authenticated as diradmin.  I can change existing user passwords though.  Tried rebooting, no change.  I was able to create and delete accounts earlier today.  The options to create/delete accounts are disabled in the OSX Server Mountain Lion GUI.

Suggestions are appreciated.

Hope this isn't too late, or that at least it is useful for others.

I tried http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1194 several times to no avail. I was simply unable to authenticate with the diradmin account.

An Apple support person recommended:

Archive the OD from the Server.app → OD panel → action menu → Archive Open Directory Master…
Select the server in the list and click on the minus button Once the OD has been destroyed, You will see the OD is now Off.
Create the OD by switching back to ON and create the OD again with the same information as before (including the DirAdmin)
Create a BackupDirAdmin account with WGM to have a backdoor, just in
case
In terminal restore the archive you saved in step 1 using

  sudo slapconfig -restoredb < archive-path >
  Retest the authentication after the directory has been restored.

  Try as I might I couldn't get this to work, and then I noticed that in Mountain Lion server the slapconfig command had lost the -merge option so restoring the database was dumping both the new DirAdmin and backdoor account....

Bizarrely, after a lot of digging around I saw that mkpassdb has a -setadmin flag, so I tried to use this to elevate another slotId to admin rights. This worked, and then I was able to reset the password for the DirAdmin account.


Using Console.app - how to find disk force eject logs? I've been having a number of issues with external disks force unmounting (most often while waking from sleep).

Where can I look in Console.app to track down the potential issue?

Choose All messages on the sidebar.

Filter by mount (or unmount)

and that is it

for example on my OS X 10.10.2 Mac mini


CalendarAgent keeps asking for access to "login" after reboot I'm running Mountain Lion 10.8.5... and every time I restart my computer or log-out & back in, I get a message box saying that

  "CalendarAgent wants to use "login" keychain".

I've tried repairing the keychain... didn't work.

I've tried setting all names in the login keychain to "Allow all applications to access this keychain".... didn't work.

I've tried deleting the keychain and setting all passwords again... didn't work.

This is beyond frustrating at this point. The only I can seem to get it to quit asking me this is if I delete my exchange account from calendar and quit using it altogether.

Are there any other suggestions on how to fix this?

What I would do in this situation is rename the "login" keychain in ~/Library/Keychains to something like login.keychain.old.

Then I would open the Keychain Access app and drag login.keychain.old into the keychains sidebar. OS X will create a new login keychain. So all you have to do is open the old login keychain list you created and drag the passwords into the new login keychain.

Hope this helps.


How to disable accentuated char suggestion on long click on mac? When pushing a key for a long time, you expect to print a lot of times the same char.
Instead of that, I now have a popup suggesting all accentuated chars.

How to disable that and come back to a classic keybaord function?

As given in the link by Tom Gewecke, you can disable the Character Picker by typing the following in a terminal :

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false


iOS Notification Rate Filter I'm looking for a way to put a filter on the rate of notifications iOS sends for an app.  For instance say I have the google hangouts app with a group chat of ~10 people and someone is replying every few seconds.  What I want is a setting where I can limit how often it sends me a notification, or even just how often the notifications cause the phone to buzz.  If I could have a single notification for any amount of activity on an app over the course of maybe 5 minutes that would be perfect.

I don't believe that you can set a rate filter, but this is something that could be suggested to the developers! :)

You can also just turn off/configure notifications for that app differently so it stops bugging you.


Missing library file: libSM.6.dylib When executing an application I receive the following error:

./WordMaker WordMaker_BatchConfig.moos
dyld: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libSM.6.dylib
  Referenced from: /Users/josh/Desktop/FabMapV2_MacOSX/bin/./WordMaker
  Reason: image not found

It appears that this library file relates to X11, which I have installed (i.e. XQuartz), however it is located at /usr/X11/lib/.

How do I fix this problem? Do I simply create a symbolic link to it or is there a better way / something that I am missing?

I am running OS X 10.8.4.

As the library is in /opt/local this probably means that the WordMaker executable was compiled using Macports libraries. So you need to install the libSM library via Macports like this.

sudo port install xorg-libsm


Wrong keys on internal Swedish keyboard A few weeks ago I had a problem with the § and < keys being "mixed up in software" on my external Windows keyboard, (the keys are in the right locations physically). I thought the 10.15.2 update resolved it, but now alt+2 on the internal keyboard produces ™ but it should produce @. It used to work fine, problem started some weeks ago, perhaps coinciding with me using the windows keyboard more often... Macbook pro mid 2014 retina, 13 inch.

The Apple input source called Swedish has ™ at Alt 2.  Same for Swedish Sami PC.

The one called Swedish Pro has @ at Alt 2.

So make sure the list at system preferences/keyboard/input sources has only Swedish Pro on it.


How do I resolve svn: The subversion command line tools are no longer provided by Xcode I have subversion and Unity installed via brew.
I have code in Unity to run svn and it returns the error:
svn: The subversion command line tools are no longer provided by Xcode.

But if I run svn in Terminal, it works correctly.
How do I resolve this issue?

Turns out that Unity wasn't receiving the correct path. I think this would be true for most applications launched from the Dock, Finder, or Spotlight (but not from the Terminal). (It's not the case for MacVim, but that's unsurprising so I didn't dig into why.)
It had this set for PATH:
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

My .bashrc, .zsh_profile, etc didn't effect the PATH.
This post explains that on macOS you need to use launchctl to set your PATH for it to be respected by apps launched outside of a shell. Since I have svn from brew, it's in /usr/local/bin:
sudo launchctl config user path /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Once I'd done that, rebooted,  closed, and re-opened Unity, then it found my brew-installed svn.


Changing Creation Date of a file Could you please let me know how I can change the creation date of a file in Lion.  I realise there is the touch-t command but that does not work in Lion.  A couple of people have mentioned another way, but I think they've written the solution in "coder" language rather than layman language - would someone be able to answer it in a way a layman can execute?

Many thanks for your help.

touch -t normally only changes the modification and access times. It only changes the creation time if the target time is before the original creation time.

touch -t 199912312359 file.txt
touch -t $(date -jf %FT%T 1999-12-31T23:59:59 +%Y%m%d%H%M%S) file.txt

SetFile -d always changes the creation time.

SetFile -d '12/31/1999 23:59:59' file.txt
SetFile -d "$(GetFileInfo -m test.txt)" file.txt

SetFile is part of the command line tools package which can be downloaded from developer.apple.com/downloads or from Xcode's preferences.


Why do I keep getting a request to install JDK on mid 2015 MacBook Pro After updating to  OS 10.13.1 I got messages to update JDK, I have gone to the website, downloaded then installed the update. I then have the website run a check to see if I have the latest update. The site says that I, indeed, have the latest. But every time I boot up the Mac I get the message to update.  I seem to recall this issue with an earlier update a couple of years back and don't remember how to resolve it.

You may need to download legacy Java that apple doesn't automatically ship anymore. That said, if you think you know which application may be what's requiring this, it may be a good idea to get rid of it if you don't need it. If you do need it, this should be the right download: https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1572?locale=en_US


How Would I Manually Uninstall Search Encrypt On My MacBook? How would I uninstall Search Encrypt manually? I have a MacBook Pro and my toddler installed this bloody thing and it creates pop-ups and annoys me to no end. I have previously tried to find a way by simply googling it, but most instructions are specified for Windows and unclear.

Try using AppCleaner (http://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/). The Mac way of removing apps is to just move them to the trash, but that almost always leaves junk behind. AppCleaner helps gather that junk and send it to the trash, too.

Disclaimer: I'm not employed or endorsed my FreeMacSoft, the developers of AppCleaner. I'm just a fan. Good luck! :)


My google calendar doesnt show on Macbook while is being shown on ios This is what I see on iphone:

but on macbook I do not see my gmail events. Why?

How to turn it on on both: osx and ios?

You probably haven't activated the calendar service for Gmail.

On your Mac go to settings->accounts
If your Gmail account is present then do step 1.
If not do step 2

Click on the account-> tick the box next to calendar
Click the plus button -> select Gmail-> login -> make sure calendar is activated for that account


What type of connection does a Macbook Pro DVD Drive use? My DVD drive isn't working at the moment. I attempted to put another drive in instead, but that didn't work either. My friend suggested that there might be a problem with the connection. What type of connection do I have to obtain?

There's one here for a hefty $28.95, though you might find a cheaper one by shopping around.


How does the name of a Parallels VM translate to the default name in Terminal.app prompt? I Parallels Desktop version 12 I have a virtual machine named Cinquième. Note the accent on the e. That VM is running macOS Sierra. In that VM, when I open the Terminal.app, the prompt shows:

  cinquiÃ¨me:~ basilbourque$

Questions:

• Where exactly does bash in Terminal.app pick up the name of the VM?

• Obviously there is some kind of character encoding problem where Cinquième is being mis-interpreted as cinquiÃ¨me. I would guess the original name is in UTF-8 and is being misinterpreted as ASCII. Any idea where along the chain of Parallels > macOS > Terminal.app > bash that misinterpretation might be happening?

indeed it may have to do with the accent, try it without the accent.
my VM is called "PD XP MBP-Lex.pvm" in the mac and in Terminal and not changed.
Do you have the standard language keyboard?
If not maybe opening the keyboard from the menubar and select the US-International-PC keyboard and use the displayed keyboard layout to make the accent-grave.
Lex


when syncing with my ipod touch, why does itunes say "optimizing photos" even if nothing has changed . every time i sync, i get a status saying "optimizing photos . .1 of xx".  this is even if no photos have changed since my last sync.

what is going on here?  why does itunes keep trying to optimize photos every time i sync ?

When you sync photos to an iPod or iOS device iTunes performs a set number of tasks, which include optimizing photos, if photos are selected to sync and to be optimized. iTunes doesn't cache the optimized photos, and if anything on the device has changed (like a contact, or some application data, basically anything) then it will sync all of the photos again, including optimizing them.

Basically, it will do this every single time you sync, and there really isn't much you can do to stop it. You could try to restore your device and NOT restore from backup, that might work, but is it really worth it?


"Sending request" popping up on iPhone repetitively I have an iPhone 6S currently running 12.4.1.
The following pop-up keeps showing up every now and then. Upto 50 times a day.

It's very annoying and prohibits any activity while it shows.
I have searched a lot what this is, in vain.

Any way to get rid of this?

a scam.
hold the two buttons (on/off and finger at the bottom), keep holding, keep holding, after you see the white apple logo, keep holding another 2 seconds, then let go and let it startup.


Calendar notifcation not disappearing What is this "1" alerting me to? There does not appear to be anything in any of my Calendars that is requiring my attention. How can I get rid of this?

I'm using a clean installation of Yosemite.

The badge is notifying you of a Calendar notification. There are two cases which causes a badge:

You've been invited to an event.
An event on one of your shared calendars has been modified.

To clear the badge, open Calendar and click Notifications  on the toolbar, then take action on the notification by selecting Accept/Decline/Maybe on an invitation or OK for a change notification.

Also see What's this button on Calendar.app? regarding the Notifications button on the toolbar.