LDAP user VNC screen sharing suddenly broke. Other LDAP users work, local admin works I have a Mac (macOS Sierra 10.12.6) with a local admin user, a local non-admin user, and many LDAP users. One of the LDAP users can't login via VNC anymore, but can login via SSH.

The affected user can connect to the VNC port, and is prompted for a username/password.

After the password is accepted, they are prompted to either request to view the display of the current user, or log in as themselves. They choose to log in as themselves.

Then, they just see the Connecting to ... dialog and eventually it times out.

Other LDAP users are able to login via VNC and SSH, and the local admin and non-admin users can login via VNC. This has affected the same user on two different boxes (both running the same version of macOS), so I'm guessing this is some kind of LDAP configuration issue, but I wasn't aware of any LDAP properties that controlled screen sharing access.

What might have changed to cause one of my LDAP users to lose VNC?

The LDAP user had changed their password, but their login keychain on this box still needed to be updated. Apparently, you can't log in via VNC if your login.keychain password and your account password don't match.

I discovered this when I VNCed in as a different user, then logged out, and then tried to log in as the affected user. I was able to log in, but then I received a prompt saying:

  The system was unable to unlock your login keychain.

I chose Update Keychain Password, and entered the old LDAP password, and everything worked!


How can I turn a iMovie video into a "proper" DVD? iMovie only has the option to export the film as a .mp4 file. I know that MAGIX can create title cards and menus etc. Is it possible to do the same with Apple Software?

I also haven't found any option to burn the movie file on a DVD other than burn, but that was last updated in 2017

Burn should still work.
There's also the old Apple iDVD & though I haven't tested burning anything with it, it still appears to work on Mojave.
It appears to also still be available from Apple - https://support.apple.com/downloads/iDVD

Macworld did an article on it a few years ago & came to similar conclusions - How to burn movies to disc in an iDVD-less world

They also mentioned Roxio Toast (now up to v17) as a paid alternative

BTW, I can't properly test any of this, as I have no DVD drive except in the Mac. I have to rip bought DVDs to even be able to watch them on the TV ;)


Can I use my iPhone as a "remote" for my iPad? iPhones and iPads both have several apps aimed to be remotes for the PC/Mac -- mostly geared towards specific apps.  That's not what I'm asking about.

I'm interested in any way of using my iPad and iPhone/iPod touch side-by-side where the iPhone presents a menu of commands to control the iPad -- things like shortcuts, or better yet, buttons that invoke user-definable macros.

Does it exist?

Does the iPad have any way of being scripted through an API?

Note: VNC is irrelevant to this question.

It's possible to get your actual iPad screen and control it on your iPhone, but the iPad needs to be jailbroken. There's an always up to date guide of how to jailbreak at Lifehacker.

Once Cydia's been set up, tap Search and enter Veency. Choose the first option, then press Install and Confirm. When it's done, press Restart SpringBoard.

After the restart, unlock your iPad and go to Settings. A new section called “Extensions” will appear in the list on the left; tap Veency under it.

Turn on the Enabled switch if it isn't already, then enter a password in the box. If you don't enter a password, you will need to accept or decline every request to connect to your iPad.

Now connect both the iPhone and iPad to the same Wi-Fi network. This is important because your connection will be slow over 3G.

On the iPad, open the Wi-Fi settings and then the arrow next to your Wi-Fi. Write down the IP address.

Get your iPhone and download Mocha VNC from the App Store. Open it and set it up for your iPad's IP address and connect. Refer to its help page for more information.

The free version of Mocha VNC will let you type using the keyboard and tap the screen, but only the paid version will let you scroll up and down.

When you're done, press the menu button at the bottom of your iPhone's screen, followed by Disconnect. On your iPad, go back to Settings and turn Veency off. This will prevent anyone from using your iPad over VNC without you knowing, as well as save a bit of battery life.


XMarks Safari constantly re-downloads old bookmarks 2011 iMac, OSX Mavericks, latest updates.

I have used XMarks (Foxmarks) for years to sync between Chrome and Firefox, but now I'd like to add Opera and Safari to that mix.  Opera works just fine, but Safari refuses to play nicely and I can't figure out why.

I have two profiles, the "default" profile that Foxmarks originally created (mobile.foxmarks.com) and one that I created (Profile 1).  Both have the identical bookmarks in them at this point, as shown in my.xmarks.com.

Unfortunately, Safari keeps somehow finding my old bookmarks from years ago that are a complete mess, and re-downloading them into the browser.  The only positive is that I have disabled Automatic Synchronization in XMark's preferences for Safari, so that Safari will no longer then corrupt my "real" bookmarks in Chrome, Opera, and Firefox, with this ancient data.

My solution every time I notice this (seems to be every few weeks), is to force-download to Safari from the server, overwriting the local data.  This works, but of course kinda defeats the purpose of keeping them all in sync (I browse for different purposes in each browser [different projects] and so would like to be able to bookmark in any of them and know that they will all stay in sync).  Ideally I could let Safari auto-sync as well.

Why does this keep happening?  Where is Safari even getting this old data, since it's clearly not in my profiles on XMarks?  How can I get Safari to stop this and simply work like all the other browsers do with XMarks?

UPDATE:

After my most recent re-overwriting of the local bookmarks, I then uploaded from my local machine to the server, overwriting the server bookmrakrs to ensure they should be identical.  A couple hours later I got a popup that says this:

  You restored or uploaded bookmarks from another computer to our
  servers. You can sync normally (the safest choice), or you can
  download the server bookmarks, overwriting your local bookmarks. Which
  do you prefer?

I'm given the choices of Sync, Download, or Cancel.  I took a chance on "Sync" and everything seems fine, I don't see the old bookmarks appearing in Safari.

I seem to have solved my issue, as it's been quite a while now and the problem has not reappeared.

First I turned off Safari XMarks' option to automatically synchronize, so that it wouldn't mess things up during this process.  Then t had to get my bookmarks in Safari all clean & perfect, and once I had that I manually overwrote the server bookmarks with the copy in Safari.  Since then, my old "bad" bookmarks have not reappeared.  I suppose it's possible that Safari is quietly in the background still downloading and overwriting my local with the server bookmarks from time to time, but since the server copy is now correct, if that's happening, I don't notice.

Everything seems fine now, I can use/update bookmarks in Chrome and Safari and they all stay in sync, though there is a definite lag in time for them to pick up changes made from one another, that's just a fact of the way the software works it seems.


Media controls in chrome for Mac Now Spotify is useless I've shifted Grooveshark, however there's a distinct lack of being able to use the media controls at the top of the keyboard to control it.

Is there an extension or (non-web)app to enable this? Grooveshark responds to space, ctrl+arrow, for play and skip to next/prev track, but only when focused. I'd like to remap these to the media controls, and if possible not have to have focus on Chrome and the grooveshark tab.

If you use the desktop client for OS X grooveshark says they have enabled keyboard shortcuts:

  http://wanderr.com/jay/keyboard-shortcuts-for-grooveshark-desktop/2010/06/05/

But if you want to use the web player, it looks like it might be a lost unless you use Firefox for which there is an addon named keySharky:

  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/keysharky/


Can police/hackers unlock iPhones? iPhone X running iOS 12.3.2 - 4 digit passcode.
iCloud backup, but has been deleted online as well have I changed Apple ID password.

I know that AES 256 bit encryption cannot be decrypted, and I know about the USB Restricted Mode.

The phone was past boot phase and had been unlocked once. However, when I lost it, USB Restricted Mode was enabled.
is it therefore impossible to brute force it? Because brute forcing such a weak code would be child’s play.

Also would it be possible for a hacker/police to just physically remove the hard drive from the phone, then insert it into some other machine and proceed to brute force?

I know about the fbi case with apple, but that was a while ago. Maybe things have changed? I know the Israelis forensic team and Greykit can unlock up to iOS 12.3. Mine version is 12.3.2

Also how does Checkm8 fit into all of this?

Thx in advance!

There isn’t a hard drive in iPhones, and Apple has engineered things so that it’s very expensive to get to the leads and snoop or alter the electrical signals to defeat encryption, so there’s no trivial path to decrypt or bring another os to your storage.

However, you should assume that unless you’re very good the police and government can get your data by coercion or brute force - especially if their budget is $25,000 or more (and maybe far less to compromise some devices). Your 4 digit pass phrase is the weakest link so that weakens your protection substantially if iOS is not set to self erase after 10 failed attempts.

Also, just because an exploit or jailbreak isn’t out now, doesn’t mean they can’t image or keep your device and crack it later. The iPhone X is way on the “more secure” side so unless you chose a weak pass phrase, you’re probably safe for some time to come if they didn’t get your data from a subpoena / home computer which are far easier to seize and crack and then get to your records by account takeover.

There are jailbreaks for your device on both iOS 12 and iOS 13 so I wouldn’t assume you’re safe if they have physical control of the device and time to work it and get USB active:

https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/wiki/escapeplan/guides/jailbreakcharts
https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/czkyje/meta_latest_jailbreak_release/


Unplanned repeated key presses Repeated key presses are being registered by the Macbook Pro (running OSX 10.6.8) that I'm using.

For example, if this had happened in the above sentence, on pressing 'k' it would keep pressing 'k' several times unless I type some other key and looked like this: kkkkkkkkkkkkkkey.

This does not happen all the time but is very annoying. Have seen this happen in 2 text editors that I use: Komodo IDE, vi. And, also once while composing a message in Gmail. So I guess this is a problem with the Mac internals and not that of a particular application.

How can I avoid that?

Like you said, it doesn't look like a software problem, since it's happening randomly on multiple applications.

So it looks like an hardware problem. Your best solution is to go to an Apple Store to get it looked at.


Updating Keychain entry manually prevents next access from GUI tools afterwards: Always asks for permission I stumbled upon this using Tunnelblick and Viscosity. Adding a configuration to those VPN tools it is possible in the GUI during the first connect to specify user&pass and save them in the keychain. The next connections will then use the saved credentials from keychain.

However if I change the password in the keychain using the security terminal command (add-generic-password -U-s-a-w) or via keychain access application, afterwards both Tunnelblick and Viscosity will show the "Permission to access keychain: [Allow, Allow always, cancel]"-dialog if I try connecting the next time.

Is there any way to prevent this dialog?

I looked a bit in the Tunnelblick source code, but couldn't find a check for "keychain tampering" or anything that could force this dialog from Tunnelblick's side.
If it is an configurable OS level protection?

For macOS Sierra:

To add an object and allow access (with user prompt), use the "-T Application" option. (Several applications can be used)

security add-generic-password -a "account" -s "name" -w 'password' -c aapl -T /Applications/Utilities/Keychain\ Access.app/Contents/MacOS/Keychain\ Access

Then to allow access without user prompt you need to modify the ACL for the object:

security -v set-generic-password-partition-list -s "name" -S "apple:"

The partition-list syntax is not very well documented. You might be able to see how Tunnelblick uses the ACL from the output of "security dump-keychain".

Source: man security


How do I tell AppleScript to read the contents of the "Network" Finder window? I'd like to be able to get the contents of Finder's "Network" folder (Menubar-->Go-->Network). The folder contents here is different than /Network or /net.

The overall goal is to grep the names in this folder for a specific (unmanaged...) Mac in my environment. I don't know where it is, I just have the local host name. I was thinking about deploying a script to run dns-sd, but that binary is not too friendly to BASH script. Which is why I'm looking into Applescript now.

It appears that the Network Finder window isn't a folder. Attempting to get the location of Network gives the following error:

Can’t make «class cfol» "" of application "Finder" into type alias. (-1700)

…and attempting to get the location of the containing folder gives:

No result was returned from some part of this expression. (-2763)

Therefore I believe that Network is not a folder.


How can I reset the answers of the security questions of my Apple ID? I forgot the answers of the security questions. Not that I seriously need to do it now, but there might be a problem if I need to answer those in future.

I still remember my password.

How can I reset the answers of the security questions?

The reset procedure for security questions is here: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201485

https://iforgot.apple.com/

It's one of the things you are recommended to do if you think your AppleID is compromised.

Below are more details and screen shots from a while back, but the links above have current information as well as discussion on how to get support in person and newer developments like Two Factor Authentication and
using another trusted device.

If you know your password to your Apple ID and have set up a second email address, you can reset your security questions by logging into the web site https://appleid.apple.com even if you can't answer the security questions that normally are required to make changes to the existing security questions.

Once you have logged in, click 'Password and Security'.  Then click/tap the link in the lower right that says Forgot your answers? Send reset security info email to m * * * *@monsters.edu

You will get an email with a link to reset not only the security questions and answers, but correct your birth date which can be used to verity your identity when you are calling Apple or trying to reset a password.

I have an Apple ID with a recovery email, so perhaps if you have not entered that second email, you might not be able to send the reset email and might need to contact Apple directly for help with your Apple ID. I know of people that have gotten things reset over the phone even after the Mat Honan incident where his account was compromised over the phone with Apple's assistance.


If I export a Word document (authored as a versioned document using Pages 4.1 on Lion),... will it open on Word on Windows?

I don't have a Word on Windows and I've only Pages on my Mac.

The short answer is simply: yes, it will.


Screenshot paste only works in some apps, not in Google Chrome I used to love shift+control+command+4 for pasting screen grabs. But now it doesn't work in Chrome.

In Stickies and Text Edit it doesn't work and gives the Apple error sound.

The pasting Works fine in Discord, Skype and Firefox.

I'm using macOS High Sierra 10.13.4, copy paste image doesn't work in Safari either.

This is a real productivity killer.

I've seen this kind of behaviour with other functionality, try the following command in Terminal (may require sudo)

Change directory to "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/"

cd /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/

./lsregister -kill -seed

OR

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -seed

This rebuilds the launch services database, sometimes corruption in this can cause weird behaviour

EDIT:
Since the above didn't help let's try something else.  When you use shift+control+command+4 to copy a section of the screen to the clipboard you can view the clipboard contents.
To do so, switch to Finder and click Edit > Show Clipboard to show the contents of the clipboard.  You should see something like this window pop up that says "Clipboard" at the top and has a description of the clipboard contents in the bottom-left corner.  Do you get the same thing?


Why are all ports closed even without firewall or router? I have no router and the firewall is turned off in System Preferences. If I go to http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/, not matter what port I verify, it is closed.

Why are my ports closed even though I have no firewall or router?

I think you're getting a bit confused about terminology. Typically ports are often referred to as open, closed, or not reachable.

An open port is one that is not blocked by NAT or a firewall, and has a service answering requests at it. An example would be if you enabled Web Sharing on your Mac, the standard HTTP port (80) would be open.

A closed port is one that is reachable, but has no service to "answer" it. In some cases firewalls or routers with NAT will close ports, but usually this is a port that can be reached, but has no service there.

An unreachable port (which will often show up in port scans as "timed out") is one where the firewall or NAT actively ignores any attempt to contact it, rather than sending a response that says "this port is here, but closed". In theory this is more secure, since it doesn't even confirm to an attacker that there is a computer at the IP they're touching. In reality the benefit may be less, but I'm not qualified enough to make a definitive judgement. This is the status that will show up with most consumer routers and firewalls.

You may want to try a different port scanner, as in my tests, the one you linked doesn't distinguish between closed and ports that timed out.


10.9.3 update failed to verify on three attempts, now what? I've tried to install the 10.9.3 update three times. Each time, the app store downloads, the machine reboots, and then up comes a dialog complaining that it could not verify the update. Upon clicking OK, it reboots and spends 7 minutes putting things back the way it found them.

Disk utility finds nothing to complain of, and there's plenty of space.

Machine is running 10.9.2, and it is a mid-2011 mac mini.

What do I do?

Try installing the combo updater instead:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1746


How to AirPlay or stream video to PlayStation 3 from OS X? I'm hitting brick walls it seems on finding any topics that pertain to streaming video and / or live display to a PlayStation 3.  I am not sure if I'm just missing the correct terminology or if a solution simply doesn't exist.

My primary goal is to be able to stream videos to a PlayStation 3 similar to how Beamer works.  A bonus would be to stream AirPlay. Are there any solutions for such scenarios?

Just came looking to see if I could use Airplay, as it would be very convenient to be able to stream from any of my devices.

However, I have been using medialink for years, using my mac mini as a media server.  It had some troubles when it first came out, but in recent years I've found it extremely reliable, quality is excellent for all definitions.


What is the chance that jailbreaking my iPhone will brick the phone? How does it actually work? Does it change just the firmware on the main filesystem? Does it touch the bootloader?

I'm trying to figure out what's probability of

iPhone jailbreak bricking the phone
Apple's update bricking the jailbroken iPhone (In the line with those questions, does Apple's update simply overwrites the flash partition with the new one and then applies the backed up data?)

Edit: should probably mention it's a 3GS with 4.1 firmware.

Jailbreaking utilizes an exploit in the OS (or in the latest cast, the boot ROM), and injects the payload onto the phone, which is usually a loader to install Cydia, or Cydia itself.  Cydia is the source for applications not in the App Store, and once this is loaded, other software can be installed which could modify system files.  One such case is Winterboard, which allows you to customize aspects of the UI.

With regards to question 1:

It depends on what happens during the jailbreak.  If, for example, you're running the exploit to jailbreak the phone and the battery dies (or the software malfunctions), there's a chance you'll brick it.  It's hard to pin a percentage on it.

With regards to question 2:

Since Apple is expecting their software to be running on the phone, it may do some things that could brick the phone.  Again, it definitely varies on what has been changed, how the jailbreak was performed, etc.  Personally if Apple comes out with an iOS update, I'm not going to just allow it to run.  If I want it, first thing I'd do is restore the original firmware via iTunes.


How to force MacOS to regenerate /etc/resolv.conf file? Apple states clearly that the /etc/resolv.conf file is managed by Mac OS so it will be regenerated. The problem is that it seems that when I join the OpenVPN this does not happen and as a result tools like nslookup fail to see the vpn.

#
# Mac OS X Notice
#
# This file is not used by the host name and address resolution
# or the DNS query routing mechanisms used by most processes on
# this Mac OS X system.
#
# This file is automatically generated.
#
domain local
nameserver 192.168.1.1

I need to know which command can I run in order to force MacOS (Sierra) to regenerate the file.

As you can see my file does not contain the correct list of DNS servers. For example the scutil --dns returns a long list of DNS servers, one that includes the OpenVPN dns servers.

I found a solution today. Actually the file is not /etc/resolv.conf in mac OS. It is /var/run/resolv.conf

So do this:

sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf
sudo ln -s /var/run/resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf


How can I avoid seeing an Apple ID password field on my iPhone 5? Whenever I unlock my iPhone 5 I go to an app or text or call someone then a keyboard pops up and says apple ID password and at the bottom it says cancel or continue i always click cancel but I just got my phone so it can't be broken and this happens every time I use it

Instead of just canceling each time, give the app that is requesting it your Apple ID password.  The phone should remember the password for that given action and not bother you again.

Or perhaps your password has been corrupted so try going to Settings/iTunes&App Store, tapping on the box that says "AppleID: youremail@some.com", and signing out and then back in again.


Remap CapsLock to Delete on Sierra Hi I've just got my MacBook Pro 2016 running 10.12.3 and I'm in a bit of a pickle...

I can't seem to find a way to remap my CapsLock to Delete.

I've tried using Seil, Ukelele and some other software, but non seem to do the job. Seil did't do anything after I've tried using it, and Ukelele seems a bit confusing, I just want to remap a single key, not the whole keyboard.

Could anybody recommend a software or method i could do this.
Thank you for your time :)

Ah found the solution. Currently the best option, by FAR is:
Karabiner-Elements
Hope somebody else finds this useful as well.


"Xcode is not installed on this system. Install from the Apple Appstore." message when installing Metasploit So I am trying to install Metasploit on my mac running running latest version of Sierra 10.12.1. I already have Homebrew installed, and I installed latest version Xcode from the Appstore, but when I try installing Metasploit I get the error:

Omar$ ./msf_install.sh -i -p msfpassword -r
[*] Log file with command output and errors /tmp/msfinstall-Nov-08-16-130717.log
[*] Verifying that Development Tools and Java are installed:
[*] Java is installed.
[*] Xcode is not installed on this system. Install from the Apple AppStore.

Even though I just installed Xcode. Things I have tried:

To make sure Xcode is installed I ran the command: xcode-select -p
and it gives: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
which I believe is correct.
I ran brew doctor and it says everything is ok and I am ready to brew
I ran xcode-select --install and it says "command line tools are already installed, use "Software Update" to install updates" (even though everything is up to date!)

Please help, this thing is driving me insane!

I solved the problem! All I had to do was open the msf_install.sh file with Xcode. Then change the "com.apple.pkg.XcodeMAS" to "com.apple.pkg.Xcode". Thats it. The reason this problem occurs is because newer versions of Xcode don't use the "MAS" in the file name. The person who made the msf_install.sh file made it a while ago before the file name was changed.


Why does setting the hard-limit for maxfiles to "unlimited" using `launchctl limit` result in a hard-limit slightly above the soft-limit? Why does setting the hard-limit for maxfiles to "unlimited" using launchctl limit result in a hard-limit slightly above the soft-limit?

By setting the maxfiles limit using launchctl to launchctl limit maxfiles 10000 unlimited, I get the following result:

nlykkei-mbp:~ nlykkei$ launchctl limit maxfiles
    maxfiles    10000          10240

Initially, after the system has booted, hard-limit is set to "unlimited", so why can't I set the same hard-limit by setting it manually?

A fresh system install, with default parameters is configured with the following system wide file limits:

Kernel Max Files: 12288
Max Files per Process: 10240

Current kernel sysctl parameters can be viewed with sysctl command:

$ sysctl -a |grep kern.maxf

kern.maxfiles: 12288
kern.maxfilesperproc: 10240

Now let's check limits values, using ulimit command:

For SOFT limits: [we can see that: open files = 256]

$ ulimit -aS

core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) unlimited
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 256
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 1
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 266
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited

For HARD limits: [we can see that: open files = Unlimited]

$ ulimit -aH

core file size          (blocks, -c) unlimited
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) unlimited
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) unlimited
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 1
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 65532
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 532
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited

Using launchctl

launchctl has the capacity to configure limit values, or show current values.

Using launchctl limit it shows all the current Soft and Hard limits, and we can see that soft limit is 256 and hard limit is 'unlimited' for the item maxfiles. (the same information we got using ulimit command above)

$ uname -a
18.6.0 Darwin Kernel Version 18.6.0: Thu Apr 25 23:16:27 PDT 2019; root:xnu-4903.261.4~2/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

$ launchctl limit
    cpu         unlimited      unlimited
    filesize    unlimited      unlimited
    data        unlimited      unlimited
    stack       8388608        67104768
    core        0              unlimited
    rss         unlimited      unlimited
    memlock     unlimited      unlimited
    maxproc     266            532
    maxfiles    256            unlimited

To filter, we can just use launchctl limit maxfiles

$ launchctl limit maxfiles
    maxfiles    256            unlimited

Now let's try to change those values #

Using your command line as example:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 10000 unlimited

But after it, when I execute again the command to display the limits, we can see that:

the Soft limit was adjusted from 256 to 10000,
but the Hard limit was reduced from 'unlimited' to '10240'

sudo launchctl limit
    maxfiles    10000          10240

And from now, it is impossible to get it back to unlimited!

We can see that after executing it, it also changed the kernel sysctl parameters

$ sysctl -A |grep max

kern.maxfiles: 10240
kern.maxfilesperproc: 10000

The reason is

  The word 'unlimited' when used as a parameter for setting maxfiles,
  is the same as using value '10240'.

  Because launchctl do not accept the string 'unlimited' and convert it
  to the value 10240!

  [I will prove it below, with the source code of launchclt and source of MacOS Mojave kernel]

But first, let see if we can use a bigger value like 2 million:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 10000 2000000

$ launchctl limit maxfiles
    maxfiles    10000          2000000

Yes, we can, it accepted the bigger value.

Why this happens

It is hardcoded on the source code to not accept 'unlimited' as a value, so once we changed it, we can never put it back.

But what is the value that corresponds to  'unlimited' ?

R: The value of 'unlimited' is INT_MAX, which is '2147483647' (the maximum value of the Integer Type)

Let's go inside the source code #

  Source code analysis of launchclt.c and Kernel routines  of MacOS
  10.14 Mojave about why is not possible to set  maxfiles to 'unlimited' via launchctl command line.

  All information below is my analysis, using the source  code from
  Apple, that can be obtained via: https://opensource.apple.com

  Rafael Prado - 2019/08/09

/* START OF CODE ANALYSIS */

// --------------- Analisys Comment ----------------------------------
// Looking at MacOS system core header file syslimits.h there is
// a definition of OPEN_MAX with value 10240.
//
// This is the base value that will be used by default for
// maxfiles value during system startup.
//
// This comment you are reading here is mine.
//

/* FILE: sys/syslimits.h */
// *****************************************************************

#define OPEN_MAX                10240   /* max open files per process - todo, make a config option? */

// *****************************************************************

//
// --------------- Analisys Comment ---------------------------------
// Now we can see inside kernel config, that maxfiles parameter
// is a subprodut of OPEN_MAX, by adding 2048 to its value,
// which give us the number 12288.
//
// This will became the default value for sysctl kern.maxfiles: 12288
//

/* FILE: conf/param.c */
// *****************************************************************

#define MAXFILES (OPEN_MAX + 2048)
int     maxfiles = MAXFILES;

// *****************************************************************

//
// --------------- Analisys Comment ---------------------------------
// Now here is why it is impossible to set 'unlimited' value using
// the command line of launchctl:
//

/* FILE: launchd/support/launchctl.c */
// *****************************************************************
//

// (:..) Function lim2str() on line 2810
const char *
lim2str(rlim_t val, char *buf)
{
    if (val == RLIM_INFINITY)
        strcpy(buf, "unlimited");
    else
        sprintf(buf, "%lld", val);
    return buf;
}

// (:..) Function srt2lim() on line 2821
bool
str2lim(const char *buf, rlim_t *res)
{
        char *endptr;
        *res = strtoll(buf, &endptr, 10);
        if (!strcmp(buf, "unlimited")) {
                *res = RLIM_INFINITY;
                return false;
        } else if (*endptr == '\0') {
                 return false;
        }
        return true;
}

// (:..) Function limit_cmd() found on line 2835
int
limit_cmd(int argc, char *const argv[])
{

    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    // This comment is not part of the source file, it is
    // my analisys comment about what this function does.
    //
    // Here it is reading the parameters of 'launchctl limit argv2 argv3'
    // and will call function srt2lim() to convert the args to limit values
    //
    // Function srt2lim() is printed above.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    //
    // (:....) skipping to line 2850 inside this function

    if (argc >= 3 && str2lim(argv[2], &slim))
            badargs = true;
    else
            hlim = slim;

    if (argc == 4 && str2lim(argv[3], &hlim))
            badargs = true;

    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    // But before settin the values, there is a verification that
    // prohibits using the word 'unlimited' as a parameter (only
    // if used for 'maxfiles') and this check returns error, exiting
    // the limit_cmd() function [the function we are now inside] and
    // the system kernel paramter is never adjusted if we use
    // the word 'unlimited' as a value.
    //
    // This comment was written by me
    // and is not part of the source file.
    // ------------------------------------------------------------
    //
    // (:....) skiping to line 2906 inside this function

    bool maxfiles_exceeded = false;

    if (strncmp(argv[1], "maxfiles", sizeof("maxfiles")) == 0) {
        if (argc > 2) {
            maxfiles_exceeded = (strncmp(argv[2], "unlimited", sizeof("unlimited")) == 0);
        }

        if (argc > 3) {
            maxfiles_exceeded = (maxfiles_exceeded || strncmp(argv[3], "unlimited", sizeof("unlimited")) == 0);
        }

        if (maxfiles_exceeded) {
            launchctl_log(LOG_ERR, "Neither the hard nor soft limit for \"maxfiles\" can be unlimited. Please use a numeric parameter for both.");
            return 1;
        }
    }

    // -------------------------------------------------------------
    // We can see above, that it is prohibited to use the 'unlimited' value
    // And when we use it, the system assumes the
    // default value of OPEN_MAX which is 10240 !
    //
    // This explains and prove why setting 'unlimited' gives us 10240
    // --------------------------------------------------------------

// *****************************************************************

//
// --------------- Analisys Comment ---------------------------------
// Looking at another file from Kernel source, we can find another
// place where it checks for 'unlimited' value, and also there is
// an explanation by Apple on it.
//
// The comment BELOW IS Original comment from Apple Developers and
// it is inside the file kern_resource.c from MacOS Kernel Source.
//

/* FILE: kern/kern_resource.c  */
// *****************************************************************

case RLIMIT_NOFILE:
        /*
         * Only root can set the maxfiles limits, as it is
         * systemwide resource.  If we are expecting POSIX behavior,
         * instead of clamping the value, return EINVAL.  We do this
         * because historically, people have been able to attempt to
         * set RLIM_INFINITY to get "whatever the maximum is".
        */
        if ( kauth_cred_issuser(kauth_cred_get()) ) {
                if (limp->rlim_cur != alimp->rlim_cur &&
                    limp->rlim_cur > (rlim_t)maxfiles) {
                        if (posix) {
                                error =  EINVAL;
                                goto out;
                        }
                        limp->rlim_cur = maxfiles;
                }
                if (limp->rlim_max != alimp->rlim_max &&
                    limp->rlim_max > (rlim_t)maxfiles)
                        limp->rlim_max = maxfiles;
        }
        else {
                if (limp->rlim_cur != alimp->rlim_cur &&
                    limp->rlim_cur > (rlim_t)maxfilesperproc) {
                        if (posix) {
                                error =  EINVAL;
                                goto out;
                        }
                        limp->rlim_cur = maxfilesperproc;
                }
                if (limp->rlim_max != alimp->rlim_max &&
                    limp->rlim_max > (rlim_t)maxfilesperproc)
                        limp->rlim_max = maxfilesperproc;
        }
        break;

// *****************************************************************

/* END OF CODE ANALYSIS */

This explains why it is impossible to set 'unlimited' again, after changing it for some other value.

How to do it? #

RLIM_INFINITY is defined on line 416 of <sys/resources.h>

/*
 * Symbolic constants for resource limits; since all limits are representable
 * as a type rlim_t, we are permitted to define RLIM_SAVED_* in terms of
 * RLIM_INFINITY.
 */
#define RLIM_INFINITY   (((__uint64_t)1 << 63) - 1)     /* no limit */
#define RLIM_SAVED_MAX  RLIM_INFINITY   /* Unrepresentable hard limit */
#define RLIM_SAVED_CUR  RLIM_INFINITY   /* Unrepresentable soft limit */

In practice, for the current platform, the unlimited INFINITY maximum value is limited to INT_MAX (which is the maximum value of the Integer Type)

Considering that, it means that 'unlimited' means INT_MAX, which is the value 2147483647.

A possible workaround may be set the limit value of 2147483647:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 2147483647 2147483647

Because this is the maximum possible value.

Since this is a possible workaround. I would have to go deeper into source to check if this really means 'the same thing' as 'unlimited'.

Warning:

PS: Please, don't set it bigger than 2147483647, because it is SIGNED INT, and if you put 2147483648 (notice the number eight, I just add +1 to that maximum value), the SIGNED INT will be interpreted as negative, and you will instantly almost crash your macOS, because it will not be able to open any other file descriptor, including the one you will need to revert this value back, if trying to adjust it again by executing launchctl with different parameters.

The only solution will be to hard reset your system if you try this. And you may loose all your unsaved things. Try it on some MacOS virtual machine for testing purposes

Source code References:

<sys/resource.h>  https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-4903.221.2/bsd/sys/resource.h.auto.html

<dev/unix_startup.c> https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-4903.221.2/bsd/dev/unix_startup.c.auto.html

<kern/kern_resource.c> https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-4903.221.2/bsd/kern/kern_resource.c.auto.html

<conf/param.c> https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-4903.221.2/bsd/conf/param.c.auto.html

<sys/syslimits.h> https://opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-4903.221.2/bsd/sys/syslimits.h.auto.html

launchctl.c https://opensource.apple.com/source/launchd/launchd-442.21/support/launchctl.c.auto.html


Usable Resolution limited on Mac Mini Since a few days, i have a limited Screen resolution, resulting in a black bar on the top and the bottom of the screen. When starting up in safe-boot, there is no prolbem. The display dialog let's me select the correct resolution 1920x1200, but beneath ther is written "Usable resolution 1920 x 1080"

The reason are two displays (one tv) with "mirror displays" ticked.


Load a locale from /usr/local/share/locale in OS X While importing a PostgreSQL database in OS X 10.10, I got a error like "invalid locale name: en_US.utf8". I went to /usr/share/locale and copied the folder en_US.UTF-8 as en_US.utf8. Ok, problem solved.

But I know this solution will not work in OS X 10.11 due to that "rootless mode". I'll not be able to modify /usr/share/locale.

Is there any way to load this folder from /usr/local/share/locale? I tried to copy en_US.utf8 to that directory and it didn't work.

This worked for me (macos 10.14):

sudo localedef -i /usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8 /usr/local/share/locale/en_US.utf8
sudo cp /usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_COLLATE /usr/local/share/locale/en_US.utf8/


Resetting an iPhone with 'No Service' error A couple of days ago my iPhone 7 started to show 'No Service' error in the upper left corner of the screen. Tried several ways to fix this but nothing helps. While trying to reset it I got the error message:

title: iPhone Requires Service

body: You will not be able to set up this iPhone after erasing. A cellular update is required before it can be activated again.

What does this mean? Is it safe to proceed?

Don't reset.
If you do, then you won't be able to activate your new iPhone.
Some iPhone7 devices has this "No Service" problem. This is because it can't read your SIM. If you erase this iPhone, it will try to activate but since it can't read SIM you will loose your device.


Where is the specific driver for my GPU located I am trying to run a bitcoin miner (bfgminer), I know this is not efficient but I want to do it anyway.

The mac in question is a MacMimi running an Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU and Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3615QM CPU @ 2.30GHz.  The os Mac OSX 10.8.5.

I have outlined my problem on the bitcoin stackexchange site. I also did a google search and duckduck search with various combinations of the terms "Where is the specific driver for my GPU osx".

I am trying to hard specify the GPU driver for gpfminer when it starts as it is not detecting the GPU.

What is the location of this driver on OSX?

bfgminer specifies that is should be in the form of erupter:/dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART

On OSX the drivers are in /System/Library/Extensions

You'll find 3 files starting with AppleIntelHD4000Graphics.


iPhone Fingerprint sensor for passwords Is there any way I could setup the fingerprint I'd to work in place of typing in my iCloud password whenever prompted, or perhaps even other passwords in keychain?

I had to upgrade to a 5s yesterday and as is the fingerprint id thing seems pretty useless if I can't set it up as a replacement for passwords.

If your device is jailbroken, you can install iTouchSecure which lets you use the Touch ID feature for any password entry area in any app, including iCloud password dialogs.


I wish I could get a new Finder window launched if I double-click the Finder icon in the dock. Is this possible? I wish I could get a new Finder window launched if I double-click the Finder icon in the dock. I'm not sure if this would be possible with an Automator script, or if I would have to try to program some type menubar software or something. Any ideas?

thanks!!

Hyperdock will let you do something similar. It doesn't seem to support double clicking, but I have my system set up so a middle-click on the finder icon opens a new window.

It's also an awesome dock enhancement, and brings the dock much closer to the usability of the windows taskbar (i.e. you can switch to a specific other window without having to use expose or alt-tab).


New all-out installation of an old computer with time machine from another computer I understand that time machine sometimes makes troubles when recovering thing it took from one computer to another computer that’s why the following question arises:

I have two Macs with the same Apple ID but different contents. Now I want to use the time machine from Mac A, erase everything from Mac B and initiate Mac B anew with the time machine from Mac A so as to have two identical computers.
Is that a problem?

In theory no it's not a problem but you'd be better off using SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to make an identical clone using Target Disk Mode over FireWire or Thunderbolt.

Also Apple has a built in app for migrating data via FireWire, Thunderbolt and Ethernet, even Wi-Fi if you want to wait!

The migration option is given after a fresh OS install, so if you are trying to get a clone these options would be a better bet than making a Time Machine back up then restoring from it, importantly the option for the Migration Assistant is actually in the same list of options at restoring from a Time Machine backup after a fresh OS install.


Is there an iPad PDF viewer that can stay zoomed out? Some PDFs have fonts that are too large to maintain an optimal reading speed.  Is there a normal page-scrolling (not flipping) PDF viewer that can stay zoomed out at the zoom level you've pinched to?  Everything I have tried so far automatically zooms back to 100% after releasing the pinch-zoom.

I have found two apps that can do this:
(free) MarginNote has a vertical scrolling mode (though it's not the default) and can stay zoomed out at about 50%.
(requires IAP subscription for this option) PDF Viewer by PSPDFKit GmbH has a vertical scrolling mode (though it's not the default) and can stay zoomed out at about 50% (Settings -> Advanced -> Extended Zoom Out)


Route FaceTime notification sounds through internal/non-hdmi speaker I'm setting up an old Mac Mini as a home theater machine. We'll use it for, among other things, letting the kids FaceTime with Grandma on the big screen.

Here's my question. I want most audio played through the TV via the hdmi connection. But... can I set things up so FaceTime notification (when Grandma calls) and only the FaceTime notifications will play through the a different speaker, so we can hear when Grandma calls even if the TV is off? Or, failing that, notification sounds in general will play through the alternate speaker but application sounds play through the TV as expected?

Sure! Although only for all sound effects, as far as I know. Just go to the Sound pane in System Preferences, and switch "Play sound effects through" to your other output device.


How can I override default Python modules with ones I install with pip? I've run into this issue with PIL and Pillow.  I didn't realize PIL was already installed, so I ran:

sudo pip install PIL

As best I knew, it installed PIL.  Then I wrote a program that used a feature in PIL that would not work due to a bug within PIL.  I started working on dealing with that issue and someone recommended uninstalling PIL and installing Pillow, which has a better interface for PIL.  So I did:

sudo pip uninstall PIL
sudo pip install Pillow

Then, in a new Terminal window I had just opened, I ran a Python script that included the line:

import Pillow

and I get this error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "../HalPy/LandSearch/GetOurLotMap.py", line 7, in <module>
    import Pillow
ImportError: No module named Pillow

but if I run:

pip show Pillow

I get:

---
Name: Pillow
Version: 5.2.0
Location: /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages
Requires:

I uninstalled Pillow then installed it with the --user option and it did install in my account Library directory tree, but that didn't work.  I've tried almost every combination I can think of to install PIL or Pillow (never both at the same time), but no matter what I do, I can't import Pillow.  Python (version 2.7) never recognizes it as existing.  It's there, I've checked for the directory and pip shows it's there, but it's not.

I've installed other modules with pip and they're put in the same directory (/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages) and are recognized.

As best I can tell, since PIL is included in Apple's install of Python, with all the modules in the /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/ directory tree, when I use pip to install it (or Pillow), it's ignored by Python.

Before this, I had /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages in PYTHONPATH before any listing of any directories in the /System directory tree.  I also have, in /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages, a file named bypass-Apple-SIP.pth.  The .pth extension is supposed to help it supersede the modules in the /System directory tree.  Inside this file is:

import sys
sys.path = ['/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages'] + sys.path

From what I can tell, this has worked before, but I wasn't dealing with trying to supersede any module that was installed by default with Apple's Python install.

In the past I used MacPorts and found I hated it and had problems with Perl (and, I think, Python).  I don't want to use that, Fink, Homebrew, or anything like that.

As I see it, I'd like to find a way to do one of these:

Uninstall the Apple installed PIL
Make sure Python gives priority to modules in /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages over pre-existing modules
Get Python to see any modules pip installs within my home directory tree and use them over the pre-installed modules
Anything else that lets me override the modules in /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/ if I have problems with those pre-installed modules.

How can I do anything like any of those ideas to use Pillow over PIL and have Python ignore the old 1.x version of PIL that Apple installed?

The solution to this is virtual environments.

Each environment you have can have separate non conflicting libraries (and python versions) so one can have pillow and another pil.

The proicess is basically

Create a new environment - this will create links to python etc
Install the libraries you want
Modify your shell environment so that the path points to the python you created in step 1

Tools are included in python 3.6 and 3.7.  To switch between different versions of python see pyenv.

If you need to install another python you might also consider conda.  This can include 2.7 and is sort of equivalent to the combination above but includes binaries of C libraries.

For Apple's python 2.7 see pipenv & virtual environments


When I'm in the entire Calendar year and I tap on a date it doesn't open Can anyone please tell me why or what I need to do?  If I go to "Today" on calendars all is well.  It's just when I have the months all on screen and tap a date that it won't open.

When you're in year view, tapping a date never brings you into that day. The way it works is, in year view, tapping on a date blows up the month you selected, and from month view you can tap on a date to see the day.


El Capitan + Microsoft Office 2016 + Category Shortcut I am trying to add shortcut for Microsoft Outlook categories. I have found this solution for Office 2011 but it doesn't work with Office 2016 on El Capitan. Does anyone know how to assign this shortcut?

This may be what you are looking for:

It only references deleting color categories, which is ALT + D.


I upgraded the software on my iPhone and my Yahoo Calendar stopped syncing via CalDav I recently updated my iPhone to IOS 5.0.  I was syncing my iPhone calendar with my Yahoo Calendar using CalDav.  After the upgrade the syncing stopped working.  I tried deleting the calendar sync profile and re-adding it, but when I get to the step where it verifies the settings, it fails.  What can I do to fix it?

Here's what I did to fix the problem.  I got the answer from this forum post.

Delete CalDav Yahoo calendar sync profile in the iPhone settings.
Go to Safari settings and click Clear History and Clear Cookies and Data.
Turn iPhone off.
Turn iPhone on.
Re-add you Yahoo Calendar CalDav account.

To re-add your Yahoo Calendar CalDav account:

Go to Settings
Click Mail Contacts, Calendars
Click Add Account Option
Click Other
Click Add CalDAV Account
Server: https://caldav.calendar.yahoo.com
Enter you Yahoo user name and password.
Click Save.


2nd gen iPod Touch with a faulty screen, home button, or both? I have an 2nd gen iPod Touch which has something wrong with it. The screen does not work unless I hold both the Sleep and Home button for a few seconds. The screen then lights up as normal and I could access all the apps whilst holding the Home button (Sleep button released).

However, when I release the home button, the screen blanks out again. But the iPod still functions normally, I still can listen to music, connect it onto the laptop and even skip to the next song by touching the part of the screen where the arrow button would be if the screen was illuminated. I could hook the iPod up to a sound system and it works just fine. It even charges normally when connected to a power source.

Does this sound more like a screen problem or a home button fault or something else?

It sounds like you have a bad front panel.

The front panel of the iPod touch (screen cover, touch sensor and home button) is a single piece with a ribbon cable connecting it to the rest of the iPod.

If you are at all handy changing the screen cover & home button is not that difficult. You can get the parts and tools you need from iFixIt for about $75 with Shipping.

There is a video demonstrating the removal of the front panel.

When I cracked the screen on my 3rd gen iPod touch, Apple was going to charge me half of the iPod's new price to replace it. Since I didn't really care if I completely trashed it I decided to go this route. The surgery was successful and the iPod works perfectly.


Deleting the ._* files from a mounted volume kinda screwed some things up I have a thumb drive that I use frequently, which results in a lot of the ._* files being created, which I periodically delete by executing something like find /Volumes/Secure -name '._*' -exec rm -vf {} \;, and I've never had that ruin anything before. However, it looks like something may have gotten broken during this last execution.

Heres the console output of the find/rm command:

[Tue Aug 14 09:39:12]{1:126}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ find -d . -name '._*'
./tor/TorBrowser-Data/Browser/Caches/1blvjd07.default/startupCache/._startupCache.8.little
./tor/TorBrowser-Data/Browser/Caches/1blvjd07.default/safebrowsing/._test-malware-simple.pset
./tor/TorBrowser-Data/Browser/Caches/1blvjd07.default/safebrowsing/._test-phish-simple.pset
./tor/TorBrowser-Data/Browser/Caches/1blvjd07.default/safebrowsing/._test-unwanted-simple.pset
# TRUNCATED
./tor/TorBrowser-Data/Browser/Caches/1blvjd07.default/safebrowsing-to_delete/._test-flashsubdoc-simple.pset
./tor/TorBrowser-Data/Browser/Caches/1blvjd07.default/safebrowsing-to_delete/._testexcept-flashsubdoc-simple.pset
[Tue Aug 14 09:39:18]{1:127}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ find -d . -name '._*' -exec rm -vf {} \;
find: .: Invalid argument

(Not sure, but maybe it has something to do with the {} not being in quotes? I can't remember if I used quotes in the past)

When I mount the volume, I can see the contents just fine as long as I'm not referencing the content using a relative path while I'm in the mounted volume (PWD).

Here's an example of what I mean. You can see that I can list the contents of /Volumes/Secure just fine. But if I cd to it, then try to list the content of the current directory, it doesn't work:

[Tue Aug 14 09:46:02]{1:193}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes(✓)$ df /Volumes/Secure
Filesystem   512-blocks    Used Available Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk4s1   35372096 1566528  33805568     5%       0     0  100%   /Volumes/Secure
[Tue Aug 14 09:46:06]{1:194}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes(✓)$ ls /Volumes/Secure
chemdocs             credentials          data.tar.gz.enc      scripts              test                 test-data            test-data.tar.gz.enc tor
[Tue Aug 14 09:46:09]{1:195}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes(✓)$ cd /Volumes/Secure
[Tue Aug 14 09:46:11]{1:196}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ ls
.

Then, just to make this a little more confusing and frustrating, it seems to be intermittent...

[Tue Aug 14 09:46:09]{1:195}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes(✓)$ cd /Volumes/Secure
[Tue Aug 14 09:46:11]{1:196}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ ls
.
[Tue Aug 14 09:52:28]{1:27}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ ls .
.
[Tue Aug 14 09:52:30]{1:28}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ ls -alrth .
total 30240
drwxrwxrwx  1 jdoe  staff    16K Jun 18 18:20 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwx  1 jdoe  staff    16K Jul  3 12:10 test-data
drwxrwxrwx  1 jdoe  staff    16K Jul  3 12:10 .info
# TRUNCATED SOME LINES
drwxrwxrwx  1 jdoe  staff    16K Aug 11 03:41 .Trashes
drwxrwxrwx  1 jdoe  staff    16K Aug 11 03:41 .TemporaryItems
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 jdoe  staff    16K Aug 13 19:22 .
drwxrwxrwx  1 jdoe  staff    16K Aug 14 09:43 .fseventsd
drwxrwxrwt@ 7 root     admin   238B Aug 14 09:43 ..
[Tue Aug 14 09:52:32]{1:29}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(✓)$ ls -alrth ./
ls: ./: Invalid argument
[Tue Aug 14 09:52:34]{1:30}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(0)$ ls -alrth .
ls: .: Invalid argument
[Tue Aug 14 09:52:36]{1:31}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(0)$ ls -alrth .
ls: .: Invalid argument
[Tue Aug 14 09:52:37]{1:32}jdoe@MacBook-Pro:/Volumes/Secure(0)$ ls
.

(Here's a gist with some extra console output)

I've tried unmounting and remounting with no success.

Any input would be appreciated, thank you!

-J

Update
I just noticed something else thats rather interesting... These problems I showed above are all exclusive to the CLI. I can open the mounted drive in Finder and explore it just fine.. Odd.

The symptoms you describe are the signs of a corupted filesystem, which is the
usual fate of frequently used USB key.

Make a backup of your USB key,
and run an fsck or Disk Utility on your file-system.

I even advise you to completely check it with:

• full backup,

• full secure erase with one pass of 0 (to be sure to write on all blocks),

• make a new FS,

• recover from backup.

Your find doesn't cause any trouble, since -exec argument isn't evaluated by a shell, you dont have to protect it against evaluation.


Recommendations for purchasing low cost but Powerful Macs I've started to a lot of video editing with Adobe Premiere CS5 and After Effects CS5. I don't really have the money for a new Mac Pro. I feel that laptops are general underpowered and I have no need to be mobile.

Where should I look for low cost Intel Macs that fit my needs? In general, I don't think refurbished Macs from Apple are low cost.

How do you feel about a used machine? A one or two year old Mac Pro tower is still a very nice machine for video editing, and you could likely find one on eBay for a fraction of the cost of a brand new one.


Why does iTunes want my Security Code when I have Store Credit? I have $10.00 next to my name in the iTunes screeen.

I click to buy "Surfin Safari" (by the Beach Boys) for $0.99.

I am then asked for the security code on my Credit Card.

Why?

Why can't it just take it from the iTunes gift card I put in?

GRRRRRrrrrrr.... Frustration!

Duh!

Just click 'None' for the credit card type.

Not totally intuitive, but I should have figure this out without a question...


Music Library Seems Broken Recently, I noticed whenever I try to open my Music library, I get the following error message:

The file "Application.musicdb" cannot be read because it does not
appear to be a valid library file.

The app continues to work however but things are a bit slow. And I tried to look into the library file, by clicking on "show package contents" and I can see the mentioned file inside the library but the last modified date shows a couple of weeks back. And I can see more than ~400 temp files (Temp File 1.tmp and so on) are created over the course of the past two weeks, the last one belonging to a few minutes ago. It seems that all the recent modifications are happening via these temp files and the original file, which the app complains about at the start, hasn't been updated.
What can I do to fix this? Is there a proper way to force it to recreate that file or something?
I'm using the latest version of the OS and the Music app and I keep my music library on an external hard drive.

I managed to fix the issue by replacing the problematic file with another one from another music library.
I asked the Music app to create a new library (by holding the option key while opening the app). I have an Apple Music subscription and I have my music files uploaded to the cloud. I looked into the library file by clicking on "show package contents" and then copied Application.musicdb (the file that causes the issue in my main library ) into my main library to replace the problematic file. Then I closed the Music app and opened my main library and everything worked fine. I also deleted all the temp files and the app has been working fine since then.
Hope this helps others with the same problem.


No Handoff icon in dock I'm missing handoff icon in dock. I remember that when I had open safari/messenger on my iPhone, I could easily click on the icon that showed on left side of dock.

It's not there anymore. What could be the issue?
Handoff is working correctly, I can copy text from mac->iPhone, and iPhone -> mac, I can open website on iPhone from Mac.

The only issue is that I am missing the icon.
Video: https://youtu.be/--MMBRgPvFs

this is what I have observed. your tab in iOS was in private  mode and macOS was in normal. so it was easily transferred to iOS but got opened in private mode which in turn could not be opened in Mac.

Do tell me if I am wrong.


Application Switcher (Command-Tab) Showing Generic App Icon I've had this problem for several days now.  The Application-Switcher [cmd-tab] does not show the correct icon for my application, it shows a generic icon.  Does anyone know how to fix this?

See attached image:

The Terminal is supposed to look like this:

This doesn't happen every time, only every once in a while.  It happens with random applications, not just Terminal.

I found where Terminal through Finder (to make sure the app shows up with the proper icon in finder) and then I closed the open Terminal app and opened a new Terminal session by double-clicking through finder instead of using spotlight.

Now I get the correct Icon:

If I get the "generic" Icon again, I'll come update.  If it works for 24 hours, I'll come back and post the answer.

Upon re-reading your question after your edit I see you're comfortable with using Terminal, so I've added a second potential solution for this. You do not need to try these in any particular order - try one first and if the issue returns, then try the other. Option 1 sometimes only works temporarily, but Option 2 requires entering commands in Terminal.

Option 1: Reset and restart the Dock

One remedy is to reset and restart the Dock. However, in doing so, you will need to re-add any non-default icons to your Dock. (I usually find it's a good opportunity for people to start afresh and only add things as they actually use them).

So, if your solution doesn't pan out, you can reset and restart the Dock as follows:

Go to Finder
Press and hold the option key down
Now go to the Go menu
Select the Library option to open the User's Library folder. You can let go of the option key now.
Go to the Preferences folder (i.e. within the Library folder)
Find and move the com.apple.dock.plist file to the Trash
Now open Terminal (usually located in Applications > Utilities)
Enter this command killall -KILL Dock
Press enter

This should resolve the issue - but remember you'll need to re-add some apps back to the Dock.

Option 2: Reset icon cache

If the first solution above doesn't work (or it only works temporarily), you can try resetting the icon cache.

Launch Terminal (usually found in the Applications > Utilities folder)
Enter the following three commands, one at a time:

sudo find /private/var/folders/ \ -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -exec rm {} \;

sudo find /private/var/folders/ \ -name com.apple.iconservices -exec rm -rf {} \;

sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

Let me know how you go.


How can I fix my terminal when editing the PATH in .bash_profile has the startup hang and I get no prompt? I am new to the command line and clearly messed up my setup.

macOS High Sierra(10.13.6)
Trying to set up Python and VScode.

My path variable is what I believe is wrong, but Idon't know exactly how to get a shell and fix things.

It is now showing the user name when i go into terminal. After trying everything i tried to follow. https://shellzero.wordpress.com/tag/reset-path-on-mac/
My Terminal now looks like this

My bash profile currently looks like this  when i enter open .bash_profile in new command on terminal

according to the suggestion of the article mentioned above, after entering export PATH=/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin and save the text file by command+S
I tried to execute source ~/.bash_profile in new command in terminal and the result was

After that i also run the command echo $PATH. and the result was this :

I have no idea what i did. And what i need to do to fix the problem. Any help will be truly appreciated.

OK - no worries. You did in fact mess things up, but here's an easy way to fix things.

Open TextEdit (or whatever editor you like graphically on the Mac)
Open a file and go to your home folder (click or press Command Shift G and type ~ and return)
Show hidden files (if needed) - Command + Shift + .
Open .bash_profile

Delete everything or comment out anything that contains PATH= and save the file (you can save as to save it to your Desktop if you want to fix it up rather than start new).

Then open a new terminal window to check your work. If it works, close out the broken sessions and make sure you incorporate the old path when you add things:

This is safe:

export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:$PATH:/path/to/whatever/bin"

It's safe since the old $PATH is included on the right of the =

What isn't safe is when

export PATH="whatever"

All the other parts of the path are now gone, with only whatever left and the last = wins, so your path is missing very important items instead of adding things to the default path, you broke it temporarily. No worries, this is a phase of passage - everyone needs to break their shell dot files to learn. Welcome to the club.


How do you access the user library on a time machine backup With Lion 10.7, how does one access the user library on a time machine backup through the Finder?

Go to the Finder. In the menu bar, select Go, then hold down Option. Select the "Library" option which appears.

Then enter Time Machine as per normal.


Why am I having to pay again to listen to songs I already paid for at the ITunes store? Why am I having to pay again to listen to songs I already paid for at the ITunes store?
I'm getting a msg saying something about paying again to download over cellular.

Do redownload past purchase for free you have to follow this :  https://support.apple.com/en-ie/HT201272 other option would probably charge you for multiple reasons


Do I need to run out and purchase a new MacBook Pro to upgrade to Xcode 11? So I will need Xcode 11 by April of 2020, will High Sierra 10.13.6 support it?

If I download Mojave, will it support Xcode 11?

If I download Mojave, with only 11GB left on my hard drive, will that be a problem?

Xcode 11 requires a Mac running macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode_release_notes/xcode_11_release_notes

The download from the Mac App Store is 7.6 GB.

  with only 11 GB left on my hard drive

I would suggest having more free space before trying to download and unpack the app.

App Store: Not enough disk space to install Xcode
Can't update Xcode even with 19gb free space
Xcode free space requirement


Accidentally moved framework file to trash and now finder continuously fails I have the exact same problem as this person: Accidentally deleted a system framework, macOS screwed!, except that I removed; Social.framework, Weathkit.framework and ContactsAgent.framework.

Finder reptitively fails saying it can't load the libraries. I can view the files in my .Trash directory via Terminal, however I've unsuccessfully attempted to move them back multiple times by executing mv .Trash/Social.framework.

Honestly, I really dont care about any of those apps but I want Finder to work.

If someone would please upload a zip file of those frameworks, so that I could do the same thing as Sayan and replace, that would be much appreciated.

Since this is a duplicate of the linked questions - be sure to edit your post to explain how you can’t follow the several steps in the answers below to bring back the files. This is covered in several of the canonical questions on this site:

Where is the list of canonical questions stored for Ask Different?

We strongly discourage any breaking of EULA / sharing of files and a strict reading of Apple’s license is you can’t redisctibute or derive new works from the OS they distribute. Since we’re not lawyers, we don’t try to pick apart where in the world or why an EULA may not apply due to local courts and local laws and just avoid this sort of thing entirely since we can’t really answer legal questions well here.

Accidentally deleted a system framework, macOS screwed!
How can I get back a system file after deleting it from my Mac?


How do I add spellcheck / dictionaries in macos Sierra? Got .aff and .dic files I'm specifically trying to install system-wide support for Bulgarian. Tried looking for library/spelling but seems to be missing in macos Sierra. Got .aff and .dic files but... now what? Thank you.

Put them in Home/Library/Spelling.  To get to Home/Library, you hold down the option key while doing Finder > Go


ffmpeg transcoding audio to MPEG-4 HE AAC instead of AAC I have an Automator script that uses ffmpeg to re-encapsulate a video file into an mp4 container with its audio transcoded to aac while leaving the video as is.

for f in "$@"
do
    /Applications/Scriptlets/ffmpeg -i "$f" -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 384k -strict -2 "${f%.*}.m4v"
done

This works fine and the resulting video plays well on my system in both iTunes as well as Quick Time Pro; tried it with both avi and mov source files. However, I just noticed that the resulting files have their audio encoded to MPEG-4 HE AAC instead of plain AAC as intended. As a result, even though the file plays well on my Mac, I am unable to play it on my TV which recognizes AAC but not HE-AAC. Any workaround using ffmpeg? Please note that I am not interested in installing yet another encoding/transcoding application for this job. I only want to use ffmpeg so please do not suggest installing anything else.

The problem is your ffmpeg. If telling ffmpeg to use aac causes it to encode in he aac, if that is true, then there is something wrong with your ffmpeg, because specifying aac should never result in he aac. Only telling ffmpeg to encode using libaacplus or libfdk_aac should result in he aac encodes.

Here's an idea... build your own ffmpeg from source, because your binary was built wrong (if what you are saying is true).

You can download the ffmpeg source and build it manually:

  git clone git://source.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.git ffmpeg

But its far easier to install it using package management, like macports:

MacPorts requires an appropriate version of xcode; xcode_5.1.1.dmg is the most recent version for Mavericks (after registerring for a free developer account, and logging into developer.apple.com, that link will begin your xcode download). Once the download completes, open your Terminal.app and complete the installation:

 hdiutil attach -quiet -noverify -nobrowse -noautoopen ~/Downloads/xcode_5.1.1.dmg
 cp -npR /Volumes/Xcode/Xcode.app /Applications/
 hdiutil detach -quiet /Volumes/Xcode

Download and build macports:

MacPorts Guide

 curl -Ok https://distfiles.macports.org/MacPorts/MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
 tar xf MacPorts-2.2.1.tar.bz2
 cd MacPorts-2.2.1
 ./configure
 make
 sudo make install     # *not war!*
 cd ..
 rm -rf Macports-*
 sudo /opt/local/bin/port -v selfupdate
 diskutil quiet repairPermissions /

add macports to your $PATH:

 export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH
 export MANPATH=/opt/local/share/man:$MANPATH

build your ffmpeg

 sudo port -vsc install ffmpeg

you can keep everything updated simply with:

 sudo port -vsc selfupdate
 sudo port -vsc upgrade installed

If you are unsatisfied and/or need to remove MacPorts:

 sudo port -dfp uninstall --follow-dependencies installed
 sudo port -dfp uninstall all
 sudo rm -rf /opt/local
 sudo rm -rf /Library/Tcl/macports*


Git clone error after OS X Mountain Lion update I just updated my MBP to OSX 10.8 and am trying to start a new project with brunch.io which by default uses coffeescript and I prefer javascript so I need to clone the simple js skeleton. So something like this:

brunch new <someprojectname> --skeleton https://github.com/brunch/simple-js-skeleton.git

Which is what I have used previously and it worked fine. But today I am getting the following error:

error: Git clone error: /bin/sh: git: command not found

I really don't know how to fix this...

This error is caused by not having git installed. Your previous installation was probably lost in the update (don't worry, your repos will still be intact).

You can download git from its official page, here.

If you're a member of an Apple developer program you can also install git by installing the Xcode command line tools, found in the Downloads tab of Xcode's preferences.


Mac App Store Character Set error! I'm having trouble with the Mac App Store.
It shows me error messages with question marks instead of normal letters as in the following pic.

Can anyone help me?

Go to the Applications folder and start up the Font Book app and do File > Restore Standard Fonts and restart.

If that doesn't work, try a Safe Boot.


Jailbreaking an iPad 2 with iOS 5 Is it possible to jailbreak an iPad 2 running iOS 5? Please let me know if it's possible. If so, how do I do it?

Currently, the answer is no. It is fairly widely known that the A5 is a fairly difficult nut to crack.

References:

The Dev Team Pwnage tool info

  The 4.3.1 untether works on all devices that actually support 4.3.1
  except for the iPad2:

  iPhone3GS
  iPhone4 (GSM)
  iPod touch 3G
  iPod touch 4G
  iPad1
  AppleTV 2G (PwnageTool only for now)

Cult of Mac Post On iOS 5 Jailbreaks

  As for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, both devices run Apple’s new A5
  processor, which is proving to be an absolute bitch to jailbreak. Only
  the iPad 2 can be jailbroken under iOS 4.3.3 using the userland
  JailBreakMe v3 exploit. If the iPad 2 is any example to go by, don’t
  expect the iPhone 4S to be jailbroken any time soon.


Newbie question on getting back hard drive space I'm relatively new to Macs (PC guy) and my MacBook Air (1.8 GHz I5) running 10.9.1 OSX is reporting that the Startup disk is full.  I'm trying to figure out what is taking up the room and how to clean it up somewhat.  I am used to PCs and Windows Explorer where I can just start at the root folder, right click to look at size and drill down to the offending folder(s).  I'm sure there is some straight forward way on the Mac.  I've researched this problem somewhat and have already cleared out movies, music and photos.  I've also run OmniDiskSweeper which clears up caches.  All that cleanup only recovered 1 or 2 gigabytes.

I find it hard to believe the disk is full.  I don't use it that often and I've only put a few things on (XCode, some GNU tools, Octave).  I'd like to clean it up for other stuff.  Under System info, the claim is that the disk is 121 GB flash, which is strange as I recall it being advertised as 160 but either I'm looking at the wrong place for the capacity or my memory is faulty.  Under that same system info (click on apple->About this mac->More Info->Storage it appears that the vast majority of disk space is taken up by "Other", which isn't too helpful.

I am suspicious of the mail, but don't know how to check that.  I'll post a separate thread (Question about Mai. How to limit amount stored locally. Where is mail stored?)  for that as it's a stand alone question I'm interested in regardless of whether or not it is the culprit.

So in summary PLEASE tell me how to find out what is taking up the hard disk space and what I can clean off.  An ability to browse the disk would be helpful.  I'm somewhat comfortable with Unix/Linux on other system so I could do stuff by cmd line.  But at least on windows/pc, if you start removing folders without doing an uninstall, you can have problems.

Thanks!

Dave

Disk Inventory X or WhatSize are both excellent apps for giving you a complete list of what's taking up space.  Also, as you described there is a way to start at the root and check the size of each folder, drilling down until you find the culprit.  Command-I or Get-Info from the the right click menu will show you the size of any folder or file you select.


How do I create an explicit app ID using Xcode? So far I've been able to create an iOS Team Provisioning profile with Xcode, but it looks like it is only possible to create it using a Wildcard App Id.

Since I need to enable Push Notifications it must be an explicit app Id. I know it is very easy to create using the member center, but my question is:

How do I create it using only XCode?

You must create an explicit App ID in the Developer Member Center. There is no other option of where to create this.


How can I force a crash report in OSX? My MacBook Pro regularly gets into a state where a very lightly loaded system starts processing very slowly: mouse clicks and button presses take a few minutes to process and a couple of useful things can be done in the space of a couple of hours if I'm attentive.  Note that this happens without fans or any other signal that its running close to its operating limits.
Regardless this is undesirable.  MacOS does not seem to recognize this state as a fault or failure, so I need to manually power off, and hence I don't get the "your system was restarted..." message with a crash report on boot (no bugs to be had in MacOS of course).
I have XCode installed (linux developer making due on MacOS).
How do I force MacOS to dump the state of the running processes and reboot?

Activity Monitor
If you just want a live view of system activity, keep Activity Monitor open and change its Dock icon to CPU to see if cores are busy. You may of course open it and see what is hogging the memory/ disk/ CPU.
You can either enable memory column in CPU tab, or CPU column in memory tab to keep a tab :) on processes.

Last time I had such a slowdown, it was spotlight processes consuming massive memory. I killed it.
Instruments.app
It is bundled with Xcode app which you say you have. It has an instrument called Activity Monitor which will store the information of all processes, network, disk speed for as long as it is run. Activity Monitor app will not store anything.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200620073428/https://help.apple.com/instruments/mac/current/#/devc63117d3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruments_(software)#References

Safe Mode or new user account
Not a logging method, but can help isolate issues with kernel extensions, buggy apps or anything else.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262#issue


System Preferences lock always unlocks itself after restart The Mac's System Preferences panels have a universal "lock" icon which, when locked, will apply to all panes, therefore preventing the user from changing any settings until they unlock the System Preferences by typing in their admin password.

I like to keep it locked at all times. However, whenever I restart my computer, System Preferences unlocks itself.

How do I keep the lock setting locked even after a restart?

Go to Security & Privacy, then Advanced.

check the box for Require an administrator password to access locked preferences

That should ensure all the lockable prefs default to locked.


Mid-2012 MBP Bootcamp Installation I have been trying unsuccessfully for the past few days to install Windows 10 on my mid-2012 15" MacBook Pro.  I've read a few different sites (including this one), but I am just struggling to parse the information into something that has proven useful to me.
I downloaded the latest ISO from the Windows 10 site (October 2020 update).  I went through the Bootcamp Assistant prompts - mounting the ISO to a 32GB flash drive, downloading the Bootcamp drivers, and creating the partition (200GB).
The MBP critical information is as follows:

Mojave 10.14.6
1TB SSD
DVD Drive recently not operating correctly (still need to
troubleshoot)
No USB devices plugged in besides flash drive with mounted ISO

When I reboot after Bootcamp Assistant is complete, I hold down ALT and am shown three options: my OS X partition, my USB drive, and EFI Boot.  I select EFI Boot.
I then go through the motions, entering my product key etc, after which I am confronted with a screen with the partition selections.  Of course, I cannot choose the option OS X has created for Bootcamp because of it being recognized as MBR instead of GPT.  I used GPT fdisk (had some trouble with rootless system but was able to get past that by disabling in recovery environment) and received the following message:
Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

This indicates there is nothing wrong and it is indeed a pure GPT partition table, no?  Either way, I thought so, so I went back into OS X and deleted the Bootcamp partition in Disk Utility and manually re-created another partition to use.  I got my inspiration from this article and was able to get back to Windows Setup within EFI Boot, delete the partition within that environment which I had created manually earlier, and then create a new partition with the newly unallocated space.
After this, it begins the process of installing Windows.  Unfortunately, the joy does not last long because I end up with a BSOD, followed by multiple reboots where I have the option to try to "recover."  This results in more BSOD's and a loop of involuntary reboots until I hold down ALT and tell the computer to go back to OS X (with my head hanging in shame).
I'm at a loss as to what to do next here.  Right now I am downloading an older version of Windows 10 in the background to see if perhaps it's an issue related to that.  This guy seems to believe an older version of Windows is necessary in order to have success.  We'll see.
As others have noted, it's not possible to boot from the USB directly as the laptop simply comes up with a black screen indicating there's "no bootable device, press any key, etc."  This would certainly be the preferred method if it were possible.  Any help is appreciated!
EDIT:  Here is a post outlining the exact place I am at.  The thread indicates USB3.0 drivers are the issue now.  I'm prepared to start over and track down the necessary drivers to add to the appropriate folder in my flash drive, but I'm now starting to wonder if there's any other steps I need to be aware of before I run into potentially the next road block.

I would seem to me that you are missing the obvious. If the Boot Camp Assistant configured your Mac to install Windows 10 to BIOS boot, then you should have not tried so hard to defeat this. Install Windows 10 to BIOS boot and if this works, then accept that your model is one of the last built before Apple converted over to UEFI booting Windows 10. From my understanding, the industry switched to UEFI booting Windows in 2011. Apple, which usually is forward thinking in technology, eventually lagged behind and did not convert until sometime in 2012 or perhaps 2013.
I do not understand how the Windows installer detected hybrid partitioning while gdisk did not. You may not have applied gdisk to the correct drive. Using the Disk Utility or diskutil command to remove and recreate the Windows partition would under Mojave eliminate any hybrid partitioning. This would then allow you to attempt to install an UEFI booting Windows 10. However, if Apple indented for you to install Windows to BIOS boot, then the Boot Camp drivers may only be designed for BIOS booting. This may account for your BSOD issues.
There was a previous version of Windows which caused the BSOD to occur due to the version of Boot Camp that was installed. This problem could be resolved by manually upgrading BootCamp or by installed an older release of Windows. Although you did not specify if your BSOD problem occurred before or after installing Boot Camp. Also, there does appear to be previous versions of the Windows Support Software for your Mac which can be downloaded.
Installing Windows 10 by BIOS Booting the Installer from an Internal Drive

Here, I assume the internal drive is hybrid partitioned. If not, then use gdisk to create hybrid partitioning. The gdisk commands are given below.
r
h
2 3
y
ff
n
07
y
n
w
y

Use the Finder application to rename the file AutoUnattend.xml in the root folder of the flash drive to NoAutoUnattend.xml.

If the volume label of the flash drive is not WINSTALL, then use either the Finder or Disk Utility application to rename the drive to  WINSTALL.

Restart the Mac and hold down the option key until the Mac Startup Manager icons appear. Select the external drive icon with the label EFI Boot to UEFI boot from the flash drive.

When the first window appears as shown below, press the shift+F10 key combination. A Command Prompt window will appear.

Enter the command given below to execute the disk partitioning application.
diskpart

The diskpart command is interactive. Enter the command below to list the current volumes.
list volume

Enter the next two commands to change the drive letter for  the WINSTALL volume. Replace # with the volume number for this volume.
select volume #
assign letter=p

Enter the next two commands to change the drive letter for  the BOOTCAMP volume. Replace # with the volume number for this volume.
select volume #
assign letter=w

ExFAT format the BOOTCAMP volume.
format fs=exfat label=BOOTCAMP quick

Make sure the the BOOTCAMP volume is the BIOS boot volume.
active

Exit the diskpart command.
exit

Copy the files from the flash drive WINSTALL volume to the internal BOOTCAMP volume.
xcopy p:\* w:\ /e /h

Prevent the internal BOOTCAMP volume from UEFI booting from the Mac Startup Manager.
ren w:\efi noefi

Install the BIOS boot code to the internal drive Master Boot Record (MBR) and the BOOTCAMP volume.
bootsect /nt60 w: /mbr

Close the command prompt window.
exit

Click on the red box with the X as shown below, then select the OK button in the popup window. When the Mac restarts, hold down the option key until the Mac Startup Manager icons appear. Hold down the control key and select the internal drive icon with the label Windows to BIOS boot from the internal drive.

Enter the following command to get the drive letter for the WINSTAll volume.
echo list volume | diskpart

Start the Windows GUI installer to install Windows from the flash drive. Windows will be installed to BIOS boot. If the drive letter for the WINSTAll volume is not E, then make the appropriate substitution when entering the following command.
setup  /unattend:E:\NoAutoUnattend.xml

When you reach the window shown below, highlight the partition with the BOOTCAMP label. Click on Format, then the OK button in the popup window. When finished formatting, click on the Next button.


Internet Access after renew the expired com.apple.servermgrd certificate I inherited some months ago a Mac mini server running OS X 10.8.5  Initially, I configured it with the new network settings, DNS name, etc and all was working fine in regard to file sharing, accessing Server app, etc.  I recently ran software update where Server.app was updated to Server 2.2.5.  Now I am having some problems with this Server app.

I know that the com.apple.servermgrd certificate needs to be updated as I see it had expired before a few months before this recent update, and I'll use the method in HT3930 during down time this weekend.

However, I am concerned that this may not be the only issue.  When I restart the server and log in with a service/admin account, Server.app works fine (with the exception of using Safari and SSL to connect to the server at it's DNS address, which models the example in the write up, https://server.example.com:311).  I would expect this method not to work as the certificate is expired.

But, after some time, without logging out of the service/admin account, Server.app throws an error that "multiple errors occured on the server while processing commands" and "a networking error occured while trying to communicate with the server".  In addition, at this point I can no longer use Safari and resolve web pages.  I wouldn't expect this to be due to the expired certificate and SSL, but maybe I am wrong.  The server is still running in back ground for file sharing, screen sharing, etc. so networking "IS" working.

I'd like to know if I am dealing with two separate problems or if they are both caused by the expired com.apple.servermgrd certificate.

Console errors that cooredpond to the above error msgs.

  Server: Error: The server '127.0.0.1' reported an error while processing a command
  of type: 'get AlertDeliverySettings' in plug-in: 'servermgr_info'. Error: Error Domain=XSActionE

  …of type: 'getPushTopicForPreferredIdentityName' in plug-in: 'servermgr_certs'.  Error Dom

The com.apple.servermgrd certificate is only used to create a SSL connection from Server.App to the server backend admin daemon. It is safe to delete as it will be recreated. You should delete the cert with the following commands:

sudo security set-identity-preference -n -s com.apple.servermgrd /Library/Keychains/System.keychain
sudo security delete-certificate -c com.apple.servermgrd /Library/Keychains/System.keychain
sudo killall servermgrd

For Mojave and later:

sudo killall servermgr-listener

This will delete the certificate & the identity preference and restart the backend daemon, which should happily recreate the com.apple.servermgrd certificate. The other SSL using server services default to using a certificate that has the machine's DNS name.


How to find out which Safari tab is using massive memory? As described in my other question, Safari on OS X 10.6. is causing me massive problems (with my way of working like having many tabs in Safari open for a long time).

I just realized that after closing some (few!) of the many open tabs, instantly

it became quiet - the cooling fan of the macbook was not spinning any more
and I had >1 GB more free RAM (which is a lot, as I have only 3 GB in total)!!

It seems, that like very often in real life, Pareto's law applies:
20% of my open tabs might consume 80% of the ressources!

So my question:

is there a way to identify those few tabs which cause safari to consume hardware ressources like crazy without closing them - maybe by analyzing the Safari Web Content process?

Open the Activity monitor in Utility folder.

  Sort by name

  View by memory usage

You should see individual Safari pages memory consumption.

By hovering pointer over one will show the web site name.

The memory consumption will depend on the web site it self, its design, the complexity, and multimedia usage.


How can I reassign the copy/paste keyboard shortcuts? I've been using mac for years, but prefer to do software development on windows. I'm really used to is using the folowing shortcuts on windows very much:

<CTRL>  + INSERT: Copy
<SHIFT> + INSERT: Paste
<SHIFT> + DELETE: Cut

Of late, I've taken to doing even my development work on the Mac. However, as a matter of habit, I'm missing these shortcuts very much. Actually, I find these a lot more convenient than COMMAND + (C/V/X) combo.

Is there a way to reassign these three shortcuts at least?

I've look all over the internet and in the "Keyboards" system preferences but I did not find anything.

PS: If you're wondering where I find the INSERT keys on a mac book pro, I use a wireless keyboard.

This worked great for me to serve just the cut/paste/copy features I use so often


iTunes does not recognize folder structure when importing music I have imported a lot of Music into iTunes in a folder structure:
<Artist>/<Album>/<Song>. Unfortunately iTunes has not recognized these information, so that now I just have a lot of songs without artist or album information. (Actually I think that these has always worked until now).
Do you have any idea what went wrong here and what I could do, to get this information into iTunes (and the iCloud)?

Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes are a good place to start looking for any iTunes scripting solutions.
In your case Tags Mirror Artist-Album-Filename looks very promising:

This script copies the names of the Artist folder, Album folder and filename (minus its extension) of the selected tracks' file paths to each corresponding track's artist, album and song name tags, respectively.
For best results your files and folders should be arranged in this format:
Artist folder / Album folder / filename.xxx


The system version of Tk is deprecated I installed python3 and tcl-tk with homebrew on my iMac. However, when I want to launch my program using the terminal, this message is displayed:

  DEPRECATION WARNING: The system version of Tk is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Please don't rely on it. Set TK_SILENCE_DEPRECATION=1 to suppress this warning.

The interface is completely buggy on my iMac and I don't understand why and can't find a solution.

On my MacBook Air with the same homebrew apps installed the very same program works perfectly.

Details:

macOS Catalina 10.15.4 on both Macs
MacBook Air:

@MacBook-Air $ which python3
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.7/bin/python3
@MacBook-Air $ python3 -V
Python 3.7.3
@MacBook-Air $ which tclsh
/usr/bin/tclsh

iMac:

@iMac-de-Lola.local $ which python3
/usr/local/bin/python3
@iMac-de-Lola.local $ python3 -V
Python 3.7.7
@iMac-de-Lola.local $ which tclsh
/usr/bin/tclsh

I managed to solve the problem by installing python 3.7.7 from python.org. The path is now the same as on my MacBook Air.

The program is working very well now. I think the python3 command launches a system version of python and not the version installed by homebrew.


Shell not finding commands after I changed my .bash_profile file I was following a tutorial trying to install Laravel (5.0). The tutorial showed to add export PATH="~/.composer/vendor/bin/laravel" to the .bash_profile document. Since then, I am not able to execute any command (nano, ssh, etc).

Nothing happens when I executed this in terminal:

export PATH="~/.composer/vendor/bin/laravel"

My .bash_profile looks like this:

export PATH=/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.5.10/bin:$PATH

I tried logging out, restarting and entering the following commands:

source ~/.bash_profile
. .bash_profile

Can anyone help?

When you did:

export PATH="~/.composer/vendor/bin/laravel"

You changed the system default PATH to something nearly useless. You should never replace PATH, you should only append to PATH.

Remove the following two lines from your ~/.bash_profile:

export PATH=/Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.5.10/bin:$PATH
export PATH="~/.composer/vendor/bin/laravel"

And replace them with the following:

pathadd() {
    if [ -d "$1" ] && [[ ":$PATH:" != *":$1:"* ]]; then
        PATH="${PATH:+"$PATH:"}$1"
    fi
}
pathadd /Applications/MAMP/bin/php/php5.5.10/bin
pathadd ~/.composer/vendor/bin/laravel
export PATH

This is a safe way to append to your PATH environment variable. It only does the append if the path isn't already in the list.


OS X Terminal fn+delete doesn't work, prints ~ I recently did a fresh install of Mavericks, and ever since I haven't been able to use the fndelete keystroke in Terminal. On the command prompt, fndelete prints ~ and if I'm in vim, fndelete will capitalize existing characters.

How can I reset this in Terminal so it functions normally? (Terminal is the only place I have this problem.)

I was able to fix this by going to Terminal->Preferences->Advanced and choosing xterm-256color as the setting for "Declare Terminal As"


iPhone 4 apps disappeared after update I recently had an update done on my iPhone 4 at a local Verizon store because I don't have internet at home. My phone wasn't wanting to update but eventually did but they ordered me a replacement phone long story.

All my apps and pictures came up on my phone and some loaded but I didn't have time to wait on all them to load. They said when you get around Wi-Fi just resume the download. With my job I haven't been around Wi-Fi. Yesterday I noticed some of my apps are missing off my phone. What may have happened?

there could be a couple things off the top of my head.

resume download has been iffy for me.  but go into the app store and go to the purchased history and all your previous apps will be in there.  you'll just have to download them and rearrange to how you like them.
but consider those may no longer compatible with the new ios version?  doesn't sound like it from how you described it but...