Finder has trouble mounting folders with special characters I know in general it's bad to name files and folders with special characters.
As an example:
I created a folder on our NAS and named it test% so far so good, no error on creating it like "you can't name a folder like this" (I remember this came up on Windows or I believe also on mac with some characters but can't figure out which right now)
Now I copy the smb:// path of it via command + I and make it a clickable link in an email.
So the path is for example smb://Server/folder1/test%
Finder opens and a small windows comes up "Connecting to smb://Server/folder1/test%".
When I do this, the loading bar is jumping back and forth forever and nothing happens.
When I do the same thing but with a folder without a special character: smb://Server/folder1/test it works and Finder can mount the folder as expected.
Is this a bug? Can I fix it somehow (besides stopping to name folders and files like this)?
My Mac is currently running Big Sur 11.3.1
Quick edit:
I tested some more special characters like $, &,. (they work). / didn't and also I got an error that this folder doesn't exist (although it does).
But % displays the correct folder name in the loading bar but doesn't do anything.

Without having to learn the entire illegal character list for every OS, it's best to train people to an easy subset of these rules…
Alphanumeric only. No umlauts, etc. No spaces, use underscores.
You could probably make a call on Capitals, most OSes are case insensitive, so it shouldn't matter.
Don't let them use edge cases & you won't have to fix them;) This is especially important if you have multi-platform access, as illegal characters on one OS may not be on another.
I'd make a rule on replacing umlauts too, decide whether Müller should become Muller or Mueller & stick to it - that way people will not need three guesses to find an otherwise known name.
Using underscores with no spaces just makes paths simpler - no-one has to guess whether they need folder name folder\ name folder%20name or "folder name" to find something, it's always folder_name.
% is a URL escape [encoding] method as seen above, %20 means space - best to be avoided for names in URLs.


Can't remote into Mac mini I have a MacBook Pro and a Mac mini, both running Mountain Lion. This problem, however, started when I had Lion. I can remote in to my MacBook Pro just fine from my iPhone and iPad. But I can't remote into my Mac mini. It started out just fine and I could remote into the Mac mini from my iPhone, iPad as well as my MacBook Pro. Later (I was still on Lion), I could still log in from my iDevices but no longer could from my MacBook Pro. This behavior continued after installing Mountain Lion. Now, I can't remote in from anywhere. I want to avoid doing a clean install, but I will I have to.

I have tried switching from Remote Management under Sharing to Screen Sharing, and back. nothing works. Recently (before I lost the ability to remote in at all, but after I lost the ability to remote in from my MacBook), I also lost the ability to edit my parental controls on the Mac mini from my MacBook. Little by little, I am completely losing the ability to remote in/screen share to my Mac mini at all. Currently, I can only remote in via SSH for a terminal.

My network includes my AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule, MacBook Pro (mid-2010), Mac mini (mid 2010), iPad (3), iPhone 4S, and my father's PC. Only my father's PC is connected by wire. The rest is wireless.

If anyone can guide me in the right direction, I'll be very grateful.

Some more info would be helpful here. What app are you using on your iOS devices and Mac to connect to your Mini? What happens when you try to connect—do any errors appear, or does nothing appear to happen?

First off, make sure Screen Sharing is enabled in Sharing Preferences (Remote Management is only for using Apple Remote Desktop, so don't bother with that unless you're actually using that program). Double-check that Allow access is set to either "All Users", or "Only these users" with your user name included in the box.

Now try connecting from another Mac, using the Finder's Connect to Server dialog (under the Go menu, or ⌘K). Under Server Address, type in vnc://IP_OF_YOUR_MINI then hit connect. If you can connect that way, but not using the Finder's Shared panel, then the problem is likely in the Bonjour service that advertises the screen sharing option.

Another thing to check is what version of Apple Remote Desktop Client you have installed. If you have 3.6, there's a bug that can cause timeouts for Screen Sharing/VNC clients. The temporary fix is removing /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement and re-installing 3.5.3. This worked for me on Lion, I don't know if it will work on Mountain Lion. Make sure to keep a backup copy of the files you delete, in case the install doesn't work.


Should I virtualize Windows on Mac OS X using Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion? I have a MacBook Air and would like to install Windows Vista in a virtual machine, so I can use both Mac OS X and Windows at the same time.

I have tried with VirtualBox, but it performed very bad and Mac OS X crashed sometimes.

It seems that Parallels Desktop 6 and VMware Fusion 3 does the job better. I will mostly do .NET development using WPF and some other software development.

As of 2011 what virtualization software, Parallels Desktop 6 or VMware Fusion 3 gives me the best Windows Vista user experience?

I was in the exact situation as you 2 weeks ago. I have developer friends who have used Parallels in the past for their Windows development VMs, and they had since moved to VMware Fusion 3.

I started off with a trial of Parallels Desktop 6; in a nutshell, I had issues virtualizing some of my physical machines, but overall it ran my VMs well. However, I did find the Coherence mode a little cumbersome in the UI. There were too many shortcuts created for my various VMs and the start menu used to launch Windows apps felt clunky.

So...I moved on to a trial of VMware Fusion 3. Despite all the performance reviews that say Parallels kills Fusion, running a VM in Fusion feels smooth and polished and starting, suspending and resuming a virtual machine are all very fast operations thanks to the SSD of the Macbook Air. The product overall is high quality and requires very little resources - I run 1 to 2 VMs for several hours at once during development. On my 4GB Macbook Air I only ever use half of that memory, including the operating system. (I have set my development VMs to use 1GB of RAM each).

And those problems I had virtualizing my physical hardware with Parallels? Gone with VMware. All my hardware was virtualized on the first attempt, and VMware even flawlessly imported the Parallels VMs I had been working with.

So, I licensed VMware Fusion 3 and you can even get a  rebate on it like I did. That was the clincher for me.

I'm happily using VMware Fusion 3 every day to run my Windows 7 development box with Visual Studio 2010, Oracle 10g Express, SQL Server 2008 Express, and other tools installed.


What is "x-apple-ql-id://*"? I have a process called x-apple-ql-id://* (* being a bunch of letters, numbers and "-"). Is this a legitimate process? I am wondering because it looks very fishy.

That seems to be a legitimate process. It's a schema that belongs to QuickLook, but Apple doesn't have much information freely available about it. I don't think is a reason to be alarmed, just kill the process (but save your work before, just in case).


How to change my name in OSX? I have entered my name with a typo when I first started my MacBook Pro. Now whenever I open iChat or whenever I send an E-Mail the typo is still there.

Where do I change the name?

I have change the name in System Preferences / Accounts as well as the Profiles for Mail and iChat, but the typo still shows up.

Is there a configuration file I can edit directly?

Even easier than that, on Mac OS X you have what is called a "me" card. Which is a special vcard that is tied to your account name and profile picture.
You can open up address book and edit your name and it will mirror that in iChat and everything else.


CMD + ` to switch between windows on Turkish keyboard I have a Macbook Pro with Turkish keyboard layout and I haven't been able to find what the equivalent shortcut combination for command+` to switch between windows, especially on Chrome.

Does anyone knows what that is?

Open System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts to discover this setting on standard Turkish keyboard: command+w.


How to prevent octave from spawning in a new Terminal window? I run octave in Terminal but whenever I use the Octave command to start octave (from an existing terminal session) or select Octave in Mission Control, it starts a new Terminal window. I find this behaviour annoying.

How can I make octave run in my current Terminal window?

The actual script that executes when the new Terminal window is opened can be found at /usr/local/octave/3.8.0/bin/octave-3.8.0.  This path will be different for different versions of Octave.  To have this script run when you run the octave command, create a symbolic link to something like /usr/local/bin/octave (assuming /usr/local/bin is on your path).

The command to run this would be something along the lines of:

sudo ln -sf /usr/local/octave/3.8.0/bin/octave-3.8.0 /usr/local/bin/octave


Disabling Audio on Internal Speakers for High Sierra onwards? I have users in my lab that run sound via their speakers.  I would like to disable the ability to do so on all machines in the lab to prevent this, whilst still allowing them to use their headphones.

I have read articles about how to disable all audio (not a totally desirable outcome, but better than the alternative) by deleting the IOAudioFamily.kext file, however, this doesn't seem to work on High Sierra.

Has anyone aware of a solution to this issue?

Thank you for your help.

I found this for you...

How to set the volume level to the secret minimum

So here's the deal, normally when you set the volume to 0 the speakers are automatically muted. On the keyboard you can hit the mute button while the volume is at 0 and it will unmute to the secret lowest volume setting.

Likewise, you can instruct AppleScript to not automatically mute the volume:

osascript -e "set volume without output muted output volume 1 --100%"

How to set the volume without unmuting

Sometimes you want the volume to stay muted, but to come on at a particular level when you unmute.

This is how you prevent the audio from unmuting when you adjust the volume level:

osascript -e "set volume with output muted output volume 42 --100%"


Does encrypting Time Machine backups require auth on restore? If I have an encrypted Time Machine backup and I take it to a brand new machine, will it:

Be possible to restore without any authentication
Require a password or iCloud identity
Not be usable
Something else?

By not mentioning this, the official docs imply to me that #1 is correct.

When Time Machine encrypts a drive, you will have to enter the passphrase to get macOS to decrypt the drive. The drive will mount and all contents are garbled until the key to unscramble the data is provided to the driver that attached the drive to the desktop.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/choose-a-backup-disk-set-encryption-options-mh11421/mac

iCloud entanglement is for rescuing a user account, not full drive encryption. Your account password can sometimes get a drive decrypted if your keychain contains the secret for a drive.


Can't format my Macbook, HDD and macUtilities won't load, "blocked" sign after trying to boot usb I just got my macbook white (2009) back again from fixing (batteries were swollen), and was trying to format it to OS El Capitan.
I've been trying to do that all day,

at first I tried with a bootable USB that I made on my on Mac (before formating for the first time). It didn't work, when I began the installation process - after formatting my MacOS drive, an error occurred. Ok, I was kind of expecting that.
the second time, I had already formated my HDD, so I made a bootable USB from my Windows 10 PC, using "TransMac".
I dind't work this time, and the next.
The error is: I plug the USB, Mac iniciates and while I'm pressing the "Option" key, it only shows the USB drive, and when I click on in to begin the install/format, the "blocked" sign appears and it stops there, on that loop.

edit:
This is what happens when I turn on the computer holding the option key (with the USB plugged in):

My MacOS drive doesn't appear, only the USB.
When I click on the USB, it begins to load (I couldn't load all images).
Then, when the bar loads, the "blocked" sign appears.

First of all, like Allan mentioned in the comments, your MacOS drive will not show up on startup if you erased it. The reason the 'blocked' sign appears is because the installer files for OS El Capitan are corrupt on your USB.

I also have a white MacBook from 2009 and I encountered the same issues when trying to install macOS Sierra from a bootable USB.

Here's what you can do:

Re-create a bootable USB of OS X Yosemite using a Mac computer running MacOS. From my experience, third party applications like Install Disk Creator work better than the Terminal for fully loading the boot files. Note that the USB storage size must be larger than the file size of the installer for the OS you want to install. (8GB worked for me)
Run the bootable USB on your MacBook by using the steps you did before. This time, you should be able to get pass the 'blocked' sign.
Format the HDD using Disk Utility from the Utilities Menu. Click the 'Erase' tab and set the format of your HDD to 'OS X Extended (Journaled)', then click erase. Your MacBook should then be able recognise the HDD.
Install the OS X Yosemite on the HDD using the OS X Installer from the Utilities Menu. You can always update to El Capitan after you install Yosemite. You may have to configure the system time if you run into an error while validating the install.


Computer won't recognize phone; can't restore Neither of my computers would recognize my phone (iPhone 6, iOS 8.3) at all. I've tried everything I can think of, like reinstalling iTunes, trying different ports, trying in safe mode etc., but nothing worked.

So, I tried to put it into DFU mode. Now my computer and iTunes recognizes the phone, but now it's telling me it won't restore. I didn't have No PLS Restore or anything like that installed.

It's giving me different errors every time. I've gotten errors 4013, 2003, 21, and 7. I've tried changing cables and ports, but nothing has worked.

I can get it out of DFU mode, but when I do that the computer doesn't recognize it again.

Does anyone have any ideas for what I can do?

Take it to the Apple store?

If it's just restoring the phone they shouldn't charge you anything. And after a clean restore you can then try to restore it again at home.


New USB ethernet adaptor not recognized on network at work I recently purchased a new USB ethernet adaptor for my MacBook Air (running 10.8.5) direct from the Apple store, but it doesn't work on the ethernet network at work. The old USB ethernet adaptor works fine, and thus it is not a problem with my ethernet card, cable or the network. Any ideas what might be causing this?

If you needed to register your MAC address for your computer to be authorized on the network at work, then your problem may be that you have inadvertantly registered the MAC address for the original USB-ethernet adaptor, rather than the MAC address of the internal ethernet interface in you computer. The problem is that the new USB adaptor generates a different MAC address than your old one, and is therefore not recognized by your work network.

To fix this problem, you will need to plug in your new USB ethernet adaptor, get its MAC address and request that this MAC address be authorized on your work network.

You can find the MAC address for your USB ethernet adaptor using System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced... -> Hardware. This will give you the MAC address on the en1 ethernet interface going to the adaptor, rather than the en0 interface going to the computer. The en1 MAC address changes when plug in different USB ethernet adaptors, but the en0 does not.

To see how en1 MAC address changes and find the stable en0 MAC address of your ethernet card, open up a terminal window and type:

$ ifconfig

Then plug in your different adpators, and repeat the ifconfig command.


Viewing previous processes/application activity on Mac I was recently wrongly accused of cheating on an online test I took on a MacBook air running Catalina 10.15.7 about a month ago. The allegation is that I was communicating with other students during the test. Is there was a way I could retrieve a log of the processes/applications that were running on my mac that day, at that time in order to prove no communication-based apps were running during the test?

Not really - and the more you try to prove with technical details, you might be sabotaging yourself. It’s easier for you to tamper with the process list than it is to cheat on an online test, so I wouldn’t go down that path at all.
I would just ask the accuser or referee how you can demonstrate mastery of the material and remedy the situation. It’s awful when your character is accused and it’s awful when you get caught cheating, so either way, you are in a bad situation and grasping for a technicality isn’t going to help you. This is a social problem, not one that can be dismissed without two conditions:

Referee has to be agreeable to a technical summary and adjudication.
You can in no way be involved in the preparation of any exculpatory data. A forensic investigator has to handle the preservation, preparation, analysis and evaluation of any technical evidence.


How do I share NTFS folder from OSX Lion to Window 7 I have an NTFS drive in my mac and use paragon to read and write from it. All good. I now want to share it with my windows 7 pc. I did this by using the "File Sharing" feature in System Preferences.

I can access the shares on the HFS drive but not the ones on the NTFS drive. Any help would be awesome. Windows just tells me:

"Windows cannot access \192.168.1.150\d"
Details: 0x80070035 (path not found)

This is the reason why you can't share your NTFS drive from OSX to Windows: In OSX Lion Apple replaced the open source samba with apples own version which unfortunately ignores anything that isn't hpfs. So it hasn't anything to do with your drivers or such.

This topic was discussed at length at MacRumors. The proposed solution is to install XCode and MacPorts followed by

sudo port install samba3
Navigate to /opt/local/etc/samba3 and modify smb.conf to your needs
Disable File Sharing in System Preferences
Launch smbd & nmbd daemons: sudo /opt/local/sbin/smbd -D && /opt/local/sbin/nmbd -D
To have smbd/nmbd launch automatically during boot you may also need to add an appropriate launchd file.


Shortcuts App (iOS 13.1.2): How to prevent that the shortcuts app interface opens, when you start a shortcut from the homescreen? I created a very simple shortcut.

Flashlight on/off.

Than I added that shortcut to the homescreen.

Now I start the shortcut from the homescreen.

Result:
The admin interface of the shortcuts app opens (you see the list of all shortcuts).

Question:
How can I prevent, that the shortcuts app opens?

Thanks for your help.

The only way to prevent that is to use the Shortcut "widget" instead of using a shortcut from the iOS home screen.

By "widget" I mean that screen which appears on the iOS home screen (aka "Springboard") when you are at the first screen of apps and then swipe from left-to-right.

Scroll to the bottom and tap 'Edit'

In the "Add Widgets" screen which appears, select "Shortcuts"


Educational discount policy at Apple and international student I would like to know the discount amount available for educational at Apple stores and how does this apply cross-country.

Is the educational discount valid for refurbished products?

For example, if you are a student in a country where Apple does not have a store, can you get a discount and how?

If you select the Online Apple Store for your Country, and then at the bottom of the page click on the "Education Store" link - you'll see which options you have.

Some Institutions/Schools/Educations will give you a discount without any documentation - other requires a special log-in to the Apple Store (where you typically get a better discount).

All the above for the online Apple Store - if you can get a discount in a "real" Apple Store in a Country where you don't live, I don't know for sure - but I do know that it is possible in some places of the world, if you just show some School ID.


Changing New Mail Sound in macOS Sierra As of macOS Sierra, assigning a custom sound file in Mail no longer appears possible. All I get is “New Messages Sound” in addition to the old options:

Is there a way to assign a custom Mail sound in macOS Sierra, possibly via editing a plist?

The interesting thing is, I’ve logged into the Guest account, and even though the same option is selected, the sound that plays when a new mail comes in is the sound I had previously under MY user account. But I can’t seem to find where that sound file is assigned.

Add your custom mail sounds to ~/Library/Sounds. Then they’ll show up in the Mail preference pane.


Does archiving already archived messages means deleting them? I am using Mail.app using an imap-account (not Gmail).
Just as it should, the app created an 'Archive' folder where it put all the messages in on which I used the archiving function.
I was browsing this Archive folder when, out of habit, I used the archiving function again on one of the conversations. This caused the conversation to disappear and I cannot find it anywhere: Not in any folder, the trash, anywhere on the imap server or the Mail.app or its cache.

How can this be intended behavior? Is this a known bug (I could not find any mention of this online). Where are my messages?

Update

I contacted Apple support. This turns out to be a known bug. Look out.

I just tried this in a non-Gmail account and the message has vanished! It is in none of my folders, including the trash. You can use Time Machine on Mail to get your messages back. Also, I suggest reporting this bug to Apple http://apple.com/feedback/mail.html

(In Gmail accounts, the message goes away for a few minutes until the next time Mail synchronizes with the server.)


How can I avoid permission-related failures when importing in Photos.app via AppleScript? The new Photos.app does not come with Automator support (although there are third-party actions available). It does, however, have some basic AppleScript support, including support for importing a list of files.

However, I can't get this action to work correctly. Any attempts to use it, such as via the following simple script

tell application "Photos"
    set theList to {"/Full/Path/To/Some/Photo.jpg"}
    import theList
end tell

will cause Photos.app to report that "no metadata" could be retrieved from the file because it may not be a photo (however, the same file can be manually imported). Further investigation reveals that the automated approach is failing due to the lack of permission to read the file.

From the Console.app:

4/11/15 9:07:49.333 AM sandboxd[253]: ([3934]) Photos(3934) deny file-read-data /Full/Path/To/Some/Photo.jpg

(followed by a host of similar error messages). The third-party Automator actions I linked above have the same problem, for what it is worth.

How can I give the appropriate permission to Photos.app or the executing AppleScript/Automation workflow to perform this import? Note that the "permission" appears to be something other than (or in addition to) the usual file permissions, because setting the file and folder to "read/write from by everybody" (the nuclear option) does not change the behavior.

Based on this from an old Applescript Release Notes on sandboxing…

  When sending commands to a sandboxed application, such as TextEdit in OS X Mountain Lion, parameters that refer to files must be of an explicit file-like type and not a bare string, or the target application will not be able to access the file. For example, file "Macintosh HD:Users:me:sample.txt", POSIX file "/Users/me/sample.txt", or the result of choose file would all be acceptable, but the string "/Users/me/sample.txt" would not.

&

  Note: As mentioned under Compatibility above, sandboxed applications will not be able to access files referred to in commands using a string path. Any parameters or properties in your application that refer to files should be declared as type file, and not type text. Apple Event Manager will add sandbox extensions to events that have file-like parameters, but only if the parameter is of a recognized file-like type: typeAlias, typeFileURL, cFile, and so on. Without these extensions, the file will not be accessible from the target application’s sandbox, and the command will probably fail.

It would seem that the 'fix' is to use POSIX file to prevent the sandbox issue

After some hammering at how to make Applescript work with POISIX file of a list, I came up with this…

tweaked

set theList to {"/Volumes/Downloads/ScreenShot.png", "/Volumes/Downloads/ScreenShot2.png", "/Volumes/Downloads/ScreenShot3.png"}
set l to {}
repeat with f in theList
    set l to l & (POSIX file f)
end repeat
tell application "Photos" to import l

It ain't perfect, as every import is a new one, but it works.
Now works in one import.


saving login information on iPhone Is there a good app to store login information to various sites and services on my iPhone?


OSX Mavericks Root User I know it is possible to enable root user and then logging in as the root user. But is it possible to get root access with your admin account in OSX Mavericks?

It is kinda annoying to always type the password whenever you are installing stuff and using the terminal.

Last resort would be to always login as the root user?

sudo asks for the admin password only if you haven't used the command in the last 15 minutes or so. For extended root sessions I usually run sudo -s to create a new shell with root privileges.


Set up a password policy that has a maximum failed login attempts and a reset after a certain period of time I tried using pwpolicy to set this up.  I was able to set up maxFailedLoginAttempts, but setting minutesUntilFailedLoginReset doesn't seem to do anything.  When I query pwpolicy using:

 pwpolicy -n /Local/Default -getglobalpolicy

I keep seeing that minutesUntilFailedLoginReset=0 even though I just set it to 60.  I even tried changing this for one user, and it claims it was changed but when I query the user's policy or the effective policy nothing has changed.

I’m assuming that you’re aware that pwpolicy doesn’t affect Admin accounts (tho it may show you otherwise, leading to believe that it does).

I also asume that you’re running the commands as sudo or at least have tried.

Other than that, I haven’t tried that value myself. As a side (and curious) note the minutesUntilFailedLoginReset is not in the manpage for pwpolicy.

man pwpolicy


How to embed url in new Mail from Mac OS Lion I don't know how this feature is called. Here on stack exchange you can take some text and mark it as a url. The url is embedded below. Example:
Google

Is there an equivalent in Mac OS Lions Mail Client, too? It looks better if you don't see the cluttering url. I searched the menu, but I couldn't find what I am looking for. I hope you got me. :)

Yes, this is possible.

First write the text for the link - then right click on the text, and select "Link->Add Link" - enter the URL, and click "OK" - and you have what you want.


Diff over large subdirectories fails I'm comparing two large directories on two different external FireWire 800 disks using

diff -r /path/to/directory1 /path/to/directory2

The size of the directory (and its subdirectories) on one FireWire disk is 118.2 GB for 30,000 items and 119.56 GB for 30,031 items.

I was surprised about the many differences reported in the output, like

Binary files /path/to/directory1/with/subdirectory/file_xyz and /path/to/directory2/with/subdirectory/file_xyz differ

and started comparing some of them individually. When I compare them with

diff /path/to/directory1/with/subdirectory/with/subdirectory/file_xyz /path/to/directory2/with/subdirectory/with/subdirectory/file_xyz

or even

diff  /path/to/directory1/with/subdirectory/ /path/to/directory2/with/subdirectory/

diff doesn't report any differences between these files or directories.

What could be a reason why the "large comparison" reports so many differences (or seemingly fails), while the smaller chunk comparison doesn't?

Edits since original post:

The version of diff I'm using is GNU diffutils 2.8.1.
Just a wild guess here, but could it have something to do with the fact that these directories are on external hard drives that could experience some sort of timeout?
I ran another comparison and was again presented with lots of differences between those directories. I then set the system preference's Energy Saver to not set the display to sleep for 1 hour, because I had measured with time diff -r /path/to/directory1 /path/to/directory2 that it takes between 45 and 50 minutes for the diff to finish. My hard drives and the Mac never go to sleep.I then unmounted both drives and remounted them. Ran the diff again and voilà no differences found apart from one file. I manually compared that one reported differing file and found it to be identical.This seems to confirm what I found by comparing smaller chunks before. It also seems to confirm that there is something going on with a timeout as previously suspected, but I still wonder that if a FireWire drive would become unavailable or whatever, diff should not report a difference, but rather say "file not available" or "Only in /yada/yada/directory: file_xyz".Interestingly, the diff before the remount took 28 minutes, after the remount it took almost 51 minutes.In the light of that: What can I do to prevent something like that from happening?Of course one could say to never set the display to go to sleep or whatever, but that hardly seems to solve the underlying issue. Something else must be going on, I just can't figure out what.As an aside, on previous other occasions, after some time of inactivity on those FireWire hard drives I was trying to write to a file and got this *error code -50" message (mind you I didn't see any of that during the diff operation). I could always "resolve" the issue by unmounting and remounting the drives, but I believe there must be an entirely different solution to that:Solutions like those presented here hardly seem to be tackling the underlying problem.

For a week I've tested a recommended solution I found at iFixit, when someone encountered an error code -50 on an external HD. It seems to resolve the issue I had. I also came across error code -50 before when I tried copying files across, but didn't immediately link this to my issue of failing diffs. I had the suspicion that some inactivity on the external hard drives was responsible for the failure and the article seems to confirm that. To quote from there for the solution should you run into similar problems:

To work around this error you'll want to go into System Preferences->Energy Saver and for both Battery and Power Adapter tick the box next to "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" on your computer. Yes that means the OS will put all of your drives to sleep when it can but that's the only way I've found to fix the problem.
What seems to happen is that some external drives have firmware which detects inactivity and spins the drives down. If OSX is not configured with the energy saver setting mentioned above then OSX is not expecting the drives to go to sleep. When accessing the drive after it puts itself to sleep obviously something gets messed up and the error -50 is thrown among other problems.
By configuring the OS to put disks to sleep the OS will issue spin-up commands.

The one thing that puzzles or surprises me though is why diff would report actual differences in files, when in fact it couldn't access(?) the file properly.


Does iTerm (or iTerm2) on Mac allow storing host connections with user/password ( for quick access to different hosts) Does iTerm (or iTerm2) for Mac allow storing and quickly-connecting to hosts?
(for Windows, even PuTTY lets us save connections. not clear when it comes to Mac)

Yes and no.
The usual way is to set an ssh entry as a profile in Iterm. Here is an example  for a local NAS.

The no is for the password - iTerm does not provide a way of associating the password with a login. But in practice this is not a problem as you should be using Public Key Authentication
If you are not using PKA then look at use of expect with ssh e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/a/4786000/151019
Note saying "even Putty does this" is a very high bar, Putty is has a lot of functionality.


How to use iCloud as main storage location for all documents, application files, etc? I have an iMac, Macbook Pro and an iPad Pro, but I'm relatively new to the IOS/OSX ecosystem as I've only used these devices for very specific use cases. I'm in the process of making the switch to all Mac. As part of that quest, I signed up for iCloud and I'm paying the monthly subscription for 2TB. Since that amount of storage is greater than the sum of all of my devices, I would like the apps that need to save files somewhere to all save on iCloud. This way I can access those files from any device without having to think about which device the files are on, or having to make sure I sync the files or folder.

Is this possible? Is it even a feasible idea to use the cloud in this way?

What you want to do is possible, assuming your internet connectivity is good on all devices (which I assume it is) and that they’re running a supported version of iOS and macOS.

More specifically, iCloud Drive requires iOS 8.0 or above and Mac OS X Yosemite or above.

If your Macs are running macOS Sierra or above, you’ve also got the option of Optimized Storage. I encourage you to read How to free up storage space on your Mac for detailed information.

I also encourage you to read Manage your photo and video storage to help you understand the best ways of doing this on iOS devices if you’re wanting everything stored online.

And, assuming you’re running iOS 11 or above on your iOS devices, you’ll want to use the Files app. Read Use the Files app on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch for more information.


How can I make a file un-hidden permanently? I have some files that were hidden on a PC. Now they live on my Mac. How can I remove the hidden property on each of these files?

In Terminal defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE, relaunch  Finder. After that you'll see all your hidden files in Finder.

Now type

chflags nohidden

into Terminal and just drag&drop file that you want to unhide on the line. Enter.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE will reverse Finder back to normal.


No audio on FaceTime on iMac (OS 10.13.6) I am not getting any sound on FaceTime.  The picture is fine but audio is neither sent or received.

How would I troubleshoot this on macOS 10.13.6?

If the audio is not sent there is nothing you can do. It sounds like there is no audio on the other end. I have system 10.13.6 and Facetime works fine for me. Call a friend who has Facetime and see if it works. Maybe the sender has the volume turned off. Also check your volume is turned up.


Remove "AM" and "PM" Suffix on screenshots When I take a screenshot I have the default file format as "Screen Shot 2014-05-29 at 4.24.34 pm".
Is there anyway to remove the AM and PM from the end? For what I do it is very annoying to have this sort the screenshots out of order

I'm going to guess no since it's just grabbing the system time but if anyone could help that'd be appreciated.

Open your System Preferences

Language & Region
Check the 24 hr box


Postfix issue on Mac OS X 10.12.6 I'm using Postfix to forward emails from my Mac through smtp.gmail.com.

Following recent security update (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208221) Postfix fails to forward emails with the following errors:

smtp: warning: Digest algorithm "md5" not found
smtp: warning: disabling TLS support
smtp: TLS is required, but our TLS engine is unavailable

Here is a snippet from Postfix main.cf.

relayhost = [smtp.gmail.com]:587
smtp_generic_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/generic
smtp_tls_security_level=encrypt
smtp_sasl_auth_enable=yes
smtp_sasl_password_maps=hash:/etc/postfix/sasl/passwd
smtp_sasl_security_options = noanonymous
smtp_sasl_mechanism_filter = plain

Any ideas how to get this working again?

I also upgraded to High Sierra and that fixed the issue for me. I have been trying for a week to find a solution.


MacBook booting to black screen I am currently unable to boot my Late 2013 MacBook Pro. When I attempt to boot, the backlight comes on, but there is no image on the screen.

When I try to boot into Safe Mode (by holding Shift), Recovery Mode (by holding Command + R), I see neither a backlight nor an image.

I have tried to use every resource available.

I have tried:

Resetting SMC.
Resetting NVRAM.
Safe mode boot (no backlight, black screen).
Recovery mode boot (no backlight, black screen).
Verbose mode (backlight, but no image).
Boot off alternative USB (backlight, but no image to choose device).
Opened the laptop hardware and checked the display cable connection

I was using my laptop one day, closed the lid, and when I opened it, this was this issue.

I do tinker with Linux on an alternate partition, but I didn’t do anything in particular prior to this issue. I thought maybe the boot loader got messed up, but I can’t even boot into recovery mode on the macOS partition.

Can anyone make a conjecture as to the cause, and/or help provide me with some debugging tips?

The fact that the back-light worked, but the display did not indicated the problem was with the display, not the logic board. Furthermore, the fact that I was able to project the display onto an external monitor validated that it was a connection issue between the board and the display.

I ordered a $10 USD LVDS cable, replaced it, and the computer now works :)

part in question:
https://www.amazon.com/Display-Cable-MacBook-Unibody-A1278/dp/B01N2T3CFD


Change name and Application icon when starting via Automator I have a script called gnus:

#!/bin/bash
open -n -a Emacs --args --name Mail --title Mail --no-desktop --no-splash --funcall gnus

which I call via Automator

Run Shell Script - ~/bin/gnus

Now I the name next to the icon in the dock, when the program is running, is still Emacs and thew Emacs icon (as when starting Emacs.app directly.

I would like to have the gnus icon and the name as Gnus as I want to pin it to one specific Desktop.

How can I achieve this?

You could make a copy of the application bundle:

cp -r /Applications/{Emacs,gnus}.app
defaults write /Applications/gnus.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleExecutable gnus
defaults write /Applications/gnus.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleIdentifier my.gnus
echo $'#!/bin/bash\n/Applications/gnus.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs --name Mail --title Mail --no-desktop --no-splash --funcall gnus' > /Applications/gnus.app/Contents/MacOS/gnus
chmod +x /Applications/gnus.app/Contents/MacOS/gnus

I changed the bundle identifier because spaces assignments are per bundle identifier. It also makes the application have a different preferences file.

I don't know how to change the application name.


How to auto paste above return value on command line I am trying to create a very simple script (.command) that
will basically change my mac address.. i do know that the command: openssl rand -hex 6 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//' will return me a random hex digits, now I want that when it will run this line sudo ifconfig en0 ether ## the hash tag will replace the random hex digits that it returned above.

thank you,
mendel

I'm sure this isn't exactly the most elegant way to do this but the following will work:

MAC="$( openssl rand -hex 6 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//' )" && sudo ifconfig en0 ether $MAC

The above is how you could do that in a single command. It makes use of bash's variables. The first part assigns the vairable MAC to the output of your randomisation command then the second part inserts this output where you desire by referencing $MAC. If you're looking to integrate it into a bash script, you can modify it slightly like below; which does exactly the same thing just on multiple lines:

#! /bin/bash

MAC="$( openssl rand -hex 6 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//' )"

sudo ifconfig en0 ether $MAC

Hope that helps!

Kind regards, Tom


Recording System Audio-Out + Built-in Mic While Using Earphones (Notability or other) I've been using Notability to record meetings, as the recording is tied to notes, so finding specific information after the meeting is much easier; however, for online meetings (GoogleHangouts, FaceTime etc), I wear earphones so as to not disturb my coworkers.

Does anyone know of any way I could set things up so that Notability records the signal going out to the earphones, as well as the input from the built-in mic?

Alternatively, if using earphones with a built-in mic would offer a solution, I'd certainly be willing to invest.

This feature is incredibly helpful for staying organized, but I haven't been able to figure out a work-around for these online meetings (& > 50% of my meetings are online...).

Thanks in advance for your time & help!

Audio Hijack, from Rogue Amoeba, does a fantastic job with this. Perhaps a bit overkill for your needs, but it allows you to route audio channels to equalizers, to separate or combined files, etc. It's extremely powerful.

Given your use case though, I think Soundflower (which is free) may be just the ticket. Soundflower creates a virtual audio device that allows you to listen to your audio channel and use it as an input at the same time. (For example, you could record and listen to a radio broadcast at the same time).


How do I close Chats tabs in Skype for Business for Mac? On the Windows Skype for Business client, to the right of each tab there is an X that allows closing the tab so it no longer shows in the list.  I have not been able to find a way to close tabs in the Mac client, despite extensive searching.

(It is possible to re-use exiting tabs when continuing to talk to someone, but if they start a new conversation with you or switch to a different device, it creates a new tab.  After using the client for one day, I have 5 tabs from one co-worker. I'd like to make the old ones go away.)

OS X 10.11.6 / El Capitan and Skype for Business 16.0.3638

I found that clicking the tab once selects the tab and moves the cursor to the chat box. A second click on the tab selects the tab, then you can press the delete key to delete the tab.


App Expose/Application Window Default Shortcut Across Different Versions So I would like to know the default keyboard shortcut for Application Widow/App Expose from OSX from 10.6 - 10.12.

I have read it has changed.

So 10.6 uses the f10 key by default.

10.7 and later use the control + down arrow.


ntpd unable to create socket on en1 I see lots of errors in system.log from ntpd attempts to create ipv6 sockets, running OS X 10.9.1. I have only wireless, so why is the iMac attempting to use en1?

E.g.

unable to create socket on en1 (1065) for 2602:306:bdcd:efd0:48a5:b2a9:1f08:9add#123
davids-imac:log daviderickson$ grep "unable to create socket on en1" system.log | wc -l
     477

davids-imac:log daviderickson$ cat /etc/ntp.conf
server time.apple.com

davids-imac:log daviderickson$ ps -axww | grep ntp
  115 ??         0:00.02 /usr/sbin/ntpd -c /private/etc/ntp-restrict.conf -n -g -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -f /var/db/ntp.drift

davids-imac:log daviderickson$ sudo lsof -n -i UDP:123
Password:
COMMAND PID USER   FD   TYPE             DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
ntpd    115 root   20u  IPv4 0x3447938b9b9ed67f      0t0  UDP *:ntp
ntpd    115 root   21u  IPv6 0x3447938b9b9ed497      0t0  UDP *:ntp
ntpd    115 root   22u  IPv6 0x3447938b9b9ed0c7      0t0  UDP [::1]:ntp
ntpd    115 root   23u  IPv4 0x3447938b9b9ecedf      0t0  UDP 127.0.0.1:ntp
ntpd    115 root   24u  IPv6 0x3447938b9b9eccf7      0t0  UDP [fe80:1::1]:ntp
ntpd    115 root   25u  IPv6 0x3447938b9b9ecb0f      0t0  UDP [fe80:5::8e2d:aaff:fe5e:f9f9]:ntp
ntpd    115 root   26u  IPv4 0x3447938b9b9ec927      0t0  UDP 192.168.1.182:ntp
ntpd    115 root   28u  IPv6 0x3447938b9bba0557      0t0  UDP [2602:306:bdcd:efd0:8e2d:aaff:fe5e:f9f9]:ntp
ntpd    115 root   29u  IPv6 0x3447938b9bba036f      0t0  UDP [2602:306:bdcd:efd0:f51e:bb50:38c4:750c]:ntp

As Tony said, en1 = AirPort on most Macs. To go a bit further NTP(d) is related to your computers time. Have you noticed any issues with time being out of sync or the clock losing track of itself after a restart or start up after being shut down or removed from power?

Have there been any changes to your network recently (a new router or new settings in System Preferences > Network?

There are a few things that could be going on with your system and ntpd is having issues reaching out and might be trying to promote your computer to a layer0 NTP server. Not what it should be doing. Normally the mac in front of our noses is down a few layers so see if you notice any time issues. If the issue remains delete the ntp.conf and reinstall your OS. If issue remains after reinstall then your RTC which is part of the logic board is bad and needs to be replaced.

Best of luck!


MacBook Pro won't power on after SMC reset Some water was spilled on the table and came in contact with my wife's Mid 2009 MacBook Pro near the MagSafe adapter causing the MBP to shut itself off. Based on some recommendations from the internet, my wife put the MBP in a bag of rice over night to extract the water. Note: I would be careful so as to ensure rice doesn't end up in any ports or crevices.

In the morning, the MBP powered on, but it displayed "Not Charging" when I plugged in the power adapter. I tried two different power adapters to make sure that wasn't the problem. I also confirmed that both power adapters worked on my Early 2011 MacBook Pro.

Based on various threads, it seemed reasonable to reset so the SMC, so I followed Apple's instructions to reset the SMC. Here are the instructions that I followed:

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.

However on step 5, when I pressed the power button to turn on the MBP, it didn't do anything. No lights, no noise, nothing. At that point I noticed that the MagSafe connector wasn't properly seated—the back portion of the connector wasn't in place but portion closest to the front of the MBP may have been making electrical connection.

Could reseting the SMC while the power adapter is partially connected have caused the MBP to be bricked?
Thoughts on root causes of the problem?
Thoughts on solutions?

I have already scheduled an appointment with the Apple Store, so I'll about this when I have more information.

Your problem is likely a hardware problem, and is probably a short. Unless you disassembled the computer before using the rice method, it probably didn't help and you just ended up with a bunch of rice in the trash can. Also (and this is general advice for everyone), the first thing you should do in a situation like this is IMMEDIATELY disconnect all power to the computer, including removing the battery. Failure to do this will keep power going to the machine and dramatically increase the likelihood of a short.

Hardware failures do not necessarily happen all at once, and may not show up for a day or more. It sounds like this is what has probably happened to you. At the risk of being the bearer of more bad news by adding insult to injury, this type of damage also is not covered by Apple Care. Sorry you have to deal with this; best of luck to you in getting your machine back in order!


How to choose personal credit card instead of family credit card for app purchase? I have an Apple account and I'm on a share plan with my family, as we share Apple Music. I want to make app purchases, but I want to buy apps on my own, with my own credit card.

Is this possible? Or do I need 2 devices with 2 separate Apple IDs?

If Purchase Sharing is enabled in the Family Sharing options, it will indeed charge the organizer when a family member makes a purchase. If Purchase Sharing is disabled, each account will be charged for their own purchases. I understand initially they were bundled together but it’s now possible to enable Family Sharing without sharing purchases.


Seemingly random CPU throttling My 2018 macbook pro with i9 processor running Catalina version 10.15.6 seems to randomly throttle the CPU frequency even with low CPU utilization and lowish temperatures:

I am using a docking station to connect to two external monitors and received hard wired ethernet. Additionally, I'm suppling power via the default usb c apple charger. I read in some places that this throttling could maybe with a bad power source, so I connected the default charger.
Any insight here? I updated to Catalina recently, but the problem existed before the update and has happened after as well. Does it have to do with my docking station? Hardware problem? The frequency throttling seems to happen even after I unplug the docking station, but I never really use my computer enough without the docker station to notice if it happens during normal use.
Here's output of pmset -g thermlog

Any insight here?

You're unfortunately dealing with a long standing problem Apple has had with trying to jam a Core i9 CPU into a form factor that is inherently and notoriously bad with respect to thermal design.
Here's just a short list of articles addressing this issue.

Benchmark test shows Core i9 severely throttled in 15-inch MacBook Pro
It's not limited to Apple:  It’s Time to Call Out Laptop Manufacturers for Their Bulls**t CPU Throttling
About that MacBook Pro Core i9 throttling story (updated)
YouTube Video:  Thermal Throttling on Your Mac
Apple claims it a software bug and releases patch

A pragmatist perspective...
Apple claims to have issued a software patch.  It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for Apple to break things again with a macOS update.  How many times has an update broken something like WiFi only to be fixed in the subsequent release?
Even with a software patch, you can't get around physics.  IMO, there's an unreasonable expectation when it comes to MacBook Pro computers: users want them to be razor thin, completely silent, and über powerful.  Unfortunately, physics has a bad habit of crashing the party.
If you want all the power of a high end CPU and GPU then you have to deal with the heat it generates.  Dealing with heat means cooling - proper heat sinks and fans.  That alone has a balance you must strike - if you want proper cooling but have something be very quiet, you need larger heat sinks.  If you want something razor thin, thereby limiting the size of the heat sink, you need a fan which inherently makes noise.  So, if the market is demanding a razor thin, silent laptop with an i9 processor and GPU, then the trade off will be thermal throttling.
So, to answer your question, it's a design problem with that form factor and it's not limited to your MacBook Pro - other manufacturers are dealing with this issue.
From a personal perspective, I wouldn't get a MacBook with an i7 or i9 processor because it just doesn't have the size heat sink required to efficiently dissapate heat.  The fans are also to anemic to efficiently cool things down.  This means it has to throttle to limit heat which means you're not getting the CPU you paid for.  To put it another way, I would rather have an i5 that can run at 100% with no throttling than an i7 or i9 that can only run at 50-75% because of throttling.


How do I play a YouTube video in the background on my iPad? I like to 'listen' to YouTube video in the background while I am surfing on my desktop. However, I cannot do this on the iPad as, as soon as I switch from YouTube video to the browser, the video pauses. Is there a solution for this either in the form of an app or a website?

Try the following steps :

1: Start the video from YouTube whilst in Safari.

2: Hit Home key once. You'll exit Safari and playback will stop.

3: Double-tap Home key to bring up the app-switcher. Slide to the right to bring up background audio controls. The icon on the right side will show whichever program you last used with background audio: Safari.

4: Press Play. Youtube audio will resume playback.


Mac Mini 2013 and Samsung UE32F4000 32 inches tv resolution problem i'm trying to connect using hdmi cable my new mac mini and my new samsung 32 inches tv.

My problem is that i can't find the right configuration on mac and on tv to achive the correct resolution.

If i set from Preference Panel->Monitor->Adapt to screen ( Tv auto size resolution to 1366x768 @60Hz), the resolution is good but element inside the screen are very big as shown in the screenshot belove

If i set resolution to scale->1080p ( Tv auto size resolution to 1920x1
080 / 60p ), elements are with right dimension but everything is shown bad, as shown in image belove:

How can i solve in order to see dimension like in image 1 but resolution like image 1?

Please help me!!!!

Your TV has native resolution 1366x768 on 32", so it si normal it all looks big. This resolution is used on notebooks with 11-15" screens with elements size purposed for these small displays.

When you enforce full HD (1920x1080), your TV will recalculate received data from your computer (1920x1080) to native resolution (1366x768), so elements retain their size as for full HD, but look bad (they are not native, just calculated, reduced for less resolution).  Although it is not visible on your screenshot, but I believe that view is wrong.

Use smaller display with 1366x768, or native full HD display (will be still too big on 32", i think).


How can I always allow TouchID to unlock MacBook? Sometimes, my MacBook Pro (2016, 13", macOS Sierra 10.12.6) would not let me unlock it with TouchID, saying "password is required to use TouchID".

Is there any way I could always allow TouchID to unlock my MacBook?

No there isn't - at least not yet.

The Touch ID rules for macOS dictate that each time you boot up or restart, or if you log out, you need to type your password to log back into your user account.

In other words, once you're already logged in, you can use Touch ID when prompted for your password.


Recovery mode not loading on MacBook (Late 2008) For some reason, I'm not able to load recovery mode utilities on my late 2008 MacBook (running Mavericks).

I've referenced the technical steps here but none of the startup keyboard sequences appear to work.  I've tried:

CommandR
CommandOptionR
CommandOptionShiftR

In all cases, I just get taken to the ordinary desktop login screen.  Am I missing something? I'm not a mac user so I'll be the first to admit that it could be user error on my part...

My ultimate goal is to reinstall macOS, and as this is a 9 year old system, I can't find the original OS CD.

There are a couple of options, the first would be to buy a new copy of macOS 10.6 Snow Leopard from Apple: https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Alternatively you can use this Mac or another to download a copy of Mavricks via the App Store, which can be used to create a USB bootable macOS Installer, there are instructions here as they are quite long: https://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install-drive.html

The main consideration however is that if you never downloaded macOS Mavericks on your App Store account you will not be able to download it in order to create the bootable USB, and will need to ask around friends.


PL/SQL Mac compiler or Mac OS X compatible softwares How can I run PL/SQL in Mac OS X Lion. I couldn't find any compatible application for mac to run PL/SQL. Please give some suggestion.

I've used RazorSQL in the past for MSSQL/MySql/Postgres connectivity, but not for Oracle.  It's a good product for the price (if you consider how much Toad costs, but is not as feature rich)


MBP 13" 2016 fast power discharge, no apps using significant battery I have a relatively new MBP 13" 2016 which used to use discharge at 5 - 10 watts without any intensive apps. Today, while unplugged, I noticed my battery discharging at 15 - 20 watts despite closing every app, turning off wifi, and disabling time machine, reducing brightness to medium.

Is there any better way to see what's using energy so consistently? I've tried Activity Monitor and looking at energy impact, but closing every relevant app which spikes energy usage seems to have no affect

Any ideas what could cause it, or how I could fix?

Below are some results from my activity monitor

From the results of your activity monitor screenshots, it is clear that the bash (shell) program ITerm2 is what is killing your battery. We can see this from the average energy impact of 66.25 and the CPU usage of 67%. This means the program is using over 25% of your Mac's CPU (2x CPUs = 200% total).

If you did not start this program, you should (force) quit it. The fact that it has been running over 1 day (25:42:52 CPU Time), and the fact that the problem just showed up today indicates that it is the source of the drain. Perhaps something has gone wrong and it is stuck in a loop.


How to make Mou.app maintain PDF vector images on “export to PDF”? Did OS X change the way it saves to PDF recently?

I like to write letters in Mou.app (my favourite Markdown editor). I love the combination of Markdown, CSS and PDFs for desktop publishing.

My letter template includes a PDF logo in the header area:

---

December 11th, 2013

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer scelerisque tristique placerat. Aliquam et purus viverra, aliquam felis a, aliquet urna. Mauris feugiat, nibh sed scelerisque varius, quam nisi aliquet lacus, non mollis nibh risus in mauris. Phasellus posuere libero in arcu consequat fringilla. Aliquam nulla eros, sodales nec neque ut, ultricies pulvinar sapien. Quisque vulputate nec mauris id iaculis. Donec tempus augue in libero mollis pharetra. Pellentesque tincidunt urna posuere, placerat eros vel, varius felis. Nulla elit lectus, tempus a sagittis vel, imperdiet eu tellus. Cras eget quam nisi. Integer ullamcorper posuere velit ut ultrices. Suspendisse luctus rhoncus aliquet. Sed tristique vel quam at tempus.

Etiam cursus massa nec ligula ultrices, vitae aliquet mi pretium. Phasellus vitae pharetra odio. Sed eget elit sit amet ligula tincidunt rutrum. Nulla commodo orci ornare, viverra enim a, vehicula nisl. Vivamus est quam, molestie posuere rhoncus a, tempus vel dui. Vestibulum posuere, magna non sagittis ultricies, enim nibh vehicula leo, sit amet suscipit elit elit at nisi. Pellentesque quis urna felis.

Yours sincerely/ faithfully,

**Signature**

The PDF logo is a vector image. In the past when I have exported to PDF from Mou.app, the final PDF maintains the vector logo. Today when I tried, it now turns the vector logo into a bitmap, which makes the new PDF look really poor and ruins any prints that are made from it.

I don't think Mou.app is at fault as it hasn't been updated for a while and I was successfully making vector logo PDFs after Sept, 2013. Also, I get the same problem in Marked.app. This is why I suspect OS X Mavericks. Any thoughts?

I found a fix of sorts. Using a high resolution TIFF in place of the PDF logo improved the final PDF quality. Tried high-res PNGs, but the results weren't as good as a TIFF.


How to display USA content on my AppleTV while I'm in Mexico using hotel wifi? How can I display USA content on my Apple TV while I'm in Mexico using a hotel's wifi?

(I've been told that AppleTV may only show Mexican content while I'm in Mexico.)

Try Unlocator. It is a service to make it look like you are somewhere other than where you are. They have a seven-day trial so you can see if it does what you need. I'm not affiliated with the company, just a satisfied customer.


Add a value to CustomPapers' plist using Terminal I'm trying to add a printer to CustomPapers' .plist using this terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.print.custompapers.plist 165x165 -dict-add <bottom>0</bottom><custom>1</custom><height>467.71653555</height><id>'165x165'</id><left>0</left><name>'165x165'</name><printer> </printer><right>0</right><top>0</top><width>467.71653555</width>

Please can someone suggest where I've gone wrong with this and if a dictionary item exists with the key "165x165" that it should not add the item.

You have to quote the value, remove -dict-add, and use for example <key>name</key><string>165x165</string> instead of <name>165x165</name>:

defaults write com.apple.print.custompapers 165x165 '<dict><key>bottom</key><real>0</real><key>custom</key><true/><key>height</key><real>467.71653555</real><key>id</key><string>165x165</string><key>left</key><real>0</real><key>name</key><string>165x165</string><key>printer</key><string> </string><key>right</key><real>0</real><key>top</key><real>0</real><key>width</key><real>467.71653555</real></dict>'

This checks if the key exists:

if defaults read com.apple.print.custompapers 165x165 &> /dev/null; then echo 'the key exists'; fi


I can't re-attach my thunderbolt display stand I have removed the stand from my Thunderbolt monitor to place a touch overlay device on the sceen (needed to lay the screen flat facing up to attach the overlay)

Now I am trying to re-attach the stand and the flange that holds the torx screws has gone back inside the monitor. It seems to be locked in the "closed" position at this point.

I can release the latch at the top with a credit card but the flange doesn't come back out. I can't figure out how to get the flange that the torx screws screw into exposed again so I can re-attach the stand.

Any help? I see several other people with this question on the web but no answers. It seems the flange locks in two positions "open" which exposes the screw holes and "closed" where mine is stuck now.

Thanks

I just experienced this and I had a heck of a time finding anything online about it, so I thought I would answer.

The flange probably isn't properly stuck, it's just very, very highly tensioned. I threaded two relatively thick pieces of twine through two of the torx screw holes. I then actuated the release mechanism and pulled really hard on the twine. Like, really hard, harder than you probably imagine it should need. The twine broke when I only had one piece threaded.

This should be sufficient. Once you get it out, it should lock back in place and you can continue as normal


Copy text from quick look in El Capitan or Sierra? I used to be able to just quicklook files and copy the text directly from there, removing the need to launch applications to open it which is just awesome, however, it doesn't seem to work since El Capitan. I have tried running the terminal command (defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool TRUE) that enables it but it didn't work.

What options exist to customize quick look or replace the default plug in with one that allows text selection?

It's not that the defaults write command fails. I verified the file,
  and it wrote the variable to it. The problem is somewhere in the
  design. Maybe they have moved it? I have been looking in the
  containers and other files but no luck yet. I hope they didn't
  completely kill it. Maybe there is a way to copy the old Yosemite
  version of QL back? If I figure it out, I will update here.
  https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7250702

TRUE - YES or 1 have the same effect, so, there is no problem on this side.
The option is no longer available on Onyx or TinkerTools too :

Conclusion :

Actually there is no solution to get back the text edit feature on Quick Look.

Following this Apple Thread is the last way to keep hope

It is worth noting that you can copy from spotlight for certain files, as discovered here. Not a great workaround but still allows copying without opening a file. The supported file types are the following:

.doc/.docx/.pps/.ppt/.pptx/.xls/.xlsx (also scrollable)
.rtf including text-based .rtfd
.numbers '09 v2.3, keynote '09 v5.3
.odt
all text based documents, including source code, xml, plists, and .command files
compatible image types


Enable screensharing via SSH and setting password I am trying to enable VNC (Screen Sharing) on my Mac running OS X Yosemite
I have been able to run this command sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.screensharing.plist (source) to turn VNC on.

The only issue running this command is, it sets a password automatically, in which I do not know what it is, I have to fix it by logging in physically to the computer.

Is there a way how I can enable VNC via SSH and setting the password as the users password?

If you need to set a VNC password - you might need to also kickstart the ARDAgent, you can use this command instead of just loading the plist:

sudo  /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -clientopts -setvnclegacy -vnclegacy yes -clientopts -setvncpw -vncpw mypasswd -restart -agent -privs -all

The analogous command for using user/password of existing users would be:

sudo  /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -configure -allowAccessFor -allUsers -configure -restart -agent -privs -all

More detail and discussion at:

How to enable OS X screen sharing (VNC) through SSH?


How to find the list of icons that can be used in mac cli applications I'm currently developing a node cli application and having used npm tools, my interest has been piqued by the use of npm-check and its use of icons in its cli interface. eg:

There must be plenty of other icons apart from the heart illustrated, but I'd like to know how to access them, so I can use in my own cli applications.

I'm currently using macos, but hopefully these icons are platform independent(?)

The list of icons is static and not likely to change. This is not a request for recommendation, it a request for factual information. There must be a list of icons that the terminal can use. I am trying t find out what this is.

The Terminal available in macOS is capable of displaying the Unicode encoded Emoji that are available on the system.

You can see a great list of these over at Emojipedia. While these are noted as being from iOS, generally Apple keeps the supported version of Unicode in sync between iOS and macOS.

I also found some great information about working with Emoji on macOS on NSHipster written by Mattt.


What's the cause of GPU panics on macbook pro mid 2010? I've had quite a lot of GPU panics lately, and after asking about it here and in other places, people told me that it is a problem with many macbooks from mid 2010. I've also heard that this happens when the mac switches from the internal GPU to the external, so I unchecked the 'automatic graphics switching" box in my energy settings. Still, the problem remains.

What I find so annoying is that the crashes are so unpredictable. I'm often using my mac for hours at a time, doing quite a bit of GPU intensive stuff like watching HD video. Because of my visual impairment, I'm also using the zoom feature, which I imagine also uses the GPU. But I can't see any pattern in it. What exactly triggers these problems, and are there ways to avoid crashes?

Suggested problem tracing /and repair) steps (after each test the performances).

Some applications will force use the Nvidia card (without automatic switching).

Yes the ZOOM feature adds stress to the GPU.

Vacuum clean the inside of your Mac to improve cooling.
Google and Install gfxCardStatus, Leave on Dynamic Switching. From there it will Monitor and Alert you to what apps switch you to the Nvidia Graphic Card.
Also open the Activity monitor - Energy tab, where you can see when the Nvida card kicks in, and does it switch on/off irregularly.
Monitor your Console log for irregular (fast)GPU switching.
Do some hardware testing:

  GpuTest is a cross-platform (Windows, Linux and Max OS X) GPU stress
  test and OpenGL benchmark. GpuTest comes with several GPU tests
  including some popular ones from Windows'world (FurMark or TessMark).

worst case remove the Nvidia card, and go without it.


New emojis don't show on Mac, only on iPhone The new emojis don't appear as a valid character. They appear as a rectangle in Messages on my Mac. On the iPhone I can see the emoji fine.

My software is 10.10.5. How can I download the new emojis on mac?

This Emoji appears on my phone but not on my Mac:

You need Mac OS X 10.11.1 (El Capitan) on your Mac to see the new emojis.


How do I change my display settings if I can't see my screen? I have a macbook in clamshell mode that's plugged into an HDTV for display output.  Yesterday, I changed my display settings via the System Preferences.  However, I inadvertently picked a setting that is not supported by my screen, and now I can't figure out how to undo the change.  The screen is blank.

I can open my laptop and go to dual-screen mode and change the settings there, but as soon as I switch back to clamshell mode the system picks the broken display settings again.

Try to to go /Library/Preferences/ and search for com.apple.windowserver.plist. It's the file that gets updated when you modify the display in System Preferences (I just tried).

According to this Apple KB, it's safe to delete it. So move it on your desktop and try to reboot.


MacOS Sierra Launch Daemon won't start VPN service before login prompt I'm trying to get a new MacBook Pro running the latest version of Sierra to connect to my corporate VPN before the login screen. My machine is connected via Ethernet so I don't have to try and start Wi-Fi service prior to login. My command line script to connect to the VPN works fine in terminal. I know the file needs to be placed in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ but I'm not sure how to make sure it's processing before getting to the login screen. I'm new to writing plist files, so any help would be appreciated!

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
    "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
    <plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.vpn_at_boot</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>sh</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>sudo /usr/local/Cellar/sstp-client/1.0.11_1/sbin/sstpc vpn-hidden.hidden.com --user <hidden> --password <hidden> --log-stderr --cert-warn require-mschap-v2 noauth refuse-eap noccp</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>

Your plist contains major errors and minor glitches. The proper plist - including stderr and stdout - looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.vpn_at_boot</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/sh</string>
        <string>-c</string>
        <string>/usr/local/sbin/sstpc vpn-redacted.redacted.com --user redacted --password redacted --log-stderr --cert-warn require-mschap-v2 noauth refuse-eap noccp</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.vpn_at_boot.err</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.vpn_at_boot.out</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Replace redacted with the proper domain name, user and password in your plist.

Your plist misses important tags (e.g. </dict> and </plist>). It contains unnecessary stuff like sudo. The sstp-client may be updated later, so use its link in /usr/local/sbin. I also recommend to add /usr/local/sbin to /etc/paths.

The plist permissions have to look like this:

-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  - 682 Jun  9 13:38 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vpn_at_boot.plist

After running the daemon successfully (i.e. without errors) you may remove the keys StandardErrorPath and StandardOutPath and their corresponding strings in the plist.


Am I able to partition my internal SSD safely without loss of data? I'm new to the Mac. I am wondering if it's safely guaranteed that I can make a small partition on my active internal hard drive that already contains data and apps, and then delete said partition (later on) so that the drive resorts back to its original size. Without any of the content/data affected. Is this commonplace or are there any safeguards I should put in place (other than backing up the SSD, of course)? Is there a difference based on the file system?

The partition format could be:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Apple File System APFS

MS-DOS or Ex-fat

I am wondering if it's safely guaranteed

No.  Period.

Nothing is "safely guaranteed." Generally speaking (as at the time of this answer your question is lacking in detail), you can (re)partition without corruption of your data.  That's not to say the process is infallible.  Problems happen, mistakes can be made.  This is why is so important to have a backup of your data.


Macbook Pro Booting Issue I have a Macbook Pro 15" Retina Mid 2014.
Off late, whenever i put my mac to sleep and when i try to wake it up, it doesnt! I need restart it, but then it takes lot of time and just hangs at the end with the Apple logo and the status bar as complete!
I then have to restart with Command+Option+p+r and then wait for 2 beeps and then finally it starts!
Any advise to sort this out would be really helpful!

If the above don't work, which I imagine resetting the NVRAM won't since that's what you do each time, you can try the following:

Your Mac might be in Safe Sleep. To wake from Safe Sleep, connect
your Mac to its power adapter and press the power button. Make sure
that your Mac isn't turned off. If your MacBook Pro still won't wake
up, follow these steps to turn off Power Nap:
Press and hold the power button to turn off your Mac. Wait a few
seconds, then press the power button again to turn your Mac back on.

After your Mac starts up, choose Apple logo in top-left corner > System Preferences,
then click Energy Saver. Click the Battery tab and deselect Enable
Power Nap while on battery power. Click the Power Adapter tab and
deselect Enable Power Nap while plugged into a power adapter.


Verifying third party apps doesn't do anything When I get a third party app it says it needs to be verified before I can use it but when I go to settings to verify I tap verify and nothing happens. Is there something I can do so I don’t have to constantly reinstall my apps?

It sounds like you're trying to run illegal copies of apps (or more precisely - enterprise signed apps when the membership of the enterprise isn't at all what Apple intended).

Tapping Verify like you do is the correct way to verify apps and will check / log information that Apple uses presumably to decide to contact that Enterprise if they are indeed in violation of their agreement with Apple.

If nothing happens, it's almost certainly due to Apple revoking the developer certificate because it's been used to distribute apps illegally or without a license or with a certificate issued for other purposes.


Issues with files and folders with names containing umlauts I have just noticed some issues browsing my external music collection using Finder, certain artists folders were missing.

Going to iTerm and lsing the folder I got this as the initial report:

ls Music
ls: Maná: No such file or directory
ls: Márta Sebestyén: No such file or directory
ls: Motörhead: No such file or directory
ls: Zoë Keating: No such file or directory

Note that the artists names use umlauts and Double acute accents.

This is a folder on a NAS box (ReadyNAS 204) via smb, I also have back up of the NAS running Ubuntu access via CIFS.

Using Finder on OS X El Capitan neither the NAS or backup show these folders. However using Yosemite I can see the Artists folder but the albums are missing.

Logging in directly to the boxes all files appear to be intact and SONOS can still play them!

Has some thing changed in OS X, I used max to rip these from CD's (Snow Leopard) so I had to be able to handle the files at some point ‽

NB: ‽ is an interrobang

Update with a little more info

Using rsync from the Mac to copy music on to USB (OS X Extended format) drive I see things like:

rsync -av --iconv=utf8-mac,utf8 /Volumes/share/Music/ /Volumes/usbdisk/Music/

file has vanished: "/Volumes/share/Music/.../Márta Sebestyén"
file has vanished: "/Volumes/share/Music/.../Maná"
file has vanished: "/Volumes/share/Music/.../Zoë Keating"
file has vanished: "/Volumes/share/Music/.../Rammstein-2005-Rosenrot-07-Zerstören.flac"

ssh'ing on to Ubuntu server and using convmv as described here:

cd /mnt/Music
convmv -r -f ISO-8859-1 -t UTF-8 .

It returns :

Starting a dry run without changes...
Skipping, already UTF-8: ./Márta Sebestyén
Skipping, already UTF-8: ./Maná
Skipping, already UTF-8: ./Michael Bublé
Skipping, already UTF-8: ./Zoë Keating
Skipping, already UTF-8: ./Rammstein/1999-Live aus Berlin/Rammstein-1999-Live aus Berlin-10-Bück dich.flac
Skipping, already UTF-8: ./Rammstein/1999-Live aus Berlin/Rammstein-1999-Live aus Berlin-03-Weißes Fleisch.flac
No changes to your files done. Use --notest to finally rename the files.

It looks like the main files having issues are already utf-8 but note the file "Rammstein-2005-Rosenrot-07-Zerstören.flac" that rsync had issue with is not listed in the above report.

I also used brew to install the latest vesion of rsync 3+ rather than the 2.6 version that is used be default.

brew tap homebrew/dupes
brew install rsync

And then edit /private/etc/paths to put /usr/local/bin before /usr/bin

Trying out AFP

Enabling AFP on Ready NAS (OS 6.4.2), well this was a little freaky for me. Structure is Artist/Album/Tracks.flac. Artists are there, album was there, expand the album to see tracks the Artists folder disappeared.

ReadyNAS smb.conf

[global]
 dos charset = CP1252
 unix charset = UTF-8

Related Info

Folders not showing up in Finder?
CIFS & MAC problems with special characters in folder names
.

macOS and Linux use different UTF-8 styles. convmv can convert between those two with the options --nfc / --nfd. On your linux based NAS do this:

convmv -r -f UTF-8 -t UTF-8 --nfc  .

From the convmv man page:

  HFS+ on OS X / Darwin
  Linux and (most?) other Unix-like operating systems use the so called normalization form C (NFC) for its UTF-8 encoding by default but do not enforce this. HFS+ on the Macintosh OS enforces normalization form D (NFD), where a few characters are encoded in a different way. On OS X it's not possible to create NFC UTF-8 filenames because this is prevented at filesystem layer. On HFS+ filenames are internally stored in UTF-16 and when converted back to UTF-8 (because the Unix based OS can't deal with UTF-16 directly), NFD is created for whatever reason. See http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1173.html for defails. I think it was a very bad idea and breaks many things under OS X which expect a normal POSIX conforming system. Anywhere else convmv is able to convert files from NFC to NFD or vice versa which makes interoperability with such systems a lot easier.

Btw: This only happens when you transfer your files from a HFS+ partition. APFS doesn't enforce NFD anymore.


What are the best WBS and Gantt chart tool working cross platform? I am searching for the good tools for creating Work Breakdown Structure and Gantt Chart that work cross platform because other people in my team use Window. So, this forces me to find cross platform tools.

What have found so far are :

OpenProj : I have used it. The behavior is so quirky that why I gave up.

GanttProject : Cool tool! It can be used to create Gantt along with PERT chart. However, it cannot generate WBS chart.

I have searched a lot and I didn't find the one that I love.

Could you please share your great tools that you are using along with advantages and disadvantages?

http://teamgantt.com … used by Oracle, Twitter, Sony. You will have to call whether their features are close enough to a WBS to be acceptable.
Allows for CSV file import (a file format exported by MS Project).


Click and Type Applecript code not working I am making a service in Automator that runs the following AppleScript code:

on run {input, parameters}

    tell application "System Events"
        click at {393, 77}
        delay 0.1
        keystroke "Hello"
        delay 0.1
        keystroke return
    end tell
    return input

end run

If you couldn't tell, I'm trying to click on something and type "Hello" there. However, when I run this, all that happens is I hear the "plunk" sound when you do something invalid, twice. Why isn't this code working?

The log does say "Run AppleScript completed" and then "Workflow completed."

I have it set to run with no input on any application.

I tried increasing the delays, but that didn't help.

Let me know if there's any more details I can provide.

I would suggest downloading AppleScript toolbox scripting addition.  Once installed in the proper locations, in Script Editor.app, , you will be able to use commands from the key and mouse suite from the AppleScript toolbox dictionary to…get, set, and click at mouse locations (coordinates)

Here is some sample code using commands from the AppleScript toolbox dictionary

EXAMPLE 1

set mousePointLocation1 to {745, 110} -- The Collapsed Menu
set mousePointLocation2 to {780, 340} -- TV Link In The Menu
set mousePointLocation3 to {885, 180} -- Apple TV 4K Icon

delay 1 -- For Demonstration Purposes
activate application "Safari"
delay 1 -- For Demonstration Purposes

AST click at mousePointLocation1 ¬
    number of clicks 1

delay 1 -- For Demonstration Purposes

AST click at mousePointLocation2 ¬
    number of clicks 1

delay 1 -- For Demonstration Purposes

AST click at mousePointLocation3 ¬
    number of clicks 1

EXAMPLE 2

-- For Demonstration Purposes
-- Gives Me Time To Put The Mouse Where I Want
delay 3

-- Gets Coordinates Of The Current Mouse Location
set currentMouseLocation to AST mouse point location

-- Mouse Click At Defined Location
AST click at currentMouseLocation ¬
    number of clicks 2 -- How Many Clicks

EXAMPLE 3

set mousePointLocation to {20.0, 20.0}

delay 1 -- For Demonstration Purposes

AST set mouse point location mousePointLocation ¬
    without holding mouse down

delay 1 -- For Demonstration Purposes

AST click at mousePointLocation ¬
    number of clicks 1


Voice controlled timer on macOS Siri can't set a timer on macOS, is there an app that can set up a timer using voice on macOS?

The answer that is good enough for my use case is Firefox Voice:

Firefox Voice is an experiment in a voice-controlled web user agent

It comes from Mozilla which I trust not to misuse my data and allows me to easily set a timer in DuckDuckGo.


Software to draw on the trackpad I am asking about a software to draw figures and diagrams using the trackpad. I am already aware of Inklet, which works only in conjunction with other software like photoshop. I need another free stand-alone software that does not need other programs pre-installed.

Notability is pretty optimized for the trackpad. Works well if you have an iPad stylus and use it on the trackpad too. Not to mention, iCloud sync and iOS apps to go along with it. Check it out if you haven't had a chance.

If that's not what you're looking for, then maybe Pixelmator is more your cup of tea. It is fully optimized for the Mac as well.

To be honest, when you say "fully optimized for the trackpad," I think you'll find that there isn't much for that. The trackpad is great for a lot of things, but it certainly ain't no Wacom Bamboo tablet. In other words, it may be necessary to understand that the trackpad isn't specifically built for "drawing objects and shapes," although a Wacom tablet is. The programs listed above will certainly get you the desired results without much trouble.

One other thought... If you have an iPad, there are a slew of apps that will allow you to use your iPad as a mouse or a pseudo-trackpad. It may be worth while stopping by your local electronics store, picking up a $10 stylus for an iPad, and using that for drawing instead of the trackpad itself. One example of these apps is Rowmote. I've used it myself for a few years and love it.

Hope all this helps!


Mapping complex key combination to Volume Down/Up in Karabiner Trying to create a mapping from my "Hyper" key to volume down and up and I'm not sure how to capture the complex binding in my Karabiner xml file.

I want to map:
   Command_L+Option_L+Shift_L+Control_L+Bracket_Left to Volumn_Down
   Command_L+Option_L+Shift_L+Control_L+Bracket_Right to Volumn_Up

This is not working, I think because I am not sure how to capture the combination I want to map from:

<item>
    <name>Hyper Bracket Volume Control</name>
    <appendix>Hyper+[ and Hyper+] Volumn Down/Up</appendix>
    <identifier>volume.hyper</identifier>
    <autogen>
        __KeyToKey__
        KeyCode::COMMAND_L, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT,
        KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_DOWN
    </autogen>
    <autogen>
        __KeyToKey__
        KeyCode::COMMAND_L, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT,
        KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_UP
    </autogen>
</item>

You have three key codes in each definition and you use one modifier key (COMMAND_L) as a key code - which won't work as expected. Instead the following will be executed hitting Shift_LAlt_LCtrl_L+Cmd_L (you have to use the Command_L key as a normal key):

A left bracket will be written to a text field

and

Volume down (one level)

The second part of your command (Volume up) will be skipped completely because the key code is essentially the same as the first one and thus already in use:

KeyCode::COMMAND_L, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,

If you hit and hold the Command_L key first and then hit and hold all other modifier keys and one of the brackets nothing will happen at all because Command_L needs a key down and up to be executed in your current configuration!

So use the following snippet instead:

<item>
    <name>Hyper Bracket Volume Control</name>
    <appendix>Hyper+[ and Hyper+] Volumn Down/Up</appendix>
    <identifier>volume.hyper</identifier>
    <autogen>
        __KeyToKey__
        KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L | ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,
        KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_DOWN
    </autogen>
    <autogen>
        __KeyToKey__
        KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L | ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,
        KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_UP
    </autogen>
</item>


How to distinguish multiple OS X installations from each other in the bootloader? I read with interest this post about setting up a flash drive with multiple OS X installers.  It confirms what I've suspected by my tests with just one OS (Lion).

However, a question occurred to me:
How do you avoid multiple instances of "Mac OS X" appearing as possible boot choices?  In other words, how do you know which one is which?

EDIT:  I am referring to the situation when booting with the "Option" key held down, showing all available boot sources.

Does the boot loader distinguish between them somehow?
If not, can I (safely) rename the string in the "SystemVersion.plist" file on each partition?

Get a 16gb or 32gb usb stick
Partition it with GPT (to have EFI partition on it) if you trying to install os x on non apple hardware = hackintosh use MBR and manually add an EFI partition (EFI specification says it can live with mbr as well)
restore InstallESD.dmg with Disk Utility to a partition for each Installer Image you wish. Just make sure your partitions have at least 5gb space.

Your partition table on your USB stick could look like this

/dev/diskX1 - EFI

/dev/diskX2 - Osx Lion

/dev/diskX3 - Osx Mountain Lion

/dev/diskX4 - Osx Snow Leopard

/dev/diskX5 - Osx Whatever

install rEFIt on the usb sticks EFI Partiotion to have a boot loader. EFI Partitions are 200mb, named EFI, filesystem type is FAT to check if you got one on your usb stick enter in terminal
diskutil list and look for EFI in the lists, shoud be '/dev/diskX*s1*' since it's the first partition on GPT based tables

if trying to use install OS x on non Apple Hardware (==osx86) use Clover V2 instead of Refit. Put your Usb into your computer and boot from it. If you don't see a boot menu on Mac after installing refit - read the readme file and bless the disk from terminal.

Be happy with your uber usb installer


2010 15" MacBook Pro unable to recognize internal display, works fine with external Today I walked over to my 15" Mid-2010 MacBook Pro (which I had been controlling via VNC not long before) and attempted to use it. I was greeted with a screen that would not wake up.

After much rebooting (by holding down the power button and over SSH), I plugged it into an external monitor, logged in, and opened up System Information (formerly System Profiler). To my shock and horror, only the external monitor was detected and the internal "Color LCD" wasn't listed.

Does anyone know anything about the pathology of a problem like this? Does fixing something like this (probably) entail a logic board replacement?

I'm inclined to believe that the problem lies somewhere in an LCD controller or power supply rather than the panel (because I'd assume that a broken panel would still show up).

Again, the general functions of the machine work just fine—just not the internal display.

I had similar symptoms on my MBP 13 (mid-2010). Internal display died suddenly and external display worked fine. None of the software or startup tricks did not bring the life back to in-built screen.
Disconnecting and re-connecting the battery connector from the logic board fixed this problem.

Here is the instruction:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Display+Replacement/4293#s7329


Migration Assistant Reports failed files, Prompts repair errors: No Documents transferred, High Sierra I have a 2017 Macbook Pro and a 2018 Macbook Pro. The target machine has a bigger SSD than the source, so I know it's not a space issue.

I ran Migration Assistant on both machines and the process completely relatively quickly. After it completed I received about 2 dozen files that could not be transferred. The machine than boots into macOS and I start receiving repeated authorizations requests to repair files.

I also receive notice that the keychain needs to be replaced with default.

Should I attempt to boot the source into target disk mode and transfer via thunderbolt?

It sounds like your Migration didn't work, even though you didn't get error messages saying so at the time.

I always use either Target Mode or an external disk when I use Migration Assistant. I also don't do the Migration until I've gotten the new computer completely up-to-date, etc. I create an extra "Admin" or other dummy account which I delete later.

I would reset the 2018 MBP, create a dummy account, do all the updates, and then when the system was running perfectly, then I'd start the Migration Assistant using the 2017 MBP in Target mode.

The other thing I do, because it didn't work correctly once when I did it a different way..... After selecting the source disk, MA will scan the source and identify the files, accounts, apps, etc. that need to be transferred. Since I was transferring everything, I didn't wait for it to calculate the sizes of all these different things, and just said "Go" or "Next" or whatever to get it started. That didn't work. So, now, I always wait for the scan of the source disk to complete. I wait to see the size of the Users folder, the size of the Apps folder, etc. before I start the Migration.

Good luck!


Macs can't see each other over an Ethernet cable. MacOS failing to set up 169.254 routing. Why? How do I fix? Violates RFC 3927? Hint: multi-homed? (Too-wordy title: Macs connected with an Ethernet cable can't see each other - MacOS failing to set up 169.254 routing, AKA link-local address configuration. Why? How do I fix?  Is it violating RFC 3927? Hint: One Mac has a normal, working Ethernet (over Wi-Fi) connection, which may make it a multi-homed host.)
I'm trying to communicate between two Macs over an Ethernet cable.  This should "just work", I thought, but it does not appear that MacOS is automatically setting things up as it is supposed to.
Only after detecting there's a physical connection do the autoconf IP addresses get assigned (as shown by ifconfig en0 before vs after connection) so it's clear they CAN see each other at the physical level.
One of the Macs is (was) at the OS setup stage where it is looking for other computers on the network from which to migrate information.  Sharing is enabled.
But they can't see each other at the OS level.  E.g.

Nothing to connect to shows up on the Mac in OS setup.
Nothing shows after choosing Go...Network in the Finder.
<I forget what else I tried.>
No response to pings of the broadcast address. (ping 169.254.255.255)
There are no entries in the MAC address table (as shown by arp -an) for the other Mac even right after #5.
The appropriate routing table entries (as shown by netstat -rn don't exist)

It's failing to set up 169.254 routing, AKA link-local addressing so the Macs can communicate properly. In other words, it's failing to fully set up the en0 (TP Ethernet) interfaces so that link-local addressing works automatically.
Wondering what was going on, I looked to the documentation. I thought since it apparently followed RFC 3927 on Dynamic Configuration of IPv4 Link-Local Addresses, would "just work", but not so.
In particular, it is automatically assigning IPs to the devices, but it is NOT routing packets / setting up the routing table accordingly.
From the RFC:

Abstract

... This document describes how a host may
automatically configure an interface with an IPv4 address within the
169.254/16 prefix that is valid for communication with other devices
connected to the same physical (or logical) link.

Is MacOS violating RFC 3927?  Why shouldn't two Macs connected over an Ethernet cable, each with automatically assigned 169.254/16 link-local addresses see each other?
This might be a fix; I haven't figured it out yet: sudo route -n add -net 192.168/16 169.254/16 169.254.14.233. (That's the automatically self-assigned IP.). (Update: Won't know; too late and it had a typo.)

So I'm looking at the same connection a month later, but with both Macs in normally booted mode.
So now, the 169.254 routing is set up just by plugging the cable.
The other machine is visible in the IP and ARP routing tables.
The problem has gone away.
(I can reach the other machine with mDNS now as per @John Keates; ping [the other machine-name, now that I know it].local works.  But I can't go back in time to see if it would have worked.)
Also, I realized I screwed up that route command (just corrected), so that could be causing some remaining weird things I don't understand.  (I need to reboot this system!?):
Oh, and I just found out my Ca blood levels have been off, so some confusion it likely caused may have been a major cause of the (alleged) MacOS problem!  Cringe.   With work, I see it's become worth it to keep this question visible anyway.
Today, I see:
$ ifconfig | grep broad
inet 169.254.14.233 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 169.254.255.255
inet 192.168.141.99 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.141.255

and
$ ifconfig | grep broad
inet 169.254.174.186 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 169.254.255.255

which is as expected.
But this isn't:
$ ping 169.254.255.255
PING 169.254.255.255 (169.254.255.255): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
Request timeout for icmp_seq 2
Request timeout for icmp_seq 3
ping: sendto: No route to host
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
ping: sendto: Host is down
Request timeout for icmp_seq 5
  C-c C-c
--- 169.254.255.255 ping statistics ---
7 packets transmitted, 0 packets received, 100.0% packet loss

My understanding is that I should see ping responses both machines for which that is their broadcast address.
Pinging the other broadcast IP, 192.168.141.255, gets me ping responses from all the live interfaces with that broadcast IP address, as expected.