fixed : grey NoEntry-sign when trying to move items to OSX 10.11 El_Capitan System folder

Posted on 29-03-2016 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I used to be able to drag&drop tweaked or additional system files to the general Libraries folder inside System folder. I only had to typ my administrator’s name & password to give extra authentication. But, since installing OSX 10.11 El_Capitan, I can’t seem to be able to drag&drop like that any longer… I get a grey circle with a slash in it…

Even when trying to change folder permissions for folders within de System folder, through the “Get Info” panel, I can’t change the permissions…

What is the problem ?

And how can I bypass this ?

Answer :

The grey circle with a slash in it is actually a grey version of the red traffic sign that is used as a “No Entry”, “No Access” or “Prohibited” sign.

With the upgrade to OSX 10.11 El_Capitan, System Integrity Protection (SIP) has been introduced to OSX. The positive side of this is that it is now extremely hard to accidentally mess up the OSX system. The negative side however is that is no longer possible to get access to some system folders without downgrading security and using the Terminal.

But… the collaboration between the ~/System/Library folder and the ~/Library folder is now working far better than in previous versions of OSX.

So, the solution : if you want to put files or items in a folder that’s inside the ~/System/Library folder, now put them in the corresponding folder inside the ~/Library folder and everything should work as intended

e.g. : items that you used to put in the ~/System/Library/Fonts folder, can now be drag&dropped into the ~/Library/Fonts folder

NOTE : for items that you used to put in a folder within ~/System/Library that isn’t available inside ~/Library the solution is to create a folder with the correct name in there to put those items in

e.g. : for items that you used to put in the ~/System/Library/Filters folder, you should now create a ~/Library/Filters folder first to put the files in first

TIP : to be able to view the ~/Users/[username]/Library folder, make sure “Finder” is indicated next to the Apple icon in the upper left corner, the select “Go” and press the ALT-key on your keyboard and the Library folder will magically appear in the pulldown list

enjoy !

fixed : install Minecraft 1.9 on managed user account in OSX 10.11 El_Capitan

Posted on 28-03-2016 by MacManus.nl

Question :

My children would like to play Minecraft on their Macs, but they have managed OSX user accounts with Parental Controls turned on. After downloading Minecraft from the Mojang website, I can do the usual install by drag&drop, but when double-clicking the Minecraft-app, I get an error message saying that if I am trying to run Minecraft from the .dmg, I should first move it to the Applications folder. I am trying to run it from within the Applications folder however…

Is there any way to fix this ?

Answer :

Yes there is, but since OSX 10.11 El_Capitan is keeping Java out of view (and away from use and install), the solution is different from the one that used to work before. [see previous post on this subject]

Here’s how to install Minecraft 1.9 (and newer ?) on a managed user account in OSX 10.11 El_Capitan :

login to OSX using the restricted user account
go to Mojang.com
login using your eMail-address (not your username) and your password
download the MacOSX-version there
after downloading, open the .dmg file by double-clicking on it
as instructed, drag the Minecraft-icon onto the Applications-folder-icon next to it to install
then, open the System Preferences and click on Parental Controls
when asked, login with your administrator’s name & password
in the window that opens, select the restricted user’s name from the list at the left
then click the “Apps”-tab and make sure there’s a checkmark at “Limit Applications on this Mac” and type “minecraft” in the Search field
then put a checkmark in front of all Minecraft-apps that are listed ; which might be “minecraft” and/or “Minecraft Launcher” (if no Minecraft apps are listed, skip this step)
then click the “Web”-tab and make sure there’s a checkmark at “try to limit access to adult websites” and click the “Customize…”-button
in the window that opens, at “always allow access to these websites:”, click the PlusSign-button and enter these websites :
- https://launcher.mojang.com
- https://launchermeta.mojang.com
- https://::ffff:54.230.128.94
- https://::ffff:54.192.130.117
then click OK
now, open the Applications folder and double-click the Minecraft-app
when the Minecraft-app opens, left-click [CMD-click] it’s icon in the Dock and select “Keep in Dock” from the popup-list
if confronted with an error message saying access to one or more websites is needed, but not allowed, type your administrator’s name & password to allow access and proceed
now, Minecraft should launch without a problem
if Minecraft still won’t launch, just redo this procedure from start (since, for some reason one of the settings needed did not jet stick…) and you should be alright

Enjoy !

fixed : quickly free up disk space on MacOSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard

Posted on 06-03-2016 by MacManus.nl

Question :

My son alarmed me today that his ‘good old’ Mac gives a “your startup disk is full” warning at startup. He has our old Intel CoreDuo MacBook that can only run MacOSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

What is the easiest way to free up the much needed harddrive space ?

Answer :

There are various programs that can do the job of identifying which files are cluttering your harddrive and deleting unneeded files.

If you have an older Mac that can not run the latest version of OSX, I would suggest using the DiskWave application to do so, because of 4 reasons :

DiskWave is very small in size (only about 1MB), so you can even install and run it on an extremely full harddrive
DiskWave is able to manage external drives, so you can also run it on a newer/faster/other Mac and connect the problematic Mac as an external drive [ in so called “Target Mode” by restarting the problematic Mac with the T-key pressed and connecting it to the other Mac with a FireWire-cable ]
DiskWave is available for various old versions of MacOSX
DiskWave is FREE to download and use

Using DiskWave is rather straight forward. A quick instruction video can be seen here :

DiskWave instruction video

Getting hold of DiskWave might be problematic however, as the developer’s website (Aymeric Barthe) seems to be down :

Aymeric Barthe website

And the DiskWave app is NOT available from the Mac AppStore either… [ beware not too be fooled into thinking it’s the same as the iDiskWave app ! ]

A secondary problem is that the best available version (DiskWave 0.4) does not support any pre-Core2Duo. For now, all (older) versions of DiskWave can be downloaded here :

download any DiskWave version at Mac.FileHorse.com

Note that DiskWave 0.3.2 is the latest version of DiskWave to run on PowerPC (G3/G4/G5) Macs and 1st generation Intel (CoreSolo and CoreDuo) Macs.

And if those links stop working also, you can download DiskWave 0.3.2 here :

DiskWave_0.3.2

[ !! after downloading, replace the .doc file-extension by .dmg to get the installer !! ]

Enjoy !

MacManus.nl

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Monthly Archives: March 2016

fixed : grey NoEntry-sign when trying to move items to OSX 10.11 El_Capitan System folder

fixed : install Minecraft 1.9 on managed user account in OSX 10.11 El_Capitan

fixed : quickly free up disk space on MacOSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard

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