Yosemite upgrade process stuck for hours - Cmd-L not working

Today I started the upgrade of my Mid 2011 iMac 27 from Mavericks to Yosemite. Initially it got stuck at the end of the first part of the installation. I could however pull up the installation log using Command-L and so I could tell it was still doing something. Eventually it completed and rebooted. It then got into the Completing Installation phase with a similar progress screen. It's been at "Less than a minute remaining" for the past 4 hours and no sign of activity. I also can't pull up the installation log by pressing Command-L. I just hear the familiar error sound when I try that.

I do use Homebrew so there's probably a lot of stuff in /usr/local causing the installation to take a long time, but I figured that's what caused part 1 of the installation to take so long, but it doesn't explain why part 2 is taking even longer.

Mavericks was installed on an external SSD (Lacie Rugged series) connected through thunderbolt. I now read that some people are experiencing problems with 3rd party SSD drives in Yosemite (yeah, I know I should have checked that before starting the upgrade, but who would have known?).

I'm not sure what to do now: just power off the computer and see if it continues finalizing the installation process after I restart it? Or just wait until tomorrow morning and see if it's still stuck? Even though I have a time machine backup on an external drive I don't want to risk losing my data forcing me to do a restore. Any advice?

Correcting GPS data using Photos

Really simple question: Is there a way to fix incorrect GPS data? A recent trip lead to a bunch of pictures taken in the same place getting sometimes wildly wrong coordinates appended to them (probably because the photos were taken indoors).

Restore on new drive: Time Machine versus "Restore" via Disk Utility

I am about to install a new 240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G (6Gb/s) SSD into the main drive bay of my MacBook Pro, moving the original Apple-installed 120GB 3G (3Gb/s) SSD into the optical bay using an OWC "Data Doubler."

I have my entire Mac OS X install and all data (that is the entire contents of the original SSD) backed up to an external Time Machine backup drive.

I'll want to make the new SSD in the main bay my bootable drive. Question is, what are the differences between these two restore strategies:

1. 
   

   Restore from Time Machine

   
   


2. 
   

   "Restore" via Disk Utility, using my original SSD (in the optical bay) as the "Source" and the new SSD (in the main bay) as the "Destination"

   
   

Are there any fundamental difference between these two approaches? Such as:

• Is one faster than the other?


• Does one involve more or less risk in some settings or such being "lost in translation" and needing to be reset?


• Would both methods of restore include a recovery partition on the new SSD?

--

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011, Macbook8,3) | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 | Yosemite 10.10.2

caffeinate with launchd Doesn't Work when I Close My Laptop's Lid

I have a launchd task that periodically initiates a time machine network backup. I've had problems with corrupted sparse bundle disk images, which I've assumed is due to the either the computer sleeping during a backup, the NAS sleeping while the sparse bundle is mounted, or some combination of the 2. So, in order to fix this I run caffeinate with launchd task and have caffeinate run my script. I found, however, that the computer still goes to sleep when I close the lid, even when AC power is connected. I did a simple test, and found that caffeinate works as expected when I use it in a terminal, and does keep my computer awake, however, in that same test initiated with launchd/caffeinate the computer still goes to sleep while the script is running.

I'm running caffeinate with the -ims flags. In my simple test I used the following script:

#!/bin/sh

while true; do
    date | logger
    sleep 1
done

I monitor the system log with:

tail -f /var/log/system.log

I'm using OS X 10.9.5.

i want to stop iMessages from being deleted

I want to prevent my step daughter deleting message from iMessages so they can't be viewed (once you delete that using the more button you can't see it again)

Is there a way to prevent that (disable that function)?

Can I write a script to take an action right before the computer is going to go to sleep?

I think my computer is randomly not syncing email correctly with Apple Mail, but it's only a problem when it wakes from sleep.

That issue is neither here nor there. What I'd like to do is write a script / something that will quit Apple Mail if it detects that the computer is going to sleep.

Ideally, there'd be a similar process to open Apple Mail upon waking from sleep, but that's less of an issue.

I tried looking for a system event library of some kind, but all I can find is fsevents (which I don't think has anything about sleep).

Thanks!

Pros and cons to JBOD setup on MacBook Pro with two internal SSDs

I've got an original Apple-installed 120GB 3G (3Gb/s) SSD which I'll be moving into the optical bay using an OWC "Data Doubler" and swapping a new 240GB OWC Mercury Electra 6G (6Gb/s) SSD into the main drive bay.

My goal is to avoid having two separate volumes.

Understand that a RAID 0 array would essentially only perform as well as the slowest drive in the array (the 3G SSD in this case), if it would even work at all given the two drives are not identical in make and capacity.

I've read that a JBOD array isn't subject to the "same make and capacity" constraints. But how does this setup perform?

Would the speed of the 6G be hobbled, slowed down to the 3G's speed (or worse?), if I were to set up the two SSDs as a JBOD array?

--

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011, Macbook8,3) | 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 | Yosemite 10.10.2

How to remotely wipe out my MacBook Pro data from my iPhone?

My data from computer is completely being remotely wipe out.

iPhone Apple Calendar

How do I remove the factory loaded Apple app known as "Calendar" from my iPhone 5?I have tried to remove this application by placing my finger on the application's icon. All app icons on the iPhone "jiggle" and display an "X" in the upper left hand corner of their icons. When touching the "X" on any given app icon, the app then disappears, and is essentially removed from the iPhone's memory. However, the factory loaded Apple application named "Calendar" icon does not display an "X" in its upper left hand corner of its icon. Therefore I can not remove the "Calendar" application. Is there a procedure which will allow me to remove any factory loaded applications on my iPhone 5?

How do I convert .dmg to .img?

How do I convert DMG files to IMG files? I am trying to use 'Q emulator' to run XPpro and it requires an IMG file of the XP disc.(legal copy) I'm using a late model G5 PPC with Leopard 10.5.8

Why does this PDF does not appear properly in iOS?

This PDF uses the embedded fonts Graphik-Regular and Graphik-Medium. When viewed in various readers on OS X, Windows, Android, Acrobat, the font appears correctly. When viewed in iOS, the Graphik fonts appear as a Helvetica variant. Is this a problem with iOS, or a problem with the PDF? The PDF was created using the open source library libHaru.

Here are the document font properties as seen in Acrobat

IOS.7 Facebook Messenger app keeps crashing

So I was using my Facebook messenger app, and it suddenly crashed. I tried to open it again but it kept crashing either instantly or after 20 seconds or so. I've tried to turn it off and on, and delete and reinstall but its not working. Is there anything else I can do? What's wrong with it?

imessage/phone problems

If there are several phones on an apple account, and a message pops up on one phone saying "your number is being used on another phone", would the other phone receive the messages that your phone number receives? (The phones are two completely different numbers)

Save a shortcut / redirect link to the Home Screen?

I've got a certain 'system' I'd like to set up, however for convenience I'd like to be able to save a redirect - shortcut (such as a shortened bit.ly URL. However, the only method I know of adding a shortcut to the Home Screen is by visiting the page. What's the dilemma? It automatically redirects me, leaving no time to save the shortcut to the Bit.ly page directly.

When trying to save a shortcut to another website, it lets you change the name of the link however, sadly, not the URL it links to.

How would I accomplish this? For example, to save this redirect to my Home Screen?

How to fully delete Burst photos on iphone forever

If you delete a 'burst' photo from all albums on your phone then turn on wifi the photo will not upload to any of your iCloud devices including ones other than the device that was used?? Such as other joint accounts with your iCloud with other people's phones?? Thank youu

Sending a product on the Apple Store as a gift to a friend?

I want to make a purchase from the Apple Store as a gift to my friend. The purchase is a physical item (e.g., iPhone), rather than an app to download. Because I live far away from her, I want to use my Visa credit card and send it directly to her address with the option of "Gift" selected. Would that be possible? I will be using her address instead of mine. So, what would the transaction look like when I check my Visa deposits in my bank? Would her name appear on the transaction? Would I still be able to send it to her directly with her information, or do I have to send the package to myself, and send it to her after that? Thank you so much for clarifying!

Failed to mount partition of MAC OS Extended (HFS+)

please help me save me, as well as my External hard disk !! As a matter of fact, my 1TB External hard disk has three partition: MAC OS, NTFS and FAT32. All of the partitions work very well in the past. However, I just discovered that my MAC OS Extended (HFS+) format "MAC OS" partition could not be mounted, although my another two partitions were seemingly fine. I have tried to repair the partition with the Disk Utility but I failed. I have no ideas that why would this happen to my hard disk since I have not done anything to my hard disk and my MAC OS partition.

Please let me know if there is anyone know how to to solve the problem and recover my MAC OS partition. I just want to get back the data inside my MAC OS partition. Million Thanks!!

(P.S. I have only done two things before I discovered that my MAC OS partition was no longer working. 1) I have updated the Apple Security Update 2015-002 when my hard disk was plugged into my Macbook air. 2) I have tried to move some files from my "NTFS" partition to another external hard disk. But I failed because of unknown reason.)

This is what I got when I did the "diskutill info" on Terminal. This is what I got when I tried to repair my partition.

Apple TV > Mac Mini audio passthrough

The Mac Mini has an optical input and an optical output. I want to route the audio from my Apple TV through my Mac Mini and then back out to my receiver. This way both devices are connected without any need for switching cables.

I use the app LineIn at the moment. This works good for listening music via AirPlay, the audio from my Mac also get combined with the AirPlay music.

But when watching a movie on Netflix with the Apple TV the 5.1 (AC3 I think) signal gives problems. It keeps disconnecting randomly. In this case no sound is played with the Mac. The Mac must only pass the audio through.

I also used this terminal command: defaults write com.cod3r.a52codec attemptPassthrough 1

It would be nice to enable this audio passthrough without the use of an app, is there a way to do that? Are there other ways to passthrough the audio, other programs, tricks? The way I have it now is not stable enough.

Cannot manipulate pluginkit database

I am trying to use the pluginkit command to handle plugins (specifically FxPlug3), e.g.

pluginkit -a /path/to/bundle/with/myplugin.pluginkit

Every time I try to add or remove my plugin I get a message of the type

add: unable to save changes: (null)

and in my console log

13/03/2015 22:05:50.537 pkd[927]: error writing database changes: (null)

I am looking for the pluginkit database so perhaps I can look for plugin specific data; according to the man page for pkd I can run pkd -W to learn its location. However pkd doesn't seem to be in my path and I can't find it.

I am using OSX 10.9.5

spontaneous high pitches loud squeal in headset connected to MAC USB port

this has happened 4 times on my MacBook Pro Retina in last 6 months but also on 2 other MACs. Beats headsets to cheap logitec. it is high volume, high pitch, spontaneous, comes out of no-where and definitely damaging to ears. has anyone else experienced this?

Disable display mirroring for every possible future display

Is there some 'defaults write' or other trick to tell OS X to never mirror displays? (Unless they're at least as good resolution as the retina display.)

I thought I had display mirroring disabled completely just from the 'displays' options. Every time I used one of the extra displays (projectors, TV) I regularly use, I got a them as additional displays, not mirrored. But today, giving a presentation, I attached another new projector, and it was mirrored. The horror! My desktop was left after that like my house would be after a robbery. I hate mirroring, because it squeezes the retina display into 640x480, and I have to rearrange all the windows back into reasonable sizes afterwards.

How can I prevent hostname from changing?

When I boot up one of our computers it gets a static DHCP address which is specified in our DNS as client1.domain.com and so on. The hostname sets automatically from reverse DNS at bootup and everything work fine. But after a while I see that the computer changes hostname to Users-MacBook-Pro.local.

Our system depends on that the computers have a static hostname so I want to prevent the computer to change it by itself. It works if I manually set it using 'scutil' but I would just like to "lock" hostname to the one it is getting from the DNS.

Is there any way so accomplish that?

We are using OS X 10.9.5

In Excel, how do you delete line breaks?

In Excel, how do you delete line breaks globally? It's totally messing up my text-to-column I need to do.

Why retina mac book pro won't output signal to second monitor via mini display, but detect it?

I have 2 monitors, a retina, 15-inch, mid 2014 mac book pro. I plugged the hdmit output to one monitor, and a mini-display to dvi to the second monitor.

On mac book preference system perferences->displays-> arrangement tab I can see all three screens, however the one connected via mini display port - dvi isn't getting any signal.

Can I used two monitors with a mac book pro, without having to buy some fancy extra device?

LaunchDaemons Starting Before IP Addresses Have Been Assigned

I’m working on an annoying problem with my Mac mini (running OS X 10.9). I have postfix and pfctl scheduled to load as system daemons using launchd, and they do so successfully. However, they do so between the Ethernet link going up and IP addresses being assigned. As a result, pfctl cannot properly resolve the self keyword and only adds the localhost equivalents to pf’s rule list. Similarly, postfix terminates because it cannot reach the network interface.

Reloading each daemon after IP addresses have been assigned corrects the problem until the next reboot. Is there a way to delay when these daemons start? My system log shows I would only need to delay them by 20 seconds, at most. For the record, I also had this problem on OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8.

Is it possible to download the previous version of OneNote for mac

I cannot upgrade to Yosemite- company policy- but would still love to use OneNote. Does anyone know a link where I can download the older version? thanks

Crazy memory consumption from SpeechRecognitionCore

Is there a recommended solution to permanently removing this problem?

I've seen so far this command:

killall -9 com.apple.SpeechRecognitionCore.speechrecognitiond

But wouldn't like having to remember doing it each time I reboot.

Is filevault compatible with LDAP configurations?

I turned on FileVault (on my Enterprise attached Mac) and it's no longer prompting me for my LDAP credentials. After the filevault login, it just tosses me straight into local administrator. LDAP still shows as on and "working", but does not appear to be.

My old Mac (with an old OS) used to ask me for the admin filevault password, followed by my LDAP password, and then continue on by logging into the appropriate LDAP user account.

Have I missed some configuration step on the new Mac, or has there been a change in how the newest OS X handle filevault+LDAP?

Using 45W Power Adapter with MacBook Pro Retina 15

I would like to know if I am able to use a 45W MagSafe Power Adapter in my MacBook Pro Retina 15 with a MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Adapter.

I am normally using the original one (85W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter) but I just want to know that the computer will charge correctly and that the battery won't be hurt.

Scanned my mac,found these harmful files.Are they safe to delete?

the scan says the threat blocked but for more safety im considering removing them. Is it safe to do so since some files seem to be system files.

WindowServer[250]: _CGXGLDisplayContextForDisplayDevice: No matching context for device (0x7fcfcaf18220) - disabling OpenGL

I'm getting vast amounts of these messages in my Console:

13/03/2015 16:02:20.924 WindowServer[250]: _CGXGLDisplayContextForDisplayDevice: No matching context for device (0x7fcfcaf18220) - disabling OpenGL

and WindowServer is consistently at around 16%. I'm using DisplayLink. Is there anything I can do about it?

What's the easiest way to copy the URL of a traditional HTML frame in Safari?

As much as I hate HTML frames, a vendor uses a documentation platform that makes heavy use of them. Whenever I search for a documentation page, it displays in a frame, and I would like to be able to copy the URL of that page inside the frame to share with colleagues.

I would have expected to be able to do this by right-clicking on the frame and choosing "Copy Frame URL" or something, but that's not an option. At present I have to find the link to the page in question in a list of documentation contents, and copy that.

Create extend wifi from Mac to iPhone, from ethernet

Situation: I use my mac's ethernet for internet, because my apartment doesn't have a working router. However, I need wifi for my iPhone. Wifi is available from other apartments in the same building, however it's a weak/slow network speed.

Question: Can I setup a wifi hotspot coming from my Mac, that is connected to the internet via ethernet? This hotspot would require a password, so only my iPhone can connect to it.

Models: mid-2012 Macbook Pro Retina. Updated to Yosemite 10.10.2. iPhone 5s, updated to current software available, I don't remember the number.

Research: I have researched this topic. Majority are out of date, or are about iPhone TO mac hotspot, rather than Mac TO iPhone. Or they discuss from wifi to wifi. Seems no one uses ethernet anymore. (Ethernet OP btw).

Thank you! Hope I provided enough information.

iTunes Could not contact the iPad software update server because you are not connected to the internet

I did a full restore on my iPad the other day and right before the end with error 6 on iTunes saying it couldnt contact the update server (even though it did it the first 3 times fine) and now my iPad can only boot into DFU mode... If I try to restore now I just get an error saying: "iTunes Could not contact the iPad software update server because you are not connected to the internet". I ping gs.apple.com, it just times out. I have looked in my hosts file, nothing in there. I have even tried it on a machine thats never even gone near my iPad before and it still does the same...

I have tried several different VPNs incase my ISP is blocking the connection, still no. I have tried Google DNS servers, still no. Any ideas?

Both machines I have tried are Macs running the very latest version of iTunes both on Mountain Lion. The iPad is 4th gen by the way. I should also mention, theres no firewall enabled on either machine and my router has never caused a problem with such things before.

BlueTooth and wifi connection

I bought the iPhone 6 gold 64 gb three months ago from USA. But now I'm resident in India. Is there any way to transfer the warranty in India of my phone?

How to view CPU clock rate in GHz?

I am looking to get the new 12″ MacBook and as a result I would like to know the clock speed (in GHz) my MacBook Air is running at so I know the processor on the MacBook will cope.

At the moment I know my processor running at the lowest frequency is 1.86GHz (as shown in System Information) and when I look in Activity Monitor as suggested here it only shows me the CPU usage and not the current clock speed. I have also looked at this suggestion but again it does not show me my processing frequency.

The reason why I want to find out the current speed my MacBook Air is running at is because Turbo Charge (explained here) means the clock speed is not the same all the time.

Edit Thanks @grgarside for the suggestion of application however my CPU is not supported as suggested here.

The MacBook I have is a late 2010.

How can I get IRC Colloquy to catch up history of a channel when I reconnect?

How can I get colloquy to catch up history of a channel when I turn back on my laptop?

I assume its something like leave a bot in the room.

Thanks, Martin.

PS. Perhaps someone would make the tags irc and colloquy for this question?

How do I make multiple screen recordings with the exact same portion of the screen

I can only select the portion of the screen to record manually. I want them all exactly the same so that when the videos are played sequentially, it all lines up.

I'm using quicktime and would ideally like to just stick with that if possible.

My dad keeps getting all my apps that I download. why?

My dad and I used to have the same Apple id, but recently I made his own (he didn't know how to work his) and I changed it on his phone. I kept mine on a new device. But he still keeps getting any app that I download. I don't know how to make it stop transferring all my data to him.

Mac partially isolated from the network

Since I installed a new access point, I have troubles with only one Mac to access the printer and NAS on my network. Every other computer (Mac or PC) or device (Android or iOS) is working perfectly.

I make a quick sketch on Visio to illustrate how it looks :

To resume the situation, we have :

• One router which has a wifi network and DHCP.


• One printer which is wired to the router.


• One NAS which is also wired to the router.


• One Access Point (new one) which is wired to the router. It has no DHCP, and the same SSID + Password as the router's wifi.


• Three Macbook Air that are using the wifi (A, B and C).

The Macbook Air B and C are connected to the Access Point and are working perfectly. But the Macbook Air A, when it's connected to the AP (Conn 1), it cannot see the printer nor the NAS, but it can access internet and access to the router administration page. Other computers can be randomly seen (I believe that the devices on the AP are seen by A). But when the Macbook Air A is connected to the router's wifi (Conn 2), everything works perfectly.

I tried to troubleshoot the problem on the Mac's side but also on the AP side. Here's what I checked and tried :

• Upgrade or downgrade the AP's firmware -> Didn't change anything.


• Try different configurations on the AP -> Didn't change anything.


• Put a static IP -> Didn't change anything.


• Clear the ARP table -> Didn't change anything.


• Ping the printer or NAS IP -> No response.


• Scan the entire network -> No printer nor NAS seen.


• Is the Mac network configuration correct ? -> Yes, 100% sure.


• Is the firewall enabled or misconfigured ? -> Nope, disabled.


• Is the Mac up-to-date ? -> Yes, every updates have been done.

I believe that the problem is coming from the Mac and not the network as the other Macbook Airs are working correctly. But I'm not a Mac expert and I don't really know where else to look. Any advice, idea or solution would be greatly appreciated!

Is it possible to AirPlay music from a Mac to an iPhone?

I want to be able to play music to various 'real' AirPlay speakers, like my Apple TV and AirPort Express, but I'd also like to be able to put my headphones on to my iPhone when I need to go to a part of the house without speakers nearby and continue the tunes in the same place they're playing throughout the rest of the house.

Is there any app that acts as an AirPlay receiver, and will let me do this? I know there are a few for video, but I just want audio.

I am aware of Airfoil, but I'd rather not change the output mechanism from AirPlay to Airfoil - I'd like to stick with Airplay for consistency and less hassle, to be honest. I'm sure there must be just a simple iOS app that enables an AirPlay receiver on the device...

Mac Outlook 2011 - moving folders from On My Computer to Exchange Server

I've just noticed a very odd peculiarity about using Mac Outlook 2011 with an Exchange server.

I am hoping to write a script that will allow me to highlight a folder On My Computer and move it onto the Exchange account. I would like to do this because I have a client who has very poor wrist strength and clicking-and-holding is very difficult for them.

So here is the strangeness described in three parts:

1. 
   

   From the Exchange server tree, right-clicking a folder and selecting "Move..." will bring up a search dialog box that will allow me to type the names of a folder I would like to move the data to. However, it will only search the Exchange server and will not find folders that reside On My Computer.

   
   


2. 
   

   The same goes for when right-clicking a folder from the On My Computer tree and selecting "Move..." - a dialog search box will come up that will only search folders in the On My Computer tree and will not find folders on the Exchange server/tree.

   
   


3. 
   

   Now here is where it is really strange. From the Exchange server account/tree, I can highlight a folder and from the toolbar click the "Move" button/drop-down menu (the icon is folder with an arrow on it) and select "Choose Folder..." which brings up a different search dialog box (as opposed to the one comes up from right-clicking) that does find folders located On My Computer. However, when I highlight a folder On My Computer the "Move" button on the toolbar becomes greyed out.

   
   

If anyone could suggest a starting point (like how to even envoke the mail folders search dialog box) or has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

How to find Mac admin password not reset Mac admin password

I am not a administrator and I would like to find the administrator password. I would not like to reset it however. Is there anyway to find and not reset the administrator password?

Change dnsmasq from .dev to .local

I have followed these instructions for setting up a dnsmasq on my mac.

http://ift.tt/1b7MB1L

I originally set it up to use .dev, but now I want to change .dev to .local, however, when I try using .local instead, it doesn't work.

Even when I uninstall dnsmasq, and unload and remove the settings using launchtl, requests to .dev still work, and .local don't. I have tried restarting too.

Are these settings set automatically by apple somewhere else and being used (and always have been?)

And how can I change to using .local?

Thanks