Saturday, January 8, 2022

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Recent Questions - Ask Different

Dose the lightning port on the Lightning to VGA Adapter have the ability to transmit data?

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 05:18 AM PST

The lightning port on the Lightning to VGA Adapter is used for charging while mirroring.

I want to know if this lightning port have the ability to transmit data? For example, plug a Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter into that port, then connect an earphone through this jack adapter. Will the earphone work?

Unplugging Power Cord causes Heavy Disk Write

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 04:56 AM PST

I am a little unsure why this is happening. macOS seems to be paging a lot with kernel_task whenever my MagSafe is accidentally unplugged, even when battery is on 100%.

3.5mm stereo audio to AirPods via iPhone?

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 04:53 AM PST

On the airplane they have a stereo 3.5mm audio output which normally is where you connect your headphones. Problem is I switched to Apple AirPods a while ago and they're wireless. What's the best way to connect my AirPods to a physical jack, and how do I do it?

I'm hoping there's a way to leverage the iPhone as the bridge between the physical connection and the wireless one rather than needing a new device:

  1. 3.5mm stereo female (audio source)
  2. 3.5mm stereo male to male cable
  3. 3.5mm stereo female (microphone slot) to 3.5mm TRRS male cable
  4. 3.5mm TRRS female to Lightning male adapter
  5. iPhone
  6. AirPods (audio destination)

A few assumptions/unknowns here:

  1. I included the conversion to TRRS since that seems to be the only way to convert the audio output into audio input to the iPhone.
  2. Once the audio input comes in to the phone, I'd need a way to replay it on the AirPods. I'm not sure how to do that.
  3. At the same time, I'd need to make sure whatever audio the AirPods microphones pick up is ignored in this replay mechanism.

Is all of this possible, and if so, how?

Backup email+attachment and keep proof that they were not not altered

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 03:55 AM PST

Say I want to download an email with an attachment (e.g. from Gmail) to back it up on a drive, and delete forever from the mail program (mailbox/archive/trash etc.)

To back up the usual way I can download the print/pdf of an email and download the attachment separately. But how can I have a proof that this email/attachment were not altered by me or anyone else, that they are exactly the ones sent from specific server / sender / on a given time and never altered?

Date is wrong by months when set to automatic on 12.1 Monterey (MacBook Pro 14)

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 03:49 AM PST

Upon booting up by machine (2021 MacBook Pro 14 on 12.1) after fully running out of battery for the first time (I've owned the machine for a couple months) I noticed the date and time were completely wrong by a number of months. The offset is consistent and displays today's date as 25th September 2021, it is currently the 8th of January 2022.

date and time preference pane

I've tried resetting the SMC, restarted the machine a few times, have checked all date and time settings as normal and appropriate - unchanged from when I first set it up.

alex@Alexs-MacBook-Pro ~ % ntpdate -q pool.ntp.org  server 188.125.64.7, stratum 2, offset +9088877.936268, delay 0.07085  server 162.159.200.1, stratum 3, offset +9088877.930845, delay 0.05722  server 162.159.200.123, stratum 3, offset +9088877.932137, delay 0.05659  server 85.91.1.180, stratum 2, offset +9088877.938617, delay 0.05498  25 Sep 06:35:35 ntpdate[1630]: step time server 85.91.1.180 offset +9088877.938617 sec

Running the following command resyncs the date and time perfectly, but after about a day when left in automatic mode or by unchecking and rechecking the box it resets back to the massive offset.

sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com

I noticed a user with a similar problem in the forum but was unable to use any solutions provided:

Date is wrong by months when set to automatically

Run-time error '-2146959355 (80080005)' while using CreateObject("Word.Application") [closed]

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 10:43 PM PST

I am getting Run-time error '-2146959355 (80080005)' while using CreateObject("Word.Application").. please help me to resolve it..

Same issue does not occur in windows

Parallels on macOS - Performance & Other technical questions [closed]

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 03:32 AM PST

I have a few questions about Parallels that I would like answered before I buy a Mac. This info is critical for me to know, since Macs are the only computers that have the least flaws, at least for me. Bulky Windows laptops with 13 minutes of battery life are just not suitable for me anymore. So I need to know if macOS running on M1 Max + Parallels is a good solution. ("Good solution" as in optimal for hardcore gaming, running Microsoft Access with gigantic databases, GPU-accelerated AI software, developing C++ software for Windows through the Windows API, etc). Assume that I have the maximum possible specs (64GB RAM, 8TB SSD, M1 Max, you get the picture)

Question 1: What architecture is a Windows VM running in Parallels? That is, does Parallels emulate x64 Windows or ARM64 Windows?

Question 2: Do Parallels graphics that are natively supported by Macs (such as OpenGL versions up to 4.1) get drawn on the physical GPU or on an emulated one?

Question 3: Does Parallels support DirectX 12? If so, does it support some sort of Nvidia RTX emulation?

Question 4: If Parallels emulates a GPU, does it get emulated on the physical CPU or using some sort of compute API on the physical GPU?

Question 5: How is the overall snappiness of a Parallels VM?

If anyone owns a Parallels license and would kindly answer my questions, it would be awesome. Thanks in advance. Stay safe.

Import old Voice Memo files to new Voice Memos apps and maintain original dates metadata?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 08:14 PM PST

Since Voice Memos no longer live in iTunes/Music and now have their own macOS app that syncs with iCloud, I'd like to import quite a number of old Voice Memos from throughout the years that I currently have as plain .m4a files on my hard drive.

Their Creation Date metadata are intact, but importing them into the app on macOS doesn't retain that metadata, instead it just lists them as the date/time of import.

Does anyone know of a way around this, to import old voice memos while retaining their original dates in the app?

My Mac suddenly no longer able to resolve DNS address when connecting to WIFI, but still able to ping to physical address. Why?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 07:38 PM PST

I am usually able to connect to Wifi or iPhone USB tethering and browse the internet with no problem. But one day, I'm unable to browse using a Wifi connection. When I try to ping, I'm able to ping to 8.8.8.8, but I'm unable to ping to www.google.com. I tried to resolve using:

  • nslookup www.google.com 8.8.8.8
  • dig @8.8.8.8 www.google.com
  • sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist

All has no result. How can I resolve this?

USB-C to USB-A cable that supports/powers a laptop cooler fans

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 09:47 PM PST

My son has been using a laptop cooler under his Intel 16" MacBook Pro and the cooler came with a USB-A cable so I had to use a USB-C to USB-A adapter which works fine but I wanted to not have to use an adapter. I buy a cable from Amazon that says it's MacBook Pro compatible and it doesn't work. In fact, I plug that cable into my Apple power brick and it also fails to power the laptop cooler. I try to buy several more, fast charging compatible, different brands including Anker and they all fail to power the laptop cooler. The same results when I try to plug into other Mac laptop models (m1 16" MBP, 12" MacBook, 2012 15" MacBook Pro, etc) so it doesn't seem to be a laptop port or model/year problem.

Is there a USB-C to USB-A cable specification I should be looking for? The only thing I haven't tried is the ones that are PD charging compatible which I may try next.

Is it worth buying M1 instead of M1 Pro for developers? [closed]

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 12:42 AM PST

I need to change my old MacBook Pro. Is it worth buying an Air/Pro 13" (16GB RAM) instead of 14" with M1 Pro?

In my case, I use Xcode, Android Studio, and VS Code (for React Native)

zsh does not find script in PATH while bash does (echo $PATH is the same)

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 05:51 AM PST

I am trying to execute a script using just its name. So naturally I added it to the PATH variable. But it seems zsh does not care. If I switch to bash everything works fine. The following terminal snippets happened sequentially without anything in between. I just separated them for readability. I did no funny business in between.

The script

felix@stochastik3 ~ % cat bin/pluto  #!/usr/bin/env sh  julia --eval "import Pkg; Pkg.add(\"Pluto\"); Pkg.update(\"Pluto\"); import Pluto; Pluto.run()"

ZSH does not find the script

felix@stochastik3 ~ % pluto  zsh: command not found: pluto

Bash does

felix@stochastik3 ~ % bash    The default interactive shell is now zsh.  To update your account to use zsh, please run `chsh -s /bin/zsh`.  For more details, please visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT208050.  bash-3.2$ pluto      Updating registry at `~/.julia/registries/General.toml`     Resolving package versions...    No Changes to `~/.julia/environments/v1.7/Project.toml`  ^CERROR: InterruptException:

Path is the same

bash-3.2$ echo $PATH  /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/TeX/texbin:/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin:~/bin/:  bash-3.2$ exit  exit  felix@stochastik3 ~ % echo $PATH  /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/Library/TeX/texbin:/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin:~/bin/:  felix@stochastik3 ~ % pluto  zsh: command not found: pluto

Initially the PATH ended with :~/bin and then tried :~/bin/:. So that should not be the issue.

Safari tabs stay active after closing

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 04:32 AM PST

I'm having this problem where Safari tabs that I've closed are still running in the background. Sometimes these tabs go "out of control" and chew up all the CPU and memory (GB of swap) to the point where my M1 MacBook Air grinds to a halt and the mouse pointer starts stuttering. The only way to fix it is to quit Safari. I can easily do this by clicking on the Dock and Command-Q... the GUI may take a minute or two to catch up, but once Safari quits, everything returns back to normal - a nice speedy M1 with not much software loaded.

I can't figure out why this is happening. I run a clean system, no sketchy software. Only 2 browser extensions, Duck Duck Go and Vinegar. (Inactivating the extensions does not fix the issue.) Just a few things from the App Store and legit pro audio/DJ software. The only thing I can think of is maybe a Safari Technology Preview version screwed something up, but I have wiped all those files off my system.

Anyone have any ideas?

Here are some screenshots... please note the tabs/URLs shown are from tabs and windows closed long ago! You'll see Safari has no open windows.

MEM

enter image description here

"Find Windows" Shortcuts action hanging for a long time?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 08:02 PM PST

I'm trying to create a macOS shortcut (with the Shortcuts app) that opens a URL with Safari and then resizes the window. I'm finding that the shortcut hangs on "Find Windows" action for a good 13 seconds every time before moving onto the next action (Resize Window).

I've tried plenty of different settings for the Find Windows action, and they all seem to yield the same result. Has anyone else noticed this behavior or know why this is happening?

iPhone opens wrong app upon “app” link

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 01:47 AM PST

I get ads for Amazon in the Facebook app, which is fine with me. Until recently, tapping on the ad doesn't open the Amazon app. Instead it opens the VeryFitPro app which is the app for my LifeBee smartwatch. I deleted VeryFitPro and that fixed the problem, and then when I reinstalled VeryFitPro, the problem returned. How can I fix this? Thanks.

Details: iPhone 8, iOS 15.2 or whatever is the latest as of today, December 25, 2021.

Use Safari Technology Preview with a different "profile"

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 01:00 AM PST

Is there a way to run Safari Technology Preview using a different "profile"? Like loading a different Library

For work (and development) reason I would need to run Safari and Safari TP like they were not sharing any data: cookies, bookmarks, history etc.

How can I fix my iPhone not showing up in Screen Time on my other devices?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 09:07 PM PST

My iPhone SE 2020 won't show up in Screen Time on my Mac or iPad. All three are signed into the same iCloud account and fully updated to the latest releases of iOS, macOS and iPadOS respectively. All three have 'Share Across Devices' enabled in Screen Time. The Mac and iPad both show up in Screen Time on all three devices but the iPhone data only shows up on itself.

Things I've tried:

  • Toggling 'Share Across Devices', on iPhone
  • Toggling 'Share Across Devices', on all three devices at the same time
  • Switching Screen Time off and on, on iPhone
  • Switching Screen Time off and on, on all 3 devices at the same time
  • Logging out of iCloud and then logging back in, on iPhone

I suppose one option is to try wiping my iPhone and setting it up again from scratch but I'd like to know if there are any other things I can try first.

How to get Preview to ALWAYS open image in a new window

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 02:04 AM PST

I have my Preview preferences set to open images in a new window. Before upgrading to Big Sur this worked unconditionally. Since switching to Big Sur this works for the first 15 windows, but after that, it starts opening them in an existing window. I can right click and open them in a new window, but it is really inconvenient. Can I tweak a setting somewhere, possibly from the command line, to be have Preview continue to open images in new windows?

How to reset the Finder to its default settings?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 11:06 PM PST

Can the Finder be reset to all original Default Settings?

Note there is a specific motivation: I no longer can view external DVD/CD drives from Finder even though they both can play movies/music CD's: see DVD/CD Drive no longer shows in Finder . Resetting to Defaults would just be another thing to try.

Apache 403 error after Big Sur upgrade (Forbidden - You don't have permission to access this resource)

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 03:04 AM PST

After upgrading my machine from Catalina to Big Sur, I can no more use a custom folder for my apache Server.

I can still use the default Sites folder.

<Directory "/Users/username/Sites/">      AllowOverride All      Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks      Require all granted  </Directory>

But as soon as I change it to any other folder, like for example /Users/username/Development/Sites/:

<Directory "/Users/username/Development/Sites/">      AllowOverride All      Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks      Require all granted  </Directory>

I get a 403 error: Forbidden - You don't have permission to access this resource.

I checked the permissions I have in /Users/username/Sites/

enter image description here

And tried to replicate them to /Users/username/Development/Sites/, but can not use system as user when doing sudo chown system /Users/username/Development/Sites

I also tried to use _www user, but it didn't work.

My other computer that is still under Catalina, has exactly the same configuration and permissions and it works pretty fine!

What did I miss??

How do I turn off AirPods notifications in macOS?

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 03:46 AM PST

As of Big Sur, every time I open or unlock my Mac or walk over to it from being somewhere else I get this notification:

AirPods Nearby Notification Center Notification

AirPods
Nearby

I don't need it, dismissing it is a distraction and waiting for it to disappear is an obstruction to getting work done.

How and turn it off so I never get notifications about my Airpods?

How can I run two instances of WhatsApp on a Mac?

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 04:39 AM PST

I have two phone numbers for two purposes and I would like to run two native WhatsApp clients in parallel on my Mac.

I don't want to use the browser (or two browser windows) since I prefer the native Mac OS apps.

How can I do that?

DVD/CD Drive no longer shows in Finder

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 11:44 PM PST

I tried to drag a DVD to VLC app. Instead the entire DVD/CD drive just disappeared from Finder. The drive is still there: I can play a DVD on it. But it does not show up in Locations.

Update 6 months later I have tried two different external Cd/DVD drive's: both can play DVD/USB's but neither show up in Finder.

enter image description here

Note that it is enabled in the Preferences:

enter image description here

How can the DVD/CD drive be re-added to Finder? I am on Catalina with a Macbook Pro 2020.

Update Here are the Sidebar settings - showing that the External disks and CDs, DVDs, Ipods are enabled:

enter image description here

Does Keychain support importing a PKCS12 certificate encrypted with AES256?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 10:03 PM PST

I am attempting to import a PFX/P12 certificate generated by the Windows certificate manager for use with S/MIME into MacOS Catalina Keychain. The certificate is encrypted with AES256.

The same certificate and password work correctly when encrypted with 3DES.

When the certificated uses AES256, Keychain complains "MAC verification failed during PKCS12 import" after I enter the password. The same error is achieved using the security cli.

Any ideas what might be wrong?

CLI examples that did not work:

security import ./foo.pfx -f pkcs12  security import ./foo.pfx -t cert -f pkcs12  security import ./foo.pfx -f pkcs12 -k ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain  security import ./foo.pfx -f pkcs12 -T /usr/bin/codesign -k ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain

Update 1: How the Certificates were Created

  1. Login with my user on a Windows 10 desktop
  2. Open Manager User Certificates
  3. Personal -> Certificates -> All Tasks -> Request New Certificate
  4. Select the appropriate enrollment policy
  5. Right click the certificate and choose "Export..."
  6. Select the format:
    1. PFX
      1. include all certificates
      2. enable certificate privacy
  7. Set the password
  8. Finish

At some point in the process I chose AES256 or 3DES from a drop down (only two options available)

Bluetooth audio is choppy / stuttering on Macbook Pro (Mojave) but not iPhone

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 09:56 PM PST

Audio playing from my Macbook Pro (Late 2016 15" w/ Touch Bar, OS v10.14.6) to my true wireless earbuds (Jabra Elite 75t) is often choppy / stuttering. The problem seems to be with the Macbook because audio playing from my iPhone 8 Plus to the Jabra earbuds never stutters. I can't upgrade from Mojave to Catalina because I use some legacy software.

Things I've tried:

  • Unpair/re-pair
  • Bluetooth menu -> Debug - Reset the bluetooth module
  • Reset PRAM
  • Disconnect wifi
  • Disconnect iPhone <-> Jabra connection
  • Change Sound settings for Input to Internal Microphone rather than Jabra
  • Set AirDrop to be discoverable by no one
  • Jump between wifi 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and change channels
  • Jabra firmware upgrade
  • Play audio from different apps (Spotify, VLC, Youtube on Chrome, etc.)
  • Try these commands (in particular the ones under EDIT 3 and EDIT 4) for improving the power/bandwidth for the bluetooth module.
  • Try the "Force AptX" option here, that made my sound much worse.

When I open Console.app and filter for faults or errors plus the term "bluetooth," all I see is the error message "CoreBluetooth isn't advertising for this client type" from process "wirelessproxd"; not sure what that's about, maybe something to do with AirDrop.

What else should I try?

Many thanks

How can I prevent a recording from being inadvertently stopped?

Posted: 08 Jan 2022 12:05 AM PST

After I hit Record on my iPhone for video or audio recordings, the Stop button is too easily triggered accidentally, e.g. by the wind or physical matter (dust, paper) that manages to touch the phone screen. How can I force the phone to require more than a touch (e.g. a password) to stop or pause a recording?

How to fix a Time Capsule disk in "Internal disk needs repair" status?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 09:47 PM PST

My Time Capsule disks shows "Internal disk needs repair".

enter image description here

How can I repair the disk (without erasing it)?

how to ungroup windows on mac

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 09:48 PM PST

I am coming from ubuntu. In Mac i notice that multiple browser windows or finder windows don't show up independently in task bar or task switcher. This is causing problems in many operations. Is there any switch to activate ungrouped windows?

Where do I find my user folder in the OS X folder hierarchy?

Posted: 07 Jan 2022 09:46 PM PST

In Terminal, how do I go from Macintosh HD to places such as johnsmith that contains Downloads, Desktop etc. In a Finder window, it seems they are independent of each other.

From Macintosh HD, I see Library, Applications etc. but under User I couldn't find johnsmith.

The Mac file tree is rather confusing for a Windows user like me who are used to "My Computer" then all files are managed by root drives and folders. What is consider as root on my Mac? Is it Macintosh HD or johnsmith? It is possible to do a partition on Mac like that on Windoes?
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