You can use the tool defaults in your scripts to read plist files such as /Library/Updates/ist: defaults read /Library/Updates/index. This folder appears to contain property list files documenting packages and updates queued for installation. To see if an update is pending, check the contents of /Library/Updates/. This approach allows updates to be downloaded as part of a schedule but not interrupt or interfere with running processes or active users. The update will wait until the next restart or shut down. If an update requires a restart to be successfully and safely installed, OS X will delay the updating process. The calling script or user is then responsible for restarting. Softwareupdate prints a message at the end of the updating process stating if a restart is required. Take a look at the softwareupdate manual page for the most likely candidate to request a restart. Tools that update OS X are most likely to request a restart. There is no system wide means to determine if a restart is required - or even requested by a process.įor situations where a restart is required, the process responsible for needing the restart is also responsible for organising the restart. In JV’s case, however, his Mac actually shut down at around the halfway point in the progress bar.Like Linux, OS X is designed not to require restarting. If the progress bar fills up and then the Mac starts up, you’re likely good to go. In other cases, if your luck is as bad as Julian’s was, you might instead see a progress bar on startup. In some cases, after performing this step, your Mac will restart normally. Apple says to let it restart just the one time I usually listen for a second reboot, and then release the keys. Keeping holding the keys down until you hear the Mac restart again. Hold down all of these keys: Command, Option, P, and R, and turn on the Mac. You might need to grow an extra finger or two for this one, or have a friend help you out. Resetting that data isn’t harmful, and quite frankly it’s also rarely genuinely useful. The name refers to special memory sections on your Mac that store data that persists even when the Mac is shut off, like volume settings, screen resolution, and similar options. On modern Macs, the real term is resetting the NVRAM. In the PowerPC days, we talked about resetting the PRAM. Step 5: Reset the NVRAM, because, why not? He could have lost hundreds of files representing thousands of hours of work. But his failure to back up religiously made the trying Mac issues Julian faced not just a frustrating annoyance and time-suck, but terrifying, too. “How to set up Time Machine.” This is the moment you’ll wish you read those stories.Īt this stage in JV’s process, I was very concerned about his data.ĭuring one of our successful bouts of getting the Mac working for a while, Julian signed up for the online backup serviceĬrashPlan and copied over his most important files to a pair of external hard drives. Recently, we did a series of backup stories, including Julian’s state was that he didn’t have enough backed up. You can set options for some sources, such as how to display pronunciations or which language of Wikipedia to search. You can select and reorder sources, such as Spanish or Korean dictionaries. Long before this step, long before even Step 1 in fact, you should know the state of your backups. In the Dictionary app on your Mac, choose Dictionary > Settings. Then, all the same problems started recurring: crashes, kernel panics, and eventually a failure to start up successfully at all. To get some feedback about what’s happening, you might choose to start up while holding down Shift, Command, and V: That enters both Safe Boot and something called Verbose Mode, which spits out some messages about what Safe Boot is actually trying to do as it goes. Safe Boot can take a while if it does indeed work. Shut the Mac down, and start it up while holding down Shift. ![]() It’s rare, but sometimes you can get your unhappy Mac to start up successfully with a Safe Boot, and then restart it normally, and everything returns to hunky-doryness. Safe Boot limits what checks and functionality your Mac focuses on during startup, and performs certain diagnostics. But Julian’s Mac was still misbehaving, so we moved on to step two. We clicked Repair Disk, and Disk Utility eventually claimed it had repaired some problems. In Julian’s case, Disk Utility said that it had found errors and we ought to repair them. You want that second one.) On the lower right of the Disk Utility window, click Verify Disk, and then wait while Disk Utility does its thing. (Usually, you’ll see two listings for your built-in drive: The first includes the drive’s size, like 500GB, in its name and nested underneath it is your drive’s friendlier name. ![]() Then, click on your Mac’s built-in hard drive in the left column of Disk Utility. (Once you see that screen, you can release the keys you were holding down.) Click on Disk Utility. ![]() Eventually, you’ll end up on a screen headlined OS X Utilities.
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