setup assistant
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How to make OS X Mavericks re-run the Setup Assistant
I recently loaded OS X Mavericks on an old (2007) 20" iMac, and to check that everything was fine I ran the machine through the full Setup Assistant -- setting up a user with my name in the process. Rather than reloading Mavericks on the iMac to clean it off, I did a quick Google search on how to get Mavericks to re-run the Setup Assistant, and I was lucky to find this post by Mark Boszko where he referenced an earlier Mac OS X Hints post on the same topic. If you're command-line averse, you may wish to just reload OS X, but if you know your way around the CLI, here's how you clean up a Mac and get it to re-run the Setup Assistant: Boot into single-user mode by holding down Command-S on the keyboard during startup At the command-line prompt, type mount -uw / rm -R /Library/Preferences rm -R /Users/YOURUSERNAME/ <-- replace YOURUSERNAME with whatever your user name is cd /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default ls (to list the files) Delete the file that is named after your user account with a .plist extension. For example, for user name "stevesande" you'd type rm stevesande.plist rm /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone reboot At this point, OS X restarts and the Setup Assistant launches automatically, initially asking you what language you want to set up the Mac in. Since you're going through this entire dog-and-pony show to set up the Mac for a new user, you don't want to run Setup Assistant again, so just press Command-Q at the language screen, then click the Shut Down button. When the new owner boots up their shiny "new to them" Mac, they're greeted with the Setup Assistant just as if they'd picked up the device at their local Apple Store.
Ask TUAW: Power adapters, Windows 7, iWork refresh, and more
Welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. This week we've got questions about MacBook power adapters, Windows 7 in Boot Camp and virtualization in general, resetting the Mac Setup Assistant, the next iWork refresh, and more. As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify), or if it's an iPhone-related question, which iPhone version and OS version you have.
TUAW Tip: Getting out of Setup Assistant hell
Last night, after installing the QuickTime 7.3.1 update on my Leopard machine, upon restart I was greeted with a distressing sight: the OS X Setup Assistant that's only supposed to run when you first install OS X. Furthermore, even if I completed the Setup Assistant it would just run again in a kind of permanent loop; I was caught in Setup Assistant hell! No matter how many times I restarted, the Setup Assistant would appear each time and never let me get back to my desktop.A little searching (on another machine) revealed that I was not alone. In fact, this was the second time this had happened to me on this machine. The first time, not knowing any better, I ended up reinstalling Leopard. This time, however, I discovered that Apple has acknowledged the problem with a Support Document. Fortunately, there is a way out of Setup Assistant hell: booting into Safe Mode. You do this by restarting your Mac and immediately holding down the SHIFT key when you hear the chime. Hold it until you see the rotating gear below the grey Apple on the startup screen. Release it and the computer should eventually take you to the login screen with "Safe Mode" in red. One word of caution: give the computer plenty of time. Even if it appears stuck give it a chance to work; go get a cup of coffee and come back. Anyway, once you're in Safe Mode you can now hit "restart" and things should eventually get back to normal (perhaps after some updates are installed).This problem seems to be a Leopard bug related to software updates. It's so disconcerting that I thought it would be a good idea to get the solution out there in case it should strike any of our dear TUAW readers.Update: Head nod to Steve D who apparently discovered the same thing a few days ago.
