Location Services disabled after every restart

I have already sent a feedback report to Apple about this issue, but I find it a bit strange that so far nobody else seems to have noticed it or simply does not have the issue at all.

Whenever I restart my iMac (27inch, 2019, 5K) the Location Services (System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy) become disabled and the apps to which I gave permission to use them, are missing from the list. I have to manually switch the Location Services on again, and wait for every app asking for them, to give permission.

This only happens after a reboot (cold or warm), never after waking up the iMac from sleep mode.

iMac 27″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 26, 2020 2:35 AM

Top-ranking reply

Wolfgang Textor

Level 1

40 points

Posted on Mar 7, 2021 6:57 AM

Had this as well. Some research in the file system and comparison to a Mac with working location services revealed some old /etc/master.passwd file. While this file is not used by the system usually, it still provides vital data for the early boot phase (when the locationd and geod daemons will start). I had a /etc/master.passwd~orig file as well. The latter file contains the valid entries. Copy it to /etc/master.passwd as root, reboot and you're fine. You probably need to disable the csrutil as well. Mine was off while I was tinkering with the system.

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38 replies

Mar 11, 2021 1:33 PM in response to Photosuser56

My solution this thread here would fit. I migrated to my new Mac from a backup that came from a Lion setup. But that Lion machine was one of the first Mac Pros and the original systems might have been 10.5 or so. I did a full migration with all system preferences. Thus the “something from my old Mac” probably caused that, but the real reason was the not migrated master.passwd file.

Dec 4, 2020 12:47 AM in response to Eric--F

Hello Eric-F,

Sorry, but neither a Safe Mode Boot nor re-installing the OS changed anything about the problem.

Old Toad

Level 10

215,238 points

Feb 17, 2021 9:27 AM in response to Walt D in LV

That sounds like a Google Chrome problem. Check with the Chrome developers to see how to configure Chrome so it doesn't do that each time.

NaBorrow

Level 1

12 points

Dec 4, 2020 12:05 PM in response to Eric--F

Dear Eric,

i also have the same issue with my MacBook Pro touch bar 2016 model. after upgrade to Mac OS Big Sur. Location service has been disable in every time i restart my Mac and sometime it was disable my keyboard when i tried to type on any browses "Safari, Firefox, Chrome". I did try to reinstall my Mac OS again by using Mac OS Recovery. but the issue still appears.

Please kindly advise me to fix this issue.

Best Regards,

Sereyvuth

[Email Edited by Moderator]

Jan 18, 2021 3:10 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Test result: no change.

I actually made two instead of just one new accounts, one being a "Standard" account, the other one being an "Admin". Upon restarting the iMac and logging in into any of these two new accounts, Location Services (in System Preferences > Security & Privacy) were disabled - the tick box was no longer ticked.

Could this problem have something to do with a VPN application that I (rarely) used and uninstalled one or two months ago? I cannot remember if i uninstalled it before or after upgrading from Catalina to Big Sur.

Jan 18, 2021 3:17 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Yes, several times already. And a couple of SMC resets as well. I also re-installed Big Sur twice, in two different ways (once from Recovery, once from a bootable USB memory stick). I gave up on this problem about one month ago. I find the long boot times I have, even more unacceptable (about 3 minutes from startup chime to being able to start up apps). My guess is that that problem is due to the tiny 28GB SSD blade of the 1TB Fusion Drive inside my iMac 2019 27inch 5K.

Old Toad

Level 10

215,238 points

Jan 18, 2021 9:26 AM in response to Deep Sky Diver

I didn't find any VPN files listed in the report so it appears that you did uninstall it. Unless you're using a true VPN tunnel, such as between you and your employer's or bank's servers, they are useless. Public VPN's are anything but private.

Feb 17, 2021 9:07 AM in response to Deep Sky Diver

I, like so many others, have the same problem: Location Services keeps getting turned off for Google Chrome.

You can turn it on, but whenever Chrome updates, it goes off again.

It's very frustrating. There should be a way to permanently turn it on and have it stay on.

The fact you have to turn it on again and again seems ridiculous.

I'm running a late-2016 15" MacBook Pro with MacOS Mojave 10.14.6.

Mar 7, 2021 8:12 AM in response to dbpotts

Never checked it. If your /etc/master.passwd has the same size as the /etc/master.passwd~orig (or if the orig file does not exist at all), your issue is another one. This fix actually only addresses the issue, where location services is turned off after every restart and has forgotten all allowed apps.

What exactly changes "during use"?

Mar 10, 2021 11:35 PM in response to Wolfgang Textor

Thank you for your insight and help. Yes, I think this could well be the source of the problem. However, as I have downgraded again to Catalina (for a number of reasons independent of this problem), I cannot apply your solution and see if it solves the problem on my iMac - not now, at least. But I will keep your advice in case I decide to install Big Sur in the future.

Mar 11, 2021 8:39 AM in response to Photosuser56

Rather than a problem with Migration Assistant, it was most likely a problem with something that was migrated.

You can still use Migration Assistant to bring back all the user accounts - thus ensuring that not just documents, but all mail, music, photos, etc are restored to their previous state - and elect NOT to migrate applications, settings, and other files.

Mar 11, 2021 12:51 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks yes I agree, that’s really what I thought had happened. Something from my old Mac clearly caused the problem with a full migration. I guess I just did the same thing as you explain but by dragging photos, document, etc from the Time Machine back up.

cvigo

Level 1

9 points

Jan 17, 2021 8:46 AM in response to Deep Sky Diver

Similar issue here. It gets disabled only for Chrome

Jan 17, 2021 8:49 AM in response to cvigo

Are you saying that the presence of Google's Chrome browser on our systems is causing this problem?

cvigo

Level 1

9 points

Jan 17, 2021 11:14 AM in response to Deep Sky Diver

I am just saying that location service is disabled only for Chrome in my case, not for my other apps that use location

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Location Services disabled after every restart