You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Ventura security problems.

I updated to Ventura 13.1 .

I can not find a way to run for example VMD, molden etc. These are the programs I used to work with on a daily basis. I am getting the errors:

  1. For VMD: “startup.command” cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer. macOS cannot verify that this app is free from malware.
  2. For molden: “libgfortran.3.dylib” can’t be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store. Your security settings allow installation of only apps from the App Store.


I did not find a way to make it work.

Could anyone help, please?

Is there any official way for system problems for mac users? This is really annoying to struggle with this kind of new features that does not work properly on the updated macOS.

I have a feeling that with the every update I am less and less happy with the operating system and regret that abandoned linux enviroment...


Thank you in advance for your help, tips and tricks.


iMac 27″, macOS 13.0

Posted on Dec 22, 2022 7:46 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 5, 2023 3:12 AM

Even I am trying to figure out how VMD works on this new MAC version M2 Ventura. However, I have found a temporary solution where you follow the steps of downloading and copying the M1 version (latest) vmd file into Applications folder and allow "vmd" in settings privacy. Again when you try to open from application folder --> you receive the error - “startup.command” can’t be opened because (null) is not allowed to open documents in Terminal.


solution - After getting this error -> go to applications window --> vmd (double click)--> show package contents --> Contents --> MacOS --> click on "start up command"


A new fresh VMD window will open and you can work the molecules

Similar questions

14 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 5, 2023 3:12 AM in response to Upset_Macos_user

Even I am trying to figure out how VMD works on this new MAC version M2 Ventura. However, I have found a temporary solution where you follow the steps of downloading and copying the M1 version (latest) vmd file into Applications folder and allow "vmd" in settings privacy. Again when you try to open from application folder --> you receive the error - “startup.command” can’t be opened because (null) is not allowed to open documents in Terminal.


solution - After getting this error -> go to applications window --> vmd (double click)--> show package contents --> Contents --> MacOS --> click on "start up command"


A new fresh VMD window will open and you can work the molecules

Dec 22, 2022 7:53 AM in response to Upset_Macos_user

Just make sure you TRUST these Apps before you do the following:


It is because those applications are not signed and not notarized by the developers. That can happen because the developers do not wish to pay for an Apple Developer account so they can't get the certificates to sign things and they don't want to submit their apps to Apple for malware detection.


You can get around this by opening Finder and right-clicking the App icon and choosing Open. Answer in the affirmative to allow the App to run. This is a one time quarantine type flag that is cleared when you open the App in this manner.



Dec 22, 2022 8:27 AM in response to Upset_Macos_user

Upset_Macos_user wrote:

I can not find a way to run for example VMD, molden etc.

I'm not familiar with either of those products. This is a user-to-user support forum for Apple products. Even for 3rd party products that are wildly popular, like Chrome or Adobe, this forum is the one place on the internet where you are least likely to find people who use those 3rd party products.


I have never heard of either VMD or molden. I was able to find them with a Google search, but only because "molden" is relatively unusual and that gave me a hint about what VMD actually was. It is best to provide direct links to these products instead of hoping that people can find them. For more popular consumer apps, it is usually impossible to find apps without a direct link because there are so many apps with very similar names.


I can tell you right away that these are academic apps. Such apps have been a plague on Mac users for decades. There is absolutely no class of software that is lower in quality, more hacked up, and with worse Mac support than academic software. It's just total junk.

These are the programs I used to work with on a daily basis. I am getting the errors:
For VMD: “startup.command” cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer. 1. macOS cannot verify that this app is free from malware.
For molden: “libgfortran.3.dylib” can’t be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store. 1. Your security settings allow installation of only apps from the App Store.

No surprise there. Two things:

1) The default settings are to allow apps from the App Store or authorized developers. You must have changed those settings to be more strict. Or perhaps your IT department did that for you. In any case, you'll never find this software in the Mac App Store. Even then, academic software often isn't from authorized developers. So you are almost always going to have to bypass your security restrictions to install it.


You can do that by selecting the installer in the Finder. Then, right click or control-click on the installer and choose "Open" from the context menu. You'll get another scary warning about malware. If you are absolutely sure this software is safe, then you can confirm that you want to open it.


2) Because this is academic software, it violates pretty much every assumption about how Mac software is supposed to work. I can't even begin to guess what's wrong with it because these types of apps are always inventing new ways to run. What you are experiencing has been a common complaint for 20 years.


Probably the best solution is to try to reinstall the software from scratch. Of course, there is no guarantee that it actually runs on Ventura. This kind of software rarely does work on the latest version of the operating system. In most cases, it requires versions that are years out-of-date.

Is there any official way for system problems for mac users?

This is not a system problem. It is a problem with your 3rd party software. You will have to contact the developers of VMD and molden and ask them to update their software. I'm absolutely confident that, if you get any reply, they will blame Apple for "making changes", in 2007.

This is really annoying to struggle with this kind of new features that does not work properly on the updated macOS.

That is certainly understandable. Just remember that there are plenty of apps that work fine. In order for an app to display these kinds of problems, it has to be very low quality to begin with. Most apps don't need contant updates. They may need updates to work with new features. But they should never actually break on a new version.

I have a feeling that with the every update I am less and less happy with the operating system and regret that abandoned linux enviroment...

You may have a responsibility here too. Ventura 13.1 was only released a few days ago. The most recent version of molden is from 2021. VMD claims to support macOS 11. But I don't know if you are actually even running those latest versions. So why are you running macOS 13 to begin with? Apple has no control over the actions of 3rd party developers. If they don't support the latest version of macOS, then you can't update. And when you do update, you will have to make sure to use the correct version of the 3rd party software. And if changing that version invalidates years of your research, then that's simply the price of academic software. You may not have to spend any money for it, but there is always a price to be paid.

Dec 22, 2022 12:06 PM in response to etresoft

etresoft wrote:


dialabrain wrote:

Yes, I was going to test it but i didn't feel like going through the registration process.
I've seen these kinds of academic apps for as long as I've been on the forums. It's always the same kind of problems. It is no more related to Ventura than it was Tiger.

Good to know. You motivated me to go ahead and install VMD.

Ventura security problems.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.