Simple fix for the Preview and TextEdit Crash after Lion OS X Update

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Level 1

10 points

Simple fix for the Preview and TextEdit Crash after Lion OS X Update

After reading and looking all ovwer the internet for answer. I finally just started to decipher the crash report. The problem is a Permissions problem. All you have to do is:

1. Right click on the /Library and selct 'Get Info'

2. Unlock the pad lock in the lower right hand corner.

3. Click on the + symbol to add a user.

4. When prompt add the 'root user'.

5. Give the root user Read/Write privaledges.

6. Lock the pad lock and open Preview.

This worked for me and I hope it works for you to!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7), 27" iMac, 2.7GHz Intel Core i5, 4GB

Posted on Jul 21, 2011 9:24 PM

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Answer 1

Silvertoe Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 22, 2011 4:10 AM in response to Silvertoe

Note too that the Library folder in the root user account is hidden in Lion. Get to it by selecting the "Go" menu choice in the finder while holding down the option key. Then select "Get info" from the "File" menu in the finder. (Thanks to brightlight for pointing this out)

When I use the term 'root user' I am referring to the account name that has administrator rights. This account is normally the owner. I have 4 accounts set up and only my account has admin rights. The rest are set to standard.

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Answer 2

damianHK

Level 1

0 points

Jul 22, 2011 8:17 AM in response to Silvertoe

Great job. It works for my 10.7 too. 🙂

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Answer 3

ChiMark

Level 1

0 points

Jul 22, 2011 11:03 AM in response to Silvertoe

Gosh, nice job, Silvertoe!

Works like a charm.

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Answer 4

Silvertoe Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 22, 2011 1:02 PM in response to ChiMark

No problem. Glad you got'er going. 🙂

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Answer 5

Mac_slide

Level 3

605 points

Jul 23, 2011 2:26 AM in response to Silvertoe

You ever hear of Preview only remains open when you are viewing a file, but if close the tab the preview removes itself from the doc... whats a possible fix for that, also I can't delete my pdf's from the file when its open like in SNOW, but have to manually find it, and drag to the trash.

Also to note, I never have the experinece with SWIPE working, the reverse gesture is there and all the boxes are checked but none of the swipe commands work.

I do like the Signature in Preview

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Answer 6

Silvertoe Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 24, 2011 8:46 PM in response to Mac_slide

Mac_slide,

To be honest with you. . . This is the first Mac I have owned and I bought it in the middle of May! LOL! I am not filmilar with any of the previous versions. I will tell you this tho. . . It will be hard for me to go back to Windows! EVEN with this little bit of a hassle I have had with Lion. There is nothing worse than a 'Blue Screen' with Windows!

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Answer 7

Jul 25, 2011 6:51 PM in response to Silvertoe

Still crashing Preview & Textedit here.

The root user already had Read & Write access to ~/Library. So I also clicked the little gear and applied those settings to enclosed items. Still crashing Preview.

The other user listed for Library is everyone, with No Access.

Other fixes looked at were the Downloads and Documents folders. Apparently if these are Aliases a crash will be triggered. They have to be real folders. The MacBook had real folders, but Downloads was named downloads, so I capitalized it to be standard, but that didn't work either.

I see a greyed out user for Documents & Downloads called Fetching... set to Read Only. I don't remember seeing that user before, and have no clue what that means. The everyone user has Read Only access here.

Permissions were repaired also... still crashing.

I'll keep searching the internets to find a solution.

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Answer 8

Mac_slide

Level 3

605 points

Jul 25, 2011 7:29 PM in response to Silvertoe

I hate wondows too... if I went any plac else would peobably be a unix build...

It's now manageable but not Macable right now - more like Windows Approved

Virus Included.

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Answer 9

Mac_slide

Level 3

605 points

Jul 25, 2011 7:33 PM in response to Thomas Evers

Thomas, Have you been able to boot from another mac into it or another disk as Target disc, or perhaps at minimum into single user and run the fix commands or possible get a Linux or other unix flavor out there and run their disc recovery or format prgrams and the reinstall your old version...

If you have AppleJack, that was making mine crash every few 10 -30 minutes, and if you have any APPS installed for boot up, remove them...

Please tell me you've at least held the left shift key to boot into SAFE mode.

If you can get into recovery - there is also a terminal program there.

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Answer 10

Silvertoe Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 25, 2011 8:52 PM in response to Thomas Evers

Hello Thomas,

Sorry the quick fix did not work for your instance. Would you mind pasting one of the crash file for us to take a look at?

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Answer 11

Jul 25, 2011 9:28 PM in response to Silvertoe

Sorry, but it's a little late for grabbing a crash log. Right now I'm restoring the MacBook from Time Machine. Hopefuly we get through that, or I'll have to use the SuperDuper backup of 10.6.8 from right before the upgrade.

As far as I can tell, I should not have applied the read/write settings to the enclosed bits within Library. Following that, Mail wouldn't launch because it said it didn't have rights to save files; even though reading the permissions everything seems okay. And assorted other things went wonky, too.

I may be back here with the Preview/Textedit crash, because the backup should get things back to where they were a few hours ago, right?

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Answer 12

Jul 26, 2011 4:36 AM in response to Thomas Evers

Update. I don't recommend this as a strategy, but it did work. After a full restore from Time Machine, the problem with Preview and Textedit is gone. Also gone are the console logs previous to the restore.

I used the new hidden recovery volume to run the Time Machine restoration. (reboot with option key held down to select) Pretty slick.

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Answer 13

Jul 26, 2011 4:49 AM in response to Silvertoe

I have the issue still existing.

after I'm back from work I will upload the error code.

My confic maybe different to default:

- link of the user homefolder to a separate partition.

the rebuild/correction of rights on the directories and files didn't help, because after the next reboot the permissions has been set back to this dubios ones...

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Answer 14

Jul 29, 2011 7:02 AM in response to Silvertoe

Just figured out the TextEdit and Preview crash problems. Apparently it is an ACL issue. If you don't know how to change your password and reset ACL's, then follow the instructions below:

- Shut down your computer,

- Restart holding down the "Command R" Keys (you want to access Mac OS X Utilities),

- In the top menu go to Utilities and then Terminal,

- In Terminal type "resetpassword" (it can be your old password, just as long as it's changed),

- Click on "Save"

- Below that, hit the "Reset" button (this will change the ACL's),

- It will take a few seconds/minutes…

Restart your computer. Login to your account and you should be good!

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Answer 15

jon-w-s

Level 1

14 points

Jul 29, 2011 8:21 AM in response to Thomas Evers

I have been having this issue as well - permissions settings didn't fix it.

I went into system preferences and set the default printer as a one of my brother printers instead of "last used" (which was pointing to my canon)... I can now print in Preview to PDF or my other printers but if i select my printer as the canon - it locks up again -so at least that narrows it down and i am now able to print to PDF (and my other printers) from preview. hope it helps somone to get access to other printers and the pdf functionin Preview (haven't checked textedit yet)

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