I am recently updated OS X Mavericks and i was using just fine for about 2 weeks, recently i started to see issues and my loginwindow keep on crashing, When i try to open App Store it throws error " Unapproved Caller SecurityAgent may only be invoked by Apple Software" , it throws same error when i try to logout or restart my MBP.
Let me know if anyone has resolution to this problem.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
The correct way to fix the "Unapproved Caller SecurityAgent may only be invoked by Apple Software" error is to delete the contents of the
/var/folders/ directory.
Most users experience this error when trying to have the system use elevated privileges like unlocking the System Preferences to make changes. This occurs on systems that have recently been upgraded to Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks.
The upgrade process fails to complete a specific task that is meant to remove cached files from that location. There is a Launch Daemon at "
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.bsd.dirhelper.plist " that is meant to remove the files from the /var/folders location every 3 days.
Removing the contents of this folder does not affect the system as they are only cached files. This will only need to be done once, then a RESTART of the system and the Unapproved Caller error will go away.
Hi Divescape,
if you still are having issues try this.
Here is the ultimate fix and finally got my Macbook Pro working, i went to Apple Store and they did factory install with tools they have. Does not sound very much logical but apparently its working for me. Its been 1 day so far but havent seen issues at all. It has been 63 days since my MBP is up and running for longer than 30 minutes.
I recommend to visit apple store, all Software Warrenty is paid for so they dont charge anything.
Thanks.
concur on replacing cable. I have mid 2009 MBP and replaced the hard drive a few months ago. After reinstalling OS I got the sporadic "Unapproved Caller" error. I replaced the HDD cable and problem gone.
@abstert, It's possible this is also as a solution for some people but it's certainly not "the" solution. My issue was a brand new hard drive with a brand new installation of Mavericks so it was not a software upgrade issue. I'm happy to report that I replaced the cable one week ago and have had zero "Unapproved caller" errors since replacing the cable.
In fact, it's highly likely I never had a "bad" hard drive to begin with. Rather the "bad hard drive" was actually a bad cable.
I had the 'Unapproved Caller' message appear on my new Mac mini. Didn't have a problem until after upgrading to 10.9.5. It didn't appear on startup... but my apps would go wonky and not work. Really weird behavior. When I choose Shut Down the message appears on a grey screen and the only way to shut down the system is to hold the start button until it turns off.
I started from Recovery and reinstalled OS X. It installed 10.9.4. Haven't had any problems since, but it's only been 1 day since reinstalling.
Decided to do some research and found this thread. Great thread!
Also found a post from James Reynolds who has this problem on 200 Macs after upgrading to 10.9 (at a university). He was curious about what the purpose of /var/folders is, so he wrote up some notes of his findings. Recommended reading:
http://blog.magnusviri.com/what-is-var-folders.html
I ran into this as well when updating one of our iMacs. I resolved it by booting into safe mode, running Mavericks Cache Cleaner (http://www.northernsoftworks.com/maverickscachecleaner.html) in deep clean mode and rebooting.
Worked perfectly.
Hope this helps someone.
I Had this problem, I tried everything including erasing all my drives and re installing , the fix for this issue is a SATA connector replacement , I did this myself for £30 , quick to do if you are okay with the insides of a Mac.
I find it amusing that someone can "try" to guess what YOUR SPECIFIC issue is or isn't. How can you say you don't think its his HDD? I believe the UNAPPROVED CALLER caller message can be a result of several issues, and trouble-shooting is the way to diagnose. If all else fails, as the final option, you may need to replace the HDD cable. I also thought the cable wasn't the problem (but its more wishful thinking), then once i replaced the cable, BAM, everything was back to normal...actually better as my cable must have been wearing out slowly.
WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT UNAPPROVED CALLER message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amg5w0rlwDo
After watching this, it makes sense.
I am NOT saying this is true for all others, but its good to know that "if" you can't figure whats wrong, this may help.
GOOD LUCK!
😉
Mac OS X fix for Unapproved caller. SecurityAgent may only be invoked by Apple software
@pcteklink, I have tried that numerous times but that just works for a few hours and after that I need to do that again. It starts to get tedious very quickly!
McCaffertee wrote:
I find it amusing that someone can "try" to guess what YOUR SPECIFIC issue is or isn't. How can you say you don't think its his HDD? I believe the UNAPPROVED CALLER caller message can be a result of several issues, and trouble-shooting is the way to diagnose. If all else fails, as the final option, you may need to replace the HDD cable. I also thought the cable wasn't the problem (but its more wishful thinking), then once i replaced the cable, BAM, everything was back to normal...actually better as my cable must have been wearing out slowly.
WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT UNAPPROVED CALLER message.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amg5w0rlwDo
After watching this, it makes sense.
I am NOT saying this is true for all others, but its good to know that "if" you can't figure whats wrong, this may help.
GOOD LUCK!
😉
Mac OS X fix for Unapproved caller. SecurityAgent may only be invoked by Apple software
I have ordered a cable and it will arrive between this Friday and Thursday after. I have seen replacing the cable to be the solution for a bunch of issues posted here so I hope it is the case for me as well.
I am glad people are finding solutions for this on their Macs. I had the same issue across 50+ Macs. In no way is it possible that all 50 of them would have a failing hard drive cable at the same time. My previous post regarding clearing the caches in /tmp, followed by a reboot is what worked for me.
I rebooted in Safe Mode and uninstalled Google Chrome and everthing is working fine. I will keep posted if find problem.
I just had this issue, i resolved by booting in safe mode, doing a fix disk in disk utility and then rebooting
FYI if it helps anyone else. I started getting these "spool forever" results after two different Time Machine restores in two different situations. I didn't get the "Unapproved Caller" error until I tried one forum suggestion of resetting the NVRAM/PRAM. I also repaired permissions and removed the contents of /var/folders/ in single user mode. But it seemed odd and too concidental this should be a hardware issue in two cases using different hardware, and I've only been experiencing this recently in the last month or so.
What ended up being the issue, I suspect, was the Time Machine drives themselves. One was a test case in which I was backing up to it, but it was also originally a Deploy Studio formatted drive. The other was my server which I backup (THANKFULLY) to both a Time Capsule and SAS Raid Array. On the server restore, it was restoring from the third party managed/firmware-d RAID array that caused the faulty restore. But a second try using the Time Capsule instead solved the problem.
What I think happened is my Time Capsule is my only dedicated backup drive, utilized only by Apple devices and for no other purpose than Time Machine. The other drives that seemed to cause the bad restores were formatted initially by third party utilities, and in the case of the RAID array, also used ACL's that have been known to cause me problems in the past.
Obviously, my issue is not a cable, but could be related to other people having the same problem and wondering if a cable replacement is in order because empyting /var/folders/ didn't work. Well....not necessarily. Good luck on this one.
I deliberately brought the SATA cable up but the basically said: "The problem is not with the Mac, that's why we can't take it in. The SSD is at fault here, you MUST claim your warranty."
But again, after fixing the cable, Recovering via Internet to Lion and upgraded to Mavericks; not a single issue has been happened since *knocks on wood*.
I have a mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13". Started getting the SecurityAgent Unapproved Caller error two weeks ago. Repeated reboots did not fix it. Could not boot in safe mode. Followed the instructions to clean out /var/folders/* but this didn't cure the problem - did it again with same result. Although very skeptical, I finally bought a new SATA cable and installed it today. Computer successfully booted. Hard to believe that this is the fix, but it really does work.
Correct, I have tried everything. But nothing helped except for the HDD cable. It seems strange a HDD cable could be the problem of this but it apparently is!
Clearing the caches didn't work for me. I cleared it, rebooted the system and it came back hour or two later! This solution works for a whole bunch of us as well as clearing the caches did for a bunch others!
Unapproved Caller
