Issues with some apps requiring administrative privileges after installing Mavericks

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AlexCurly Author

Level 1

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Issues with some apps requiring administrative privileges after installing Mavericks

Hi everyone. After updating to Mavericks on my MacBook Pro, I have experienced the following inconveniences.

1) Dropbox keeps asking for my administrative password at every boot.

Quite annoying. Reinstalling the app didn't solve the issue. Instead, Finder integration seems now gone. 😐

2) VirtualBox won't start.

The error message is "Effective UID is not root (euid=217 egid=20 uid=501 gid=20) (rc=-10). Please try reinstalling VirtualBox.".

Needless to say that uninstalling the app with the script and reinstalling it didn't solve anything. 😕

3) XQuartz is also gone.

It keeps popping out with this error message: "The application X11 could not be opened. An error occurred while starting the X11 server: "Cannot establish any listening sockets - Make sure an X server isn't already running. Click Quit to quit X11. Click Report to see more details or send a report to Apple.".

If I hit "Quit", the message comes out after some seconds. I used XQuatz to run Inkscape, which I have now replaced with iDraw, but the issue is still annoying.

As far as I understand, the problem seems related with administrative privileges required by the apps. On my two other Macs (Mac Mini and iMac) things are fine, so I assume that somehow maybe some system files are messed up on the MBP. I ran a permission repair but it was useless. I searched the forums but it seems that nobody is experiencing the same troubles. I hope someone here may help me solve these issues without a fresh install. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Dec 28, 2013 4:03 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 28, 2013 4:32 AM in response to AlexCurly

Sorry to hear that you're having problems with Mavericks. Might I suggest that you try downloading Cocktail for 10.9 which is a free download. It seems to me that there's an odd file or two that may be causing these issues. You could try running Disk Utility first but Cocktail is certainly a programme to try.

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Answer 2

AlexCurly Author

Level 1

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Dec 28, 2013 6:17 AM in response to Barry Wilbraham1

I downloaded the app and tried running all the scripts. Unfortunaltely, this didn't help me. 😐

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Answer 3

Dec 28, 2013 6:26 AM in response to AlexCurly

I think this may now well be a keychains issue.

Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1544?viewlocale=en_US

OS X: Keychain Access asks for keychain "login" after changing login password

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1631?viewlocale=en_US

OS X Mavericks: Lock or unlock your keychain

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13823?viewlocale=en_US

Open Keychain Access, which is in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder.
From the Keychain Access menu, choose Preferences.
Click General, then click Reset My Default Keychain.
Authenticate with your account login password.
Quit Keychain Access.
Restart your computer.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,518 points

Dec 28, 2013 8:11 AM in response to AlexCurly

This may be a situation where Repairing Permissions in Disk Utility might be helpful.

Open Disk Utility.

Select your startup volume (likely Macintosh HD).

Select First Aid tab.

Click Repair Disk Permissions.

Also, please uninstall Cocktail before you cause more damage to your system.

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Answer 5

zit

Level 1

46 points

Dec 29, 2013 5:07 AM in response to AlexCurly

enter "sudo id -u" in Terminal.app

The result should be 0, not 217

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Answer 6

AlexCurly Author

Level 1

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Dec 29, 2013 11:26 PM in response to zit

I ran again the repairing permissions tools but it was useless.

Zit, the result of the command is 217. How can I fix this?

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Answer 7

zit

Level 1

46 points

Dec 30, 2013 4:46 AM in response to AlexCurly

"neverpanic" posted some instructions that I didn't use at:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/107147/issue-installing-macports-on-mav ericks

I used "Property List Editor.app" and/or Xcode.app to change

"/private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/root.plist",

but I had to mess with the directory permissions first with Finder.app.

When I was done, the parent and grandparent were owned by uid _krbtgt (217)

and the login window didn't show up,

so I had to boot single user and chown those 2 directories to root.

"sudo find / -user 217 -ls" lists 1378 files also now owned by _krbtgt

I don't know how root's uid became 217, or how common this problem is.

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Answer 8

AlexCurly Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 1, 2014 3:07 AM in response to zit

These hints helped me, though I used the graphical way to check & then change root UID (enable the root account, log in, than choose System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Unclock the panel -> Secondary click on "System Administrator" -> Advanced Options -> Set User ID to "0", than open Terminal app, type "reboot -0" and press enter).

XQuarts now starts correctly and runs smoothly. 🙂

Still on the way to find a solution for the other two glitches...

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