Erase Specific File From HDD w/ Boot CD?

Boot into single-user mode. At the prompt:

/sbin/mount -uw /

cd /etc

At this point you may edit the config file and change it back to default.

Then you will need to use another computer to access the drive viaTarget Disk Mode. Note that both computers require Firewire ports.Or you will have to erase the drive and reinstall OS X for which you'll need the Tiger installer disc that came with the computer or a retail disc of a later version of OS X.

If you cannot start up in single-user mode or regular mode nor connect with another computer via TDM, then I know of no other option unless you have a Tiger installation DVD. If you do, then boot from it. When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu. Follow the same procedure for removing or editing the file. You will be in super-user mode and should not need to put the system into write mode as it should already be such.

However, since you will have booted from the DVD you will need to CD to the hard drive volume: cd /Volumes/volname.

When I start up the iMac in either Safe Boot w/ debug or Single-User Mode, I get spammed with "file: table is full". Bottom line, if I could just delete /etc/launchd.config I imagine it would solve the issue. I have a Boot CD and access to USB drives - how can I accomplish this?

Boot up your installation cd/dvd/ . answer language. Look under utilities on the panel that comes up. You will see terminal. Run terminal.

You familiar with terminal?

nano will let you edit a file.

Robert

Then check under one of the other menu options such as File or Edit.

What version of Mac OS X is the cd?

I know 10.4 had terminal. Not sure if 10.2 had terminal or not.

Restore Tiger 10.4 & Leopard 10.5 DVDs are available from Apple by calling 1(800) 275-2273. Have your serial number ready. Have your credit card ready too. There may be a small fee.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4720126?tstart=0 -- January 20,2013

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5772721?answerId=24588313022#24588313022 -- January 22,2014

RObert

Great idea to boot into single user mode from cd.

( Do you know Unix. You are in a Unix single user console. ) The setup commands you need should be listed on the screen. For Mac OS 10.4.11, the commands are:

Here is what you use if you are booting to single user mode.

# Type the follow two instructions to access the startup disk in read/write.

# check out the filesystem.

# ( in case of partial success repeat this command until errors go away. )

/sbin/fsck -fy

# Gain read / write access to your startup drive

/sbin/mount -uw /

You are going to have to figure out how to mount a partition on the hd.

maybe the disk is already mounted

mount

how to mount the hd partition.

mkdir /Volumes/myhd

# your going to have to figure out the right value for disk0s5 for your situtation 😟

mount_hfs /dev/disk0s5 / Volumes/myhd

cd /Volumes/myhd

Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal

# Press return to run a command.

# Disk Utility app would see partition 10 and greater. The number of hidden partitions depends on how you format the dirve.

mac $ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                   type name               size      identifier
   0: Apple_partition_scheme                    *74.5 GB  disk0
   1:    Apple_partition_map                    31.5 KB   disk0s1
   2:         Apple_Driver43                    28.0 KB   disk0s2
   3:         Apple_Driver43                    28.0 KB   disk0s3
   4:       Apple_Driver_ATA                    28.0 KB   disk0s4
   5:       Apple_Driver_ATA                    28.0 KB   disk0s5
   6:         Apple_FWDriver                    256.0 KB  disk0s6
   7:     Apple_Driver_IOKit                    256.0 KB  disk0s7
   8:          Apple_Patches                    256.0 KB  disk0s8
   9:        Apple_Bootstrap                    977.0 KB  disk0s9
  10:              Apple_HFS Classic            1.1 GB    disk0s10
  11:        Apple_UNIX_SVR2                    3.2 GB    disk0s11
  12:              Apple_HFS Macintosh-HD       69.9 GB   disk0s12
  13:        Apple_UNIX_SVR2                    177.4 MB  disk0s13

The sudo command will ask for your administrator password. No characters will appear when typing your password. Press return when done typing. sudo stands for super user do. It's just like root. Be careful.

mac  $ sudo pdisk -l

Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/rdisk0'
 #:                type name                    length   base      ( size )
 1: Apple_partition_map Apple                       63 @ 1        
 2:      Apple_Driver43*Macintosh                   56 @ 64       
 3:      Apple_Driver43*Macintosh                   56 @ 120      
 4:    Apple_Driver_ATA*Macintosh                   56 @ 176      
 5:    Apple_Driver_ATA*Macintosh                   56 @ 232      
 6:      Apple_FWDriver Macintosh                  512 @ 288      
 7:  Apple_Driver_IOKit Macintosh                  512 @ 800      
 8:       Apple_Patches Patch Partition            512 @ 1312     
 9:     Apple_Bootstrap untitled                  1954 @ 149319048
10:           Apple_HFS Apple_HFS_Untitled_1   2254440 @ 263968    (  1.1G)
11:     Apple_UNIX_SVR2 untitled               6617188 @ 149321002 (  3.2G)
12:           Apple_HFS Apple_HFS_Untitled_2 146538496 @ 2780552   ( 69.9G)
13:     Apple_UNIX_SVR2 swap                    363298 @ 155938190 (177.4M)
14:          Apple_Free Extra                   262144 @ 1824      (128.0M)
15:          Apple_Free Extra                   262144 @ 2518408   (128.0M)

Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=156301488 (74.5G)
DeviceType=0x0, DeviceId=0x0
Drivers-
1:  23 @ 64, type=0x1
2:  36 @ 120, type=0xffff
3:  21 @ 176, type=0x701
4:  34 @ 232, type=0xf8ff

Great!

I then navigated to /etc/launchd.config and proceeded to rm it. Being a noob and assuming it saved the change, I then hard shutdown the Mac.

Should have. Need to tell os to flush buffer. Should do this after a few seconds anyway. Should have done umount ~

by the way ~ is your home directory.