too many "Library/Application Support" folders ?

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too many "Library/Application Support" folders ?

be gentle - i'm an absolute MAC newbie ...

my daughter has been happily using photoshop (Adobe Creative Suite 2) on a PowerBook G4 for nearly a year (OS X 10.4.8).

recently photoshop has stopped working. when it launches, it comes up with two error messages:

"One or more files in the Adobe Application Support folder, necessary for running Photoshop, are missing. Please run the Photoshop installer and re-install Photoshop."

"An error has been detected with a required application library and the product cannot continue. Please reinstall the application."

also GarageBand complains that "... the Instrument Library is invalid. GarageBand expects a valid Instrument Library folder in /Library/Application Support/Garageband. Please choose a valid instrument Library folder or quit and re-install GarageBand."

so it seems there's some confusion on this system about the "Application Support" folder(s)

after a bit of googling i tried some uninstalls and reinstalls of CS2, but got the same result.

as i was doing some backing up of user data before launching in to the Disk Utility (to do some stuff advised by Apple support), i found three "Library" folders which have an "Application Support" subfolder:

1. /Library (which seems to be where shared/common bits of apps install)
2. /Users/<user>/Library (which seems to be where user specific bits of apps install)
3. /Kate/Library (i can't imagine why this is there!)

this last one intrigues me. the contents of /Kate is exclusively user data files except a subfolder named "Library". i wonder if it's been accidently dragged/copied there - and if it was, what damage that might do ?

how many "Application Support" folders would normally be on a system where everything (I think) has been installed with default settings ?

TIA

Paul

PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Nov 3, 2006 12:56 AM

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Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Nov 3, 2006 1:55 AM in response to rawpaul

The root level folder "/Kate" is not the users home folder. the home folder is where it should be in "/Users/katie".
katie (that's my daughter) just moved it up in to the root to make it quicker and easier to navigate to from the apps she users (probably not a good idea from a data management perspective, but that's what she's done).

No, it's not a good idea. Further, I have no idea why this would be easier to navigate apps which are on the Dock in the home folder or easily accessible from /Applications or by dragging the Applcations folder to the Dock.

IMO your best bet is to get the Mac back to its proper settings, then run the 10.4.8 PPC Combo Update

This is a fuller install, as opposed to an incremental "delta" update so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing. It does not matter if you have applied it before. It has worked well for many.

Remember to Verify Disk before update and repair permissions after update from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.

-mj
macjack@gmail.com

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Answer 2

macjack

Level 10

111,168 points

Nov 3, 2006 1:11 AM in response to rawpaul

Hi Paul, Welcome to Apple Discussions.

There would be one in /Library/Application Support. And one in each user: /Users/Home/Library/Application support. If "Kate" is the name of her Home then the Applications Support belongs in /Users/Kate/Library if not it should not be there.

Create a new account, name it "test" and see how your apps work in that User acct? (That will tell if your problem is systemwide or limited to your User acct.) This account is just for test, do nothing further with it.

Open System Preferences >> Accounts >> "+" make it an admin account.

Let us know and we'll troubleshoot this further.

-mj
macjack@gmail.com

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Answer 3

rawpaul Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 3, 2006 1:38 AM in response to macjack

thanks for the for the lightning fast reply macjack !

creating a new user was one of the things apple support got me to try. same error messages from photoshop 😟

the root level folder "/Kate" is not the users home folder. the home folder is where it should be in "/Users/katie".

katie (that's my daughter) just moved it up in to the root to make it quicker and easier to navigate to from the apps she users (probably not a good idea from a data management perspective, but that's what she's done).

just why there should be a "Library" subfolder is the curious thing ... and just what apps are pointing to which of the three "Application Support" subfolders is even more interesting !

(both the original user account, and the test account are bith admin users)

Paul

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Answer 4

rawpaul Author

Level 1

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Nov 3, 2006 2:09 AM in response to macjack

macjack,

IMO your best bet is to get the Mac back to its proper settings

yep, i'm with you on that. i'm thinking i'll just rebuild the OS and reinstall the apps.

that way we'll know exactly where we stand, and will probably be as quick (and certainly more reliable) as trying to tease out the multiple "Application Support" subfolders.

at least i've found the time to backup all the data while i've been trying to suss this problem.

thanks for all the fish,

paul

PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Nov 3, 2006 4:32 AM in response to rawpaul

The first line of defense when a system has a problem is to VERIFY the boot drive, then repair it from single user mode or your emergency boot drive (not an older DVD).

When I am working on a project, I do a smart update of my backup sets every AM first thing. Two or three sets should work, a rotating set of two for daily, one for weekly, and even a monthly backup. And always a working backup of the system, plus one that is never touched that is used only for emergencies AND one that has the prior OS version (such as 10.4.7 in case I run across something that doesn't seem to work I can test it on a clean system clone, or the older version).

Doing backups just gets into your blood after being around computers for decades and doing some beta testing or just running into the normal gottcha and glitches that come to visit.

There are tutorials, ebooks (MacFixit posted one to subscribers yesterday that covers the basics of troubleshooting), "Missing Manual" series... Apple's MacHelp 101 and of course, Google.

Because there are multiple errors it would seem that a folder or more is missing, moved, or the directory (index) for the drive is at fault. Even if Disk Utility doesn't find a problem, Disk Warrior might. The backup + erase + clean install and restore is the surest way (and shortest often times). Even after "fixing" a problem, I don't fully trust that there aren't corrupt files or something so I like to restore from a clean backup, and lacking that, clean install.

Which is why when you do have the system reinstalled and working, backup (a disk image is fine and can be small system only or as large as needed) to another disk drive so you can restore and have backup and emergency when needed.

Before updating your system, make sure to backup the system, that it works, and use it to repair your normal boot drive before applying an update or installing software. The combined updaters are large but excellent mini-OS reinstall and good to have on hand. Sometimes those small software updates don't go well for some reason but rerunning the combined update does - IF there aren't any pre-existing problems!

If you or your daughter wants easy access to a folder or file, just create an alias and put it where it will be handy, that is the normal supported method. Leave folders where they are.

Instead of creating a new account, you could also rename the home "Preferences" folder, reboot and let the system create a new folder.

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Answer 6

rawpaul Author

Level 1

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Nov 3, 2006 3:06 PM in response to The hatter

thanks "hatter",

i only had a an afternoon and evening to try to solve this problem before heading home, which wasn't enough for someone like me who has never really sat down in front of a MAC before. I've made the decision to have the machine rebuilt and apps installed by a local support service. so that's what it will be - a fresh start.

i'll also get my daughter an external drive. i've been googling around to find an appropriate choice for some backup/clone/imaging/syncing software for my daughter. there appear to be several options out there.

i'll troll the forum as well, and see if i can come up with something that will suit my daughter (an "artist", not a techie)

thanks,

paul

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