Show password gone

Question

Level 1

42 points

Show password gone

I jumped from Snow Leopard to El Capitan and immediately noticed that the Show Password option is missing everywhere except for the wireless security password. I use long passwords, and I'd like to identify a typo in the second character before I get to the fourteenth and hit return. Is there some secret way to bring back Show Password?

Rant: Apple now makes it hard to be secure. In SL, I used a standard account and rarely logged into my admin account. Now, there are so many things that require admin passwords that I didn't bother to set up a standard account. The lack of Show Password will result in many people using shorter and easier to type passwords—another reduction in security. There are many permissions problems in El Capitan (partly related to its supposedly improved security and partly related to migrating from Snow Leopard). I stopped using correct permissions after they were replaced by "fetching..." I was asked for my admin password dozens of times when accessing files in my Documents folder. I couldn't fix the problem, so I tossed security aside for dozens of folders and their contents, and gave Read & Write permissions to everyone. This is pathetic.

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Jan 13, 2016 6:37 PM

Reply

Answer 1

pinkstones

Level 5

4,228 points

Jan 13, 2016 6:46 PM in response to iTBotB

No, there isn't, not that I'm aware of. I started with Snow Leopard, then went to Mavericks, Yosemite, and now El Capitan, and I've never once had to input my administrator password except when installing something or updating something, like Flash or Adobe Reader. I don't know what you've done to your computer or what you've put on it that it is constantly asking for the password, even to access simple files in the Documents folder, but it doesn't sound appropriate.

Furthermore, if you want to rant, leave Apple feedback. They don't read these forums, they are strictly for user-to-user help. They won't respond personally to the feedback, but if enough people all leave feedback about the same thing, a future update could see a change.

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Reply

Answer 2

iTBotB Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 13, 2016 8:11 PM in response to pinkstones

It took me some time to figure out much of the permissions problem. First, Apple changed some permissions protocols in 10.7. Second, I was the sole user of my computer. I had my standard account, a second standard account for testing freeware and shareware programs, and my admin account. Because I was sole user, I set up permissions so all users could access Documents, Desktop, Movies, Pictures, and Music from any of the other users. El Capitan choked on the atypical permissions and the different permissions protocol and often replaced Greg(me) and admin with the weird 'user' fetching… When fetching... replaced (me) and admin, I lost direct access to my files. I had made the problem worse by having multiple disk drives mounted during El Capitan installation. El Capitan changed permissions as it scanned those drives for PowerPC applications. No previous Apple OS that I know of mucked around with other drives during installation. I know El Capitan mucked around with permissions because folders on other drives had fetching... permissions immediately after installation.

To tackle the permissions problem, I booted into the password reset realm and used terminal commands and disk utility to restore proper permissions to the main folders. That worked, for a while. I spent days checking permissions in secondary folders such as Application Support. I then checked Document folders and files. I corrected hundreds of permissions. I had a few good days, but many of the correct permissions didn't stick, and I'm dealing with fetching... permissions again. I've been on another forum about this problem. It isn't common, but others have had experiences like mine. What makes it difficult is the absence of guidelines for permissions except the major folders. What permissions are right for a Photos file? A Downloads file? A PrefPane? Should I check permissions of some of the invisible System files? Do all the documents in the same enclosing folder have the same permissions? Without information, it’s hard to fix permissions. The ultimate fix is to install El Capitan on an erased drive, make a variety of documents and save them in the Documents folder, Shared folder, Public folder, etc. I then would have a permissions template. I could fix permissions on my current setup one folder at a time and copy the folders to the new installation. I’m sure that would solve the problem, but it would take a long time.

Reply