Here is what happened. An executable file was copied to a pen drive that was not formatted for OS9. That was then transferred to my lap top running OS9. I have that file in OS 9 now but will not work. I suspect some kind of meta data loss. I can not just start over. I don't have access to the file other then the one I have. Can I save this file?
- Michael
You may be able to fix the file. It may be just a matter of re-inserting the correct File Type and Creator codes.
Do you have a copy of ResEdit? If not, you can download a copy here -
http://www.mac.org/utilities/resedit/
Note - if you are downloading this using a different machine, keep it in its Stuffit archive; do not decompress it until it is on the OS 9 machine.
Next you will need to have a file available of the same kind, one which works properly when double-clicked. Do you have one?
As a matter of fact I do have a nearly identical file that does open! I have Resedit now downloaded in OS 9 and have made copies of both files just incase I mess things up.
Okay, good.
Start up ResEdit. If it sits showing a splash screen with a jack-in-the box on it, click that screen to make it go away; it should then show a standard GetFile screen. Navigate to your known-good file, select and open it.
Ignore the window that opens showing a bunch of resource files. Instead, choose Get Info for <name of file> from the File menu.
In the new screen, under the file's name in the top box will be two boxes, one named "Type:" and the other named "Creator:" Copy those two codes down (on paper is fine). Make sure it is an exact copy: each code is exactly four characters long, capitalization is important; codes can contain letters, numbers, and even special characters including a space. Make sure you copy them exactly as they are shown.
Then close out of those windows, choose Open from the File menu, navigate to and open the problem file. In the appropriate boxes enter the Type and Creator codes which you copied down - again, make sure they are exact.
Then Save the changes, quit ResEdit, and see if the file will now open. If it now displays the correct icon, it should open normally. You might need to restart, and/or drop the file's icon onto the icon of the program that should open it.
For some reason it is insisting there there are more then 4 characters in each of the Type and Creator fields? They were blank when I started.. I have erased and retyped a million times. Any thoughts?
OK that is solved.. if you do it often enough it excepts it.. the file however still does not recognize that is an application.. frustrating. No normal icon still .. any other suggestions ..
Replacing the lost codes usually works.
You might try rebuilding the Desktop; doing so can sometimes force Finder to re-examine the nature of files.
That's all I can think of re getting the file to work properly.
You may need to consider using a utility program to extract the data you need from the file. Unfortunately, I could not find OS 9 versions of the programs I would use for that purpose (CanOpener for graphics data, BBEdit Lite for text data).
I was able to replace the code that was damaged by "verify" in Resedit. The file is now recognized. Thank you very much for your time.
You're quite welcome - glad you got it resolved.
OS9 file .. extension?
