After cloning hard drive from backup ARD won't launch

Hi, i have exactly the same issue, first time, i didn't make the link with a clone by CCC but this morning (after a clean install because of this problem) I cloned my startup disk to a new SSD disk and this issue comes back with the clone. I reboot on original disk and ARD works on original, CCC causes the problem, i made many clones with previous systems without troubles so it's probably a pure Capitan/CCC/ARD mix issue.

I let a support message to CCC with a reference to your thread.

hope for solution too... first time in my Apple life that an issue needs a clean install...

I worked with another user on this issue back in March -- Can't launch Apple Remote Desktop anymore. Does that solution (removing /private/var/folders/zz while booted in Recovery mode) also work for you? It's a curious issue; CCC explicitly excludes the zz folder (for reasons exactly like this -- it causes trouble) so it should be empty on the restored volume.

Exactly the same here after restoring my Mac Pro from a CCC (V4.1.9) backup onto the formatted internal flash storage drive.

The proposed solution of deleting the whole /private/var/folders/zz folder resulted for me in not being able to boot the Mac Pro at all.

After restoring with CCC the ZZ folder isn't empty at all:

ls -la

drwxr-xr-x 22 root wheel 748 Jul 27 14:35 .

drwxr-xr-x 8 root wheel 272 Jun 24 09:13 ..

drwxr-x--- 6 root wheel 204 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000

drwxr-xr-x 3 _networkd _networkd 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000003000000r

drwxr-xr-x 4 _appleevents _appleevents 136 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000006w00001q

drwxr-xr-x 4 _mdnsresponder _mdnsresponder 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000084000021

drwxr-xr-x 3 _clamav _clamav 102 Jul 27 14:35 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000_800002k

drwxr-xr-x 4 _spotlight _spotlight 136 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000b400002s

drwxr-xr-x 4 _securityagent _securityagent 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000bh00002w

drwxr-xr-x 4 _atsserver _atsserver 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000c4000031

drwxr-xr-x 3 Gio staff 102 Jul 27 14:35 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000cc000033

drwxr-xr-x 4 _softwareupdate _softwareupdate 136 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068

drwxr-xr-x 4 _coreaudiod _coreaudiod 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s800006_

drwxr-xr-x 4 _locationd _locationd 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000sm00006d

drwxr-xr-x 3 _timezone _timezone 102 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000t800006k

drwxr-xr-x 3 _cvmsroot _cvms 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000th00006m

drwxr-xr-x 3 _usbmuxd _usbmuxd 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000tm00006n

drwxr-xr-x 3 _netbios _netbios 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000vr00006y

drwxr-xr-x 3 _iconservices _iconservices 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y000007h

drwxr-xr-x 3 _distnote _distnote 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y400007j

drwxr-xr-x 3 _nsurlsessiond _nsurlsessiond 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y800007k

drwxr-xr-x 3 _nsurlstoraged _nsurlstoraged 102 Jul 22 18:33 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000yc00007l

Trying to start ARD results in:

Cleaning out ARD from my system following the steps provided in the official Apple support article: https://support.apple.com/de-ch/HT201766 and then installing ARD freshly from the App Store didn't help.

Strangely on another MacBook Pro where I run ARD Admin as well there even exists no /private/var/zz folder at all 😟

Any solution to the problem would be very much appreciated.

Andy

Exactly the same here after restoring my Mac Pro from a CCC (V4.1.9) backup onto the formatted internal flash storage drive.

The proposed solution of deleting the whole /var/folders/zz folder resulted for me in not being able to boot the Mac Pro at all.

After restoring with CCC the ZZ folder isn't empty at all:

ls -la

drwxr-xr-x 22 root wheel 748 Jul 27 14:35 .

drwxr-xr-x 8 root wheel 272 Jun 24 09:13 ..

drwxr-x--- 6 root wheel 204 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000

drwxr-xr-x 3 _networkd _networkd 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000003000000r

drwxr-xr-x 4 _appleevents _appleevents 136 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n000006w00001q

drwxr-xr-x 4 _mdnsresponder _mdnsresponder 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000084000021

drwxr-xr-x 3 _clamav _clamav 102 Jul 27 14:35 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000_800002k

drwxr-xr-x 4 _spotlight _spotlight 136 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000b400002s

drwxr-xr-x 4 _securityagent _securityagent 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000bh00002w

drwxr-xr-x 4 _atsserver _atsserver 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000c4000031

drwxr-xr-x 3 Giovanni staff 102 Jul 27 14:35 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000cc000033

drwxr-xr-x 4 _softwareupdate _softwareupdate 136 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s0000068

drwxr-xr-x 4 _coreaudiod _coreaudiod 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000s800006_

drwxr-xr-x 4 _locationd _locationd 136 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000sm00006d

drwxr-xr-x 3 _timezone _timezone 102 Jul 22 17:58 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000t800006k

drwxr-xr-x 3 _cvmsroot _cvms 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000th00006m

drwxr-xr-x 3 _usbmuxd _usbmuxd 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000tm00006n

drwxr-xr-x 3 _netbios _netbios 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000vr00006y

drwxr-xr-x 3 _iconservices _iconservices 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y000007h

drwxr-xr-x 3 _distnote _distnote 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y400007j

drwxr-xr-x 3 _nsurlsessiond _nsurlsessiond 102 Jul 22 17:57 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000y800007k

drwxr-xr-x 3 _nsurlstoraged _nsurlstoraged 102 Jul 22 18:33 zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000yc00007l

Cleaning out ARD from my system following the steps provided in the official Apple support article: https://support.apple.com/de-ch/HT201766 and then installing ARD freshly from the App Store didn't help.

Any solution to the problem would be very much appreciated.

Andy

Same here after cloning 10.11.5 on a new SSD of my MBpro 8,1. I've tried everything that was suggested in this thread with no result. What makes me wonder is, the same procedure on my iMac 8,1 (cloning HD content on a new SSD with 10.11.5) works like a charm. No problems with ARD. Besides hardware configuration the only difference between iMac and MBpro is: MBpro has a bootcamp partition with windows 10. Can that be an issue?

> After restoring with CCC the ZZ folder isn't empty at all

Was that immediately after restoring to an *empty* volume, or was that after booting from the restored volume? CCC won't copy /private/var/folders/zz, but nor will it delete that folder if it already exists on the destination (in other words, CCC doesn't do *anything* inside of that zz folder). I probably should have been more specific about that. I would also expect that folder to not be empty once you've booted from the restored volume, though, because OS X will start to populate it immediately. FWIW, the permissions on that folder that you listed (750) are different than what I see on my own 10.11 system (755):

[bombich:~] ls -la /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  6 root  wheel  204 Oct 19  2015 .
drwxr-xr-x  29 root  wheel  986 May  2 22:53 ..
drwxr-xr-x  5 root  wheel  170 Jul 29 09:56 0
drwx------  22 root  wheel  748 Jun 20 21:57 C
drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel  136 Jul 28 18:21 Cleanup At Startup
drwx------  51 root  wheel  1734 Jul 29 09:53 T

I'm not sure if that makes a difference, though I see that the console error indicates that there's an error creating a the "C" folder *inside* the "zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000" folder. Does that C folder exist on your system?

Perhaps the more pertinent question, though, is "Why is the ARD Agent trying to create a folder in a root-owned directory?" On a system where ARD is working, can you see any ARD-related material in that "C" folder (e.g. `sudo ls -la /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/C`)?

On an aside, the uninstall article linked to above (Uninstall or disable Apple Remote Desktop - Apple Support) is marked as "This article has been archived and is no longer updated by Apple". I'm not sure if that means the content is not relevant on recent OSes (ARD hasn't seen an update in 18 months). If the ARD Agent is trying to place items in /var/folders, though, then I'd conclude that the uninstall article is at least incomplete, if not simply out of date with this more recent failure.

Lastly, has anyone contacted Apple for support on this issue? I haven't had an ARD license in years so I can't readily reproduce this issue without plopping down $80. If an uninstall isn't resolving the issue, though, it seems like an Apple Engineer should be taking a crack at it. If Apple isn't being helpful, can anyone try grabbing some fs_usage output while trying to launch the Remote Desktop application to see what *exactly* the ARD Agent is trying to create?

Mike

I have connected and booted via USB the recent SSD from where I cloned with CCC the new one. ARD is working here without problems. So it has possibly something to do with the clone act.

Thanks Mike for trying to help here. Although I think it really doesn't have to do anything with CCC.

What I found out:

- ARD running on the booted clone works well.

- the '/var/folders/zz' folder on a clone that never before got booted from exists and ... is empty before starting up!

- the content of the '/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000' on a booted clone or running system lists:

Earth:zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000 Gioi$ ls -la

total 0

drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 204 Jul 21 16:57 .

drwxr-xr-x 21 root wheel 714 Jul 22 09:47 ..

drwxr-xr-x 5 root wheel 170 Jul 30 12:18 0

drwx------ 7 root wheel 238 Jul 30 12:19 C

drwxr-xr-x 3 root wheel 102 Jul 30 12:19 Cleanup At Startup

drwx------ 8 root wheel 272 Jul 30 12:20 T

- I didn't find a way to look inside the '/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/C' folder where ARD is obviously trying to write to ( `sudo ls -la /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/C`). .... whatever I tried I got 'permission denied' as response .... sorry, no Unix geek here.

- I don't know how to grab some fs_usage output.

- Additional info: I did format the internal partition before the restore. I am running OS X 10.11.6.

- I'm not sure if a restore could have worked if I would not have completely removed the '/var/folders/zz' folder (afterwards my system didn't startup anymore at all). Probably I should only have emptied the zz folder when booted into the recovery partition. Could this eventually work now (boot into recovery and empty the '/var/folders/zz' folder on the target and restart?

- I definitely don't think it has anything to do with CCC and it's cloning/restore process at all.

- A program (Apple Remote Desktop) that cannot be properly reinstalled simply doesn't work. Before I tried to reinstall ARD from the App Store I used the obsolete Apple KB and AppCleaner.app to clean out every ARD trace but with no success.

- I will probably try to contact Apple support in a couple of days. See what they say.

Andy

Thanks to all of you for trying to help. I can access this "C" Folder on both of my machines, iMac=ARD working, macbook=ARD failing. I can see differences but I'm not able to interprete them.

finally I succeeded following another hint in a similar discussion: delete the zz folder!

first I disabled sip via recovery and then restarted the normal macos. proceeding to Terminal I first zipped the zz folder:

cd /var/folders

sudo zip -r0 zz.zip zz

ls -l zz.zip

# and then delete

sudo rm -rf zz

if restart is failing, you can recover zz via recovery or single user mode by:

cd /var/folders

sudo unzip zz.zip

in the end my machine restarted normally and ARD is back again now

Don't forget to enable sip again!

Many thanks to Olivetti from Macuser.de in Germany (and of course to all of you)

Hi Mike,

I think that leaving this at "faulty clone" could give future readers the wrong idea; maybe we can elaborate on that? Based on the console errors in your original post and the context of the other users that have replied (some resolving the issue, some reporting that things worked fine while booted from the backup), it seems like this issue is inconsistent, and probably a bug in ARD -- if there's a problem creating a cache directory, they should be able to fix that. I don't think there's an issue creating that cache folder, though. You said off the bat that you deleted that "C" folder, so the fact that it was already present would suggest that the "confstr" error result was invalid (e.g. it shouldn't attempt to create that folder if it already exists, and it shouldn't get a "permission denied" error if it's running as root).

Looking closer at the "confstr" API, it looks like that function will attempt to create the folder if it doesn't exist. The error returned was "permission denied". So that begs the questions: a) Is the ARD Agent supposed to run as root, and if it is running as root, why was it unable to create a folder in the root user cache directory?, b) if ARD Agent is not running as root, why would confstr return the root-user cache directory location rather than the ARD Agent user-specific cache directory (or that of the logged-in user)?, and c) why would confstr return a "permission denied" error when the specified cache folder ("/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/C/") did actually exist and the process was running as root? There has to be more to this than simply an error creating the cache folder.

Another, perhaps simpler troubleshooting method arose when I was reading up on confstr:

_CS_DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR

Provides the path to the user's cache directory. The directory will be created if it does not already exist. This direc-

tory is created with access permissions of 0700 and restricted by the umask(2) of the calling process and is a good

location for user cache data as it will not be automatically cleaned by the system.

Files in this location will be removed during safe boot.

If the solution turns out to be deleting that cache folder, perhaps ARD would work just fine after an initial Safe Boot run.

As an aside, if you're having any other issues while booted from the backup (or from a restored volume), please don't hesitate to engage us via the "Report a problem" menu item in CCC's help menu.

Mike