I am an application junkie and accordingly love to install non-apple applications.
However much to my chagrin macOS Sierra prevents me by putting me thru the ringer to install those applications.
How can i turn of macOS Sierra's gatekeeper and get back control of my computer?
This is the Terminal version of the Darwin awards. If you personally do not recommend it, then do not post it.
Really bad advice because there will be those with no idea what this really does that will eventually have compromised Macs, and be right back here asking for help on how to undo the damage.
Users are trying their best to protect the system from malwares & are avoiding third party malicious software , and even volunteers are suggesting / helping how to remove malwares from the system ( hats off to the members in apple support community who are sincerely helping people ) , and god bless them , as they are giving their precious time and posting knowledgable answers in the community .
So ,it is not recommended to turn off Mac OS Sierra gatekeeper .
Doing a ctl click and then select open does not work for all files. It keeps giving me the error in Sierra. "xxx.com Update.webarchive" was blocked from opening because it is not from an identified developer. I had to do it through the terminal. And now it gives: "xxxx.com.webarchive" is a webpage created by Mail. Are you sure you want to open it?. But here is the irony. The file is a web-archive file done through Safari and Mail is Apple mail. So, how unidentifiable is it when the file was build by Apple?
FWIW, you have a different problem than what is discussed in this post. This post is about installing software. A webarchive is basically a copy of a web page and should open by just dbl-clicking on it. It may be corrupt. You should start your own post.
So, when I try to open up files (I had more then just one webarchived file) and gatekeeper is preventing me from opening them up, you are saying that all the files are corrupted and not just gatekeeper locking them from opening. And after I did the "terminial" setting to bring back the option in allowing the file to open up, which it does with no problem except with the silly notice of not from an identified developer (which happens to be build by Apple), this implies that the file is corrupted? And that this happened to all of my files that are webarchived. This problem is about the dbl-clicking option and it didn't work for me but the terminal statement did. It was a solution to my issue but I also wanted to state that the dbl-click doesn't work to fix my problem and I am glad that someone offered an alternative in this thread to fix it.
What I am saying is Gatekeeper should have nothing at all to do with opening webarchive files. The fact you're getting a message from Gatekeeper implies either something is wrong with the files or you have some other problem. That is why I suggested you start your own thread. Up to you of course.
 > System Preferences... > Security & Privacy > General > Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere.
Note: You are taking a risk, you've been warned.
How can i turn of macOS Sierra's gatekeeper and get back control of my computer?
I do not recommend >Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere for security reason.
OS X: About Gatekeeper - Apple Support
You are much better off with> App Store and Identified Developers
Holding the control key allows you to manually open any app, without turning off GateKeeper
To override your security settings and open the app anyway:
ref OS X Mavericks: Open an app from an unidentified developer
Not an option in Sierra.
See response from Leroy Douglass.
Although I would not recommend it, you can turn of gate keeper from terminal
sudo spctl --master-disable
You will then get the "Anywhere" option back.
Does not work. What you get instead is:
sudo: /etc/sudoers is world writable
sudo: no valid sudoers sources found, quitting
sudo: unable to initialize policy plugin
Hello offworkandlovingit,
No, Victor's horrible suggestion in this thread will work as described and will disable key parts of Apple's security infrastructure, leaving you open to all kinds of adware and malware. It should never be attempted under any circumstances. If anyone needs to bypass Gatekeeper, they can do that for a single app as leroydouglas described. In addition, if Gatekeeper blocks an app, you can go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and click the "Open anyway" button to bypass Gatekeeper for a single app that you know to be safe.
Your system has already had its security infrastructure fatally compromised. I strongly suggest you do not attempt to damage it any further. You may need to erase your startup drive and restore from backup. You might even need to restore only user documents and reinstall any 3rd party software. If you don't know how your sudoers file became corrupt, then perhaps avoid the 3rd party software.
Thanks your advise really works.... 🙂
How to turn of macOS Sierra' s gatekeeper
