Is my Applications folder read-only?

Question

Scott_R Author

Level 2

357 points

Is my Applications folder read-only?

Attempting to run the VPN client Cloak I get the error

Can't run from read-only volume.

In order to run this application, please drag it to your Applications folder. It can not be run from the disk image.

However, it is being run from the Applications folder.

I contacted the company, and their response was:

"The dialogue you are seeing is, while not the best worded, letting you know that your

/Applications

folder is currently read-only. You will definitely want to run the MacOS recovery suite by following the directions here on Apples' website. By following those instructions, you will repair the incorrect permissions and file structure to make sure you are no longer in a read-only state.

While a simple restart will likely fix the problem temporarily, I still highly encourage you to run the recovery suite from Apple to prevent this from reoccuring."

I ran Disk Utility--the only non-destructive option--and it didn't seem to find anything. DU's Info says the volume is writable. Same error after repairing/rebooting. Finder's Get Info window says that Applications folder isn't locked.

Get Info gives me the following permissions for the volume (Macintosh HD), the Applications folder, and the application:

Owner: Read/Write/Execute

Group: Read/Execute

Everyone: Read/Execute

For the volume

Owner: root (0) Group: wheel (0)

drwxr-xr-x

Applications folder:

Owner: root (0) Group: admin (80)

drwxrwxr-x

Cloak application:

Owner: [my username] (501) Group: staff (20)

drwxr-xr-x

I'm not noticing any other issues that would indicate a read-only Applications folder. Is there a way to double-check? FWIW, it's a Fusion drive (Apple OEM).

I saw this thread, but that applies to Leopard and I'm running 10.12.1 and the info doesn't seem to apply.

macOS Sierra (10.12.2), null

Posted on Jan 7, 2017 7:22 AM

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Answer 1

Scott_R Author

Level 2

357 points

Feb 26, 2017 7:43 AM in response to Scott_R

Well, I found a fix if not quite an explanation.

This problem occurred on my iMac, but I really use Cloak for my MacBook so I wasn't really annoyed about this problem. But then I bought TurboTax and had the same issue

Turns out the issue was with Path Finder (currently 7.4.1). When deleted both apps, then switched to Finder to copy the applications from the mounted disk images to my Applications folder, they then launched and updated themselves just fine (launching within PF).

So apparently Pathfinder screws up something while copying, but this manifest only under certain circumstances. I've contacted Cocoatech, PF's developer.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,210 points

Feb 26, 2017 7:50 AM in response to Scott_R

It is probably because something happened in the copy where Path Finder used elevated permissions to move the application into the Applications folder.

With System Integrity Protection (SIP), the Applications are prevented from being modified. When you drag and drop an app into the folder, it is owned by you, so the SIP protections are not there and the app runs ok.

However, an Application should not be modifying itself. That is bad practice. The developers should be writing support files where they are supposed to be writing them, the Library folder, not into the App bundle itself.

So, while Path Finder might have caused the symptom you found, the problem is really with the application itself.

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Answer 3

Scott_R Author

Level 2

357 points

Feb 26, 2017 8:02 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for the reply. It's strange that this would be an issue with TurboTax, major developer that they are. I know that it also sticks a ton of support files all over the place--it puts folders and files in

user/Library/Application Support

user/Library/Caches

user/Library/Cookies

user/Library/Logs

user/Library/Preferences

user/Library/Safari/Databases/

user/Library/Safari/LocalStorage/

user/Library/Saved Application State

/private/var/db/BootCaches/

/private/var/folders

So I don't know what it's doing to the application itself that this happens.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,210 points

Feb 26, 2017 8:15 AM in response to Scott_R

It could be that it just runs that check to confirm you are not running from the disk image and fails to actually check the path. It just looks for the ability to write to the app and assumes it is on the disk image.

Intuit isn't much of a Mac developer. That may be why they use such a clunky method of checking that you are not running from the disk image.

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Answer 5

Jul 28, 2017 9:55 AM in response to Scott_R

Thank you!

I was randomly getting this "read only" error with apps and this finally fixed it. Uninstalled Path Finder (didn't use it anyways so left it uninstalled), redownloaded my problem app, and it worked fine.

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