Messages broken in High Sierra

Hi,

If the Mac Firewall is On then if Messages is allowed then all processes linked to Messages are also allowed.

However if you are using something like Little Snitch that monitors and tells you what connections the Computer is trying to make (you tend to have to either set them up or allow on a one by one basis).

These tend not to link the

IMRemoteURLConnectionAgent which deals with the Messages app login

or the IMRemoteURLTraferAgent item that is only in use when files (and therefore pictures) are Transferred.

AS the names don't have Messages in them it is possible for people to dismiss the request as it does not look "right".

Another reason can be the DNS servers being used.

The Login server is called init-p01md.apple.com

Some DNS servers seem not to be able to find this.

Again it changes for Transfers

Adding Free Public DNS servers to your router can help

Free and Public DNS Server List (Valid November 2017)

The Google ones tend to be popular.

Some people choose to also add then you their Mac in System Preferences > Network > Connection Method > Advanced Button > DNS tab

8:45 pm Thursday; November 16, 2017

HI,

Try this:-

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support

It is a bit left field as the process does start for incoming items.

However that might not use a particular .plist that IS needed for outgoing items.

.plists are not only held in ~/Library/Preferences and it could take a month of Sundays and then some to actually find out if this is true.

The Terminal instruction in the Link will enable you to make all the items that should be owned by you (making them Read and Writeable) to actually Owned by you.

8:09 pm Thursday; February 1, 2018

Humm,

This is not following the typical pattern before High Sierra.

Normally the NVRAM reset is enough to reset things for most people. For those that are not helped by this then checking and changing DNS server seems to do it.

I would consider doing two NVRAM reset back to back.

I would also start it by Shutting Down first rather than a Restart and with a Shut Down in between the two cycles.

8:25 pm Friday; November 17, 2017

Hi,

Tried Safe Boot https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201262

or NVRAM Reset https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063

8:24 pm Sunday; November 12, 2017

Hi,

Sorry for the delay I have had family down for the week.

I think at this stage you may be at the point where a Reinstall of the OS maybe the only way to sort this.

You have tried the most likely maintenance things (Safe Boot and NVRAM Reset), as well as checking the Network connection (adding other DNS servers) and have checked the items appear to be in place in the OS to actually run.

8:00 pm Monday; January 1, 2018

Hi,

If you are not seeing the item pop up when it should in Activity Monitor then it may be missing from the App. (That is if the item is actually in the app nowadays)

More likely it will be a Framework in Hard Drive/System/Library/Frameworks

As to which one I can't be certain.

It could also be one of the items in Private Frameworks

In Private Frameworks see if you have IMTansferAgent.framework

Check the Alias of the IMTranferAgent is linked to the Original item

8:40 pm Thursday; December 21, 2017

Hi,

Sorry about the delay, I did not mean to drop the conversation but I don't seem to have had an email alert about new posts.

At this point I don't have anything new.

Reinstalling the OS is all that I can see that is left to try.

9:03 pm Saturday; February 17, 2018

Yes, she tried both of those. Made no difference. Getting really close to wiping it clean and reinstalling the OS. Hate to do it for just that app but I can't find any other rhyme or reason for it. Perhaps something didn't get updated as it should've? I saw threads where a couple said they fixed it but then didn't shed any real clarity.

Any other suggestions?

I should have included more detail originally. Her laptop was working perfectly fine with 10.10 on it before the upgrade. She has the firewall turned off and Little Snitch is not installed. Currently we have Google and Open DNS on our router. I tried manually entering the DNS on her laptop as well with no change. The only thing I didn't try was using an entry in /etc/hosts with that DNS you provided to see if it's a resolution error or not. Another laptop in our home is on 10.10 as well and works fine. My laptop has 10.12 on it and has no issue either. It's clearly something messed up in the upgrade process.

Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I am having the same problem on two separate MacBook Pros (a mid-2012 MacBook Pro and an early-2013 MacBook Pro (Retina)) and cannot find a solution. I have tried disabling the Firewall and I have tried resetting the NVRAM. I have added Google's DNS server (8.8.8.8) to my Network Settings and I have also tried booting up in Safe Mode. Nothing seems to be fixing this problem...

Hi,

The IMRemoteTransferAgent only starts up when Pictures or files are sent or received and closed fairly soon after the transfer is finished.

7:15 pm Wednesday; December 20, 2017

But it seems as though this service is never started for my system. When attempting to send an image or file via Messages, IMTransferAgent is never started. Also note that I have no problems on iOS with the same Apple ID; this problem only persists on macOS (of which I am completely up to date with macOS 10.13.2).

I checked to ensure that /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMTransferAgent.framework is there and that the alias inside points to the correct file (/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMTransferAgent.framework/Versions/A/IMTrans ferAgent). Still no luck. The service never runs when trying to send out a message or file via Messages.app.

I am trying to avoid having to reinstall the OS as I am using a work computer. Perhaps this will be of some help:

I have tried running the IMTransferAgent file directly via:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMTransferAgent.framework/Versions/A/IMTransfe rAgent

And the error I get is:

"cannot execute binary file"

I have tried the following to fix and it doesn't seem to work:

chmod +x ./IMTransferAgent

Hi,

The process only normally starts when File Transfers are about to be done and it closes after they have been sent.

I am aware that you cannot start Unix Excutable files.

I would not be confident using Terminal either to solve this.

7:48 pm Wednesday; January 24, 2018