Show Hidden Files In Maverick And Yosemite

nealt

Registered
There are many references on the web showing the use of the command:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true ; killall Finder

However on my computer none of them work. Has something changed in the OS so that the above no longer works? TinkerTool does work so it can be done. But I am looking for a simple app or script that does this one function. Any ideas? So far File Reveal, Hidden File, HideSwitch, invisbiX, and Revealer do not work.
 
The first no longer exists and the second does not work in Mavericks and beyond. However I found Visibility which does work.
 
I tried the "invisibility toggler" in 10.10.3 - did the trick in one click, just like you want.
Also, OK in 10.7.5
 
Yes it works in 10.10.3! Try it in 10.9.5. It does not work in 10.9.5 for me. I am sure it works in 10.7.5. Something was changed by Apple in 10.9.
 
I checked some more:
Booted to 10.9.5, invisibility toggler works!
Booted to 10.8.5, and again works...
Booted back to 10.9.5 for a second chance - and still works.
Tired my eMac, running 10.4.11 - and that works, too.
Back to 10.10.3 - all working.
I did notice that the first time that I ran invisibility toggler on 10.9.5, the response was quite slow, and took about one minute, with spinning cursor and all that.
The next time (after a trying other boot systems) that I tried the toggler on 10.9.5, the response was much quicker (a couple of seconds), so I did note that there was a small delay on first use in Mavericks, which did not happen again.

Maybe you have some difference in your Mavericks system that prevents that kind of change? If you get a fail error of some kind, then you should see something recorded in your sys.log.
 
Here is the console log foe invisibility toggle"

4/30/15 1:00:15.864 PM sandboxd[277]: ([424]) storeagent(424) deny file-write-create /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/nealnt/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems
4/30/15 1:00:42.328 PM sandboxd[277]: ([424]) storeagent(424) deny file-write-create /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/nealnt/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems
4/30/15 1:00:47.089 PM applet[47732]: ApplePersistence=YES
4/30/15 1:00:47.149 PM SIMBL Agent[402]: warning: couldn't resolve application pid -1.
4/30/15 1:00:47.169 PM SIMBL Agent[413]: warning: couldn't resolve application pid -1.
4/30/15 1:00:57.475 PM Finder[47783]: ApplePersistence=YES
4/30/15 1:00:57.814 PM Finder[47783]: AppleEvents/sandbox: Returning errAEPrivilegeError/-10004 and denying dispatch of event ESIM/load from process 'SIMBL Agent'/0x0-0x43043, pid=402, because it is not entitled to send an AppleEvent to this process.
4/30/15 1:00:57.919 PM xpcproxy[47792]: assertion failed: 13F1077: xpcproxy + 3438 [D559FC96-E6B1-363A-B850-C7AC9734F210]: 0x2
4/30/15 1:00:58.277 PM Finder[47783]: TheLostFinderNewWindow Loaded
4/30/15 1:00:58.681 PM WindowServer[193]: CGXSetWindowListSystemAlpha: Invalid window 98 (index 0/1)
4/30/15 1:00:58.682 PM WindowServer[193]: CGXSetWindowListSystemAlpha: Invalid window 99 (index 0/1)
4/30/15 1:00:59.787 PM Finder[47783]: AppleEvents/sandbox: Returning errAEPrivilegeError/-10004 and denying dispatch of event ESIM/load from process 'SIMBL Agent'/0x0-0x47047, pid=413, because it is not entitled to send an AppleEvent to this process.
4/30/15 1:01:12.979 PM Finder[47783]: copyPrimaryAirPortInterface::ACInterfaceDeviceNameCopy returned NULL
4/30/15 1:01:14.012 PM WindowServer[193]: disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Finder" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
4/30/15 1:01:15.184 PM coreservicesd[67]: Received request to reset fmod watch. Latest received id is 14975319994618. Latest sent id is 14975319994618
4/30/15 1:01:15.188 PM WindowServer[193]: common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Finder" after 2.18 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
 
Nothing about those log entries has any obvious connection with the applescript that is used by the Invisibility Toggle app.
I notice that you have posted other threads here that point to some struggles with other apps that also use Applescript.
Would that be fair for me to say? Could be some minor permissions issue. Have you run a Repair Permissions, just to see if that makes a difference?
Try also checking that your own user (home) permissions are valid. You can do that by booting to your Recovery system (restart with Command-R)
Open the Terminal from the menu. type resetpassword, then press enter. The Reset Password window will open. Check the bottom item (Reset home user permissions, IIRC?), then "Save"
Restart to your normal system, and try again...

Finally, download and run the utility Etrecheck
That can help you determine if you have problems with .plists or services on your system.
 
I tried everything you suggested with no luck. However I did try one thing. I have a test user account with nothing added. Invisibility Toggle did work there. So something on my normal user account must be interfering with it. I have lots of extensions, etc. So It will be very difficult to track down.
 
If your only desire now is to run the change visibility in one step, how far do you want to go to fix it?
Maybe a better question is - if you are struggling with an Applescript - is that really all that you have?
What ELSE are you having issues with? Alternatively - are you having an issue that is helped by toggling the file visibility in your system?
 
No particular problem. Just occasionally I want to view hidden files. The Mac is a hobby for me. I like to experiment. So occasionally to trouble shoot something I like to see hidden files. A couple of years ago I had an applescript that did show/hide. It worked perfectly until 10.9.5. I tried troubleshooting it and it appeared some code was no longer functioning. There appeared to be a problem with:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true

A check on the web indicated others were also having problems with these scripts. So I was looking for a replacement. Most of what you see on the web are quite old.
 
No particular problem. Just occasionally I want to view hidden files. The Mac is a hobby for me. I like to experiment. So occasionally to trouble shoot something I like to see hidden files. A couple of years ago I had an applescript that did show/hide. It worked perfectly until 10.9.5. I tried troubleshooting it and it appeared some code was no longer functioning. There appeared to be a problem with:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true

A check on the web indicated others were also having problems with these scripts. So I was looking for a replacement. Most of what you see on the web are quite old.
And, you already noted that the problem is not with your system - but something in your user account.
So, you can also expect that it's not likely that you will find an app that will work, as they would typically use some kind of script to do that simple task, except for some of the apps that also do a lot of other things. I'm sure that many will also use similar scripting, but some will also use alternate coding. Likely that Tinkertool is one of those, and that's why it works.
If you want to fix your system, then you'll need to try to discover what about your user account is creating the block to those scripts.

You just listed the terminal command, so run that, while the Console is open. Look at what is output to the console system.log at the same time you run the command.
That might give you some clues.
I'm also pretty sure you have to run the correct command for your system, which would be
"defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -boolean true ; killall Finder"
 
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