Another Hiccup with Apple's MacOS Big Sur

A week or so ago, I posted about an issue I have with Apple's update to Mac OS X with Big Sur. Today I ran into another issue that caused a problem. I will admit it is a small problem but one I am sure others may have. In my case, it arose because of a seldom used piece of software.

This all came about because of a problem with Microsoft Teams on the Mac. You used to be able to share your system audio on a video conference call and then the feature disappeared. It still exists on the Windows version and so I thought I might try using Windows running within VirtualBox on my Mac. It is something I set up a few months ago but never really use and so I tried firing it up. I was immediately halted by an error.

The first message I got told me to update to a later version of VirtualBox and so I installed the newer version. That didn't help as the error persisted and so I did a quick Internet search. I copied the entire error into my usual search engine needed to update a preference to allow VirtualBox to run. No it didn't take a lot of effort but annoyed me anyways. It doesn't take too many annoyances to really start hating a product.

With the problem fixed, I started VirtualBox and then loaded my Windows 10 virtual machine. Unfortunately I ran into a completely set of new problems related to Windows and so I will save that for another posting. Ultimately I discovered that I need to be careful before upgrading my computer to the next major version of Apple's new operating system. I won't know how much work it will take to fix little issues like this.

Apple's Email Update for Big Sur Blows

Generally I am a fan of Apple products. This is not because they are technically better than the competition but because they have a more polished look and feel. When you buy something from Apple, it just feels easier to use. On occasion they make a mistake and that happened with the latest update of their operating system. They made certain things more complex than they need to be and it is painful. The latest update to their e-mail program is a prime example.

A few days ago I was going through my e-mail and accidentally deleted a message that I still needed. I opened my trash only to discover that it wasn't there. Wait a second, does this mean that all of the e-mails I deleted got permanently removed from my computer? That is bad as it is easy to delete a group of messages when you only want to delete a single one in the thread. This sent me on a search to solve the problem.

The first thing I did was check my e-mail preferences. I had everything set to copy deleted messages to the trash and then purge the trash of all messages older than a month. I also experimented with deleting a message and then undoing the action. As expected, the deleted message reappeared in my inbox. That means the e-mail program was storing them somewhere and I just needed to find out where.

My next source of help came from an Internet search. I had to go through a number of messages on Apple's support forum but eventually found the culprit. The engineers decided that people might have multiple e-mail accounts and so they created multiple trash bins. When I looked at the trash folder "On My Mac," it didn't contain a single message. I needed to locate the trash bin associated with my e-mail account. Normally I would expect it to show up along with all of the other folders on the left side of my e-mail program. It wasn't there and so I needed to add it. How do you do that? There is a search box on the upper right side of the e-mail program and I searched for "Trash." Sure enough I had 2 trash folders: one on my mac and the other for the domain name for my e-mail. I clicked on the account trash folder and it crashed the e-mail program.

I found the right trash folder but couldn't get to it without crashing my e-mail. I did find a solution though. I simply clicked the "+" icon next next to the "Favorites" section on the left of my e-mail and added "All Trash" to it. Now I have to click on "All Trash" which brings up my 2 trash folders and I can see all of the e-mail I have deleted in the past month.

I don't know why the software developers at Apple went out of their way to complicate something that should be so simple. I wouldn't expect this from a company that generally creates intuitive user interfaces. Apple, you failed me on this one.

Getting AirDrop to Work

My iPhone is getting full of pictures and I need to pull some off to store somewhere else. I could store them in iCloud but am not a fan of filling up my online space only to have to eventually figure out where to put the photos. It is much easier to transfer them to one of my computers instead.

A few days ago I tried to set up AirDrop from my phone to my Mac laptop. It should be really simple and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. A quick Internet search says there are only 2 or 3 steps. It took a bit of digging on my part but I eventually figured it out.

Problem 1: Make sure you are logged into your Apple ID account
I recently updated the operating system on my laptop and it automatically logged me out of my Apple ID account. This account is what allows you to access iCloud and iTunes. It is required to tie all of your devices together. Once I logged in, things started working.

Unfortunately all of the instructions you will pull up on an Internet search assume you are already logged in with your Apple ID. I think I stumbled around for quite awhile until I came upon the solution. If you are having any problems, check this first.

Problem 2: Make sure your devices are on the same network
Every morning I go into my home office and log into my office's virtual private network or VPN so I can get at the company network. Remember that I am writing this during COVID-19 and have started my 6th week of working from home. I keep forgetting that when I am on the VPN, I lose access to some of my home devices. I can't log into my Linux server nor can I print to my color laser printer. The moment I disconnect from the VPN, my laptop can see all of those devices again. The same holds true for my iPhone.

I had a picture I wanted to put on my laptop this morning and couldn't figure out what was wrong. I had Bluetooth enabled for both devices and they could see each other but wouldn't connect. Then I remembered all of the problems I have trying to connect to my other home devices and I disconnected the VPN. Then everything started working correctly.

Typical Solutions
My 2 problems are very unique to me and so these may not be an issue for you. If you find yourself having trouble using AirDrop, you will want to try the usual solutions that can be found in any Internet search:

1. Make sure Bluetooth is turned on for both devices.
2. Click on the AirDrop link found on the left side of your finder window and set the "Allow me to be discovered by" to "Everyone". 
3. Make sure AirDrop is set up on your other device as well.

Hopefully one of the typical solutions will work for you and you don't have the same problems I do. However if you do, this list could be very helpful.

Problems with my Mac Laptop

Yesterday I went to turn on my Mac laptop computer and it wouldn't boot correctly. I have an encrypted hard drive in the event that someone steals my computer. When I turn on the machine, it asks for my password. I was making it that far and it was even working enough to know if the password entered was correct or not. After a few seconds, it would bring the login screen back up but not allow any input from the mouse or keyboard.

My hope was that once I got the laptop back to my office and on the network, the problem would fix itself. My flight from Salt Lake to the Bay Area was plenty early and I was in the office at 8:30 giving my hypothesis a try. Unfortunately it didn't work. Next was a call to our IT department. They asked if I had tried resetting the NVRAM and I had. There wasn't anything they could help me with over the phone and so I brought it to our IT department's walk-in office. Most of the company uses Windows laptops and I am one of the few with a Mac. That means I had to make another trip with the laptop to another office where the Mac specialists reside. I dropped the computer off and headed to a meeting.

It was a distraction to be without my computer and very difficult to concentrate during my meeting so I was very happy to get a call from the IT department telling me they figured out what was wrong with my Mac. It seems that the hard drive had somehow had permissions changed. They had to boot my laptop from another hard disk, change the permissions on my drive, and all was fixed. Unfortunately I wasn't there to watch how they did it so I can't give step-by-step instructions. It was a great relief to have everything fixed though and they didn't have to reinstall anything. Naturally the first thing I did when I got back to my office was to take a backup of the computer. Now should something go wrong again, I don't have to worry if they have to erase my hard drive to fix it. I have a backup. I should probably do that with all of my computers now. Furthermore, I should probably take backups on a regular basis. OS X includes Time Machine which is perfect for such a task and I plan to take advantage of it from now on.

Time For a New Computer

It is time to replace one of my computers again. My company has finally given me a new laptop and it is a welcome change. My old laptop was between 5 and 6 years old. While it worked well for my needs, I am really enjoying my new MacBook Pro. The only problem is that now I need to install a bunch of my old software. Considering my old laptop ran Windows and my new one runs Mac OS X, this could be a problem.

My old laptop was plenty fast for what I used it for, which was mostly reading e-mail and logging into bigger computers. It's only flaw was that the battery life made it virtually unusable unless it was plugged into the wall. The nice thing about Mac laptops is their incredible battery life. I am looking forward to that on the flight home this evening. I might actually be able to get work done instead of just reading my magazine.

Back From the Dead

This weekend my son and I worked on getting his computer back from the dead. He has a MacBook and so the first thing I did was try to boot the machine. That didn't work, which was expected and so I booted from a CD. On a Mac, that is done by inserting the disk that comes with the computer and holding down the "C" key while turning off and on the computer. The computer came up and looked like it wanted to install the operating system. Fortunately you don't have to proceed any further. There is a menu across the top of the screen and you can just go into Utilities and select Disk Utilities. That brings up a program that can be used to fix certain problems.

At first, the only drive that registered was the CD/DVD drive. Then I needed to move the computer for some reason and that act caused the hard drive to show up in the menu. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything with it. My hope was that the "Repair" button would activate, but that didn't happen no matter what I clicked on or selected. My suspicions were confirmed and the drive was toast.

It was now up to my son to make a decision. He could buy a new hard drive, rent a new computer, or buy a new computer. When he calculated how much money it would cost to rent a computer, he decided that the better option was to buy one. I disagreed with his logic because a $300 laptop is not the same quality of machine that he would have been renting, but didn't say anything. I had to go down to Best Buy to replace a hub I use for the network at the house and so he came along with me to see how much a new hard drive would cost. It was only $50 to get a 250 GB drive and so he picked one up.

My son brought home a friend from school who claimed to take apart Mac computers all the time and so I let the two of them figure out how to open the machine. They removed every visible screw on the outside but still couldn't pull off the cover and asked me for some help. There were three screw inside the battery compartment that I was able to remove. Once I did that, a bar came out, revealing a pull tab for the hard disk. I simply pulled the tab and the disk drive slid out. There was no need to remove all those other screws and so I had the boys put them all back. Meanwhile I pulled the old disk off the mounting tray and put the new one on it. We slid the new drive back in place, replaced the aluminum bar, and screwed in the three screws.

Now it was time to see if our hard work had paid off. We turned on the computer, inserted the Mac OS installation CD and waited for the installation program to start. When it did, we just followed the instructions to format the hard drive and install the operating system. That took about an hour and then it was time for my son to head back to school. I sent him with the installation CD's for a number of other programs that were previously on the computer (like Microsoft Office). My son then spent the rest of the weekend finishing the task of getting his computer back in working order.

Yesterday I got a call from my son. He has his computer back but isn't happy with the version of the operating system. I installed the version that came with the original computer and it is a bit out of date. He wanted to install the version that I have on my Mac, but that would be a violation of the software license agreement. It is only $30 to get the latest version of the Mac OS and so he decided to spend the money. It is amazing how much more thought goes into spending money when it is my son's own cash instead of Dad's.

Remote Desktop Connection

On Monday I installed a really neat piece of software on my Mac laptop. It is called "Remote Desktop Connection" and allows me to use my Mac to log into a Windows Server machine. The latest software project I am working on is with Microsoft SQL Server and that means I need to have access to a Windows machine.

The latest version of the Mac operating system has a feature called "Open Spaces." This basically allows me to have four virtual displays on one screen. It is very useful to keep from having a lot of programs cluttering up your screen at the same time. You can start your e-mail in one display and then go to another virtual display to run your web browser. Once you have all your programs running, you can easily switch between them using the "command" and the "tab" keys. Linux has had this feature for a while and I am glad to see it moving into other operating systems.

So I started my browser in screen one and Remote Desktop Connection in screen two. Then my younger son came down to my office to visit. I showed him that I was running Windows in one screen and Mac OS X in another. He thought that was pretty cool.

My older son came down later and saw me working in Windows and thought I had erased my Mac OS and replaced it with Windows (something I wouldn't recommend). When I showed him I was actually running both at the same time, he was relieved. He will probably be taking my Mac laptop to college and favors the Max OS over Windows.

Remote Desktop Connection really is an elegant little program. Without it I would have been forced to load a bunch of software on one of my Windows computers and that would have taken a lot of time. Instead I was able to take a few minutes and instantly become productive with the help of an already configured server. Now I need to get back to work.