Delete hosts file 😟

[jmat46]

I made a copy of the hosts file on my desktop and now I get a lock and I can neither modify the permissions nor delete it. I've tried to do it through the terminal (sudo rm -r ; sudo chflags -R nouchg) and I can't... any ideas?

 

[gilby101]

Are you sure you copied it? You might have an alias or symlink?

Try sudo rm -f hosts

What does ls -lae@ show for the file?

 

[jmat46]

 

[jmat46]

It's a copy, I tried to change the permissions and it won't let me either.
I have also started a session in safe mode and everything is the same.....

 

[bogdanw]

Give Terminal Full Disk Access (System Settings – Privacy & Security - Full Disk Access)

 

[jmat46]

I had it active, it resists....

 

[bogdanw]

No luck from Finder?
https://support.apple.com/en-euro/guide/mac-help/mchlp1203/13.0/mac/13.0
From Terminal it should be

chflags nouchg ~/Desktop/hosts
chflags noschg ~/Desktop/hosts 
rm ~/Desktop/hosts

There used to be an app for this kind of troubles, it might still work in Ventura
BatChmod https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/batchmod-alternatives.2394659/

 

[jmat46]

He intentado todo lo que me ha puesto y no ha hecho nada. También he desactivado csrutil.
Batchchmod it does not make any changes in permissions, and manually it does not let me....

 

[jmat46]

It won't stop me from opening the padlock to change the permissions

 

[bogdanw]

Sorry, I've posted the wrong link

File > Get Info, click the arrow next to General, then deselect Locked

Lock a document on Mac

In the Finder on your Mac, lock documents to protect them from being accidentally changed or deleted.

support.apple.com

 

[jmat46]

It won't let me remove the document lock either, It leaves inactive and does not let you select it.
This MacBook Air has overwhelmed me….🥵🤬

 

[jmat46]

does not let you select it

 

[bogdanw]

You could just ignore or hide it
Or, very carefully, delete it from Terminal in Recovery
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchl82829c17/13.0/mac/13.0
First use ls to confirm you have written the path correctly

ls "/Volumes/Macintosh HD – Data/Users/YourUserName/Desktop/hosts"

then rm to permanently delete it

rm "/Volumes/Macintosh HD – Data/Users/YourUserName/Desktop/hosts"

Replace YourUserName with your macOS user name.

 

[jmat46]

I can create a new account and delete the old one, since I don't have a recent backup.

 

[NoBoMac]

The provenance attribute is a bit of a clue. Appears the file was downloaded at some point in time. Maybe this link will help figure this out (did not do a deep read), but appears the file is "quarantined":

Ventura has changed app quarantine with a new xattr

Ventura introduces a new extended attribute com.apple.provenance, used to mark successful clearance of quarantine. It’s protected by SIP too.

eclecticlight.co

• Ventura introduces a new extended attribute com.apple.provenance, attached to apps when they clear quarantine.
• The xattr contains binary data of 11 bytes that is unique to that quarantine event.
• The xattr is protected by SIP, so can’t be removed unless the app is copied to another volume.
• It’s otherwise undocumented, and its purpose and use are unknown.

Was able to copy hosts to my Desktop and delete it, no problems:

% ls -lae@
-rw-r--r--@ 1 myidhere  staff  213 Aug 12 15:59 hosts
    com.apple.macl     72 
%

 

[bogdanw]

In Ventura 13.5, com.apple.provenance appears on the original /private/etc/hosts and the copied files has com.apple.macl aded, but it doesn’t prevent the file from being deleted.

 

[jmat46]

Do you have any special security settings?
I need to modify the hosts file and I remember that the same thing happened to me a while ago, repairing permissions I was able to eliminate it, but since Apple's operating system is becoming more closed every time...

 

[bogdanw]

Try

sudo chflags nouchg ~/Desktop/hosts
sudo chflags noschg ~/Desktop/hosts
sudo rm -f ~/Desktop/hosts

 

[jmat46]

I am not even able to modify the original document with root privileges and neither delete it, the problem is lack of permissions

 

[bogdanw]

It appers as if you are trying to run multiple commands at once. Don't do that.
If you want to edit hosts, Gas Mask 0.8.6 https://github.com/2ndalpha/gasmask works in Ventura. I've tested it earlier today on Ventura 13.5, default security settings.
But hosts is no longer a reliable way to do anything in current macOS versions. What are you trying to achieve?

 

[jmat46]

it won't let me either... being blocked doesn't let me do anything. i want to block some ip

 

[chrfr]

it won't let me either... being blocked doesn't let me do anything. i want to block some ip

You need to enter those 3 commands one at a time, pressing return in between. In particular, it seems as though

sudo chflags noschg ~/Desktop/hosts

should allow you to delete the file that's on your desktop.

 

[jmat46]

It has not let me, but I will comment on how I was able to solve it... I had a Ventura installation on an external hard drive, and from there and with the root user I copied and pasted it to the internal hard drive, and the lock has already been removed .

 

[jmat46]

By the way, can you tell me about any maintenance or permit repair program?

 

[bogdanw]

i want to block some ip

Use a firewall
LuLu is free https://objective-see.org/products/lulu.html
Little Snitch can run in Demo mode https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/download.html
"Without a license key, Little Snitch runs in demo mode, which provides the same protection and functionality as the full version. The demo runs for three hours, and it can be restarted as often as you like."

By the way, can you tell me about any maintenance or permit repair program?

“OnyX is a multifunction utility that you can use to verify the structure of the system files; run miscellaneous maintenance and cleaning tasks; configure parameters in the Finder, Dock, Safari, and some Apple applications; delete caches; remove certain problematic folders and files; rebuild various databases and indexes; and more.”
https://titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html