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Is it true OS X El Capitan (10.11) and Sierra the system is locked down?

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Bubble99

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Mar 15, 2015
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Is it true OS X El Capitan (10.11) and Sierra the system is locked down?

With OS X Yosemite (10.10) and OS before Yosemite like Mavericks, Mountain Lion so on allowed you to makes systems tweaks or install themes so on.

Is it true starting with OS X El Capitan and now Sierra the system is locked down and those old days are over?
 
No, the days are not over. The OS X kernel protects system directories and Apple applications at runtime. You can disable this protection in Recovery with a simple command.
 
Bubble99 said:
Is it true OS X El Capitan (10.11) and Sierra the system is locked down?

With OS X Yosemite (10.10) and OS before Yosemite like Mavericks, Mountain Lion so on allowed you to makes systems tweaks or install themes so on.

Is it true starting with OS X El Capitan and now Sierra the system is locked down and those old days are over?
Click to expand...

A little, but you can work around it.

Starting with El Capitan, some system files and apps are protected with what is called "System Integrity Protection" (SIP). This link explains it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204899

You can follow this to disable SIP and have the same access you did pre-El Capitan.

Screen Shot 2016-11-04 at 11.23.55 AM.png
 
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KALLT said:
No, the days are not over. The OS X kernel protects system directories and Apple applications at runtime. You can disable this protection in Recovery with a simple command.
Click to expand...

How do you get into recovery mode when the new computers don't have CD/DVD drive and don't come with recovery disk?
[doublepost=1478396922][/doublepost]
Weaselboy said:
A little, but you can work around it.

Starting with El Capitan, some system files and apps are protected with what is called "System Integrity Protection" (SIP). This link explains it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204899

You can follow this to disable SIP and have the same access you did pre-El Capitan.

View attachment 670280
Click to expand...

You still need a recovery disk to get into recovery mode. And the new computers don't have CD/DVD drive.
 
Bubble99 said:
How do you get into recovery mode when the new computers don't have CD/DVD drive and don't come with recovery disk?
[doublepost=1478396922][/doublepost]

You still need a recovery disk to get into recovery mode. And the new computers don't have CD/DVD drive.
Click to expand...

Command + R held down at boot the OS put hidden recovery partition on the disk at install time, disk dies and you replace it the Option + Command + R for the internet recovery if the machine is new enough to support it. Otherwise you make install USB/DVD and hope the signing keys on it have not expired by the time you need it.
 
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Bubble99 said:
How do you get into recovery mode when the new computers don't have CD/DVD drive and don't come with recovery disk?
[doublepost=1478396922][/doublepost]

You still need a recovery disk to get into recovery mode. And the new computers don't have CD/DVD drive.
Click to expand...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

From the hidden recovery partition like MacUser2525 mentioned. More info at this link.
 
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Weaselboy said:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

From the hidden recovery partition like MacUser2525 mentioned. More info at this link.
Click to expand...

Sounds kinda of silly putting a recovery mode on the disk than firmware chip. If the hard-drive or SSD dies there is no way to boot to recovery mode to find out what is wrong. You would not know the hard-drive or SSD died and needs to be replaced.

Also putting OS on the hard-drive or SSD means when the hard-drive or SSD dies you need new OS.

No way to bring OS disk and load it on new hard-drive or SSD.
 
Bubble99 said:
Sounds kinda of silly putting a recovery mode on the disk than firmware chip. If the hard-drive or SSD dies there is no way to boot to recovery mode to find out what is wrong. You would not know the hard-drive or SSD died and needs to be replaced.
Also putting OS on the hard-drive or SSD means when the hard-drive or SSD dies you need new OS.
No way to bring OS disk and load it on new hard-drive or SSD.
Click to expand...
I like having a bootable USB flash drive installer in the drawer, just in case there is a failure like you described.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/0...able-os-x-10-11-el-capitan-usb-install-drive/
 
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Bubble99 said:
Sounds kinda of silly putting a recovery mode on the disk than firmware chip. If the hard-drive or SSD dies there is no way to boot to recovery mode to find out what is wrong. You would not know the hard-drive or SSD died and needs to be replaced.

Also putting OS on the hard-drive or SSD means when the hard-drive or SSD dies you need new OS.

No way to bring OS disk and load it on new hard-drive or SSD.
Click to expand...
Macs have not shipped with separate installer disks since late 2011. Since that time, it has all been through software downloads.
And yes, your Mac can connect to Apple's servers, and do a system install, even if your hard drive or SSD is completely blank.
So all recovery can be done from the hidden partition in the hard drive, or if that is erased/replaced, you can boot to Internet Recovery.
You can try that out by restarting, while holding Option-Command-R. You will see a different boot icon (a spinning globe) indicating that you using a network boot, using your internet connection.
The main disadvantage to internet recovery is that you will only have the choice to reinstall with the OS X system that your Mac shipped with originally, and not the one that you might have updated to. But, you can at least set up a booting system, or you can check for the serviceability of the hard drive, and do a few other things as well.
 
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Bubble99 said:
It does not look like you can do that any more as Apple killed the USB port on the Macbook and Macbook pro.
Click to expand...
Ah, that's an inaccurate statement.
The USB ports are not "killed". The USB ports are physically different USB-C ports.
You do need USB-C to USB-A adapters, or devices that connect natively to that USB-C port.
Flash drives that are native USB-C are fairly easy to find, for example at Amazon.com.
Hard drives, and other devices with that connection are getting more common, too.
 
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Wherever you are getting this information that (1) El Capitan and Sierra are locked down and that (2) Apple killed the USB port... Stop reading or listening their nonsense. It just sounds like lots of fear mongering from haters (or at least extremely misinformed) with one sensationalized story after another.
 
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