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Repairing Permissions and ARDAgent

Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore

I have been having to run Repair Permissions on my shiny new iMac quite a lot after installing new software (and finding it running as slow as my old QuickSilver 800 !!) and wondered why some repairs never seemed to go away.

A quick search came up with this page which I'm hoping that you guys have already found as there seems to have been a lot of angst about it in the former posts!! ??

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1448
Mac OS X: Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions messages that you can safely ignore

Seems that unlike OSX 10.4 (I never had 10.5) 10.6 doesn't give you a clean sheet after running Disk Utility, which is disconcerting as it would be good to see the green This Disk is OK message!

Wouldn't it be a good idea if Apple just put in a preference button to ignore messages about the ones it already knows we can ignore?

Which seems to be all the messages about Remote Desktop and Java Machine...
 
Disk Utility is not fixing it because it was changed on purpose. Sometimes permissions need to be changed and Disk utility is letting you know that the standard permissions were changed and it will not be modified because its running against a list where the permissions are something different. Disk Utility is doing exactly what its supposed to do. Letting you know permissions have changed from default but will not be modified because it was changed on purpose.
 
The first part of my post in light blue addresses the original permissions error this post was regarding. The second part in the dark blue addresses some of the tangents some people posted in the middle of the thread.

The reason following that article "fixed" your problem is only because you removed the file it was reporting on. This would be like removing the the fuel gage out of your car to prevent the car from getting to E.

derekamoss is absolutely correct. Here's what happened: When Apple first made the Disk Permissions Utility for your computer, it set a list of what the permissions should be for each file. Later they discovered the permission on ardagent should be different, and needed to change it to something else. Disk Utility is reporting that it does not match it's original list, but has specific instructions that the permissions currently set are correct, despite not matching the original list. So it's not going to change it, because it was told not to.

Now Braprut, by removing the file ardagent, you have effectively removed a part of your operating system. Usually after doing something this drastic, most users would find their computer no longer booting. Lucky for you that ardagent isn't required for your OS to function.

In this case ardagent is for Apple Remote Desktop. Since most people don't use this feature, they wouldn't see any change. But DO NOT just remove a file because it reports an error such as this one. Next time you might be looking at a grey apple, or a blue screen, and not much else.

It is perfectly safe to leave this file alone, and ignore the error. And the article Braprut posted is referring to a security hole that was patched about a month later (notice that article was posted June 26 2008). So there is no need to delete the ardagent file.

For those who are not having this issue (those who reported Disk Permissions wouldn't finish, etc...), this permissions error has nothing to do with what your experiencing.

If you're running Repair Disk Permissions and it is hanging, I would recommend clicking Repair Disk instead.

If you're running Repair Disk (as apposed to Repair Disk Permissions) and it's hanging, you maybe have a serious, but not uncommon, problem of file table corruption. I would recommend trying to Repair Disk from the CD if you haven't already.

A lot of corrupted file tables can make the repair process long (sometimes up to 30 minutes). So give it a good amount of time to finish. If it is unable to finish the repair after a couple of attempts, it would be best to backup your data, format your drive, and reinstall (note: reinstalling without formatting does not touch the file table, and therefore will not fix the issue. It will in fact make the issue worse!).

Generally errors you receive when doing Repair Disk are serious, but errors when doing Repair Disk Permissions can generally be safely ignored. Permissions change all the time, it is not unusual.

Update: I just noticed Barry Woodward's post regarding putting an Ignore button in. I definitely agree. Even if this isn't plausible (for some technical reason) Apple could modify the message to say "This error can be ignored"
 
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FIX for Disk Utilities "Repair Permissions" errors still showing up...

Here is the FIX (solution) to getting rid of those annoying messages that keep coming up "every time" you run "Repair Permissions".

I COPIED POWERPC APPS TO INTEL
I had copied my applications, protools plugins, user files, some library files from a Mac G5 Quad OS Tiger, to Mac Pro with the Apple Partition with Leopard installed. Then I realized that the Mac Pro uses GUID partition. So I formatted the hard drive and then formatted the drive, partitioned using GUID Partition, and installed Snow Leopard, then copied everything over again from my backup cloned drive (I use Carbon Copy for cloned backups). Then I updated to OS 10.6.8.

NOTE: My original installs started 10 years ago on a MacBook, then G5 Dual, then copied to my G5 Quad, then to Mac Pro Intel computer... so my system should be very messed up, right? NO. Follow these instructions to fix your errors for good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I then ran Disk Utility "Repair Permissions" and Java errors came up! I ran this about 10 times and it wouldn't fix the errors. I monkeyed around a bit with different utilities like Cocktail, CleanMyMac, DiskWarrior etc. Then ran Repair Permissions again, and now the java errors were gone, but now I had some "CoreServices/RemoteManagement" errors that wouldn't go away. Also had SUID errors, private etc errors and more.

HERE IS THE FIX (Solution)
1. Backup you hard drive. Always have a full cloned backup, just in case something goes wrong. If you end up with a non-bootable druve after the following procedures, simply use Carbon Copy to copy the backup hard drive, back to your main Hard Drive. But you should be fine if you follow each step of instructions.

2. If you have Snow Leopard installled. Use your original Snow Leopard DVD install disc and boot from it.

3. Once Snow Leopard DVD boots, click arrow for "language". Then go to top menu and click on "Reset Password". Then click "Reset" button (bottom of box) for both the "User" and the "System" (there's a drop-down menu to choose each)

4. Run Disk Utilities "Repair Permissions", also "always" run "Repair Disk" after Repair Permissions (just in case there's an error)

5. Reinstall Snow Leopard over your existing OS Version using DVD.

6. Once that is done, your computer will reboot. Now you are running off your Hard Drive. Go to the "Apple" (top left of screen) and click on "About This Mac". You no longer will see the version you had previous to following these steps, because you "Reinstalled" the OS over your last OS. In my case it used to be 10.6.8, after reinstalling OS from Snow Leopard original DVD, it was now back to OS 10.6.3.

IMPORTANT STEP:
Open Disk Utilites and run "Repair Permissions" and "Repair Disk" (in that order). If you have an error, such as, in my case "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/" .... Drag "RemoteManagagement" to the "Trash" (I don't empty trash, just leave it there)

7. Now go to "Apple" and select "Software Update". Install all the updates that you want. I installed my Epson printer driver, and Airport. Then run Repair Permissions and Repair Disk. Repair Permissions found a bunch of "Airport" errors. Then ran Repair Permissions again, and it came up "clean" with no errors. Then reboot computer.

NOTE: I have MacOSCombo10.6.8" file downloaded already, so I don't have to download from Internet every time I need to reinstall 10.6.8. So I launch the OS 10.6.8 and then restart computer, and a fresh new uncorrupted "RemoteManagement" had been installed.

8. Then run Disk Utilities again and "ALL YOUR ERRORS ARE GONE"!!!!! YOU'RE DONE WITH THOSE ANNOYING ERRORS IN "DISK PERMISSIONS". NOW YOU CAN SEE IF YOU "REALLY" HAVE ERRORS. AND USE THE SOFTWARE HOW IT WAS INTENDED!!!!


*** NEXT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP ***


9. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT STEP!!!!!!! Make sure you use TechTool eDrive or your original OS Install DVD and check "Volume Structure". Then "Rebuild Desktop".

After such a procedure of doing all these steps, you need to "Rebuild Desktop", or else you may have FATAL ERRORS! In my case originally I didn't "Rebuild Desktop", and then had external drives not mounting, and Carbon Copy backup would unmount external drives and freeze.


SUMMARY OF PROCEDURE: If you have different errors, I would think this procedure would work the same. My errors were "Java" and "RemoteManagement"... you may have different errors!
 
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Fix?

IMHO (and no offense intended at all) braput's answer is much easier than imrebarlow's, and it works- funny how no one notices i because he's the quiet one-liner, but following the article's file deletion advice (old as it is) works like a charm in Lion. I've had issues in Snow Leopard, though- once I try to delete the files it says I can't because RFBRegisterMDNS is running, which it shouldn't be. That's a screen sharing process, and I have none of that active. I can't quit it, either- I've tried from terminal, activity monitor, etc.

Be careful if you start asking questions in Apple Discussions forums- if those people could find me, they'd burn me at the stake. Seriously- look up jhillgate on there and see for yourself. I outline my entire issue, the fix, photographic evidence, the works... The hate is palpable. I'm apparently urinating on their Sacred Cow.

Either way, do that thing- zip the whole RM file, trash and securely delete the original, keep your firewall up and your keychains locked... Might want to consider Intego software, Deep Freeze, Cocktail, Little Snitch, whatever works. At this point, making a whole suit of armor seems wise!

* My sincere advice now is to generally ignore anything Apple says you should ignore! Ask yourself why asking 'why' seems to be a cardinal sin within the Applican! :confused:
 
I'm so happy to see that this problem, dating back to Leopard, has not been addressed in Mountain Lion, fully five years later. :rolleyes:
 
"Those permissions are always viewed as incorrect. They are safe to ignore."

As I read as a solution in another MacRumors forum, "Those permissions are always viewed as incorrect. They are safe to ignore."

Please refer to Apple's support document:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448
 
Maybe on to something?

So this was so simple I'm surprised no one has tried this. Basically, I opened up System Preferences, Sharing, checked Remote Management, Repaired, and it fixed it!
Repaired “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent”

Then I decided to try well what if I don't want Remote Management? So I unchecked it and it went right back to
Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.

Tried to revert back to just having it check, but still get the same message. Honestly it's not slowing me down, I was just curious why so many don't believe apple. It's probably not a big deal.
 
shakalys said:
i got rid of "Warning: SUID file... simply just by moving file System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app to other directory
Click to expand...
I wanted to find you to say "thanks". I took your advice but removed the whole "RemoteManagement" file. I left it in my trash just in case. When I ran verify permissions it messed up so I stopped it and ran the fix disk. It worked great in a matter of a minute or two but it also cleared up other issues I've been having. It's as fast as new and I no longer have crashes every time I try to compose email in yahoo! Thanks so much! I no longer have ANY problems with my Macbook Pro.
 
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