Similar to this thread - has anyone found a way to run the old (and more functional Airport Utility on Mavericks?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Run airport utility 5.6 on 10.9 Mavericks ?
- Thread starter 1BadMac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
When I get back to my mavericks machine, I'll do some testing to figure out if it can be done and report back.
Would be good to know - the current version of AU is terrible, to say the least. I still use 5.6 on my iMac 2011 and don't plan on changing that.
Airport Utility 5.6.1 is a no go on Mavericks. Finder shows the typical no-run logo over the icon, and says the version is too old for this OS X. Trying to coax it into running via terminal spits this out
so it looks like theres an OS level issue preventing it from working.
Code:
dyld: Symbol not found: _wlScanAuthenticationModesArray
Referenced from: /Users/rob/Desktop/AirPort Utility 5.6.1.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Utility
Expected in: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Apple80211so it looks like theres an OS level issue preventing it from working.
Appears that way. Although, I've since upgraded to the new AirPort Extreme and 5.6 would not modify (correctly, that is) the new settings for 802.11ac. So...I'll just stick with using 6.3.1 and cross my fingers Apple brings back some of the functionality.
Now, I will point out that connecting with another Mac I have and using 5.6 to read this new device, the output power shows 100% and multicast set on low. That's the way I would have had that setup anyways...
Hack to enable Airport Utility 5.6.1 on Mavericks
Hey folks, I have successfully gotten Airport Utility 5.6.1 to run on Mavericks. When you run the old Airport Utility, the OS complains of a symbol not found. This type of error is typically due to a library having been changed. Upon comparing the library that dyld complains about between ML and Mavericks, its evident that much has changed; the Mavericks version of the library is ~160k smaller. In order to make this work, you will need the library from ML. Here's what you need to do:
1. On your Mavericks machine, rename /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Apple80211 to something like "Apple80211.mavericks" and back it up somewhere safe.
2. Copy the ML version of the Apple80211 library to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Apple80211 on your Mavericks machine. The file is located in the same place in ML as it is in Mavericks.
3. You can now directly run the old Airport Utility from the terminal by cd'ing to the directory the binary lives in (in my case, "~/airport_utility_561.app/Contents/MacOS/") and running the program (./AirPort\ Utility)
When the program runs, its icon will still have the circle with a slash through it, but hey, it runs and works. I just updated the firmware on my old Airport Extreme and reconfigured it, and wifi on my computer is still working correctly. If your wifi starts acting weird, you can always switch back to the Mavericks version of the library. I hope this helps!
Hey folks, I have successfully gotten Airport Utility 5.6.1 to run on Mavericks. When you run the old Airport Utility, the OS complains of a symbol not found. This type of error is typically due to a library having been changed. Upon comparing the library that dyld complains about between ML and Mavericks, its evident that much has changed; the Mavericks version of the library is ~160k smaller. In order to make this work, you will need the library from ML. Here's what you need to do:
1. On your Mavericks machine, rename /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Apple80211 to something like "Apple80211.mavericks" and back it up somewhere safe.
2. Copy the ML version of the Apple80211 library to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/A/Apple80211 on your Mavericks machine. The file is located in the same place in ML as it is in Mavericks.
3. You can now directly run the old Airport Utility from the terminal by cd'ing to the directory the binary lives in (in my case, "~/airport_utility_561.app/Contents/MacOS/") and running the program (./AirPort\ Utility)
When the program runs, its icon will still have the circle with a slash through it, but hey, it runs and works. I just updated the firmware on my old Airport Extreme and reconfigured it, and wifi on my computer is still working correctly. If your wifi starts acting weird, you can always switch back to the Mavericks version of the library. I hope this helps!
Nope it doesn't
well, no, but the workaround above does work with the final launch version of mavericks.
With a bit of messing around (mainly because I don't understand terminal at all) I got 5.6 running, which is great, since I have 4 old airport expresses providing through the house music...
Funny 5.61 runs just fine on all of my Windows systems....Guess I'll use it to admin my Time Capsule.
This is music to my ears!
I have a few airport devices I sometimes need to monitor with Airport Utility 5.6, wouldn't be happy to lose it.Here's a companion launcher application which injects the older version of the Apple80211 library and then runs AirPort Utility v5.6.1 without any additional intervention from the user (i.e., double-click and you're good to go):
http://coreyjmahler.com/2013/10/24/airport-utility-5-6-1-on-os-x-10-9-mavericks/
http://coreyjmahler.com/2013/10/24/airport-utility-5-6-1-on-os-x-10-9-mavericks/
Solved!
I found an even more elegant way to do it without a helper script. I added the old framework to the .app folder itself (under Contents/Frameworks/) and modified Info.plist in a way that:
Here is a download link to the zipped app, hope it works:
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B262SDNMasL5UGpyTTNPeWlYdEU&export=download
I found an even more elegant way to do it without a helper script. I added the old framework to the .app folder itself (under Contents/Frameworks/) and modified Info.plist in a way that:
- links the framework (using LSEnvironment with DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES and the relative path @executable_path/../Frameworks/...) in a portable, self-contained manner;
- modifies the version to 9.6.1 so that Mavericks will let you launch the app normally and no App updates will be proposed;
- and shows the modified name "AirPort Utility 5.6" fully localized.
Here is a download link to the zipped app, hope it works:
https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B262SDNMasL5UGpyTTNPeWlYdEU&export=download
On my Mavericks machine it says the app can't be opened because it's damaged. Any ideas?
Gatekeeper. Go to Sys Prefs, Security and Privacy, then toggle the "Allows Apps downloaded from:" to Anywhere.
I can allow unsigned apps to run by right-clicking and selecting Open despite that setting, but this dialog is different than usual. It has only Cancel and Move to Trash as choices.
Edit: remarkable, doing what you suggested did allow me to open it. Curious, why it didn't work as usual. It seems to remember that the app should be allowed to launch, though, as I re-enabled "Mac App Store and identified developers" and the Utility still launches without further dialogs.
Attachments
It does that because 5.6 itself was signed, but by modifying the contents, its technically not the same application. The warning you received is basically saying "I expected the app to be this, and its not, so it must be broken."
I have no expertise on this. I read a post on Apple Support Communities a few days ago. The poster was able to install the Windows version on the Mac using Wine.
The post was on the Airport forum. I didn't try it. I use Windows or an iBook to administer my Airport Extreme.
Good luck.