Safari plugin for recovery mode

kelvini

I tried updating to Yosemite 10.10.3 but installation stuck at 50%. The only mode my mac can boot is recovery mode, even safe mode does not work. I can't reinstall Yosemite because Apple requires my ID which is in 1Password. So I need to know if it is possible to enable the plugin for Safari in the recovery mode.

littlebobbytables

Hi @kelvini,

My understanding of OS X Recovery is it running off of a separate partition with very limited access to applications. Unfortunately the 1Password Browser Extension won't do you any good as the extension merely communicates with 1Password mini, a helper app inside of the main 1Password application bundle. 1Password mini in turn is accessing your vault and both are on the partition of your hosed Yosemite OS.

Can I ask, do you sync your vault to either iCloud or Dropbox or does your vault only exist on your partition?

If you sync to Dropbox then you could use 1PasswordAnywhere.

If the answer is the vault is only on this one partition can I ask, do you regularly back up using Time Machine?

If the answer is yes you might be worth trying to restore a backup from Time Machine to restore functionality.

If the answer to both is no, then you may want to stop and get some assistance as there is data on your machine you definitely don't want to lose if you're forced to overwrite the current partition. I've only ever used the Recovery mode once before and that was to wipe and install a clean copy of the OS so I'm concerned you're about to lose a lot of files you really don't want to.

As well as anything in your Documents folder, the contents of the Library folder inside your user account holds a lot of important stuff, including your vault. The two primary locations you really want to check include:

AgileBits store version: ~/Library/Application Support/1Password 4

Mac App Store version: ~/Library/Containers/2BUA8C4S2C.com.agilebits.onepassword-osx-helper

Depending on which version of 1Password you're running that is where your vault will be stored. Unless you specifically set up syncing the vault will never have left this Mac so we don't want to risk any chance of losing it by not having a copy of the right folder saved elsewhere.

If we can help we will.

kelvini

Thanks littlebobbytables, I am not using iCloud. The problem with Timemachine where I have regular backups is that the password is in Keychain which I can't access. I have always been able to enter Time machine directly from the mac without inserting the password. I never though of writing it elsewhere and always thought it would be accessible from this computer. If I could enter safe mode or know my apple id I could try reinstall.

littlebobbytables

Hi @kelvini,

So because of the botched update you've effectively been locked out of both Time Machine and the Recovery mode due to it requiring authentication and both passwords are in your currently inaccessible vault.

There's no point mincing words, this is a crappy situation that you're in and I'd say you're doing pretty well given the lack of ALL CAPS which could be understandable at this point.

It's not all lost though. Do you have a friend who has a Mac and is willing to help you out? If you do we can show you how to copy your vault from your machine to theirs and using the trial version of 1Password from our site gain access to your vault long enough to kick life back into your machine. All you need is a friend with a Mac (or possibly a friendly Mac genius) and a pen drive.

Instructions will follow, I just wanted to write this now so you know it is still possible to recover.

littlebobbytables

Hi @kelvini,

If you're a FileVault user the first thing we need to do is unlock and mount your main partition.

1. From the main Recovery screen you should have the window with the four OS X Utilities options, of which Disk Utility is the last. Select it and click on Continue.
2. On the left hand side there will be a list of drives and their partitions and at the top of that list should be the internal drives. Here is a partial screenshot of the one you want to select .
3. If when you select that item, the button to right of Burn becomes enabled and says Unlock then you're using FileVault. Click on Unlock and enter your OS X password when requested. This will decrypt and mount your drive.
4. Quit Disk Utility.

These are the steps on how to copy your 1Password vault from this machine to the pen drive.

1. Plug in a pen drive.
2. Use the following drop down menu option Utilities > Terminal. From here on in it's going to be terminal commands I'm afraid. I hope either you or whoever is helping feels comfortable with it. Every command is followed up the enter key to tell OS X to do what you've typed.
3. The first command is cd /Volumes/
4. Next is ls -1 (that's the one digit if it isn't clear)
5. You should see the following entries listed .Trashes, Image Volume, Macintosh HD, OS X Base System and one more. Make a note of that last one as that is the name of your pen drive. For example mine is titled KINGSTON and we'll need that later.
6. The next command is cd Macintosh\ HD/Users/. As you're typing these out please know that if you start typing the name of a file or folder and you tap the tab ⇥ key, Terminal will try and autocomplete the name if it can figure it out. You'll probably begin to appreciate that later on. It might only fill in part of a name as it won't make a choice for you. Typing more characters after that and tapping tab again may finish off the job.
7. Next is ls -1 (again)
8. You should see a list of the users on your Mac. One will definitely be called Shared and there will probably be one titled Guest. You are looking for the one that is you and it's probably the shorthand version of your username. For example my account is called LittleBobbyTables and the short version is LBT so one of the lines just says LBT.
9. The next command is cd LBT/Library/ but I want you to replace the LBT in that command with the name of your account.
10. This next command is dependent on whether you are a Apple's Mac App Store (MAS) or Agile Web Store (AWS) customer of ours. If you're in doubt try both as one will fail and the other won't.
11. If you're an AWS user you want to use cd Application\ Support/1Password\ 4/Backups/. Remember what I said about tab in step 6? Here it will likely fill just Application \ S but if type a u and tab again it should complete.
12. If you're a MAS user you want to use cd Containers/2BUA8C4S2C.com.agilebits.onepassword-osx-helper/Data/Library/Backups/
13. Next is ls -1 (again)
14. Make a note of the newest backup which should be at the bottom of the list. All the files follow the same name format which starts with 1Password YYYY-MM-DD HH_MM_SS. For example mine is 1Password 2015-04-11 11_00_44 (3 profiles, 537 items, 9 folders, 14 attachments).1p4_zip
15. This is the important command. In my example it would be cp 1Password\ 2015-04-11\ 11_00_44\ \(3\ profiles\,\ 537\ items\,\ 9\ folders\,\ 14\ attachments\).1p4_zip /Volumes/KINGSTON/. If you start with cd 1Pass and then hit the tab key it will complete a little bit of the name, probably 1Password\ 201. Complete the date and tap tab again to get you to your version of cp 1Password\ 2015-04-11\ 11_00_44\ \(3\ profiles\,\ 537\ items\,\ 9\ folders\,\ 14\ attachments\).1p4_zip. The last bit will definitely start with /Volumes/ and instead of KINGSTON you want to add the name of your pen drive that you got in step 5. Hitting enter at this point will hopefully copy your backup to the pen drive.

At this stage, if you quit Terminal and shutdown your Mac you can safely eject the pen drive and it should have the latest backup from your copy of 1Password on it.

On your friend's Mac have them create a new user account so you can easily throw the whole account away after you're done. Download 1Password from our AgileBits Download page regardless of which version of 1Password you purchased as we're just using the trial mode. When it starts up say you're an existing user and that you want to restore a backup, basically our Getting started again on a new computer guide with our Restore from backup.

At this point you can boot your Mac up and manually type in your iTunes password while viewing it on your friend's Mac or if you carefully wrote it down before returning to your Mac.

God knows there's a lot in there to digest so take your time and if you have questions do please ask. The point is, as long as you have another Mac you can rely on this should be recoverable.

kelvini

littlebobbytales, thank you again, this time to figure out that amazing workaround. However I was able to reset the Apple password from another computer by digiting an incorrect password thus promting Apple to allow me to change it. That was not possible from recovery mode where there is no mail app to recieve Apple's reset link. In any case I was able to reinstall OS X this time successfully. I appreciate the time and care you took on this case and sharing concern... as you said it was a crappy situation. One thing maybe we could learn from it: keep a written copy of your Apple and Time machine passwords somewhere else.

littlebobbytables

I'm just glad to hear this had a happy ending @kelvini :smile:

I imagine that going forward you'll also be keeping a copy of a backup somewhere safe whenever you do a system update or as you say, ensure you have a couple of the important passwords accessible in some form during that dangerous period.

I hope 10.10.3's improvements were worth this!