Helper Tool Installation Failed

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timotgl

Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:33 am

Post by timotgl » Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:44 am
Fresh install on macOS 13.0.1 (Viscosity 1.10.4).

I got the prompt to install the helper tool. After installing it the app doesn't open unfortunately:

"Viscosity was unable to install its helper tool and must now quit. Please reopen...".

I uninstalled Viscosity with the instructions from an older forum post here and restarted my mac. Still didn't work unfortunately.

I was recording the system events with Console.app and filtering them for "Viscosity". It shows a bunch of stuff that looks normal-ish, and then like 50 entries of type "fault" with the message "This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.". The messages also say "Subsystem: com.apple.runtime-issues" and "Category: Security":
Code: Select all
default	18:27:08.410480+0100	Viscosity	Received configuration update from daemon (initial)
default	18:27:08.412504+0100	Viscosity	CHECKIN: pid=904
default	18:27:08.425093+0100	Viscosity	CHECKEDIN: pid=904 asn=0x0-0x4f04f foreground=0
default	18:27:08.429346+0100	Viscosity	FRONTLOGGING: version 1
default	18:27:08.429548+0100	Viscosity	Registered, pid=904 ASN=0x0,0x4f04f
default	18:27:08.432565+0100	Viscosity	BringForward: pid=904 asn=0x0-0x4f04f bringForward=0 foreground=0 uiElement=1 launchedByLS=1 modifiersCount=1 allDisabled=0
default	18:27:08.432625+0100	Viscosity	BringFrontModifier: pid=904 asn=0x0-0x4f04f Modifier 0 hideAfter=0 hideOthers=0 dontMakeFrontmost=0 mouseDown=0/0 seed=0/0
default	18:27:08.433666+0100	Viscosity	Current system appearance, (HLTB: 2), (SLS: 1)
default	18:27:08.435156+0100	Viscosity	No persisted cache on this platform.
default	18:27:08.436400+0100	Viscosity	Current system appearance, (HLTB: 2), (SLS: 1)
default	18:27:08.436902+0100	Viscosity	Post-registration system appearance: (HLTB: 2)
default	18:27:08.471808+0100	Viscosity	Registering for test daemon availability notify post.
default	18:27:08.471937+0100	Viscosity	notify_get_state check indicated test daemon not ready.
default	18:27:08.472054+0100	Viscosity	notify_get_state check indicated test daemon not ready.
default	18:27:08.472172+0100	Viscosity	notify_get_state check indicated test daemon not ready.
default	18:27:08.476592+0100	Viscosity	SignalReady: pid=904 asn=0x0-0x4f04f
default	18:27:08.477183+0100	Viscosity	SIGNAL: pid=904 asn=0x0x-0x4f04f
fault	18:27:08.489511+0100	Viscosity	This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.
(more of the same entries here....)
fault	18:27:08.490345+0100	Viscosity	This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.
default	18:27:08.490394+0100	Viscosity	TrustSettingsUseXPC is enabled (via feature flags)
fault	18:27:08.492362+0100	Viscosity	This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.
(more of the same entries here....)
fault	18:27:08.495512+0100	Viscosity	This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.
default	18:27:08.497908+0100	Viscosity	Legacy service: <private> status: 1
fault	18:27:08.498354+0100	Viscosity	This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.
(more of the same entries here....)
fault	18:27:08.503386+0100	Viscosity	This method should not be called on the main thread as it may lead to UI unresponsiveness.
default	18:27:14.548599+0100	Viscosity	NSApp cache appearance:
-NSRequiresAquaSystemAppearance: 0
-appearance: (null)
-effectiveAppearance: <NSCompositeAppearance: 0x600000512100
 (
    "<NSDarkAquaAppearance: 0x600000511f00>",
    "<NSSystemAppearance: 0x600000500980>"
)>
default	18:27:14.608813+0100	Viscosity	SetFrontProcess: asn=0x0-0x4f04f options=1
default	18:27:14.650413+0100	Viscosity	order window front conditionally: 75 related: 0
default	18:27:14.659487+0100	Viscosity	SetFrontProcess: asn=0x0-0x4f04f options=1
default	18:27:14.685985+0100	Viscosity	order window front conditionally: 76 related: 0
default	18:27:14.699995+0100	Viscosity	order window front conditionally: 76 related: 0
default	18:27:14.717022+0100	Viscosity	AggregateDictionary is not supported on this platform
default	18:27:17.810376+0100	Viscosity	order window: 76 op: 1 relative: 75 related: 0
default	18:27:17.810559+0100	Viscosity	order window: 75 op: 0 relative: 0 related: 0
default	18:27:17.841453+0100	Viscosity	order window: 75 op: 0 relative: 0 related: 0
default	18:27:17.841521+0100	Viscosity	order window: 76 op: 0 relative: 0 related: 0
default	18:27:17.841630+0100	Viscosity	Entering exit handler.
default	18:27:17.841656+0100	Viscosity	Exiting exit handler.
I'm not using any firewall, virus scanner or similar invasive apps on my mac. Just Lingon to see auto-starting apps more easily, but I don't suspect this interferes.

Any ideas?

James

User avatar
Posts: 2312
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Wed Nov 30, 2022 2:13 pm
Hi timotgl,

The helper tool installation is handled entirely by macOS itself. When the helper tool fails to install it typically points to a SMJobBless/PrivilegedHelperTools permissions issue on the machine. I’ve included some suggestions below:

1. Try restarting your machine. macOS checks the permissions of many system directories at boot and typically resolves any helper permissions issues.

2. If you are still seeing the same error, uninstall Viscosity and the ViscosityHelper using the instructions in the following article, and then reinstall Viscosity. Do not follow the steps to remove your Preferences or connection data.
https://www.sparklabs.com/support/kb/ar ... osity-mac/

3. If the above fails, I recommend completely removing the /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools and /Library/LaunchDaemons directories and reboot to let the OS recreate them on the affected machine. You may want to check what else is using these directories before removing them so any other tools can be reinstalled if needed.

4. Make sure you don't have any AntiVirus, endpoint security software, or endpoint management software, that could be interfering with the installation of the helper. Please try temporarily uninstalling or otherwise disabling any such software and try again.

Cheers,
James
Web: https://www.sparklabs.com
Support: https://www.sparklabs.com/support
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparklabs

timotgl

Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2022 4:33 am

Post by timotgl » Thu Dec 01, 2022 2:51 am
Thanks for the instructions James, my issue was solved.

The Tool "Lingon X" turned out to be the cause. It had a checkbox "Run at startup and when saving" that needed to be checked apparently. The viscosity helper was installed properly, but Lingon X interfered with launching it apparently.
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