Unable to open FreeFileSync on macOS

[sorliden]

Hi!

I just downloaded FreeFileSync 9.5 for macOS and dropped FreeFileSync in the applications folder. But when I try to open it I get the message 'Programmet "FreeFileSync" går inte att öppna.' ('Unable to open the application "FreeFileSync".').
Anybody else with this issue?

I have macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, Swedish as languange, running on a new MacBook Pro.

Thanks for any help!

[Zenju]

What a "great" error message... Is this really all the info there is? What happens if you try to start manually via command line? e.g.

/Applications/FreeFileSync.app/Contents/MacOS/FreeFileSync


[sorliden]

I get the error message "Operation not permitted" if I try the command "/Applications/FreeFileSync.app/Contents/MacOS/FreeFileSync" in the terminal. The permissions was initially "-rwx------". But I get the same error even if I change the permissions to "-rwxr-xr-x".

[Zenju]

Maybe you've set up to only allow apps to be run that were downloaded from iTunes?

[sorliden]

No, I just recently downloaded and installed WhatsApp without any problems.

[sorliden]

I have been able to open FreeFileSync!
I enabled "Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere" by running the command: "sudo spctl --master-disable"
Downloaded FreeFileSync 9.6
Opened FreeFileSync from the options menu.
I have disabled "Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere" again by running the command: "sudo spctl --master-enable"
And it's still possible to open FreeFileSync without the options menu.
Great!

[Zenju]

I enabled "Allow apps downloaded from: Anywhere" by running the command: "sudo spctl --master-disable"

The FreeFileSync app is digitally signed. So it should suffice to allow apps from "App Store and identified developers" under System Preferences -> Security & Privacy :

Security and Privacy.PNG (5.86 KiB) Viewed 1359 times

[SipriusPT]

I have been using FFS 9.5 on that MacOS version and also on Sierra without problem.

[dewege]

I have the same problem:
- FreeFileSync of a previous version worked fine (dont remember which, because removed it already)
- FFS 9.6 downloaded today, unzipped from admin account and moved into applications folder
--> can run it from admin account and the apps show with correct icon
--> can NOT run it from user account: app shows with prohibitory icon

I compared some of the files/folders access rights from command line with other applications. nearly all folders of files do not grant any access to group or others. most files are on mode 700 instead of 644 ...

are these access rights already wrong inside the zip-file ?

PS: I do not want to generally allow for apps downloaded from anywhere

[Zenju]

@dewege: It seems you're right, there is a permissions problem! I wasn't aware that zip is storing permissions in first place, but it seems to use an extension on macOS.

[Zenju]

Permissions issue has been fixed!