Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

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Jimbo72
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Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by Jimbo72 »

10.12.4

I am user Jimbo, an administrative account. I was able to install the VB base 5.1.14-112924, but I got the following error message when I tried to install the corresponding extension pack:

Code: Select all

Failed to install the Extension Pack /Users/Jimbo/Downloads/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.1.14-112924.vbox-extpack.

The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp: error: The owner is not root: '/Applications'.

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: ExtPackManagerWrap
Interface: IExtPackManager {edba9d10-45d8-b440-1712-46ac0c9bc4c5}
When I downloaded the extensions package separately and double-clicked on it, I got the same error message.

I see the following at the start of the output for ls:

Code: Select all

~ $ ls -le
total 0
drwx------    3 Jimbo  501     102 May 16  2014 Applications/

Code: Select all

~ $ ls -alRe@ /Applications
total 1849464
drwxrwxr-x+ 230 Jimbo  501         7820 Jan 30 20:00 ./
 0: group:everyone deny delete
drwxr-xr-x   42 root   wheel       1496 Jan 30 19:57 ../
-rw-rw-r--    1 root   admin      53252 Jan 30 20:51 .DS_Store
-rw-r--r--    1 root   wheel          0 Jul 30  2016 .localized
I've used VB for 3-4 years and have never had any problems installing extension packs previously. To the best of my knowledge, I have not changed the ownership of the /Applications folder.

User Jimbo - the administrative account that I always use - has Read & Write permissions with /Applications according to Get Info. "everyone" has "No Access."

How do I resolve this installation failure?
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

Jimbo72 wrote:How do I resolve this installation failure?
The question actually should have been "How do I fix my broken OSX permissions?", because that's your problem, it's not VirtualBox. VirtualBox due to hardened security won't run if certain conditions are not met. One of them, as you saw, is that the /Applications folder must be root-owned. Not Jimbo-owned, root-owned. Huge difference.
Jimbo72 wrote:
error: The owner is not root: '/Applications'.
...
drwx------    3 Jimbo  501     102 May 16  2014 Applications/
So, you've got to fix this:
  • sudo chown -R root:wheel /Applications
And, generally speaking, don't use the GetInfo window to get/set permissions. It's too naive for that kind of job, especially on system defined directories.
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Jimbo72
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by Jimbo72 »

So, you've got to fix this:

sudo chown -R root:wheel /Applications

Unfortunately, that produces a lot of "Operation not permitted" error messages. When I next try to install the corresponding extension pack, I get the same error message that the owner of /Applications is not root.
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

Jimbo72 wrote:Unfortunately, that produces a lot of "Operation not permitted" error messages.
Unless you expect me to start guessing what those messages are, I really wouldn't know, would I?

In any case, your system seems to be messed up with. You have a couple of options. Unless the above fixes it, you can always re-install OSX.
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Jimbo72
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by Jimbo72 »

socratis wrote:Unless you expect me to start guessing what those messages are, I really wouldn't know, would I?
Here is the beginning of the output:

Code: Select all

~ $ sudo chown -R root:wheel /Applications
chown: /Applications/App Store.app/Contents/_CodeSignature/CodeResources: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/App Store.app/Contents/_CodeSignature: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/App Store.app/Contents/Info.plist: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/App Store.app/Contents/MacOS/App Store: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/App Store.app/Contents/MacOS: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/App Store.app/Contents/PkgInfo: Operation not permitted
and here is the end:

Code: Select all

chown: /Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app/Contents/Resources/zh_TW.lproj: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app/Contents/Resources: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app/Contents/version.plist: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app/Contents: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/Utilities/VoiceOver Utility.app: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications/Utilities: Operation not permitted
chown: /Applications: Operation not permitted
~ $ 
Between those two snippets are similar "Operation not permitted" error messages for every item in the contents of every app in the /Applications folder.

Now, when I click on the VB icon in my Dock, VB crashes immediately.The beginning of the crash report is as follows:

Code: Select all

Process:               VirtualBox [1636]
Path:                  /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VirtualBox
Identifier:            org.virtualbox.app.VirtualBox
Version:               5.1.14 (5.1.14)
Code Type:             X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process:        ??? [1]
Responsible:           VirtualBox [1636]
User ID:               501

Date/Time:             2017-01-31 13:23:25.034 -0800
OS Version:            Mac OS X 10.12.4 (16E144f)
Report Version:        12
Anonymous UUID:        CABD506B-17AA-9EDA-3F13-00EE1562EE8D


Time Awake Since Boot: 19000 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread:        0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type:        EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes:       0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note:        EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal:    Illegal instruction: 4
Termination Reason:    Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x4
Terminating Process:   exc handler [0]

Application Specific Information:
BUG IN CLIENT OF LIBDISPATCH: Assertion failed: Block was expected to execute on queue [com.apple.main-thread]
crashed on child side of fork pre-exec

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0   libdispatch.dylib             	0x00007fff9a6e0b83 _dispatch_assert_queue_fail + 99
1   libdispatch.dylib             	0x00007fff9a6d92c8 dispatch_assert_queue + 155
2   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff82c9b0c3 -[NSPersistentUIRestorer restoreStateFromRecords:usingDelegate:completionHandler:] + 192
3   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff833edeb5 -[NSPersistentUIManager restoreAllPersistentStateWithCompletionHandler:] + 272
4   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff829a5fda -[NSApplication _reopenWindowsAsNecessaryIncludingRestorableState:completionHandler:] + 368
5   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff829a5d54 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpenEvent:] + 539
6   com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff829a59b3 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleCoreEvent:withReplyEvent:] + 661
7   com.apple.Foundation          	0x00007fff86924c6d -[NSAppleEventManager dispatchRawAppleEvent:withRawReply:handlerRefCon:] + 290
8   com.apple.Foundation          	0x00007fff86924ae7 _NSAppleEventManagerGenericHandler + 102
9   com.apple.AE                  	0x00007fff85d2a016 aeDispatchAppleEvent(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*, unsigned int, unsigned char*) + 544
10  com.apple.AE                  	0x00007fff85d29d8d dispatchEventAndSendReply(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*) + 39
11  com.apple.AE                  	0x00007fff85d29c99 aeProcessAppleEvent + 312
12  com.apple.HIToolbox           	0x00007fff844142bf AEProcessAppleEvent + 55
13  com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff829a125d _DPSNextEvent + 1833
14  com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff8311c593 -[NSApplication(NSEvent) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 2789
15  com.apple.AppKit              	0x00007fff8299591b -[NSApplication run] + 926
16  libqcocoa.dylib               	0x00000001121ef0dc QCocoaEventDispatcherPrivate::currentModalSession() + 412
17  libqcocoa.dylib               	0x00000001121eec8d QCocoaEventDispatcher::processEvents(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) + 1933
18  org.qt-project.QtCoreVBox     	0x000000010eeecb11 QEventLoop::exec(QFlags<QEventLoop::ProcessEventsFlag>) + 401
19  org.qt-project.QtWidgetsVBox  	0x000000010fac29fe QDialog::exec() + 510
20  org.qt-project.QtWidgetsVBox  	0x000000010faecc0a 0x10f8ae000 + 2354186
21  VirtualBox.dylib              	0x000000010e3fcc74 TrustedError + 1524
22  org.virtualbox.app.VirtualBox 	0x000000010e3a3124 0x10e3a0000 + 12580
23  org.virtualbox.app.VirtualBox 	0x000000010e3a325d 0x10e3a0000 + 12893
24  org.virtualbox.app.VirtualBox 	0x000000010e3a3adc 0x10e3a0000 + 15068
25  libdyld.dylib                 	0x00007fff9a704235 start + 1
This looks like a problem with VB. Now, I do not get as far as the error messages about the owner not being root. Any more suggestions?
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

Jimbo72 wrote:This looks like a problem with VB.
No it doesn't. This looks 100% like a problem with your OSX installation. 100%.
Jimbo72 wrote:Any more suggestions?
Yes. Scrap that OSX installation that you have and start afresh. You'll discover that the previous point is valid.

PS. There's no way on this side of the Universe that you didn't tamper with your OSX. You know you did and trying to convince me otherwise is an exercise in futility. And that screwed up your system. Royally.
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Jimbo72
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by Jimbo72 »

socratis wrote:PS. There's no way on this side of the Universe that you didn't tamper with your OSX. You know you did and trying to convince me otherwise is an exercise in futility. And that screwed up your system. Royally.
Sorry, but you are wrong about that. I did the standard update from the Mac App Store and did nothing to the permissions afterward - other than running the chown command that you suggested. Between the macOS update and the problems reported above, I did not open or run any command in Terminal (again, other than the one you suggested). Clearly, VB does not play well with the latest update.
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

Jimbo72 wrote:Clearly, VB does not play well with the latest update.
Again, it's not VirtualBox. Your "/Applications" folder owner it "Jimbo". Period. That is not a standard setup. Maybe it was there beforehand and you never noticed. Maybe at some point you used the GetInfo window. Maybe some application (badly written) changed the permissions of the "/Applications" folder and who knows what else. And that's the problem; you (neither I) have no clue.

Unfortunately, in their wisdom, Apple decided to remove the following command from 10.12.x:
  • sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs --volume / --debug
which would reset all permissions to their defaults. I've yet to find something similar, and believe me, I've tried since the beta.

Now, there's one golden rule in security. If security is breached someplace, and you don't know where that "someplace" is? Demolish the whole place. That's my advice to you. I don't know (I can't know) if you tampered with your system or your system has been tampered with. The result is one and the same. You have the (really) wrong permissions in your system folders. I gave you a choice. Whether you follow it or not it's up to you...

EDIT: I really don't know if the 10.12.04b might have caused this, so, maybe I was too hasty. I'll try it out tomorrow...
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Jimbo72
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by Jimbo72 »

I logged in as root and tried the chown command (without sudo, of course). Same error messages. Nothing else changed. Even after uninstalling VB, rebooting, and installing VB from scratch as root, all the results were the same.
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

chown has absolutely nothing to do with VirtualBox being (or not) installed. You seem to be neglecting the obvious: your host's permissions are hosed. VirtualBox refuses to install in hosed systems. You do not blame VirtualBox. You blame your hosed system.

One thing you might try doing (and the reason that you can't change the permissions) is to pause SIP. You need to boot to the recovery operation and do it. Google for it. Or boot from a DVD/USB open up Terminal and change the permissions from there.

Look, there's no way around it. Your system is hosed. I don't know why I have to repeat it so many times. Forget about VirtualBox. Forget about VMs or ExtPacks. If you cannot fix your permissions issues, your system remains FUBAR. Blaming VirtualBox for pointing the obvious remains your choice.
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Jimbo72
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by Jimbo72 »

socratis wrote:boot to the recovery operation
I booted from the recovery partition and reinstalled 10.12.3 GA over the internet. That fixed the permissions. Updating to 10.12.4 left the permissions unchanged. I was then able to do a fresh install of the latest VB and corresponding extension pack. It was easy to "add..." the VB VM that had been left in place when I had uninstalled VB earlier.

Everything works again. You're a genius. Thank you. :D
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

Yes, re-installation is an option as well I guess. It actually might be better compared to manually trying to fix something that was broken in unknown ways. Sometimes I love the simplicity of re-installing OSX. Glad it worked at the end... ;)
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LAnjos
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by LAnjos »

I'm Brazilian and post portuguese BR
Eu tive a mesma falha na tentativa de instalar o EXTENSION PACK no Linux Mint Debian Cindy:
Failed to install te Extension Pack...
The installer failed with exit code 1:
....
VM VirtualBox Extension Pack' is installed (VERR_NOT_FOUND).
Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Para resolver, acionei o VirtualBox como Root no terminal com o comando: sudo virtualbox e em preferencias / extensionpack + mandei adicionar o pacote e FUNFOU!!!
socratis
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Re: Extension Pack installation failure: "The owner is not root: '/Applications'"

Post by socratis »

[quote="DeepL translated what "LAnjos""]
BR: Eu tive a mesma falha na tentativa de instalar o EXTENSION PACK no Linux Mint Debian Cindy
EN: I had the same failure in trying to install EXTENSION PACK on Linux Mint Debian Cindy[/quote]No you didn't. You posted in the "OSX pre-releases" and you're on a Linux Host. Not the same error. Not even the same solution.

[quote="DeepL translated what "LAnjos""]
BR: Para resolver, acionei o VirtualBox como Root no terminal com o comando: sudo virtualbox e em preferencias / extensionpack + mandei adicionar o pacote e FUNFOU!!!
EN: To solve, I started VirtualBox as Root in the terminal with the command: sudo virtualbox and in preferences / extensionpack + I had the package added and FUNFOU!!!![/quote]On a Linux Host, even if you launch VirtualBox Manager as a simple user, you're going to be prompted for a password when you try to install the Ext. Pack. Yours is an alternative way to start the whole VirtualBox Manager as 'root'. Not actually needed/required, but thanks...

Locking this old thread...
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