Accidentally deleted /private/var/root

Hello All!
I have accidentally deleted the directory /private/var/root/. Is there anything important in there?
The system has recreated the directory. However, there is no .forward and no .CFUserTextEncoding file anymore. Also, there were some .GlobalPreferences.plist files that didn't reappear. I also had to reconfigure the multiple desktops in my account, which is a bit weird as this setting should not be stored in the root directory but in my user directory?
Thanks for some inputs.

Restore its content from your backup. Otherwise, you will need to reinstall OS X.
Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
Also see:
Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive
OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Similar Messages

System won't boot after accidentally deleting /private/var/folder

My Macbook Air is running OS 10.9 Mavericks, and I accidentally deleted the /var folder after seeing it taking lots of GB's from my storage.
Safari, Mail and a lot of applications f'ed up itself, like safari saying it couldn't connect to the folder.
I tried to put those folders back, and it gave me an Unauthorized Caller alert. I tried doing it again, and the folders froze, but I can still move my mouse. I restarted my computer by holding power 7 seconds, and tried to restart.
Somehow, I saw the grey Apple logo startup screen, heard that startup chime, and 10 seconds later, it shut down. I tried doing it again many times, but to no avail.

mikeearth wrote:
So here's my problem. I'm using intel iMac and yesterday my Mac didn't boot( grey screen etc). I thought that it was because I used force shutdown. I used (option-cmd-r-p) to reset and after that, Mac booted up into some kind of "first time startup screen"... So I used installation DVD and restored my previous backup of the system by using the TM. After that the Mac booted and now all I get is folder with a question mark? Now what....?
your profile suggests that you are running Tiger. if that is so, you shouldn't even be able to use time machine (introduced with Leo).
can you please clarify ...

Accidentally deleted /private/var/folders

Hi folks,
yesterday I did something really stupid, I deleted recursively /private/var/folders
But I was able to restore it from backup like follows:
+ mounted external drive (Backup with SuperDuper! on it)
+ created a tar ball from <backup>/private/var/folders (as root)
+ extracted tar ball in /private/var/ (as root)
Now my questions...
What is /private/var/folders used for?
Because my backup was maybe two month old, any suggestions on the possible gap and changed data?
Any chance that I lost some important data/metadata?
Any useful help is highly appreciated.
Kind regards
Jens

There should be a set of folders inside the /private/var/folders with cryptic names such as 90, LB, zz and so on. Each of the cryptically named folders has a sub-folder that begins with the same two characters, and continues with something even more cryptic, for instance
/private/var/folders/90/90gu9daQFSitP4FD2179ck+TI
And inside that folder are sub-folders for caches and two temp folders: a -Tmp- folder and a TemporaryItems folder. These ought to be empty when you first startup your computer. Many programs use them for storing stuff as they are working. The -Caches- folder has a similar function, except the data stays there thru a restart. If those files are removed no harm done, although some things may be a little slower until the cache for it is rebuilt.
The problem that can happen is that the ownership and group of each of the really cryptically named folders (shown above) and the three sub-folders must be correct or you will run into some VERY strange problems with some programs that use those folders. In the case above, that is my main user's temporary and cache folder home. There will also be a folder for each user on the computer, and the others will belong to the system and to other "users" such as a proxy server, the Guest account, the printer demon (anyway I think that's what _lp is) and so on. The two-character parent folders (90 in the above example) should all be owned by system, group wheel. It's their sub-folders which must have owner and group correct.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Plz help Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

Plz help
Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

/var is a hidden folder, so you mustn't remove the folder.
The only solution is to reinstall OS X. If you have OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, use OS X Recovery > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
Hold Command and R keys while your MacBook is starting and reinstall OS X. You won't lose anything. If you have a backup, you can restore it after starting in OS X Recovery instead of reinstalling Mac OS X, so you will save a lot of time

Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

Plz help
Help I have accidentally deleted the var folder on my mac and now it won't start up what should I do?

Reinstall OS X.
Reinstall Snow Leopard without erasing the drive
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Deleted private/var/db folder.... Can't boot

Hi, first I know that what I did was stupid but I didnt know what I was doing.. and I still don’t know what are the consequences.
In order to save space on my MBP 2011 Snow Leopard, I deleted private/var/db folder, yes the whole folder to the trashbin and then I emptied it. Files that were in use weren´t deleted.
So I rebooted and the screen is stuck on apple logo with the turning wheel and safe boot start normally but end up with the turning wheel too.
How can I put fix this issue?
Can I recover the files deleted ? Or at least put back the files that are still in the trash bin ?
Thank you for any help.

If they borrow a disc it's possible to replace just the deleted directory using Pacifist:
How Restore Deleted or Missing OS X Components
A few of the basic OS X installed applications can be restored from the Optional Installs installer located in the Optional installs folder on your Installer DVD. However, if what you need is not there then follow the instructions below.
How to Use Pacifist to Restore Deleted or Missing OS X Components
Insert the OS X Installer DVD into the optical drive. Use a simple utility like TinkerTool to toggle invisibility so you can see invisible items. Alternatively, open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and at the prompt enter the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes
Press RETURN.
To turn off the display of invisible files repeat the above command substituting No for Yes.
The install packages are located in the /System/Installation/ folder on the DVD.
Download the shareware utility Pacifist. Use it to extract a fresh copy of the missing item(s) from the file archives on your OS X installation DVD. The file archives are in the /System/Installations/ folder (use Go to Folder option in the Go menu of the Finder.)
Here are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist (courtesy of George Orville.)
Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to .... Menu->Go->Go to Folder. In the path field enter or paste ....
/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages (where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.)
Click on the "Go" button ..... • Drag a .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.
The package you'll need will have to be discovered by trial and error, but for most applications you should start with the Essentials.pkg and/or Additional Essentials.pkg.
D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.
1.          In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again.... {if DVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!
2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.
2b.          or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.
3.          In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.
4.          On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.
5.          Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may look like this:
          20 files were scanned. 20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk. 0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package. 0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.
6.          Click “close”. Go to step 7.
Extract or Install........
7.          In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.
8.          If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.
9.          In the next dialog, click “Extract”.
10.          If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”
11.          Type in your password, click “OK”
Pacifist will begin to extract files.
12.          In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”
Notes:          Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....
Stop
Leave original alone
Update .....
Default selection
Replace .... (Replace option should only be used on full install packages)

Help Please - Accidentally Deleted Private Folder

Please could someone help.
I have accidentally deleted the Private folder in the root of the HD
Now OSX will not boot.
The folder is sitting in my Trash folder and I would like from the Boot CD Terminal to copy back from the trash to the Macintosh HD/ location
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Mim

Not quite: If MimUK's account shortname is (for example): mimuk
then it would be within that account's Trash, namely, you'll have to (yes) boot from another volume (not sure this will work booted from CD, but it might), *mount the drive in read+write mode*
ie (possibly requiring sudo, depending on circumstances):
sudo mount -uw /Volumes/nameOfTheDriveInQuestion
sudo mv /Users/mimuk/.Trash/private /Volumes/nameOfTheDriveInQuestion/
Moral of this story: don't make hidden folders visible for reasons just such as this
And in any case, don't delete something unless you know full well what it's for.

Could not chdir to home directory /private/var/root: Permission denied

Hello,
Something happened yesterday on my terminal. I was using it without issue via remote login (SSH), then an hour later when i logged in it saw this:
I thought it was weird since I wasn't loggin in as root, just my regular user.
I then went over to the computer in question and opened a terminal, and saw this:
It's requiring a password as soon as I open the terminal...
I am using Server.app on the machine, could this be the cause? I've never seen this sort of error before. It seems to think my user account is root?

The usual trigger for these sorts of Terminal.app environment oddities is something weird in the local login scripts.
See here and here for some related details on login scripts, if you're not familiar with that part of bash.
Some add-on tools can modify these bash scripts and sometimes without the user realizing it. (Errors related to PATH are one of the more common symptoms here, but all sorts of weirdness is possible.)
Usual suggestion is to see if a different login works (different user), and also to rename (mv) the usual login files away from their standard names to disable them, and closing and restarting Terminal.app.
In general and FWIW, you should not be logging in as root. At all. That's something that Apple has been discouraging for a while now.
Server.app should not be modifying the login scripts.

Accidentally deleted /var/tmp directory and I'm now stuck in an infinite restart loop

So guys, I was poking around and I accidentally deleted that file. I am now stuck in a restart loop that sometimes ends with a white kernel stop sign in front of a black screen. When that happens, I am forced to restart my computer again.
Every time I restart, the loading bar is about 1/5 of the way there when a series of messages show up on the top left of the screen. I took some pictures of the message, and I have inserted it below.
Again, the directory is /var/tmp, and I am not sure if it was /private or not. I'm sorry.
The kind person who fixes this issue will get my undying respect.
Again, thank you guys very much.
I own a 2012 15 inch MBP, if that helps.

In addition to what greg sahli suggests, also issue the commands:
chmod 1777 /var/tmp
chown root:wheel /var/tmp
My commands and greg sahli's suggestions ASSUME that you did not delete other things essential for the normal operation of Mac OS X.
Otherwise you will have to follow mende1's advice and reinstall Mac OS X.

Accidentally deleted /var folder, now recovery utilities not responding to trackpad/keyboard!

So I did something completed stupid, and now have a big problem.
I accidentally deleted /var folder and emptied the trash!!
Now my MBP is stuck at the grey start up screen with the apple & spinng wheel and won't start up..
The weird thing is, now when I enter recovery utilities, everything displays fine except I cannot click anything! The mouse pointer moves but won't respond to clicks! Same with the return on keyboard. Arrow keys work to move among 4 options on os x utilities (time machine/ reinstall/ online help/ disk utility) but when I hit enter, no response! The trackpad & return key works fine up until the point where the mbp asks which language to run the recovery utilities.
All my data is backed up online, and now I just want to reinstall os x and start using my mbp again!
I tried reinstall with an installation disc by holding down 'c' on start, then I hear the installation dvd spinning for 3 seconds, then it would start ticking and won't do anything else for a few minutes until I force shutdown.
Please!!! Can anyone help me?? How can I reinstall os x?? I would really appreciate!!
Thank you Thank you Thank you in advance.
-Michelle

I know it's late but maybe it will help other people.
I ran into the same issue and none of the solutions listed by apple helped.
I booted into single-user mode and I read the log in /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/private/var/log/system.log, it was full of errors like theses
Dec 30 18:03:28 MacBook-Air locationd[352]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper: 454: mkdir: path=/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000sm00006d/C/ modes[2]=0700: No such file or directory
Dec 30 18:03:28 MacBook-Air.local locationd[352]: could not create persistent store directory (Input/output error)
Dec 30 18:03:28 MacBook-Air locationd[352]: libcoreservices: _dirhelper: 454: mkdir: path=/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000sm00006d/C/ modes[2]=0700: No such file or directory
The system actually tried to create directories in /var/folders but the directory /var/folders did not exists, so I created it:
Under single-user mode:
mount -o update /
cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/
mkdir var/folders
mkdir var/folders/zz
reboot
And it booted just fine !

Star Up Disk "full" problems...Which private/var files can I delete?

I have been having issues with my start up disk being full.
To the point where I could not copy to my clipboard as I had ZERO space left, programmes were shutting down etc.
I couldn't even delete the few pics I had as I couldn't open my Kodak software.
I have uploaded the photos now and deleted them, I have copied all the files I can to sticks, there is basically nothing I have added on the computer, yet I still have only under 700 MB of space on my HD.
I have downloaded and run Omni Disk...it is telling me I have 130GB of "private/var" files.
I know I cannot just go around deleting things, so need to know what I can and cant delete if possible?
I really need to sort this problem out!
I also need to know how to fix this problem from happening again - is this a log problem or what exactly?
Thanks for your help in advance!

Hi, Limeslice
just to make sure that there is not a dum mistake: did you empty the trash?.
Other:
Disk space consumers are typically large photo libraries, music and video files.
back them up, then delete them, and don't forget to empty the trash.
To find large directories :
open Terminal (under applications/utilities), then type "du -d 1 -h" (without quotation marks). this gives a list. for example, it says " 25G ./Pictures", it means that the Picture directory has 25 GB. you can then refine and ask for deeper levels, by typing "du -d 2 -h" or "du -d 3 -h".
Try to find out in this way. if this doesn't give you the correct hint, please, report back, there might be more complex problems.
Success, Thomas

Hello the private/var file on my 2008 iMac (OSX10.5.8) shows a whopping 65GB. Can that be normal? Can any of it be deleted?

Trying to clear up disk space on iMac and discovered the "private/var" file is 65GB! Can this be right? Any way to delete any of this safely? Does this store systems logs, virtual memory? I'm no expert. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
I used Disk Inventory X app to make this discovery.

Whatever you do stay out of system folders lest you completely corrupt OS X. There is nothing in those folders you need have anything to do with.
If you need to delete files to clear up space, stick to your Home folder (except the Library folder.)

A private var folder is taking up all of my startup disk space and I can't delete it.

HI,
My startup disk usage jumped to full quite unexpectedly. On running 'daisy disk' I can see that most of the space has been taken up with files marked as:
Disks and folders/macintosh hd/private/var/vm followed by a whole lot of 'swap file' extensions (34.3 GB in total)
and
folders/macintosh hd/private/var/db
What are these large files, and how do I delete them? Daisy disk says that they are required by OsX- but they weren't there before-
Alison

Shutdown the computer. Wait 30 seconds then restart. See if anything has changed. The swap files should be deleted. The main reason you may have such large swap is because you are running out of memory from trying to run to many applications concurrently.
Do not do anything with the /private/var/db file. The system needs that file.
There are many things that can take up space on a hard drive:
Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.

/private/var/vm/sleepimage - can I delete?

I'm using WhatSize to take a look at my laptop hard drive and try and clear some space out from it.
I see that the file /private/var/vm/sleepimage is 2GB large. I'm guessing what this file is, but can I safely delete it? Is it always this large?

See this thread for information.
(22349)

HT5290 Accidentally deleted root@localhost user ?

While I was running PHPmyAdmin via MAMP I accidentally deleted root@localhost user and possible some mysql databases. Are there any default mySQL DBs in the OS and how can I reset/reinstall this data?

Solved, I uninstalled MAMP/MAMP PRO and installed XAMPP: all better!

Accidentally deleted /private/var/root

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