Repairing permissions - Error: No valid packages(?!) Wha?

Computer's been doing strange things lately. Not recognizing my airport signal (none of my neighbor's wireless signals either); not recognizing any printers when time to print; no quicktime playback; some sent and received emails lost in space, etc. So I'm getting ready for an archive and install when I think I'll try repairing permissions first. Verifying disk says volume is fine. But i get an immediate error of no valid packages for repairing permissions. Anyone know what this means and how to rectify it?

First "Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Verify & Repair if needed, then use Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751
Where are we now after a reboot?

Similar Messages

Repairing permissions - ERROR: NO VALID PACKAGES

I think I may have deleted something important!
I had a bit of a tidy up the other day, mainly deleting printers & fonts that I don't use. But it looks like I may have removed a few important things.
In disk utility, I can no longer repair disk permissions. When I try, I get a box saying;
FIRST AID FAILED
DISK UTILITY STOPPED REPAIRING PERMISSIONS ON "MACINTOSH HD" BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING ERROR WAS ENCOUNTERED:
NO VALID PACKAGES
Is there an easy way of fixing this? Or am I looking at a reinstall of Tiger?

Glad that sorted your immediate problem.
On the face of it I would have thought that none were necessary, as the name of the folder and the fact that they're installer packages for things that have already been installed would seem to indicate that they are not needed. BUT the fact that the loss of one of those files caused a problem with something that can be as important as the ability to repair permissions is pretty clear evidence that the files in there are used for something!
So, I would recommend leaving alone the packages for apps/etc. that are still on your machine, or files that you do not recognize. On the other hand, there are some items (very few, actually) in my receipts folder that I would feel comfortable deleting, e.g. a virus defs package for Norton, which I installed right when I got my MBP, but it utterly failed for reasons I won't go into here, and I actually ran the uninstaller to get rid of it, but clearly it left this little gift for me. And poof, it's gone.
But the majority I would recommend leaving alone. On my HDD the Receipts folder is ~170 MB, so it's not a huge chunk, but of course every little bit adds up!
Hope this helps...

Disk permissions - "Error: No Valid Packages (-9997)"

Should I worry about this error? It shows up when I try to "verify permissions" via Disk Utility (booted from disk) and I also ran Tinker Tool System and it gave the same error.
Thanks for the help!
Ken

You've either removed the /Library/Receipts/ folder or deleted its contents. Disk Utility will no longer work nor will Software Update.
Download a shareware utility called Pacifist 2.0. Use it to extract a fresh copy of the BaseSystem.pkg from the file archives on your Tiger DVD. Extract the new copy of BaseSystem.pkg to the /Library/Receipts/ folder. If you've deleted the folder simply make a new folder with that name. In the future do not delete the folder or its contents. They are needed for permissions repair and updating software with Software Update.
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Disk Utility Error "no valid packages"

Hi,
I have a PowerBook G4 with 1GB RAM.
I've noticed a significant system slowdown lately. Programs take longer to open and respond, and it's rather annoying. I came to the forums to seek some remedy, and tried to run a Disk Utility to check that everything there is at least okay. But when I click on verify permissions, I get an error that says "no valid packages." Does anyone know what this means and how to fix it (if it needs fixing; I'm assuming this isn't a good thing, whatever it is!).
Thanks.
Lori

Hi librarygirl and Welcome to the Discussions!
Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: Disk Utility shows a "No Valid Packages" alert
Disk Utility can't verify or repair permissions on the Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4 volume if the "BaseSystem.pkg" file is not in /Library/Receipts.
This alert appears when you try to repair permissions with Disk Utility:
"First Aid failed
"Disk Utility stopped repairing permissions on '(volume name)' because the following error was encountered: No valid packages"
In the Disk Utility text window, this message appears in red text:
"Error: No valid packages (-9997)"
This happens when the BaseSystem.pkg file is not in /Library/Receipts.
Solution
If you've moved this file, move it back to /Library/Receipts. You shouldn't normally remove any files from /Library/Receipts.
If the file has been deleted, replace it by copying it from a different computer that uses Mac OS X 10.3 or 10.4, or by reinstalling Mac OS X 10.3/10.4 from an installation disc.
"Reinstall" means you can install 10.3 or 10.4 from a disc, if it's the same version of 10.3/10.4 (such as 10.3.3 on both the installation disc and computer). If the version of 10.3/10.4 on the computer is newer than what's on the install disc, then use the install disc to perform an Archive and Install installation instead, then update to a later version of Mac OS X.
Joe

Error No Valid Packages

Ok so this is the story. Backed up my iMac with a new 1 TB drive using Time Machine. All fine. Took about an hour but seems fine simple as anything. Firewire 800 very rapid.
Decided to do the same with my Macbook this cant be difficult Im telling myself... good one.
Ok so using a USB external drive I started backing up the Macbook. (I must say here that the drive wasnt empty it had some stuff on it already) I figured this was ok but now Im beginning to think otherwise. After about 45GB the backup starts to freeze. I left it an hour but then it just wouldnt do anything. In hindsight me deciding to stop the backup was probably a bad thing at this point but after I stopped it the macbook froze.
I had to reboot... wont reboot... just sits there spinning and the apple icon.
Rebooted from the disc and disc utility and ran permissions I get the message Error No Valid Packages.
At this point Im seeing just over 100 GB in use, and 200 free.. so I know my stuffs there but I just cant get it to boot OSX.
For reference its Snow Leopard. Please help!!!

Try running Disk Repair from the Install DVD. Sounds like you may have some HD corruption. Alternately, you could try booting while holding Shift. This will put you in SafeBoot. If you can boot here, backup your important files!
For more info on what SafeBoot does:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564

No Hard Drive Or Volume Icon In Powerbook G4 Firewire (aluminium) Disk Utilities: Reads Error: No Valid Packages (-9997)

Whilst performing a zero/erase install on my Powerbook G4 Firewire (aluminium) with an OSX Tiger install disk (Tiger was the OSX i had erased), I had to force quite the installer as it appeared to be stuck on the Chinese script install section. I crashed the Powerbook down using the power button method. Now, when i power up the computer, it stays on the grey screen and just beeps at me. If i insert the install disks (both OSX Tiger or the original Powerbook Panther ones) there is no volume found during the install process. In disk utilities no hard drive icon or volumes appear in the left hand list, just 2 headings regarding the OSX install disk. I have clicked 'Verify Disk Permissions' on these headings and receive this message in the action box: Error: No Valid Packages (-9997). All other options in disk utilities are not available to use (partitions section etc), as there is no hard drive recognized to perform anything on. I presume my erase install has wiped out my previous OSX Tiger without installing some essential on the Powerbook (receipts perhaps?). My Powerbook was working 100% before this install attempt. It's a very lightly used machine with no noises/whirrs coming from the hard drive that would suggest failure of some kind. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks for your advice old comm guy.
I have run the Hardware Test as supplied with the Powerbooks install disks and everything has passed. I presume i can put my mind at rest about it being a problem in any of those departments. I have been browsing for a couple of weeks now and think my problem could be a loss in receipts/permissions somewhere. I remember looking for a lost file awhile back using a hard drive search programme through Terminal. It filled my hard drive almost to the maximum with unwanted retrieved files, it took me hours to erase all this again (never found the document i was looking for either). Perhaps a receipt was erased/trashed at this time?. Sometime later (prob weeks) i performed a fresh OSX install to give me an uncluttered faster running machine (I do this once a year). I zero erased the hard drive (including free space) and it was during this install that i had to force quit. It seemed to be stuck loading the Chinese Script so i had no option. After this the problem as described above has been persistent. Is there a way to restore receipts/permissions through Terminal or something like that?. Or maybe a procedure that one has to do when installing a new hard drive?. A step by step guide from someone would be a real help as i am not really confident using these advanced procedures.

"Error: No valid packages (-9997)" Tiger installation disc

When attempting to install tiger on my imac g4, it gets to about 65% on the essentials bar then errors, something like BomFatal error some files are not written properly. My harddrive repairs fine but the Mac OSX disc, when i run permission verification first aid returns "Error: No valid packages (-9997)". The support page was not paticularly helpful in this respect, and the folks here tend to be more helpful anyway.
Thanks in advance.

Here's a post with replies that cover your issue.
Posting in the Airport for Windows forum will not get the help you need. I found this post by accident.
Perhaps, (if this is what you have) the iMac Flat Panel forum would help you more.
DALE

Repair Permissions Error (Close to Runs too long, No Progress Bar)

I have gotten this Repair Permissions error at least 10 times:
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
One Internal Hard Drive, Erase, Install from scratch using Retail 10.5 DVD.
Quad 266.
It is similar to Repair Permissions takes forever with no progress bar, I get the Barber Pole for about 10 minutes and then it finishes with the above error. It seems like it is hanging trying to deal with the problem file and can't repair it.

I ran REPAIR PERMISSIONS again after installing Acrobat updaters.
At first I quit because it appeared to be hung.
I re ran it and came back later to this:
Repairing permissions for “105_HD”
Stopped by user
Permissions repair complete
Repairing permissions for “105_HD”
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions repair complete

9997 error, "no valid packages" help

hi to all...has anyone run into the error code "-9997, no valid packages"?
I've lost my startup disk, and running Disk Utility to repair or verify permissions gives me the above code.
Dish Warrior and TechTool Pro both pass the suspect disk ok, but it will not startup nonetheless.
What do I do about "no valid packages"...I've used the Install disk as I've said and Disk Utility doesn't get past the error code mentioned above. The disk is visible when starting up from another disk.
I'm thinking a re-install of the system?? Any advice is appreciated.
G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G4 Cube Mac OS X (10.3.9)

If you don't have another copy of the receipts for your computer's exact software configuration, you will need to do an Archive & Install of Mac OS X to get them back. This may also fix your startup issue depending on what the cause is; more information is required to know for certain.
(18917)

Error: No valid packages (-9997) on IMAC G5

I got the above message when I tried to run the utility disk. It also said: Disk utility stopped verifying permissions on "Mac OS X install Disc 1" because the following error was encountered: No valid packages. Does that mean my hard drive is toast? Can I replace it and if so, how much would it cost?
I also tried to run the Mac OX install disc 1 but when I get to the select destination part, there's no hard drive that appears. UGH! Help please!
My disk utility screen only shows my 4.2 GB Pioneer DVD-R and the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 that i put in.
Thanks,

Here's a post with replies that cover your issue.
Posting in the Airport for Windows forum will not get the help you need. I found this post by accident.
Perhaps, (if this is what you have) the iMac Flat Panel forum would help you more.
DALE

Error message: Validating package signature ... error

Hi All
When I try to do CUE upgrade, I got below message.
CUE> $64.200/cue-vm-k9.nme.7.0.3.pkg username cisco password cico1234
WARNING:: This command will install the necessary software to
WARNING:: complete a clean install. It is recommended that a backup be done
WARNING:: before installing software.
Would you like to continue? [n] y
Downloading cue-vm-k9.nme.7.0.3.pkg
Download error
Can not download cue-vm-k9.nme.7.0.3.pkg error code 530 error type 'the username and/or the password are incorrect'
[15252 refs]
CUE> $4.200/cue-vm-k9.nme.7.0.3.pkg username cisco password cisco1234
WARNING:: This command will install the necessary software to
WARNING:: complete a clean install. It is recommended that a backup be done
WARNING:: before installing software.
Would you like to continue? [n] y
Downloading cue-vm-k9.nme.7.0.3.pkg
Bytes downloaded : 182396
Validating package signature ... error
Package signature validation failed for pkg cue-vm-k9.nme.7.0.3.pkg
So anyone have solution for this?
I can not do anymore cause of this error.

Dear Jorge,
How did you resolve this issue?
I encounter same error during EHP4 ECC IDES upgrade in phase SHADOW_IMPORT_INC
I repeated the step, currently still running.
Best Regards,
Jacco Raymakers

Repair Permissions Error

Greetings,
I have had numerous problems since upgrading to Snow Leopard.
I get this error when repairing permissions:
"Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired."
Thanks

Chuck Risher wrote:
Greetings,
I have had numerous problems since upgrading to Snow Leopard.
I get this error when repairing permissions:
"Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired."
Thanks
read here about permission repair messages you can safely ignore

Repair permissions Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit, ever since time machine system restore

Recently had to restore system 10.5.8 Leopard startup volume using Time machine. After many hours of migrating additional important databases that were recovered from failing startup drive, everything seemed to be back up and running smoothly on a new WD 1tb Black drive. Right before I run timemachine again to backup the new revised seemingly stable startup volume, I choose to repair disk permissions using disk utility. Repair permissions failed with this error, The underlying task reported faliure on exit. I tried using the OS X DVD to repair permissions, Diskwarrior, Onyx, none are able to reapair the disk permissions. Although everything seems perfect I would imagine that the system will fail eventually. It's strange that I had no problems repairing disk permissions in the past on this particular system that was the most recent backup. What should I do ?

Repair permissions always reports a bunch of stuff. Ignore it if it says it completed successfully.
Also note that is it usually a waste of time (except maybe after a system upgrade).

Repair permissions error. SUID file has changed and will not be repaired?

I repaired permissions tonight and I get the error message quoted below.
I don't understand the warning around the SUID file. I don't know if I should be concerned about this or what this file does. Any information or advice?
Thanks.
Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Reading permissions database.
Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.
Permissions differ on "System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.usbmuxd.plist", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x .
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Group differs on "private/etc/cups", should be 0, group is 26.
Permissions differ on "private/var/spool/cups/cache/rss", should be drwxr-xr-x , they are drwxrwxr-x .
Permissions repair complete

Im just glad to see others have the exact same permission changes, which as the other replied stated, makes me not worry about it.
I just don't like Apple changing permissions so they can "read" anything on my computer they want - when Im on iTunes for instance.

"Repair Permissions" Errors

After the recent up date I get the following errors when I run "Repair Permissions"
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/bin/lppasswd" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ALRHelperJobs", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls/ContentFiltering", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Permissions differ on "Library/Application Support/Apple/ParentalControls", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxr-xr-x .
Now what? :o)
P.S. As a smiley maker, I must protest the lack of smilies on this forum!

Just ignore those error messages. They mean nothing. People are always asking about them. I have no idea why Apple put them there.
You want smilies?
(I could go on. There are lots more).

Repairing permissions - Error: No valid packages(?!) Wha?

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