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

Got a problem with Viscosity or need help? Ask here!

mark

Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:13 am

Post by mark » Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:50 am
Hi!
After upgrading Viscosity to version 1.8.1 and run I get message
"Viscosity was unable to install its helper tool and must now quit. Please reopen Viscosity to try again."
as a result I can not run Viscosity

I uninstalled Viscosity with "App Cleaner and Uninstaller". Reboot. Reinstall. The same error.
Reinstall and uninstall with brew. The same error.
Uninstall by steps from knowledge base on this site. The same error.
Clean NVRam and PRam. The same error.

How can I fix this error. Or is there any logs what I can see?

my machine: Mac mini with Mac OS Mojave 10.14.6.

On other computer with High Sierra same operations has finished ok.

I really appreciate any help you can provide

James

User avatar
Posts: 2313
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Mon Nov 18, 2019 12:36 pm
Hi mark,

I recommend trying the following:

1. Run the commands listed in the following article to remove Viscosity's helper (if it exists):
https://www.sparklabs.com/support/kb/article/uninstalling-viscosity-mac/
2. Then restart your computer.
3. Download the latest version of Viscosity from our website and let it attempt to install the helper:
https://www.sparklabs.com/viscosity/download/

If it's still failing, then it likely points to a permissions or code-signature verification issue on your machine. macOS itself actually handles the install of a privileged helper, it isn't something that Viscosity actually does itself (other than requesting it). More information about the failure should be available in the Console (under all messages, any error messages won't come from Viscosity):
https://www.sparklabs.com/support/kb/article/viewing-the-console-log/

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

mark

Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:13 am

Post by mark » Fri Nov 22, 2019 2:10 am
thank you for your answer!

I have found in Console such errors

Viscosity
AEGetDescData of non-desc type 'reco' not a good idea

// and

tccd
Prompting policy for hardened runtime; service: kTCCServiceAppleEvents requires entitlement com.apple.security.automation.apple-events but it is missing for ACC:{ID: com.viscosityvpn.Viscosity, PID[7373], auid: 501, euid: 501, binary path: '/Applications/Viscosity.app/Contents/MacOS/Viscosity'}, REQ:{ID: com.apple.appleeventsd, PID[53], auid: 55, euid: 55, binary path: '/System/Library/CoreServices/appleeventsd'}

---

Have you some workaround this error?

James

User avatar
Posts: 2313
Joined: Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:27 pm

Post by James » Fri Nov 22, 2019 8:19 pm
I'm afraid it's not something we've seen before, or had any other reports for, so I'm afraid I can't offer a concrete solution.

The error message would seem to indicate that Viscosity is attempting to send an Apple Event to another process not signed by us. Viscosity isn't designed to do anything like that, which makes me think it's one of three things:

1. There is security software on your computer that is injecting itself into the Viscosity process and breaking it. If this is a managed machine (i.e. one setup and given to you by your workplace) this is a possibility. As is if you've installed any Antivirus or similar software. You should try temporarily disabling or removing any such software and see if the problem continues.

If this is a managed machine I'd also recommend reaching out to your IT staff to see whether they have installed any such software behind the scenes. We've had at least one report of software called “Digital Guardian” causing issues.

2. macOS (hopefully mistakenly) believes Viscosity's helper was signed by someone else. The uninstallation steps posted earlier should resolve anything like this: please ensure you have followed them in their entirety. You may also like to try clearing macOS's authorization cache for Viscosity by running the following commands in the Terminal:
Code: Select all
tccutil reset Viscosity
tccutil reset com.sparklabs.ViscosityHelper
3. macOS believes Viscosity has been signed by someone else or is unsigned. Please ensure that you're using the version downloaded from our website and that nothing could be modifying Viscosity and breaking its code-signature.

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

mark

Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:13 am

Post by mark » Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:57 pm
thank you very much!

I've found what was the problem

"AppCleaner And Uninstaller" was blocking ViscosityHelper from launching
I checked ViscosityHelper checkbox in "AppCleaner And Uninstaller" launch agents menu and Viscosity successfully start
5 posts Page 1 of 1