[bergy]

Hello ...

I'm just wondering the extent to which you can use the computer while it's booted in safe mode.

If you are troubleshooting, can you or should you repair permissions in this state ... can you download and install applications ...(not updates).

Can you or should you trash troublesome prefs and such .. move files etc?

Is Safe Mode strictly used to boot into and then after it's loaded .. to exit

I am aware of the apple document ... but it doesn't contain any of this kind of info
Apple-What is Safe Boot Mode?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392

Thanks for any replies ...

[papplegate]

Originally Posted by bergy

Hello ...

I'm just wondering the extent to which you can use the computer while it's booted in safe mode.

If you are troubleshooting, can you or should you repair permissions in this state ... can you download and install applications ...(not updates).

Can you or should you trash troublesome prefs and such .. move files etc?

Is Safe Mode strictly used to boot into and then after it's loaded .. to exit

I am aware of the apple document ... but it doesn't contain any of this kind of info
Apple-What is Safe Boot Mode?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107392

Thanks for any replies ...

Good questions. I just read about AppleJack(http://applejack.sourceforge.net/) and it shows some things you can do in single user mode. I am sure there are commands for everything the program does, but someone else will have to shed more light for me.

[Millennium]

Theoretically, you can do anything in Safe Mode that you could do normally. The only real difference is that third-party extensions (such as drivers) that you've installed will be temporarily disabled.

[papplegate]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Theoretically, you can do anything in Safe Mode that you could do normally. The only real difference is that third-party extensions (such as drivers) that you've installed will be temporarily disabled.

So any terminal commands will work in safe mode? That is good to know. I have not had to use it yet.

[ManOfSteal]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Theoretically, you can do anything in Safe Mode that you could do normally. The only real difference is that third-party extensions (such as drivers) that you've installed will be temporarily disabled.

As taken from the above linked Apple KBase article:

"Safe Mode can be useful for troubleshooting. However, certain Mac OS X features do not work when you are started up in Safe Mode. For example, you can't use DVD Player, capture video in iMovie, use an AirPort card, use some audio input or output devices, or use an internal or external USB modem."

[CharlesS]

Certain utilities such as hdiutil (mounting disk images) and diskutil (mounting/unmounting/ejecting disks, enabling/disabling journaling, verifying/repairing the disk, erasing/zeroing disks, repairing permissions, basically all the stuff that Disk Utility does) do not work from Single User mode but will hang, giving the extremely unhelpful Carbon Lazy Values error which tells you absolutely *nothing* about what's going on. To get these utilities to work, you need to run these commands first:

/usr/libexec/register_mach_bootstrap_servers /etc/mach_init.d
/sbin/SystemStarter start SecurityServer

edit: never mind! I thought you said "single-user mode", not Safe Mode. My bad...