How to fix 'The application "..." can't be opened' on Mac?

I get this:

dialog box

Some people said use chmod to fix the execution files thing, but I still don't understand how to do it. Can some one tell me step by steps please?

seven tang

Posted 2018-08-03T06:08:17.407

Reputation: 71

Can you provide the path to the application? Where exactly on your filesystem is it? – Fanatique – 2018-08-03T06:43:16.463

I've seen this once in a while. A reboot will clear it in many cases. I haven't dug into the exact cause. – Hogstrom – 2018-08-05T02:11:58.447

@Fanatique it's in application section – seven tang – 2018-08-07T02:09:05.713

Using "The Unarchiver" to unzip the application worked for me (regular Archive Utility bundled with macOS Catalina did not -- see Dmitriy Pavlukhin's answer below!) – Jamon Holmgren – 2019-12-19T20:11:12.917

Answers

This happens because the application doesn't have execution permissions.

To make the application executable:

Open a terminal window (CMD + Space -> terminal);
Using the cd command, navigate to the place where the application is stored: cd <path_to_application>
Run chmod +x <application_file> to make it executable. If it doesn't let you, sudo it:
sudo chmod +x <application>.

The command from point 3 should look similar to this (thanks to @CJK):

chmod +x "/Applications/ShadowBat.app/Contents/MacOS/ShadowBat"

Fanatique

Posted 2018-08-03T06:08:17.407

Reputation: 3 475

1Just to clarify by example for the OP, your command should look something like this: chmod +x "/Applications/ShadowBat.app/Contents/MacOS/ShadowBat", adding sudo at the start if needed. – CJK – 2018-08-04T11:46:54.150

Thank you @CJK. Not an OSX user, so didn't have an idea. Will add that to my post. – Fanatique – 2018-08-05T08:41:24.477

when I type: cd <path_to application>, it load: -bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'. what should I do? – seven tang – 2018-08-06T23:57:48.607

and when I type like: chmod +x "/Applications/ShadowBat.app/Contents/MacOS/ShadowBat" it load: No such file or directory. – seven tang – 2018-08-07T00:14:25.477

Not working anymore with MacOS 10.14 Mojave. – Grigory Nokhrin – 2019-06-14T19:40:31.500

Interesting: when I do the chmod +x ..., the app does fail with a new error under macOS 10.15 Catalina: [app-name] is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Bin. – Gwyneth Llewelyn – 2019-10-24T13:25:13.737

In my case nothing helped until I accidently opened context menu on .zip file. Open With -> there were

1) Archive Utility (default) which always broke my app when unzipped

2) The Unarchiver, unzipped with this and application started

OS 10.14

Dmitriy Pavlukhin

Posted 2018-08-03T06:08:17.407

Reputation: 31

Can you describe your solution more accurately? I have been fighting this problem for 3 days :( On some MAC's, application runs without a problem on others (especially new ones) gets information as in the subject – user1100353 – 2019-10-11T12:30:27.860

@user1100353 just try another archive managing utilities. In my case standart Unarchiver which was installed in system helped. – Dmitriy Pavlukhin – 2019-10-11T15:24:35.003

unzipped with unzip command and it worked. – Harish Lalwani – 2019-11-11T11:13:03.800

This worked, thank you Dmitriy! – Jamon Holmgren – 2019-12-19T20:11:44.770

@Fanatique is right, but be advised -

There are many possible causes for this problem, and most cannot be fixed using chmod. Handling program bundles with inappropriate tools often will "damage" executable bundles.

Making zip or tar archives with inappropriate settings will strip many file attributes;
copying via different file systems - e.g. a FAT32 formatted USB stick - might ruin file names (capitalization, special characters);
finally, copying applications between computers with the correct tools might result in invalid "receipt" files (sometimes commercial apps are cryptographically locked to certain hardware ids that way - the receipt will not be valid on the destination machine).

You shouldn't use chmod unless you have a good understanding of both file modes and ACLs, and more important, of what exactly the problem is, so you can fix it... this innocuous tool is well capable of recursively ruining your whole filesystem (and may even keep your system from booting).

If in doubt, I'd recommend deleting and reinstalling the pertaining app.

jvb

Posted 2018-08-03T06:08:17.407

Reputation: 1 697

I did and it didn't work – seven tang – 2018-08-06T23:50:11.427

I put it in the application section – seven tang – 2018-08-08T08:34:28.697