Resolved Hiding default Apps using chflags in 10.11?

[cBraunDesign]

Hey guys,

I've never posted here, so bear with me. Last night I updated to 10.11.1 from Yosemite. Everything is fine, but I noticed that there have been some changes related to file permissions, and it's affecting me in a unique way.

In the past I've always used Terminal to hide many of the built in Apple apps, especially those that don't actually need to be visible to function (Dashboard, Launchpad, etc). Using "sudo chflags hidden" and then dragging whatever app into the Terminal window has always worked. Until El Capitan. My purpose with this has always been to trim the visual fat, to hide things that I never plan on clicking in order to speed up my workflow, while maintaining the function and availability of those apps if I need them.

Now, CERTAIN apps will hide, like iBooks, but most of the core apps will not, like Automator or Dashboard. I get the error message "Operation not permitted."

Anyone have any tips on how to "unlock" these apps? Is it even going to be possible anymore?

 

[Weaselboy]

Many of the default apps are protected by a new security process in El Capitan called "system integrity protection" (SIP). You can read about it here. SIP will not allow you to execute that chflags command.

To do anything with those apps you will need to temporarily disable SIP. Just follow this to disable SIP, then enable it when you are done.

 

[cBraunDesign]

Many of the default apps are protected by a new security process in El Capitan called "system integrity protection" (SIP). You can read about it here. SIP will not allow you to execute that chflags command.

To do anything with those apps you will need to temporarily disable SIP. Just follow this to disable SIP, then enable it when you are done.

Brilliant. Temporarily disabling SIP (a new concept to me, so thank you for the Ars link) allowed me to make the changes I wanted. Thankfully, after re-enabling SIP, the changes remained consistent. As someone who spends 99% of my time as less than a "power user," I plan on keeping SIP enabled, but it's nice to know that I can modify things if I want to.

Thanks again!