Troubleshooting scanning as administrator

On some Macs, when you select the Scan as Administrator command you may get the “Failed to scan as Administrator” error message. Below are the possible causes and fixes for the problem.

Enable the helper service in the system

After you request DaisyDisk to scan as administrator and grant the permission, DaisyDisk installs a helper service in your system to do the task. In certain cases, however, the service may get accidentally disabled in your system settings.

In order to unblock it, launch the Terminal app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and type the following command:

launchctl print-disabled system

and hit Return. This will list all disabled services. The output will look something like this:

disabled services = {
	"com.apple.AppleFileServer" => false
	"com.apple.CSCSupportd" => true
	"com.apple.ftpd" => true
	"com.apple.mdmclient.daemon.runatboot" => true
	"com.apple.smbd" => true
	"com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper" => true
}

Note that the value for "com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper" is set to true, i.e. the service is disabled. In order to enable the service, type the following command:

sudo launchctl enable system/com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper

and hit Return. The Terminal will ask your administrator password for your Mac. Enter it and hit Return. Note: as you type the password, it will not be displayed on the screen and the input cursor will not move — this is normal.

After that, list the disabled services again to make sure DaisyDisk’s helper service is now enabled:

launchctl print-disabled system

and hit Return. You should see an output similar to this:

disabled services = {
	"com.apple.AppleFileServer" => false
	"com.apple.CSCSupportd" => true
	"com.apple.ftpd" => true
	"com.apple.mdmclient.daemon.runatboot" => true
	"com.apple.smbd" => true
	"com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper" => false
}

Note that the value for "com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper" has changed to false.

Now relaunch DaisyDisk and select the Scan as Administrator command again.

Reinstall the helper service

To make sure DaisyDisk’s helper service is properly installed and is up to date, it’s also advisable to reinstall it from scratch.

Quit DaisyDisk if it’s running and delete the following files (use Finder’s Go > Go to Folder… menu command to navigate to each of the files):

• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper
• /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.daisydiskapp.DaisyDiskStandAlone.AdminHelper

Before proceeding, make sure you have the latest version of DaisyDisk installed on your Mac. Select the DaisyDisk > Check for Updates… menu command or re-download the app and place it in your ~/Applications folder.

Now relaunch DaisyDisk and select the Scan as Administrator command again. After asking your administrator password, DaisyDisk will reinstall the helper service and proceed to scanning.