Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Full Version: Dolphin cannot be opened because of "malware" (macOS notarization issues)
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thescout48

So I've been using dolphin for about 4 months now, but once it was freaking out, so I restarted my computer. Suddenly, I couldn't use Dolphin anymore and I had to delete it. I thought that I could simply re-download and that would work. It did not. When I tried to open it, my computer said that Dolphin can't be opened because Apple couldn't check it for malicious software. It also said that the app needs to be updated (even though I'm using the newest version), and that I should contact the developer for more information. So here I am. Can anyone help me out?
Thanks,
Scout
[attachment=19123] here's what it looks like
That's the new notarization requirements from Apple causing more trouble. Long story short, current macOS versions will refuse to launch apps that aren't notarized, the changes required in order for our buildbot to provide notarized builds are far from trivial and thus nobody did it, as result of that the notarization check fails in all our macOS builds (despite them having a proper signature). That's what this cryptic "app can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software" actually means, that the app is not notarized, not that it actually contain malware.

I do believe there's another way to launch the app without triggering the notarization warning (right-clicking the disk image on Finder and choosing "Open", I think) but I'm not a macOS user so I can't confirm that. I took the liberty to edit the thread title to make it more clear what the problem is, as it might attract other users having the same problem or that know another workaround for this...
Hi, macOS user here! When trying to run a build of Dolphin for the first time, here is what you need to do atm.

1. Right click the Dolphin build and click "Open".
2. Click Open

That's it! At least that should be it. If the prompt goes away and it doesn't open (it's happened to me a lot) the check is already cleared so just double click Dolphin and it will open.

And yea, there's no malware or anything, it's just a scary message because Apple is trying to twist developers arms to support the silly notarization requirement.

thescout48

(08-31-2020, 04:17 PM)MayImilae Wrote: [ -> ]Hi, macOS user here! When trying to run a build of Dolphin for the first time, here is what you need to do atm.

1. Right click the Dolphin build and click "Open".
2. Click Open

That's it! At least that should be it. If the prompt goes away and it doesn't open (it's happened to me a lot) the check is already cleared so just double click Dolphin and it will open.

And yea, there's no malware or anything, it's just a scary message because Apple is trying to twist developers arms to support the silly notarization requirement.
Thanks you guys! Really glad you could help, and I hope your advice works!
-Scout

walterbean556

To allow Dolphin to be run on MacOS Catalina, follow these directions.


1. Copy the following text: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine       (There's one space at the end)


2. Locate Dolphin in Finder


3. Drag Dolphin into Terminal


4. Press enter


This should correct the issue.
Funny thing is that as log as I run Dolphin in the Application folder, I have never triggered that message with any version of macOS 10.15.x or 11.x