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Troubleshooting
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A menu bar manager hides it. Bartender, Ice, Hidden Bar, SmartHiddenBar and similar apps hide new items by default. Show hidden items and ⌘-drag the VaultBar icon to the visible part of the bar. Run VaultBar from
/Applicationsso macOS and menu bar managers see one stable app (an ad hoc build in another folder counts as a different app). - The notch. On MacBooks with a notch, items that don't fit are hidden behind it. Quit a few menu bar apps or use a menu bar manager.
- macOS menu bar settings. On recent macOS versions check System Settings → Menu Bar and make sure VaultBar is allowed.
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It isn't running.
pgrep -fl VaultBar. Open it again from/Applications.
Quit VaultBar if it is running (menu → Quit VaultBar) and open it once from /Applications. That installs its login item for the app at that path; it then hands over to the copy macOS supervises.
Background: versions 0.1.1–0.2.0 registered the login item with SMAppService, which pins the exact app binary. After an upgrade macOS couldn't start the new one (launchctl print gui/$(id -u)/com.padina.vaultbar.agent shows last exit code = 78: EX_CONFIG and needs LWCR update). From 0.2.1 the login item is a LaunchAgent that runs the app by path (~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.padina.vaultbar.login.plist), so upgrades just work; 0.2.1 removes the old registration the first time it runs.
Check the login item:
launchctl print gui/$(id -u)/com.padina.vaultbar.login | grep -E "state|pid"
log show --predicate 'subsystem == "com.padina.vaultbar"' --info --last 10mAnother app may own the same shortcut; VaultBar records "Panic hotkey … is taken by another app" in History…. Pick another preset in Settings → Panic lock.
Allow them in System Settings → Notifications → VaultBar. VaultBar works the same without them.
A vault's private mount folder must be empty (or missing; VaultBar creates it). Something was saved into it while the vault was locked, or another vault used the same folder. Move those files away, or choose another folder in Settings.
VaultBar isn't notarized, so macOS quarantines the download. Clear the flag once:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/VaultBar.appor click Open Anyway in System Settings → Privacy & Security. See Installation.
VaultBar shows "Wrong password. Try again." and reopens the popup. Check Caps Lock and the keyboard layout. There is no recovery: see FAQ.
Something still has a file open in the vault (an app, a Terminal in that folder, a Finder window preview, a background job). Close it and lock again. Force Lock detaches anyway and can lose unsaved changes.
If a volume with the same name is already mounted, macOS names the next one <Volume> 1. VaultBar matches vaults by their image file, so it still shows the right state. To clean up, lock the vault, make sure nothing else uses the name, and unlock again.
Sync tools upload or two-way-merge the image's bands while it is mounted, which can corrupt it. Move it out of iCloud Drive, Desktop & Documents, cloud storage folders, Syncthing or Synology Drive folders. See FAQ.
The error text from hdiutil is shown. Common causes: the image is already mounted elsewhere, the file moved (edit the path by removing and re-adding the vault), or the disk holding it isn't connected.
~/.config/vaultbar/vaults.json is unreadable or invalid. Fix or delete the file, then reopen VaultBar.
- VaultBar must be running (check Launch at login).
- Pause auto-lock is on (warning badge on the icon).
- Idle only counts keyboard and mouse, and
idleMinutes: 0turns it off. - A busy vault waits 30 s (screen lock) or 60 s (idle) and is forced only if you're still away.
Open an issue with your macOS version and the VaultBar version. Never include your password.
