Hi mmmtaart!

Sorry to hear you're running into issues.
Yes, 2.2.7 is the currently most recent beta. 👍 

So for some reason macOS is not installing the helper tool all that good.
I'd start by removing ApplePi-Baker and the Helper tool, do a reboot, and try to install APB again.
Even though "reboot your computer" sounds like the lamest suggestion, it does help even on a Mac. Then again: you may have already done this.

I'm not sure what kind of Mac you have (since I have no means to test the newer M1 models), and if your account is the Admin account (required to install the Helper Tool - but by the sound of it, your account is and admin account).

Alas, that did not work!

I did:

• Removed the .app and emptied the trash
• Removed the /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.twe* file
• Removed the /Library/LaunchDaemons plist file (the unload command failed)
• Rebooted

From there, I re-installed from the DMG file, ran the App and was prompted (twice) to provide my Admin password on my 2019 MacPro.

Both the LaunchDaemons plist and the Helper are installed, however, the issue MAY be that launchctl can't invoke the plist from LaunchDaemons, as if I manually run the Helper as root (ugh), and run Apple Pi-Baker, the app starts fine.

So the process that is checking not just for the installation of the Helper, but, invoking it to run, presumably as root (to access raw devices, I'm assuming), seems to be what is broken here.

I also created the log files and chmodded them 666 to try to catch any stderr/stdout, but, nothing is actually logged (/var/log/t4 etc).

Logging is not implemented all that well.
You can see log messages in console though, but most of these messages are generated by macOS and are not all that meaningful or useful.
I usually filter by "APPLEPIBAKER" or "com.tweaking4all" to get relevant messages.

For example:

495 13:43:12.218049+0200 Dock LAUNCH: Successful launched 0x0-0xb2bb2b pid=10051 com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBaker  '<private>'

Maybe there is a message indicating some more details.

I'm posting this now, just before rebooting (I'm doing the steps you've described, in hopes that I can reproduce).

Steps I did to try to reproduce:

1. Removed all files (application, plists, helper tool)
2. Reboot to make sure the helper tool was unloaded (I have seen the "unload" option fail before, so that's why I always reboot)
3. Download the latest beta, and installed the app
4. Run -> enter admin password to allow installing the helper tool

No errors, worked as expected/hoped.

Did an additional check to see if I found anything funky/missing in Security - Privacy and found only these listed:

Full Disk Access lists (checked):
- com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper
- ApplePi-Baker

Files and Folders lists (checked):
- com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper
- ApplePi-Baker

From what I can see in your findings; in your case indeed the Helper tool doesn't kick in - even though it should.
Running is manually as root is obviously not a solution haha. Good find though!

Can you see any messages related to com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper in Console?

Hi, I stumbled upon this rather old thread because I have had the same kind of issue when I fiddled around with some "Make my Mac better, faster and stuff, ya better know what you're doing" software (sth like MacCleaner or CleanMyMac or....)
.. I probably didn't know who Hans Luitjen was and I deleted the helper tool... because - What's it doing anyways. Well.. I was up for some annoying searches.

I also firstly couldn't open the app Applepibaker without the "corrupted helper tools or sth) alert, then I redownloaded it (At the time of writing 2.2.3), tried the Beta (2.3.0), but the two helper install alerts and a final "Unable to Install, Update or Activate HelperTool." didn't let me use the app.. Then, some search lead me to the apple discussions forum and I - hesitantly but bravely - adapted the command to Applepibaker helper:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper.plist

Here I am, copyinig my first SD card since my stupid attempt with that Mac Cleaner app.

I sincerely hope that with this I can help some users looking for answers, and maybe mr Luitjen says: oooooh that's what was missing, I seeeeeeee...

I subscribed to the forum just to tell you guys this.. I REALLY hope it helps!

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

Thank you for the excellent feedback and for chiming in!
Apologies for the late reply (I was out of town for the weekend - was in Germany and I had a few hamburger and pilseners 😉 ).

The launchctl statement you're using looks correct.
Normally your Mac should automatically handle this automatically for you when you install ApplePi-Baker.
The plist of the app refers to an embedded plist in the helper tool.
With ApplePi-Baker this works as it should for most Macs.
I've tested it on several Macs and still have no clue why it fails on a handful of Macs (more than a handful).

More info on launchstl:

See if the helper tool is loaded by your Mac:

sudo launchctl list | grep weaking

Unload the helper tool:

sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper.plist

Load the helper tool in case it wasn't loaded (as mentioned by hamburgeressen:

sudo launchctl bootstrap load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper.plist

In case that causes and error, launchctl suggest you'd use the bootstrap option to get more error details.
But honestly: in my case the load failed as it was already loaded, yet neither load option gave me that detail:

sudo launchctl bootstrap load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.tweaking4all.ApplePiBakerHelper.plist

Again: Thank you for chiming in hamburgeressen - it is much appreciated! 👍 🍔 🍺