burntheflame

Q: Another admin above me?

I am the administrator profile on my Air, but I lack permission to write to the disk (specifically installing Adobe Reader). The computer shows 'valuedcustomer' as my username on the disk, but my username is not that. Is there another admin above me that I don't know about?

 

I have done all the troubleshooting concerning Adobe, and exhausted all those avenues, including repairing permissions. This has to be something to do with my user profile. I've noticed 'valuedcustomer' as the name of the disk before, but never been too concerned about it until I found out that that profile (which I don't see and to which I don't have access) is the only profile with all the proper permissions.

 

128GB MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013)

1.3 GHz Intel Core i5

4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), null

Posted on Oct 17, 2015 10:08 AM

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Q: Another admin above me?

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  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Oct 17, 2015 11:00 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 9 (71,487 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 17, 2015 11:00 AM in response to burntheflame

    Do a Get Info on the disk and check for an Ignore Ownership option. If there is none, unlock the lock, click the + sign, and add yourself.

  • by burntheflame,

    burntheflame burntheflame Oct 19, 2015 3:47 PM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2015 3:47 PM in response to Eric Root

    There isn't an 'Ignore Ownership' option, and the +/- buttons are grayed out, even after unlocking.

  • by burntheflame,

    burntheflame burntheflame Oct 30, 2015 6:32 PM in response to burntheflame
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 6:32 PM in response to burntheflame

    Someone please help! I still have no answer and no way to use Flash on Safari!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Oct 31, 2015 11:40 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 9 (71,487 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 31, 2015 11:40 AM in response to burntheflame

    User File Ownership - Reset   see post by Linc Davis

     

    You may need to rebuild permissions on your user account. To do this,boot to your Recovery partition (holding down the Command and R keys while booting) and open Terminal from the Utilities menu. In Terminal, type:  ‘resetpassword’ (without the ’s), hit return, and select the admin user. You are not going to reset your password. Click on the icon for your Macs hard drive at the top. From the drop down below it select the user account which is having issues. At the bottom of the window, you'll see an area labeled Restore Home Directory Permissions and ACLs. Click the reset button there. The process takes a few minutes. When complete, restart.   

     

    Repair User Permissions

  • by gusgrave,

    gusgrave gusgrave Oct 31, 2015 1:13 PM in response to burntheflame
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Oct 31, 2015 1:13 PM in response to burntheflame

    Run this in terminal

     

         whoami

     

    This will give you your username, just to make sure.

     

    Then run:

     

         sudo dscl . -list /Users | grep -v '^_'

     

    This will list all registered users on you computer, see if 'valuedcustomer' is indeed a registerd user on your computer. If you have not set this account up, you might consider removing this user.

  • by burntheflame,

    burntheflame burntheflame Nov 4, 2015 8:45 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2015 8:45 AM in response to burntheflame

    So, I've tried both of these to no avail. I am 'valuedcustomer,' but when looking at resetpassword in Terminal, there was also a "System Administrator (root)." However, since I'm valuedcustomer, and in Get Info for Adobe, it shows me able to read and write, I am now utterly confused as to what would be stopping me. But alas, I am still getting the same error.

  • by rccharles,

    rccharles rccharles Nov 4, 2015 11:00 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 6 (8,486 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Nov 4, 2015 11:00 AM in response to burntheflame

    Notice the lock icon.  It needs to be open as  below. It's the brass blob lower right . Click on lock icon.

     

    this is from get info command + i  on your external hd.

     

    Screen Shot 2015-11-04 at 1.58.05 PM.png

  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Nov 4, 2015 11:32 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 7 (23,578 points)
    Notebooks
    Nov 4, 2015 11:32 AM in response to burntheflame

    burntheflame wrote:

     

    The computer shows 'valuedcustomer' as my username on the disk, but my username is not that.

     

    I am 'valuedcustomer,' but when looking at resetpassword in Terminal,..

     

    Is this not conflicting information?

  • by gusgrave,Helpful

    gusgrave gusgrave Nov 5, 2015 1:13 PM in response to burntheflame
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 1:13 PM in response to burntheflame

    So friend

     

    Fire up that terminal and run these commands, then post the output back here:

     

       whoami

       pwd ~

       sudo dscl . list /Users | grep -v '^_'

     

    then do

     

       ls -la /Users

       ls -la /private/var/

     

    Remember, include the output.

     

    Finally, fire up System Preferences -> Users & Groups, unlock the padlock in the bottom left corner. What users are listed here? If there are users that pops up when running the 3rd command, that mean you have hidden user accounts on you computer. To find the home folder for each user that is listed, right click the user and select advanced option, here you will be able to find the path to your own and any other users home directory.

     

    Now, after you've checked these things and posted the output we might be able to find a solution to this issue. The case might be that someone created their own admin account on you mac to work on it (if it had been in the "shop"). If that user did not log out of their account you might need to kill that account before login in again and be able to perform system wide changes. But let's nog get ahead of ourselves. I'll check back in a few hours to see if you made any progress.

  • by MegaTechSam,

    MegaTechSam MegaTechSam Nov 5, 2015 5:04 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 5:04 AM in response to burntheflame

    This might be sudden, but restart your Mac., the hold the command and r key until you get to recovery screen. Select Reinstall OS X. It will automatically fix all permisions.

  • by burntheflame,

    burntheflame burntheflame Nov 5, 2015 1:06 PM in response to rccharles
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 1:06 PM in response to rccharles

    Even when it's unlocked, they are still grayed out.

  • by burntheflame,

    burntheflame burntheflame Nov 5, 2015 1:11 PM in response to gusgrave
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2015 1:11 PM in response to gusgrave

    Screen Shot 2015-11-05 at 2.08.57 PM.png

    I don't recognize 'daemon' and my computer was in a repair place once, so I'm thinking that it's probably the hidden account you're talking about. That's probably why my account is named 'valuedcustomer,' too, because I'd never name my account something like that (obviously).

  • by leroydouglas,Helpful

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Nov 6, 2015 7:10 AM in response to burntheflame
    Level 7 (23,578 points)
    Notebooks
    Nov 6, 2015 7:10 AM in response to burntheflame

    daemon

    Guest

    nobody

    root

    are all normally found in the list.

     

    This I have not seen, and like you suspect is from the repair service:

    pic 1.png

     

    I would certainly have current backup plan in place, with redundancy if you proceed

    (updated Oct 12, 2015)

    Change the account name and home directory name on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    You could always take it back to "your repair place" and let them straighten it out for you.

  • by burntheflame,

    burntheflame burntheflame Nov 6, 2015 7:10 AM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 6, 2015 7:10 AM in response to leroydouglas

    When I looked into this, on my User under 'Advanced Options,' I am listed as being in the 'staff' group, although I am an Admin account. When under 'Get Info' for the folder, the 'staff' group is allowed to Read Only, not write. This seems to be the root of my problem. Can I just change the name of the group I'm in? The only member allowed to read and write is 'valuedcustomer,' so does that need to be my group name too?

    Also, is this going to break something by changing the group? Thanks so much for the help!

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