ResoSteve

Q: HD Privilege change now Mac Mail won't open

Couple of issues, self-inflicted:

 

I changed the HD Read-only Privilege for Everyone to No Access and then hit "apply to enclosed items". I bailed after a few minutes, changing my mind with a restart. On re-boot, I am now getting the pop-up "Library needs to be rebuilt to open applications". I keep having to enter my PW for this.


Also, Mac Mail now will not open. This is a big problem and I don't know where to start.


I did repair permissions. Is there an easy way to revert back to previous default permissions and privilege defaults to get things working like they were before?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Feb 2, 2016 9:21 AM

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Q: HD Privilege change now Mac Mail won't open

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  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Feb 2, 2016 10:21 AM in response to ResoSteve
    Level 9 (72,216 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 2, 2016 10:21 AM in response to ResoSteve

    Can you do another Get Info and change Everyone back to read only?

     

    Try that first and see if it fixes Mail. If not, below are some more troubleshooting ideas.

     

    Try a restart.

     

    Do a backup, using either Time Machine or a cloning program, to ensure files/data can be recovered. Two backups are better than one.

     

    Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.

     

    Isolating an issue by using another user account

     

    If the problem is still there, try booting into the Safe Mode using your normal account.  Disconnect all peripherals except those needed for the test. Shut down the computer and then power it back up after waiting 10 seconds. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This will reset some caches, forces a directory check, and disables all startup and login items, among other things. When you reboot normally, the initial reboot may be slower than normal. If the system operates normally, there may be 3rd party applications which are causing a problem. Try deleting/disabling the third party applications after a restart by using the application un-installer. For each disable/delete, you will need to restart if you don't do them all at once.

     

    Safe Mode - About

     

    Safe Mode - Yosemite

  • by dwb,Solvedanswer

    dwb dwb Feb 2, 2016 10:25 AM in response to ResoSteve
    Level 7 (24,221 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 2, 2016 10:25 AM in response to ResoSteve

    I hope you have a recent backup because I think the answer is “erase and restore from backup”. Obviously not every file and directory is supposed to be “no access” - in most cases everyone should be read only. But I’m not sure that every file should be read only for everyone. You can try - I don’t think you can do more damage than has already been done. If you don’t have a backup you’ll want to save your data before you experiment any further.

  • by ResoSteve,

    ResoSteve ResoSteve Feb 2, 2016 10:45 AM in response to Eric Root
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 2, 2016 10:45 AM in response to Eric Root

    Eric, everyone is already set back to Read Only. No change.

    dwb, I do have a recent HD Time Machine back up. Will a full restore return the system prefs and privileges back to normal in addition to just all of the software and OS?

  • by dwb,

    dwb dwb Feb 4, 2016 4:02 AM in response to ResoSteve
    Level 7 (24,221 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 4, 2016 4:02 AM in response to ResoSteve

    Make sure the backup is from before your disaster. Assuming the backup is a full backup using TimeMachine or other backup software you can restore everything from it. If your computer has a recovery partition boot into it. If it doesn’t get out your system DVD and boot with it. Use Disk Utilty to erase the drive then use the restore function to restore the computer.

  • by ResoSteve,

    ResoSteve ResoSteve Feb 4, 2016 8:04 AM in response to dwb
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 8:04 AM in response to dwb

    A full HD restore from Time Capsule (copy from the day earlier) fixed the issue. A drastic solution, but 3 hours later, everything was working normally. Another testimony to the importance of back ups. Thanks for the suggestions and help!