Unable to drag and drop files or folders

Edit time ran out :-/

To copy a folder in Terminal:
Just type cp (space) and the path to the folder you want to backup, then the path to the destination.

This is the command I used to move a test file from my desktop to another volume's /Users directory.

Intel24:~ macjack$ cp /Users/macjack/Desktop/test.rtf /Volumes/Sandbox/Users

-mj

use cp -R for a directory.



-mj

This is sometimes caused by playing around with the File Sharing in conjunction with the Sharing & Permission settings, along with the Action (Gear symbol) option of "apply to enclosed items?"...

This can be fixed by rechecking these settings, and ensuring that the settings within File Sharing are the same as those within the Info window.

I corrected this on my iMac by checking the settings within the same user account on my MacBook. I went into the first few levels of folders on my hard drive, and in some cases, I did use the "apply to enclosed items?" option once I confirmed that the enclosed folders were similar.

Tom

Thought I'd check back in on this post to see if anyone else is having this problem. My issue was resolved thankfully after a clean install of the system. I then used my backup time machine backup to bring applications and my user folder back. Everything is working still. On another forum, I received an email from someone saying this:

I'm also having this problem. I can't copy anything to the clipboard and can't drag anything related to the OS or application controls. This started happening after I installed the keyboard firmware update a few days ago, but I can't figure out how to fix the problem. Anyone?


This was the exact problem I was having. Unable to copy to clipboard and unable to drag. And to think of it, it did happen relatively a few weeks after the keyboard firmware update. I have the Apple aluminum keyboard.

I haven't had a problem with Leopard on my intel machine. Must be you.

One problem with the Apply to enclosed folders is it copies Access Control Lists (ACLs) to every file in the folder, which is not correct.

You can list ACLs with the -e option of the list command in Terminal

ls -le /path/to/folder

If all of the files have an ACL (they will be on a line below the other list info. Something like:

0: group:everyone deny delete

If the ACLs are copied to every item in the folder, you could end up with all kinds of problem.

That might have been my post on the other forum. I'm still having this problem. To my knowledge, I didn't touch the permissions or other settings, environment variables, etc... It just started happening.

In addition to not being able to drag anything (files, icons, images from web pages, application tabs, etc.), I can't copy anything to the clip board and can't print either! I can print a test page through the HP software, but nothing will add to the print queue when I try to print, just like nothing will appear in the clip board when I try to copy.

Also, just to remove any doubts about mouse drivers, in yahoo mail, which is an AJAX web application, I can drag email to folders no problem. This is because the mouse is working fine and the drag functionality of the web page has nothing to do with the dragging of items or controls in Mac OS, which is broken.

I sure wish I could fix this w/o reinstalling. One of the reasons I love Mac OS X is that I've never been told that I have to reinstall the OS, which I was told at least once a year when I was using Windows... Please, oh please, Apple, figure this problem out and tell us how to fix it w/o reinstalling the OS!!! Thanks.

Just found this topic! I've posted a similar topic under "Using Mac OS X Leopard" earlier today with the exact same problem (unfortunately I cannot copy any links here..). I am disappointed to find that there is not a solution for this problem yet; although the topic is almost 2 months old.

@macjack: I've tried this command, rebooted, but nothing happened.

I think Michael Conniff's solution in this post near the bottom with the solved star may also be the issue here. Give it a try.



-mj

shoja3 wrote:
@macjack: I've tried this command, rebooted, but nothing happened.

If you mean rebuilding LaunchServices, that's because the issue doesn't seem to be in LaunchServices. I have a hunch it is ACLs, see above.



-mj

Message was edited by: macjack

Ditto. Why does he blame the CPU instead of the haxies?

That's actually what I've done right before the problem appeared.

My friend checked with an Apple store and they suggested to perform Archive and Install. I gave up and went for ERASE and install instead, and now it's all fresh and clean. I couldn't stand being locked like that. I haven't lost much either as it's still new, and I'd already copied my files to another hard drive using Terminal.

Thank you all for your help!

Hi macjack,

You're definitely right that ACL's are somehow to blame for this mess. I got my new MacPro set up, and then hooked up my Powerbook G4 in target disk mode, to see if I could back the laptop up using Time Machine on the desktop. This failed, because I did not have adequate permissions to see my files on the laptop. So I made the (horrendously stupid) decision to take ownership of my laptop hard drive and apply the ownership change to all enclosed folders. Next thing I knew, I no longer had access to any of the files on my laptop. Period.

Two weeks later, after numerous reinstalls of Leopard on both the laptop and the tower, I nearly have the systems running again. I have managed to re-establish access to nearly all of my files using fsaclctl, but I've still got two annoying legacy problems. On the laptop, at startup a file called "step_3.gif" automatically opens in Preview, and on the tower (relevant to this thread), I can no longer drag and drop files from anywhere, to anywhere.

Revisiting the threads above,
(0) I can highlight files by clicking on them, but dragging does not move them at all.
(1) I can use the command line in Terminal to mv a file on and off the desktop. Finder is the problem.
(2) Deleting com.apple.finder.plist had no discernible effect.
(3) The permissions on my home directory seem to make sense (I have rw, system has ro, everyone has ro).
(4) Rebuilding LaunchServices didn't solve the problem.
(5) ls -le shows "0: group:everyone deny delete" for everything in my home directory, so the ACLs are still screwed up.
(6) Trying to reset permissions for each folder manually does not have any effect.
(7) Conniff's solution (running Reset Password from the install disk, and then repairing the Permissions and ACLs on my home folder) had no effect.

The only other symptom that I can contribute to the thread is three warnings I get when I start up regarding CHUDsomething-or-others.kext that failed to load because of (you guessed it) inadequate permissions.

Altogether, I'm furious with Apple over this problem: Time Machine seemed like a good idea, but this **** ACL problem has been my least pleasant operating system experience since DOS. I can't remember when I last had to completely format and reinstall my system, much less failed to fix the problems by doing so. At least the reinstall has allowed me to run "Repair Disk Permissions", but that apparently doesn't help with screwed up ACL's on my home folder. Until my OS behaves properly, I won't trust my backups, so I feel like I'm operating without a net and it is driving me nuts.

Chris