"Access denied because you do not have sufficient access privileges."

Have you tried to Repair Permissions using Disk Utility?

1. Open Disk Utility in your Applications/Utility folder.
2. Click on the icon for your boot volume.
3. Click on the First Aid tab and select Repair Permissions
4. Click the repair permissions button.

This is the first thing to try whenever any program goes wonky. It's free, but takes awhile for all the files that have to be checked and changed.

are these files in your home directory somewhere?

run the following command in the terminal and post back the results.

*ls -aldeO path/to/file*

where path/to/file is the path to one of the problem files. to get the path just drag the file to a terminal window. the command doesn't make any changes to the system - it simply lists the current permissions on the file.

You misunderstood V.K.'s instruction.

Copy in:
ls -aldeO

DON'T press enter yet. Type a space after the O and drag the file in there. Then press enter.

Good luck!

these files are owned by the system for some reason while they should be owned by you.
Run the following command in terminal

*sudo chown -R `id -un`:`id -gn` /Working\ files*

after you press enter you'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see). That's normal.

That file also has some strange ACLs but they seem to be harmless and can be left alone.

*sudo chown -R `id -un`:`id -gn` /Working\ files*

@ V.K.: the path is actually: /\ Working files/
The command should be:
sudo chown -R `id -un`:`id -gn` /\ Working Files/


Good luck!

oops, you are right. there is a space in front of the name.
Thanks.

I know there are a lot of terminal commands that can be manually inserted and they are very powerful (but confusing and potentially disruptive).

I recommend Apple's Knowledge Base Article for a supported method. It resets the home directory permissions and seems to be able to repair your symptoms.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1334

This method worked for me with similar issues, and only takes about 10 minutes start to finish.

Couldn't hurt.

the directory in question is not in the home folder so that KB article will do absolutely nothing to it. besides, even for the home directory that article is incomplete. The ACL reset ustility on the install DVD screws up group ownership on the things it touches and an extra terminal command is required to fix that afterwards.

There is actually a bug in that process with the install disk, that causes the group owner to be set as wheel. This process is easier, and works better.

1. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal from the affected account.
IMPORTANT NOTE: copy the blue text in. Don't attempt to retype it, as a mistake could cause more issues.
2. Copy the blue text in, and press enter. chmod -R -N ~

That command removes all ACL entries from your home folder. The next commands put them back where they should be.
3. (Press enter after copying and pasting this command in). chmod +a "everyone deny delete" ~/ ~/Desktop ~/Documents ~/Downloads ~/Library ~/Movies ~/Music ~/Pictures ~/Public ~/Sites

4. (Press enter after copying and pasting this command in). chmod +a "`id -un` allow list,addfile,search,delete,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr, writeextattr,readsecurity,writesecurity,chown,file_inherit,directoryinherit" ~/Public/Drop\ Box


After running those commands, your home folder permissions should be fine.

In future, do NOT use the "Apply to enclosed items" option in the get info window.

Good luck!

I just checked my user folder and see that Group Wheel had "Read only" permissions (I used the Apple fix a few days ago for problems with Quicken backups failing, moving files required password, etc).

When I tried the commands in your post:

Last login: Fri May 23 23:05:19 on console
MacBookPro:~ dechamp$ chmod -R -N ~
chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file Commands: Invalid argument
chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file Notification: Invalid argument

I continued with the next commands anyway, just to see what would happen (I'm on a bootable backup) 🙂

but I didn't get any feedback from terminal for instructions 3 and 4:

MacBookPro:~ dechamp$ chmod +a "everyone deny delete" ~/ ~/Desktop ~/Documents ~/Downloads ~/Library ~/Movies ~/Music ~/Pictures ~/Public ~/Sites
MacBookPro:~ dechamp$ chmod +a "`id -un` allow list,add file,search,delete,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr, writeextattr,readsecurity,writesecurity,chown,file_inherit,directoryinherit" ~/Public/Drop\ Box
MacBookPro:~ dechamp$

sudo chmod -R -N ~ has the same results.

Are the "Invalid Argument" statements to be ignored like the errors that come up about ACL's when fixing permissions are?

I've seen this particular error message a few times while helping people with bad ACLs. Commands and Notification are two weird Adobe files which somehow resist ACL changing commands. I believe they can be ignored.

Also, to change the group ownership to what it's ought to be after using the ACL reset utility run this command

*chgrp -R `id -gn` ~*

It might complain again on some adobe files. Ignore that.

Message was edited by: V.K.