Finder>Ownership & Permission Problem

HI Golden,

I think you are going to have to do an Archive and Install on this one.
Reinstalling Mac OS X
Under some circumstances, you may need to reinstall Mac OS X. *You can reinstall Mac OS X while keeping your files and user settings intact.*

Insert the Mac OS X Install Disc and double-click the Install Mac OS X icon.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In the panel where you select the destination disk, select your current Mac OS X disk (in most cases, it will be the only one available).
Click Options. If you want to save your existing files, users, and network settings, select "Archive and Install," then select "Preserve Users and Network Settings." If you want to erase everything on your computer and reinstall Mac OS X, select "Erase and Install." You can't recover erased data.
Click Continue.
Click Customize to select which parts of Mac OS X you'd like to install, or click Install to perform a basic installation (recommended).
If you purchased a standalone version of Mac OS X, these installation instructions are in a booklet included with Mac OS X.

If you need to reinstall the version of Mac OS X that was on your computer when you purchased it, or if you need to restore all the software on your computer, including Apple, bundled third-party applications, and printer drivers, instructions are in the manual that came with your computer.

For more information, visit the Mac OS X Install and Upgrade Support website at www.apple.com/support/tiger/install/.

Carolyn 🙂

I'm not sure what you did, but It sounds as if you may have changed the permissions on your desktop folder.

Try to create a new admin account via System Preferences>Accounts, and log into it. Does the Finder function from the second account?

Although re-installing may be easy in some respects, you should be able to fix this without reinstalling.

You do need to know what you changed. What file or folder did you change the permissions on?

What happens when you try to change the permissions and back to what they were? While I do not know what the permissions would have been before, the read and write is the most common permissions for user files.

GetInfo allows you to change the permissions on a file. Click on the file you wish to change. Press command-i. Make sure the ownership and permissions triangle point down. Click on in the details triangle. You can now change the permissions. The system may asking for a password.

BatChmod
"BatChmod is a Cocoa utility for manipulating file and folder privileges in Mac OS X. It allows the manipulation of ownership as well as the privileges associated to the Owner, Group or others."
http://www.macchampion.com/arbysoft/Welcome.html

Robert