Help - Cannot launch programs, open files, or folders. No r/w Permissions.

Question

Help - Cannot launch programs, open files, or folders. No r/w Permissions.

I made a mistake with ownership & permissions on our Mac Mini and I don't know how to fix it.

I am getting messages such as:
When trying to launch iPhoto:
"The iPhoto Library folder is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have permission to make changes to it."
"Couldn't open the Address Book database. You don't have read or write permissions on the Address Book database file."

I can launch TextEdit, Safari, Calculator, other basic programs. I can launch Mail, but new emails have not downloaded. I think this may be related to the issue.

What happened was I tried to connect via Firewire the Mac Mini to my MacBook Pro so I could move files over from the Mini to the Pro. I thought I would change the permissions - select folder, get info, change "ownership & permissions" - to access most of the data between the two computers without having to move things about via a dropbox, public folder, etc.

What I can remember is, on the Mini, I selected the "Users" folder, got info. and changed it to I believe read & write for everyone, and I clicked "apply to enclosed items...", but I can't remember for sure. Very cavalier, I know, I rushed and didn't think it through. I know generally permissions are not to be messed with, I was overconfident.

What the User folder reads right now is:
You can "read & write" - this is grayed out
Details:
Owner: system - there is an unlocked padlock next to this
Access: "read & write" - this is grayed out
Group: admin
Access: "read & write" - this is grayed out
Others: Read only

I have already gone to Disk Utility and "repaired permissions" (twice actually). The problem remains. (Before I ran repair permissions, however, I could not open any documents/files, but now I can open say a TextEdit file.)

What should I do now? Is there a way to reset everything back to default? Other options?

Thanks in advance for the help.

MacBook Pro 15" 2.8 Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.2), iPod Touch 2nd gen. 64GB (late 2009)

Posted on May 20, 2010 3:35 PM

Reply

Answer 1

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

May 20, 2010 3:56 PM in response to Tara Hollander

BatChmod provides a little more power.

"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

File system permissions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystempermissions

What happened was I tried to connect via Firewire the Mac Mini to my MacBook Pro >so I could move files over from the Mini to the Pro. I thought I would change the >permissions - select folder, get info, change "ownership & permissions" - to >access most of the data between the two computers without having to move things >about via a dropbox, public folder, etc.

No need to worry or change permissions. There is a check box on the lower left on the get info box for external devices that say "ignore ownership and permissions". Should be check by default or it stays checked once you check it.

Robert

Reply

Answer 2

May 20, 2010 4:21 PM in response to Tara Hollander

I forgot to mention that I made the changes to the Mini permissions, WHILE the MacBook Pro was connected via Firewire. Is it possible that problems occurred while they were connected? Should I reconnect the computers and follow some procedure while they are connected?

I need to reiterate, that to start, and as the primary goal, I would like to get the Mini back to the way it was, "normal" or "default" and then decide how to proceed.

How can I accomplish this as painlessly as possible?

Reply

Answer 3

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

May 20, 2010 6:17 PM in response to Tara Hollander

You need to understand ownership & permissions to fix the problem. See:
Information on File system permissions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystempermissions

I advise changing the owners & permissions from the computer with the problem. While you see user name and group name, the system works with numbers. These numbers do not have to be the same from system to system. The same user name can have different numbers on different systems.

What I can remember is, on the Mini, I selected the "Users" folder, got info. and changed it to I believe read & write for everyone, and I clicked "apply to enclosed items...", but I can't remember for sure. Very cavalier, I know, I rushed and didn't think it through. I know generally permissions are not to be messed with, I was overconfident.

There are multiple home folders in /Users. You need to correct each user separately.

What the User folder reads right now is:

You can "read & write" - this is grayed out

This is correct. The problem is with the users.

You need to go down on each user id & change the ownership. For my id, the short name is mac, so go to /User/mac

I find it easier to list permissions in the terminal.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal

For more detailed advice, run these commands in terminal for your ids.

mac $ ls -ld /Users drwxrwxr-t 24 root admin 816 Apr 29 15:25 /Users/ mac $ ls -ld /Users/mac drwxr-xr-x 74 mac staff 2516 Dec 31 1969 /Users/mac/ mac $

mac $ cd /Users/mac /Users/mac mac $ ls -l total 480336 drwx---r-x 34 mac staff 1156 May 20 18:54 Desktop/ drwx------ 133 mac staff 4522 May 15 22:19 Documents/ drwxr-xr-x 63 mac staff 2142 Apr 15 14:21 Library/ -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 308303 Sep 24 2009 MacScripter .pdf

mac $ cd Desktop/ mac $ pwd /Users/mac/Desktop
mac $ ls -l total 49664 -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 0 Nov 20 14:05 Z2300 -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 475704 Dec 31 1969 CopyPath.dmg -rw-r--r-- 1 mac admin 0 May 19 22:37 Downloads -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 2548 Apr 30 00:30 Lexmark -- no print -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 7297 Apr 16 14:28 Lexmark spyware.pdf -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 1138 May 13 16:11 Open Firefox.YKShortcut drwxr-xr-x 4 mac staff 136 Nov 13 2007 Refresh Finder.app/
What does all this mean? drwxrwxrwx d = directory r = read w = write x = executeable program drwxrwxrwx | | | | | all other users not in first two types | | | group | owner

# l is long
# a is all to show hidden files & folders
mac $ ls -lFa total 134736 drwxr-xr-x 41 mac staff 1496 Dec 22 17:11 . drwxrwxrwt 8 root admin 272 Dec 24 13:55 .. -rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 15364 Dec 23 12:52 .DS_Store* drwx------ 4 mac staff 136 Jan 22 2009 .Spotlight-V100 drwxrwxrwt 5 mac staff 170 Sep 14 16:36 .TemporaryItems d-wx-wx-wx 4 mac staff 136 Dec 31 1969 .Trashes -rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png drwxr-xr-x 83 mac staff 2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files drwxrwxrwx 12 mac staff 408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards drwxr-xr-x 9 mac staff 306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009
... trimmed ...

---------------------

Yes many characters get mangled.

Try


...
... your code here ...
...

Even with the code tag, a few characters get changed. So I wrote a translation applescript program. See:
Format a link and an Applescipt for posting ( anything for that matter ) .
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2223315&tstart=0

Reply

Answer 4

May 20, 2010 6:43 PM in response to rccharles

Thank you. I have briefly read the wiki article you posted, thanks.

Please understand, however, I am somewhat tech-savvy, and am fascinated by it, but leave such detailed knowledge to the experts. I have mostly Pogue's Missing Manuals to thank, have picked up a lot else here and there over the years, and have an interest for learning in these areas.

Although when guided with baby steps, I have worked briefly in Terminal before, I am, unfortunately, in no way ready to launch into Terminal on this issue with the advanced instructions you have presented. I am grateful for the detailed info, but where you lost me is right after you wrote,

"The problem is with the users.
You need to go down on each user id & change the ownership. For my id, the short name is mac, so go to /User/mac
I find it easier to list permissions in the terminal.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
For more detailed advice, run these commands in terminal for your ids."

I understand the need to change ownership on each user's id, that makes sense. But how can I do this without going in to Terminal? Could I select each user id within the Users folder, get info and change what needs to be revised there?

Is there another option? Other ideas?

Reply

Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 20, 2010 7:05 PM in response to Tara Hollander

BatChmod provides a little more power.

Makes it simple, just drop each User's folder on it one at a time.

Reply

Answer 6

May 21, 2010 2:13 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the support. I didn't follow through on BatChmod, because when I had clicked on the link the page would not load - "404 Not found error" - so I had stopped there. I have looked up Macchampion now and tried to download BatChmod v. 1.37 on the Mini since it is running Mac OS 10.4.11, but when it tried to download, the following message came up:

"Safari could not download the file "batchmod_137.dmg" because there is not enough free disk space. Try deleting documents or downloading to another disk."

This is a little concerning. The file size is only 2.8MB. And System Profiler confirms that this HD has a capacity of 74.21BG and availability of 24.17GB.

Any ideas what I should do now? It feels as though this Mini is very crippled at the moment.

Reply

Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 21, 2010 9:51 AM in response to Tara Hollander

Are you using Filevault perchance?

Reply

Answer 8

May 21, 2010 10:56 AM in response to BDAqua

No.

Its a pretty normal set up of just one primary user/owner as admin acct. with two other user accounts which are never/rarely used. (A test account, for example.) The other accounts are running as described in the post, I have just tested them.

Reply

Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 21, 2010 11:24 AM in response to Tara Hollander

Can you maybe get BatChMod on another computer on a USB pen drive say, and launch it from there once moved?

What the User folder reads right now is:
You can "read & write" - this is grayed out
Details:
Owner: system - there is an unlocked padlock next to this
Access: "read & write" - this is grayed out
Group: admin
Access: "read & write" - this is grayed out
Others: Read only

Those are correct, but can you check the the Owner of your user folder, the one with the House icon? See if you have R&W there, and the Group.

Reply

Answer 10

May 21, 2010 11:45 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks, got it on a USB drive and it launched while connected to the Mini.

In BatChmod, do I click the boxes that say, "Apply ownership and privileges" or the "unlock" box?

I have not yet used BatChmod - I dragged one user's folder on it to see what it would show, but now I will wait to click the "Apply" button until after I hear whether to select "apply ownership & privileges."

Thanks.

FYI, the User Folder of the main account, the one with the house icon, reads:
Ownership & Permissions:
You can "read & write" - this is NOT grayed out
Details:
Owner: Lorin - this is grayed out, with a padlock next to it (Lorin is the user's name)
Access: "read & write"
Group: everyone - this is grayed out
Access: "read & write"
Others: Read only

Reply

Answer 11

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 21, 2010 12:16 PM in response to Tara Hollander

Group: everyone - this is grayed out

Unlock it & change Group to either admin or Lorin, depending who you want to be able to read/write to it.

I don't think you need to click the Unlock unless it is locked, but once the Owner, Group & everyone is set how it should be, click the Apply to enclosed folders & files, then Apply.

Oh, almost forgot, in Your Browser check what folder you have chosen for Downloads location, the check the rights on that folder, or change it to one you can. See if it may be locked also.

Message was edited by: BDAqua

Reply

Answer 12

May 21, 2010 12:35 PM in response to BDAqua

I think I got it. I followed the instructions, ran the BatChmod application and the permissions, etc. seem to be worked out. At least, I know I can now launch applications which wouldn't open before, Address Book, iPhoto, Skype, etc. This is good news.

One more question. I don't know if its coincidence in the timing or related to this same problem, but the Mail program stopped getting mail from Lorin's user account at the same time that this permissions problem began. I know he has new email on the server, but Mail doesn't show anything since yesterday 10:20AM EST. It does seem to send mail, but not receive. Any relation to this problem or different issue that I need to troubleshoot from a different angle?

Thanks to all for the help!

Reply

Answer 13

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 21, 2010 1:03 PM in response to Tara Hollander

AH! Great to hear we're making headway.

On mail, while logged into Lorin's account...

Not certain, but this can fix myriad Mail problems...

Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), it will try to repair your Disk Directory while the spinning radian is happening, so let it go, run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then move these folder & file to the Desktop.

Move this Folder to the Desktop...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Caches/Mail/

Move this file to the Desktop...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail/Envelope Index

Reboot.

If that doesn't do it and you can afford to redo all your Rules, try these & reboot...

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail/MessageRules.plist

/Users/YourUserName/Library/Mail/MessageRules.plist.backup

Reply

Answer 14

May 23, 2010 5:49 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for the instructions for Mail. It seems now to be working, but I might take the steps you recommended anyway to see if it would "clean" things up. I'm grateful for the dialogue and help in this post, it's allowed me to get through what could have been very difficult and troubling. Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 15

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

May 23, 2010 10:41 AM in response to Tara Hollander

Great to hear Tara, good luck! 🙂

Reply