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The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have the necessary permission.

Opened “Get Info” for main drive, and “admin” and “everyone” are “read only."  Unlocking with password, I can’t change them to “Read & Write” status, get message: “The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have the necessary permission.” 

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 30, 2020 11:27 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 30, 2020 11:31 AM

The operating system is located on a read-only partition, and you have no privileges to change those permissions on the startup drive. You do have permissions control over some files and folders in your home directory, where you should be focusing.

3 replies

Dec 30, 2020 11:51 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thank You. I think this has been the reason for a lot of issues with the automatic unwanted permissions for my own files and folders. I would open and work on a file and I won't be able to re-name or save without resetting permissions in "Get Info." I don't quite understand the value of that extra security step scenario. And it happens randomly and with files transferred between computers. Note: My other computer’s main drives have both “Read & Write” permissions. Is this a Catalina issue?

The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have the necessary permission.

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