Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

I do not have permissions to trash files – tried everything

When I try to delete a .jpg in Adobe Bridge CS4 or in Finder, the former says I do not have permissions, the latter requires me to enter the admin password. In fact, trying to delete any file in Finder requires the admin password.


This started happening in Snow Leopard, and continues following my upgrade to Lion. Extremely annoying!


Tried and failed 1

Cmd-I (Get info) on my home drive and resetting permissions.


Tried and failed 2

Using Terminal whilst logged in to reset permissions over Trash, namely:

sudo chown your_user_name .Trash


Tried and failed 3

  1. Turn on the Mac whilst holding down cmd + R. You can let go once you see a spinning dial. You will then see the ”Mac OS X Utilities” screen.
  2. On the top menu, click Utilities, then click Terminal.
  3. Type resetpassword and press Enter.
  4. Click on your main hard drive.
  5. In the dropdown box under “Select the user account” make sure to select your username.
  6. Underneath where it says “Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs”, click the Reset button.


Tried and failed 4

Upgrading to Lion.


Tried and failed 5

Going to make a cup of tea.


Tried and failed 6

Really hoping really hard.



Any ideas? I've invested two hours on this support forum so far, but can find nothing else to try.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Oct 9, 2011 1:20 PM

Reply
19 replies

Oct 10, 2011 1:17 PM in response to Eric Ross

Thanks for the suggestion Eric.


This fault appeared when I was running Snow Leopard, and the upgrade to Lion didn't fix it. May I ask what makes you think having another go at installing Lion would do it?


Saying that, I've found this article, Volume corruption may cause permissions problems in OS X, recommending I reformat the disk drive and then reinstall Lion. Sounds a bit drastic and onerous just to fix this little (albeit annoying) problem!


Worth a go? Or shall I wait another couple of days to see if anyone comes up with a simpler fix here?!

Oct 10, 2011 6:44 PM in response to psheldrake

So I did:

sudo chown 777 /Users/Your User/Desktop

and even:

sudo chown 777 /Users/Your User


Those commands are not correct. chown is the command to change the ownership of an item; chmod is the command that should have been used to change the permissions. Running those sudo chown 777 commands has probably now messed up the ownership of the home folder and the Desktop, just to add to the previous trouble.


One of the things that could have gone wrong earlier is the presence of an "everyone deny delete" ACL on your files, perhaps put there by previously using "Apply to enclosed items" on your home folder.


Since the permission problems are within a user account, re-installing OS X probably would not fix things.


At this point I think I would use BatChmod on your home folder, both to remove all the ACLs, and also to correct the now-altered folder ownerships. I'd set it up this way (substitute yourUser for "t1"):

User uploaded file


I'd then re-run the procedure that you posted earlier under #3:

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

1. Turn on the Mac whilst holding down cmd + R. You can let go once you see a spinning dial. You will then see the ”Mac OS X Utilities” screen.

2. On the top menu, click Utilities, then click Terminal.

3. Type resetpassword and press Enter.

4. Click on your main hard drive.

5. In the dropdown box under “Select the user account” make sure to select your username.

6. Underneath where it says “Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs”, click the Reset button.

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

I do not have permissions to trash files – tried everything

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.