Problem with permissions

You can't repair user permissions with DU's Repair Permissions. It doesn't affect the user in any way.

Here is a method for resetting home folder permissions: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10329971-263.html

Although it says the Leopard Installer DVD, it works the same on Snow and Lion (Recovery partition--see here: http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/15/repair-user-permissions-in-mac-os-x-lion/).

Non-admin users cannot sudo by default. You can add them to the sudoers file if you want. There is a special editor for the sudoers file. Can't remember what it is, but you can find instructions googling for it.

As for the error, I'm not sure. However, it does have a lock file associated with it, and maybe that prevented changes to the file. On my two systems, the ubiquity.socket does not have any ACLs, so yours don't look correct.

I also found a post indicating a guy just deleted the folder and OS X recreated it correctly. You might try that and then run the command again.

Did you ever use the Finder Get Info to change permissions on those users, and then use the Apply to Enclosed function? If so, that's how the ACLs got mucked up. That function not only copies what you see, but also what you don't see, like the ACLs. If you need to do large-scale permission changes (and, unless you really know what you are doing, you don't), use BatChmod instead.

Hi,

With regard to this error message:

chmod: Failed to clear ACL on file ubiquity.socket: Invalid argument.

As an aside, I've done some experimenting on an expendable test account that I've played with after deliberately running "Apply to enclosed items" on its Home folder. I also get that error message after running

sudo chmod -RN ~

When you look at the Ubiquity folder with Terminal's ls -laeO command, the file-mode output line for the ubiquity.socket file has a leading s, indicating that the file is of type "Socket link":

srwxr-xr-x 1 t2 staff - 0 Nov 21 08:37 ubiquity.socket

This "socket link" file type is not something I know about, but it may be the reason for the "invalid argument" error message. More importantly, when I looked at the other user files after running sudo chmod -RN ~, I found that the command had worked - it had successfully removed the unwanted ACLs that had been added by using "Apply to enclosed items" on the Home folder.

drwxr-xr-x@ 5 patrik staff - 170 21 Nov 15:24 Ubiquity

You are looking at the Ubiquity folder - the ubiquity.socket file is inside it. Try copy-pasting this command:

ls -leO ~/Library/Application\ Support/Ubiquity

Interestingly, the ubiquity.socket file is invisible to Finder even though that file doesn't carry a "hidden" flag, and it's still invisible even if you enable Finder to show hidden items.

I have found one remaining problem - I still have to enter my name several times to give me permission to read & write in their folders.

Thank you for all help!

Execpt in the Terminal (command line) that is normal. OS X protects all users from prying eyes, even from admins.

And, from a few posts ago, yes, that is the same command. You don't have to separate the options (ie -R -N), and ~ means the logged in user's home folder.