Permissions not being reset in LION

Question

Permissions not being reset in LION

Help I need to reset the permissions on my 10.7.3 lion software. Apple support has escalated this to software engineering levels and have not been able to give me a resolution. For some unknown reason all of a sudden my permissions would not allow me to properly move files to the hard drive. Also it would not allow me to take and move files around with the hard drive, it would just perform copies and not moving files to these locations - these were unexpected actions that were happening within the system.

I have worked with Apple support and have reset the ACL's using a root user this has still not resolved the problem.

Apple keeps escalating this issue up to higher levels of software engineering department however it takes 2 to 3 days every time to reply to me and this is unnerving.

Can someone help me with mastering this whole permissions issue at the user level and unlock everything so that my computer can just go back to normal?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 5, 2012 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

May 5, 2012 8:55 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

It seems as if you are trying to move files across other filesystems. Open the Terminal application type the following command. Post back the command and the text that is produced ->

mount

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Answer 2

May 5, 2012 9:00 AM in response to Mark Jalbert

I don't believe that is the issue, Mark. I am the admin user for this computer and it spontaneously stopped working with expected resultsbu moving or copying files freely.

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Answer 3

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

May 5, 2012 9:06 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

What folders are you moving files to and from?

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Answer 4

May 5, 2012 9:11 AM in response to Király

From the desktop or within the HD. These are regular expected functions but now it's constantl asking for authentication. Often the message will change from authentication to the finders wishing to make changes please enter your password.

These are unexpected issues and just started spontaneously earlier this week and is now affecting the entire admin account.

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Answer 5

May 5, 2012 9:15 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

Have you tried to create another user account to see if there is any difference?

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Answer 6

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

May 5, 2012 11:26 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

What is the result of this Terminal command?

id -un;ls -l ~

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Answer 7

May 5, 2012 1:51 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Yes, Alberto. The new user account works fine.... However, the admin account (my original account does not).

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Answer 8

May 5, 2012 1:53 PM in response to Király

Kiraly, unfortunately, I'm not making terminal command inquiries or changes, as I don't want to further corrupt the situation.

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Answer 9

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

May 5, 2012 2:31 PM in response to BillyRayValentine

All that command does is inspect a few settings and report on what it finds. It doesn't change anything. Without knowing the results of that command there's not much more I can do to help that won't be sending you on a wild goose chase.

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Answer 10

May 6, 2012 2:17 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

So, the problem is inside you user profile.

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Answer 11

May 6, 2012 5:56 AM in response to Király

Hi Király, the result of the ID terminal command was:

trade

total 352

drwx------+ 3 trade staff 102 Feb 27 13:33 Applications

drwx------+ 61 trade staff 2074 May 6 07:49 Desktop

drwx------@ 145 trade staff 4930 Apr 20 16:06 Documents

drwx------+ 441 trade staff 14994 May 4 11:37 Downloads

drwxrwxrwx@ 5 trade staff 170 Jul 7 2011 Dropbox

drwxrwxrwx+ 29 trade staff 986 Jan 25 18:23 off docs

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 trade staff 0 Nov 29 2005 IDE

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 trade staff 0 Apr 26 2008 Icon?

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 trade staff 0 Nov 28 2005 LXE

drwx------@ 66 trade staff 2244 Oct 14 2011 Library

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 trade staff 0 Oct 2 2006 MME

drwx------+ 19 trade staff 646 Aug 25 2011 Movies

drwx------+ 8 trade staff 272 Sep 26 2010 Music

drwxrwxrwx+ 63 trade staff 2142 May 4 10:33 family docs

drwx------@ 16 trade staff 544 May 4 11:42 Pictures

drwxr-xr-x+ 5 trade staff 170 Nov 1 2005 Public

drwxrwxrwx@ 5 trade staff 170 Oct 26 2005 Sites

drwxrwxrwx@ 262 trade staff 8908 Apr 27 10:49 Uniso

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 trade staff 25278 Apr 26 16:41 style.css

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Answer 12

May 6, 2012 6:09 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

I saw that Apple had you set ACLs, but this is what worked for me to delete the staff permissions and reset one of my computers. I don't know how you did it other than terminal, but if you hadn't done this, try it:

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.
On the top menu, click Utilities, then click Terminal.
Type resetpassword and press Enter.
Click on your main hard drive.
In the dropdown box under “Select the user account” make sure to select your username.
Underneath where it says “Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs”, click the Reset button.
Press cmd + Q to quit the Reset Password application.
Press cmd + Q again to quit the Terminal.
Press cmd + Q one more time and click Restart.

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Answer 13

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

May 6, 2012 9:38 AM in response to BillyRayValentine

What happens if you make a new folder on your Desktop, and then try to move it? Does it work?

Are you having this problem with files inside your home folder? Or with files outside of it? Or both?

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Answer 14

May 6, 2012 11:46 AM in response to Glenn Leblanc

Hi Glenn, I tried the numbered list as you suggested, previously with Apple support. This did not work.

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Answer 15

May 6, 2012 11:48 AM in response to Király

Hi Király,

The new folder will let me move it to the Root of the Macintosh HD... But once there to place it in another folder or move it around requires Authentication. This is not an expected outcome.

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