Can't open old iWeb domain file (yes, I have asked in the other forum!)

It sounds like the Domain "file" (which is actually a folder disguised as a file), and all the files it contains, may be owned by a different user and thus are not writeable by you. If you've still got a backup of the file, and good backups of your entire system in general, try this... open the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities) and paste in the following command (assuming that you have placed this broken Domain file back in the proper place where iWeb looks for it):

sudo chown -R yourusername ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb/Domain.sites2

(Of course, you'll need to change "yourusername" to your actual username, but be very, very careful not to mess up the rest of the command! If you insert an extra space in the wrong place, you could do serious damage to your system!)

When you press return, you will be asked for your account password. Type it, being aware that nothing will show up when you type, and press return again. This will change the owner for the Domain file, as well as all the files/folders it contains, to your user.

That's correct, it needs to be your current username... and, specifically, the short username (which is the same as your home folder name).

I have to confess, I was hoping someone with more knowledge about iWeb's Domain file would chime in. Evidently not, though.

Let's try something else. Run the following two commands in the Terminal (paste them in, only one at a time, and hit return after each one):

ls -al ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb

ls -al ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb/Domain.sites2

Then paste the output here. Here's what I get:

Hyperion:~ thomas$ ls -al ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb total 16 drwxr-xr-x 4 thomas staff 136 Aug 13 2008 . drwx------+ 75 thomas staff 2550 May 22 20:08 .. -rw-r--r--@ 1 thomas staff 6148 Jul 20 07:03 .DS_Store drwxr-xr-x@ 15 thomas staff 510 Mar 1 15:02 Domain.sites2 Hyperion:~ thomas$ ls -al ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb/Domain.sites2 total 2528 drwxr-xr-x@ 15 thomas staff 510 Mar 1 15:02 . drwxr-xr-x 4 thomas staff 136 Aug 13 2008 .. -rw-rw-r-- 1 root admin 97259 Jun 20 2008 200250987-001_a.jpg -rw-rw-r-- 1 root admin 156244 Jun 20 2008 71197600_a.jpg drwxr-xr-x 8 thomas staff 272 Oct 25 2010 Albums drwxr-xr-x 3 thomas staff 102 Jul 10 2008 Contents -rw-r--r-- 1 thomas staff 395 Mar 1 15:02 DomainState.archive drwxr-xr-x 3 thomas staff 102 Aug 13 2008 QuickLook -rw-r--r--@ 1 thomas staff 4548 Jul 11 2008 back.png drwxr-xr-x 3 thomas staff 102 Aug 13 2008 domain-F984C302-FDAB-4F41-B32E-8D9FDAFBF9D7 -rw-rw-r-- 1 root admin 57343 Jun 20 2008 dv423037_a.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 thomas staff 1889 Oct 25 2010 index.xml.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 thomas staff 59546 Oct 25 2010 localAssets.plist -rw-r--r-- 1 thomas staff 182 Oct 25 2010 permalinks.plist -rw-r--r--@ 1 thomas staff 893344 Apr 18 2010 sharedassets.plist Hyperion:~ thomas$

The second command didn't get entered correctly. The first shows no problems with the permissions so far.

simons-macbook:~ Simon$ ls -al ~/Library/Application\ Support/iWeb/Domain.sites2

total 0

drwxr-xr-x@ 2 Simon staff 68 9 Apr 19:51 .

drwxrwxrwx 4 Simon staff 136 23 Jul 22:25 ..

simons-macbook:~ Simon$

Here's where your problem is! There should be a bunch of stuff inside the Domain.sites2 "file" (which is actually a folder that pretends to be a file). Yours is totally empty. (The . and .. items simply represent the current directory and the parent directory, and are shown at the beginning of every 'ls' command.)

How did you restore this from Time Machine? Did you just copy it over from the backup disk in the Finder, or did you restore it through Time Machine's "Star Wars" interface?

That's right, you told me that already. Let me get our resident Time Machine expert, Pondini, involved... hopefully he can help.

BeatingAround wrote:

. . .

When I try to restore the file through Time Machine I am told:

The operation can’t be completed because some items had to be skipped. For each item, choose File > Get Info, make sure “Locked” is deselected, and then check the Sharing & Permissions section. When you are sure the items are unlocked and not designated as Read Only or No Access, try again.

I've not seen that one before. 😟

I have a workaround for permissions problems, but this looks like a problem with locks, instead.

It's very difficult to manipulate anything in TM backups; they're protected by very restrictive ACLs, to keep us mere mortals from damaging them. If we can get the package out of the backups, then you'll have a fighting chance to fix them.

So I'd suggest trying the workaround in #E10 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting. As detailed there, it involves restoring the package to a place that doesn't enforce permissions, so you can fix the permissions or locks there, then move it to the proper location.

Let's see what happens; if that will restore everything, and the problem is locks, then perhaps Thomas can provide some Terminal magic to unlock them.