In 10.7, I No longer have permissions to files I created in 10.6

Question

In 10.7, I No longer have permissions to files I created in 10.6

I upgraded to Lion back in 2012 from Snow Leopard on my Macpro 1,1 (Because it can't go any higher than 10.7)

And to Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro 5,5.

One EXTREMELY ANNOYING change that was made (and continuing in Mountain Lion) is that I no longer have permissions to my files that once belonged to me in Snow Leopard.

And when upgrading from 10.5 to 10.6, this was never a problem.

If I created files or folders within Snow Leopard, once I upgraded to Lion (and Subsequently Mountain Lion on my Newer Macbook Pro), I have lost my rights to those files.

For example:

When I try to delete files off my system, I have to enter the password for my Snow Leopard OS (the password on the OS when the file was created). Luckily I didn't change it. If I didn't know the password, I would not be able to delete the file from my computer.
When I try to move a file or folder, instead of just Moving the location of the item, it creates a Copy instead, which takes up twice the space (Yes I know there are work arounds for this such as moving to the trash then recopying, but that still takes a lot of time).

What are the fixes to this?

Adjusting Share & Permissions in Info does not work.

Fixing Permission within Disk utility does not work.

Holding down the Command key also does nothing.

The OS is saying I do not own the file so I have to have the password from the true owner to do anything to it.

Please help. This is extrememly cumbersome.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5), FCP Dual Monitors 4GB Ram

Posted on Jun 2, 2013 10:19 PM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 3, 2013 8:36 PM in response to Event Video Guy

Event Video Guy wrote:

I upgraded to Lion back in 2012 from Snow Leopard on my Macpro 1,1 (Because it can't go any higher than 10.7)

And to Mountain Lion from Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro 5,5.

How did you do those upgrades? Did you upgrade "in place," or erase your drive, install the new version, then copy things?

If you copied, that's likely the cause. Depending on the situation, copying stuff from one user account to another can do that.

Fortunately, there's a fairly easy fix: see Resetting Password and/or Home Folder Permissions.

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Answer 2

Jun 16, 2013 8:46 PM in response to Pondini

I always do fresh installs.

I formated the drive, then installed the clean OS on the drive.

In repsonse to your suggestion:

Thanks for the suggestion in the link that you sent me, but as I stated in my original post:

"Fixing Permission within Disk utility does not work."

I've already performed these steps. And that does not work.

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 16, 2013 8:54 PM in response to Event Video Guy

Event Video Guy wrote:

I always do fresh installs.

Why?

I formated the drive, then installed the clean OS on the drive.

Then what? Sounds like you copied via the Finder, or have otherwise borked the permissions.

"Fixing Permission within Disk utility does not work."

I've already performed these steps. And that does not work.

I didn't suggest that. Disk Utility's Repair Permissions option only affects files installed by the OSX installer.

The link explains how to reset the permissions on your home folder(s) to the defaults.

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Answer 4

Jun 21, 2013 8:32 AM in response to Pondini

I've had less than desireable expereinces with upgrades vs clean installs.

Professional IT people have always recommended this to me because bugs and glitches can be carried over.

However that's all irrelevent.

This problem persisted when I did an upgrade without the fresh install. This problem was initially why I wiped this drive in the first place.

I don't understand your statement: "Sounds like you copied via the Finder, or have otherwise borked the permissions."

Here is my process.

Saved all my documents ie; pictures text, music, etc to my network drive (just documents not the entire Library directory file structure)
I run a complete format of the drive. Write all zeros to the drive. 2 passes just to be sure.
I install the new OS.
After Installation, I install all the current updates.
Then I install my important programs, ie: Final Cut, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, etc.
Then I pull over the documents that I save in step #1 as I need them.

Now the trouble comes in. When I go to move them around or delete them, I'm asked for a password before it will proceed.

I've never had this problem before. When upgrading from Tiger to Leopard then to Snow Leopard (with a fresh install) I never had this problem.

But when I wen from Snow Leopard to Lion, this became an issue.

As an experiement, I did another reformat and installed Snow Leopard back on my system. Guess what? No problems. I once again owned the files that were saved in step #1. I was never asked for a password when deleting or moving. But once I upgraded, this time with just a standard upgrade, the problem returned on both of my computers.

Suggestions?

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Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 21, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Event Video Guy

Event Video Guy wrote:

. . .

Professional IT people have always recommended this to me because bugs and glitches can be carried over.

Most professional IT people have a lot of experience with Windoze, not so much with OSX.

There used to be an Erase and Install option when upgrading OSX, but that was dropped effective with Snow Leopard.

Since an OSX upgrade replaces the old version of OSX, usually the only problems carried over are associated with apps. In that case, the best thing to do is transfer everything except apps, then reinstall them.

Here is my process.

Saved all my documents ie; pictures text, music, etc to my network drive (just documents not the entire Library directory file structure)

I run a complete format of the drive. Write all zeros to the drive. 2 passes just to be sure.

I install the new OS.

After Installation, I install all the current updates.

Then I install my important programs, ie: Final Cut, OpenOffice, Thunderbird, etc.

Then I pull over the documents that I save in step #1 as I need them.

Now the trouble comes in. When I go to move them around or delete them, I'm asked for a password before it will proceed.

Somewhere before or during that procedure, you've used a user account that wasn't recognized as being the same as the owner of the files you copied (I assume by "pull over" you mean via the Finder or Terminal). You end up with read-only permissions.

Check that via Get Info. The permissions on most files should be something like this, but with your short user name instead of mine:

Suggestions?

Yup. Did you try resetting your home folder permissions to the defaults, per:Resetting Password and/or Home Folder Permissions? That should do it, with the exception that, if you've granted permission to some of your files to other users, it will probably delete those special permissions.

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Answer 6

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Jun 21, 2013 12:35 PM in response to Event Video Guy

#6 Reset users permissions

..Step by Step to fix your Mac

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Answer 7

Jun 23, 2013 10:14 PM in response to ds store

Yup. Did you try resetting your home folder permissions to the defaults, per:Resetting Password and/or Home Folder Permissions? That should do it, with the exception that, if you've granted permission to some of your files to other users, it will probably delete those special permissions.

As I've stated, I already Reset User permissions. no effect.

Maybe I'm confused when you are saying "Pull-Over through Finder or Terminal"

I litterally dragged the files from my computer to the external drive, then after updating the OS, I drag the files back to my computer.

In the "Get Info" dialog box, I own the files. Or at least, my username does, since I use the same username when I install the newer OS.

But as I stated, when I downgrade and read the files, everything is fine. Then when I re-upgrade, the problem returns and I have to enter a password again when deleting or moving these files.

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Answer 8

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 24, 2013 4:37 AM in response to Event Video Guy

Event Video Guy wrote:

Yup. Did you try resetting your home folder permissions to the defaults, per:Resetting Password and/or Home Folder Permissions? That should do it, with the exception that, if you've granted permission to some of your files to other users, it will probably delete those special permissions.

As I've stated, I already Reset User permissions.

Forgive me; that may be what you meant, but not what you wrote: Your first post says: "Fixing Permission within Disk utility does not work." That's different from resetting home folder permissions to the defaults per the link provided.

I litterally dragged the files from my computer to the external drive, then after updating the OS, I drag the files back to my computer.

In the "Get Info" dialog box, I own the files. Or at least, my username does, since I use the same username when I install the newer OS.

That's almost certainly where the problem occurs. Permissions are not done by username, but by the (mostly hidden) automatically-assigned User ID number (UID). You may have had the same user name, but it sounds like the UIDs were not.

The cause is a bit different, but the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant explains the situation.

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Answer 9

Jun 29, 2013 10:33 AM in response to Pondini

Could you further elaborate on this Migration Assistant?

I did a test recently.

I created a file using OSX Leopard. I used a different password. Then I saved the file as I detailed above to the external drive.

I upgraded back to Mountain Lion and dragged the file back to my computer. When I tried to move or delete the file, once again, it asked me for a password before I could delete the file.

This time, it would only accept the password from my system, when the file was created.

If I tried to type in my current Admin password, it would not move or delete.

This is very frustrating.

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Answer 10

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jun 29, 2013 11:09 AM in response to Event Video Guy

Event Video Guy wrote:

Could you further elaborate on this Migration Assistant?

See How do I set up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC? for an explanation of the difference between Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant and links to the gory details of each.

Using Migration Assistant instead of Setup Assistant usualliy causes permissions problems, as detailed in the pink box in Problems after using Migration Assistant.

But you didn't use either; you just copied things from one user account to a different one (it may have had the same name, but a different UID), resulting in the same problem.

I created a file using OSX Leopard. I used a different password. Then I saved the file as I detailed above to the external drive.

I upgraded back to Mountain Lion and dragged the file back to my computer. When I tried to move or delete the file, once again, it asked me for a password before I could delete the file.

This time, it would only accept the password from my system, when the file was created.

If I tried to type in my current Admin password, it would not move or delete.

The version of OSX doesn't matter. You must have used two different user accounts -- they might have had the same name, but different UIDs.

One user, even an Admin user, doesn't normally have permission to a different user's files.

This is very frustrating.

No doubt. Since you won't read the links that would fix the problem, you're not going to understand or be able to fix it.

Again: One user, even an Admin user, doesn't normally have permission to a different user's files.

Last time -- there are two very different things:

• Repair Disk Permissions via Disk Utility works on files installed by OSX or the OSX installer; not files you created, and not files on a disk that doesn't have OSX installed. See About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature.

•Resetting Password and/or Home Folder Permissions sets the permissions on files in a home folder to the defaults.

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Answer 11

Mar 1, 2014 2:46 AM in response to Event Video Guy

This is a problem that just should never happen. It is because the people that write software do not understand the concept of productivity and the dicking around they cause with every so-called improvemennt. Apple used to be good that way - it isn't any longer. Maybe the share price will start to reflect that and then they will take notice.

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