My MacBook Pro is not allowing me to take screenshots!?

Question

Level 1

10 points

My MacBook Pro is not allowing me to take screenshots!?

Dear Apple Community,

Recently I have taken out my optical drive and moved my old 500GB hard drive over there and replaced the old hard drive location with a new 120GB SSD. I moved the operating system, applications and most used files onto the SSD, however I left my user folder on the old hard drive and linked the two. I then symlinked my downloads folder and my desktop so that the actual folders where on the SSD however they appeared in the normal user folder on the HDD.

That has all been fine, however even more recently I have not been able to take screenshots. Whenever I try to I get the error message:

Your screenshot can't be saved.

You don’t have permission to save files in the location where screen shots are stored.

I have tried everything I could think of including:

- Repairing & Verifying both drives' permissions.

- Making sure the desktop folder is unlocked from "More Info".

- Changing the location and format of screenshots.

- Resetting Home folder permissions and ACLs, by booting from the recovery disk.

Please could someone out there be of service, as I have run out of ideas! Thanks.

Jago

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jan 6, 2014 2:08 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 6, 2014 2:14 PM in response to JagoReeves

Have a look at this page, you can change the location where the screenshot is saved, just make sure you have correct permissions on the directory.

http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/how-to-customize-screenshot-options-in-mac-os-x/

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Answer 2

JagoReeves Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 6, 2014 2:23 PM in response to rack0 tack0

Thanks rack0 tack0 for your fast reply. However as I said above I had already tried to change the location as to where they are saved - doesn't help. Thank you though.

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Answer 3

Jan 6, 2014 2:40 PM in response to JagoReeves

What happens if you point the capture to a directory and make it rwx by everyone?

Just as a test unless you are the only user.

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Answer 4

Jan 6, 2014 2:45 PM in response to JagoReeves

To rule out system wide problem, set up a new/test account and attempt a screen shot. Let us know the results.

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Answer 5

JagoReeves Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 6, 2014 2:45 PM in response to rack0 tack0

Just tried that now, nothing happens. Made (Me), wheel & everyone both reand and write. Same error message comes up.

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Answer 6

Jan 6, 2014 2:48 PM in response to JagoReeves

Just found this about user areas, you may not want to hear it though, near the bottom of the page.

http://thexlab.com/faqs/freeingspace.html

baby boomers suggestion is a good one.

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Answer 7

JagoReeves Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 6, 2014 2:57 PM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

Okay, I made a test account and the screenshots took fine. However both the home folder and the boot disk are on the SSD and not split between the two. Any ideas on fixing that?

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Answer 8

JagoReeves Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 6, 2014 2:58 PM in response to JagoReeves

Should I move the dowloads folder and desktop folder back to the home folder drive?

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Answer 9

Jan 6, 2014 3:02 PM in response to JagoReeves

However both the home folder and the boot disk are on the SSD and not split between the two. Any ideas on fixing that?

That's a different problem. You need to make a new post in the Lion forums since that is what system profile confirms that is the OS you are using.

Will notify a HOST to move this (screenshot) thread to the Lion forums.

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Answer 10

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jan 6, 2014 6:32 PM in response to JagoReeves

Back up all data.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screencapture.plist

Right-click or control-click the line and select

Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Quit the application if it's running. Move the selected item to the Trash. Relaunch the application and test.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

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