How can I hide folders from other users on OS X Mavericks?

Question

Level 1

15 points

How can I hide folders from other users on OS X Mavericks?

I want to let another user use my Mac and have created a new user profile for them. However despite being a standard user I am able to access a folder in my user directory from their account despite it not being shared and in the Get Info pane, having the 'Everyone' share option as 'No access.' Yet I can still access this folder from Macintosh HD > Users > (My user Folder) > Other. All other folders are inaccessible apart from this one I created. Why? How can I make it restricted like all the others?

Thanks.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Feb 6, 2014 11:08 AM

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Answer 1

iW00

Level 6

8,542 points

Feb 6, 2014 11:24 AM in response to Ethanace

What if you will set permissions like on the screenshot below?

That should prevent any other user from accessing your home folder.

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Answer 2

Ethanace Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 6, 2014 12:21 PM in response to iW00

Please see attached image. I am unable to remove user 'staff' and have no idea who that is or how it got there, but I want this to be only viewable by myself and no one else.

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Answer 3

Feb 6, 2014 10:55 PM in response to Ethanace

Change staff to "No Access"

Staff is one of the default groups in Mac OS X. Basically a group allows everyone in the group to "Read only" in your case.

You may need to click the lock icon at the bottom to make any changes.

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Answer 4

Ethanace Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 9, 2014 8:00 AM in response to Drummerx04

Already tried, all I get is this:

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,168 points

Feb 9, 2014 8:06 AM in response to Ethanace

Just delete the Staff group.

If that folder is directly inside the Home folder (or inside a folder that is directly inside your home), it gets the same permissions as its parent (ie you = owner, group = staff (read only), and everyone read only. Your home folder has those permissions so that others can read your public folder and so the webserver can see you Sites. When you create an file system object, it inherits the permissions of its parent container.

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Answer 6

Ethanace Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 9, 2014 8:14 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you so much! I tried to delete this before but it said I do not have the neccesary permission. I unlocked the little keypad lock thing and then tried to delete it again and this time it worked! Basically the method I tried before to remove permissions was the right thing to do but I just wasn't entering my admin pasword or unlocking the permission to do it before... thanks very much. (I tested it by logging into another user account and attempted to access my folder. It doesn't have an no entry sign icon on it but it does come up with a permission error now if I try to access it from another account.) Many thanks again! 🙂

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Answer 7

Jsunny

Level 1

5 points

Mar 18, 2015 7:40 AM in response to iW00

Hello~

I've got a bad hacking experience

It's a serious criminal hacking.

Console app on iMac had hacked by some Security Agents in China.

I need to lock 'db' folder including system key on Mac OS.

Please kindly inform me the method how to lock 'db' folder with password.

Such as this picture below :

Have a nice day~

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Answer 8

Eric Root

Level 10

685,233 points

Mar 18, 2015 9:40 AM in response to Jsunny

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved, less people are likely to look at it. You can link to this one.

If you have been hacked, you should erase your drive and reinstall your files from a backup before you were hacked.

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