can I run a program as "administrator"

Question

Level 1

12 points

can I run a program as "administrator"

Hello,

I've installed a program on my 2008 Mac Pro (Mavericks) called CyberViewX, which is an application for a 35mm film scanner I recently purchased, a PrimeFilm XE. The program is actually installed in the TWAIN directory tree on the Mac. (Library/Image Capture/TWAIN Data Sources)

When I log on to a "regular" admin level account (that is, the account does have administrative privileges) the program will not run; it thinks for a bit, and then says "please run as administrator"

If I open a terminal window, drill down to the program executable (it's actually buried quite deeply in the application's directory tree, but no matter), and run the program with a sudo command (sudo ./CyberViewX) and enter my admin password when prompted, the program runs fine.

Is there an easier way to do this - that is, to have the program always run with "administrator" privileges, so I don't get the error message. If nothing else, the program is also invoked by other software that came with the scanner; these programs will not work, because they use CyberViewX to actually acquire images, and CyberViewX gives the same "Please run as administrator" error message

Thanks!

Posted on Jun 21, 2014 12:53 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jun 21, 2014 1:02 PM in response to alexofindy

Are you sure your log in account is an Admin account? Check that in Users & Groups preferences.

What are the associated permissions for the program's file in your Applications folder and what permissions are associated with Applications folder itself? They should be, respectively:

System r/w; Wheel r/only; Everyone r/only
System r/w; Admin r/w; Everyone r/only

Check these and, if needed, change them by selecting the file or folder. Press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. The Sharing & Permissions panel is at the bottom. To make a change you first need to click on the little lock icon and authenticate with your admin password.

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Answer 2

Niel

Level 10

726,881 points

Jun 21, 2014 1:05 PM in response to alexofindy

Make a copy of the executable and then run the following commands on it:

sudo chown root

sudo chmod u+s

(108555)

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Answer 3

Jun 21, 2014 1:32 PM in response to alexofindy

Did you perhaps install in the User's Application folder and not the main Applications folder?

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Answer 4

alexofindy Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 21, 2014 1:45 PM in response to dianeoforegon

I changed the permissions per Niel, and that lets me run. It requires that I enter the admin password when I run the app, so I may try a few different combinations of ownership and permission flags to try to get rid of that, but bottom line is it seems to have solved my problem. thanks to all!

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