Burning CDs and DVDs

Question

Level 1

18 points

Burning CDs and DVDs

I've used a Slimtype eTAU108 external CD/DVD Drive with my mid-2011 Mini which has worked well. It still plays CDs and DVDs OK with Maverick and burnt OK with ML but I don't recall if I've needed to burn under Maverick.

However, the problem is that as soon as I insert a blank CD or DVD-R disk into the Drive I get a message "The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permissions". This is before I've even loaded a Burn application.

Needless to say Disk Utility reports no problems! System Information shows the Drive and details the Read/Write media types and Write strategies. So, what permissions are lacking?

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Mid 2011

Posted on Sep 23, 2014 9:54 AM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Sep 23, 2014 12:57 PM in response to parkside19

Suggests that you need to reset your user's permissions and ACLs by running the resetpassword utility.

1. Restart the machine holding down CMD+R.

2. Select Terminal from the Utilities menu.

3. In the Terminal window, type resetpassword and hit the return key.

4. The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues.

5. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled ‘Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs’. Click the Reset button there.

The reset process takes a couple of minutes. When it’s done, quit the programs you’ve opened and restart your Mac. Notice that ‘Spotlight’ starts reindexing immediately.

27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

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Answer 2

parkside19 Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 24, 2014 9:19 AM in response to baltwo

Thanks for that idea. I've never had to go into Recovery Mode before. The 'Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs’ went smoothly and after restarting all seemed OK. However, putting a blank disk, CD or DVD, into the Drive still produced the same "The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permissions" message. I then needed to check something on the Dashboard and immediately the Mac locked solid, needing a forced shutdown.

I rebooted from a very minimal, fast-booting OS10.9.2 system on another partition in order to restore my default Boot System from a very recent backup. Out of curiosity I first tried using the CD/DVD Drive and found it worked normally with no permissions message. I successfully burnt the DVDs that I needed and then restored my default Boot System - which now still displays the Permissions problem with the CD/DVD Drive. So, no further forward apart from knowing that I can, if needs be, burn using the other minimal system.

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Sep 24, 2014 12:56 PM in response to parkside19

Sorry that didn't work. Apparently both you current boot volume and recent backup volume have something changed from your fast boot volume. All I can suggest is to reinstall the OS after booting into recovery mode. If that doesn't do the trick, then you can try restoring the fast boot volume's OS and updating to 10.9.5.

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Answer 4

parkside19 Author

Level 1

18 points

Sep 25, 2014 9:43 AM in response to baltwo

I've just tried starting my normal startup account in "Safe Mode" but the Drive will still not accept CDs/DVDs with the same Permissions message popping up. I then switched to my wife's (simpler) Account and the disks were accepted normally. Using the Guest account nothing seemed to happen at all.

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Answer 5

Dec 13, 2014 8:31 AM in response to parkside19

I found a working solution!

I tried the methods described here but with no result. Then I found this way to enable/disable CD/DVD media burning in OS X Finder:

Open Terminal window.
Run this command: defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitBurn false
Restart the Finder by running this command: killall Finder

If this doesn't work and you still get "The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permissions" try disabling and then re-enabling media burning feature:

Open Terminal window.
Run this command to disable media burning first: defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitBurn true
Restart the Finder by running this command: killall Finder
Run this command to now enable media burning: defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitBurn false
Restart the Finder again by running this command: killall Finder

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Answer 6

parkside19 Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 15, 2014 11:13 AM in response to Shoemaker1981

Many thanks! Simply setting ProhibitBurn false and killall Finder was all that was needed. Like so many things, simple when known!

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