Reset All File Permissions

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Reset All File Permissions

I have a problem. I was messing around with file permissions and screwed up some of my root directory folders. Now every users folder is public to anyone and there could be more issues I haven't found. I can't find anything on here that suggests any easy way to do this, so I need some help resetting ALL of the permissions on my hard drive (Just to make sure). Unfortunately, disk utility found no errors in the permissions and didn't correct anything (even in recov mode) and restoring from the backup doesn't help. I am however very familiar with the Unix command line, so throw anything you got at me.

macOS Sierra, 10.12.5

Thanks,

Tyler

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.5)

Posted on May 23, 2017 9:07 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

May 24, 2017 10:56 AM in response to DeBois1234

Hi DeBois1234,

I understand that you've changed the permissions on some root directories, and now all of your user directories are public. I'm happy to provide some help with this.

Check out the steps in the following article to reset your permissions. For the purposes of your issue, you'll want perform these actions on the folders you've changed instead of simply the home folder:

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support

Reset permissions

If the issue occurred after changing the permissions of items in your home folder, follow these steps to reset the permissions:
From the Finder menu bar, choose Go > Home. Your home folder opens.

Choose File > Get Info. An Info window for your home folder opens.

If the “Sharing & Permissions” section at the bottom of the window isn't open, click the triangle in that section to open it.

If the Lock button at the bottom of the window shows a closed lock , click the lock and enter an administrator name and password.

Click the Action menu in the bottom corner of the window, then choose “Apply to enclosed items.” Click OK to confirm the action. A progress bar appears at the top of the window.

When the progress bar completes, open the Terminal app from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
Paste or type this command in Terminal, then press Return:
      
        diskutil 
       

      
        resetUserPermissions 
       / 

      
        `id 
       -u`
On U.S. keyboards , the ` character is just above the Tab key. After entering the diskutil command, if Terminal says that permissions reset on user home directory failed (error -69841), enter
chflags -R nouchg ~
, then enter the diskutil command again.
When the process completes, quit Terminal.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Cheers!

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