[loolica]

I'm having problems with moving and deleting some files in OS 10.1.4. For example:
I just re-installed StuffIt and it's not where I want it to be. But I can't move the folder or delete it. When I try, I get the following mesage: "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items."
When I show info for the folder, the privilege tab says
owner: system
group: unknown
owner: read and write
group: read and write
everyone: read only
but the last ones are greyed out, and i can't change them.
I'm the only user on the machine and am logged in as an administrator. I did just mange to copy the contents of the folder to somewhere else, but now I have this extra useless folder (and a bunch of other misplaced folders around the machine) that I can't delete.
Is there anyway to just get rid of the whole privileges and access thing altogether? I CAN'T STAND it. It's my damned machine, they're all my files and I want to do with them what I will.

[Grant_G]

In 10.2 or 10.3 I would tell you to just repair permissions. But in 10.1 you can't, at least not directly from within the operating system. However, I've heard that Apple posted a means to do it in older OS X versions on their website. Try searching for it in Apple/Support.
G

[ALG]

You can go to a terminal window and move them. You may have to use sudo.

[Nobody]

I did the search that Grant recommended and found that Apple has a Repair Privileges utility for 10.1.5 that you can download.
Here's the document with the download link.

[loolica]

thanks for the help, especially jfoster for saving me the trouble of searching on apple.
turns out the repair doesn't work in this case, however. don't know why.
however, when it didn't work, i rebooted and ended up in os9, and then just deleted everything from there. it's a bit hamfisted, but at least it's done.
so, it's an error of some kind, correct? in theory i should have read and write privileges on everything since i'm the admin?
and does the problem persist in later versions?

[gyroscope4]

In reply to:

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so, it's an error of some kind, correct?

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yes.

In reply to:

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in theory i should have read and write privileges on everything since i'm the admin?

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well, no. osx has a lot of system files that are owned by root or system, where regular users don't have read/write privileges. that's how unix works. you should have read/write privileges for everything within your home folder, though.

In reply to:

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and does the problem persist in later versions?

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yes. in later versions of osx, the permissions repair utility is built into the disk utility program. it's recommended to run it after installing new programs, or when things are acting wonky. i've never encountered permissions problems as extensive as you describe, though.

[Dr-NiKoN]

In reply to:

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turns out the repair doesn't work in this case, however. don't know why.

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Obviously it didn't. It would only work if these two requirements where true:
- You installed it from a .pkg file that placed a correct receipts file on your machine
- The permissions were somehow magically changed(which almost never happens)

In reply to:

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so, it's an error of some kind, correct?

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Partly.

In reply to:

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i should have read and write privileges on everything since i'm the admin?

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NO.
As an admin you should not have ownership of applications, you should however have access trough group membership though. But, that's Applications, not everything.
The problem was probably that the sloppy Stuffit installer didn't set the correct Group ownership, and thus you couldn't access it in any straight way.

In reply to:

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and does the problem persist in later versions?

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YES!
And, repairing permissions won't help protecting you from sloppy installers no matter what anyone says.
Note, this is in no way a problem with OS X. It's a user/developer problem that Apple really can't fix.
..
Unless they create TakeOwnership.app, a simple application that will let you change the owner of anything to yourself so that you can delete it.
How funny it would be /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ALG]

In reply to:

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Unless they create TakeOwnership.app, a simple application that will let you change the owner of anything to yourself so that you can delete it.

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I can go to tty and take ownership of any file that is on my machine. System hidden, protected or otherwise. I may have to become root and I may have to join a few groups but I guarantee I can do it.
Don't even need a click and drag app. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[d00d]

In reply to:

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I may have to become root ... but I guarantee I can do it.

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Well, I should hope the super user could take control of any file. I think Dr-NiKoN knows that you can do it in the terminal, he was being facetious.

[gemstonesetter]

Maybe I missed something... But let's say one is working in Panther and runs into a problem, "things acting wonky." How do you repair permissions with the built in utility?

Gem

[gyroscope4]

in the applications folder you'll find a folder called "utilities". inside that you'll find a program called "disk utility". launch it and select your drive over on the left. then find the button that says "repair disk permissions."

[Grant_G]

Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Click on OS X volume in the left panel. It will open by default to First Aid with Verify and Repair Permissions enabled. You may safely disregard Verify.
G

[ALG]

Keep in mind that if you have more than one drive that you can only repair permissions on the boot drive.

[gyroscope4]

.... or any volume (partition) with osx installed ....