Troubleshooting Permissions Issues

When you encounter problems with permissions, the first step is to determine the scope of the problem. You must determine if your issue is a single problem file or a folder full of files with the same problem.

Permissions issues can be a challenge. For example, you might encounter system instability or erratic behavior due to incorrect permissions. You may also have a functional need to bypass permissions, or might need access to files that are owned by a user whose account has been deleted. Here are some basic troubleshooting techniques for permissions issues:

• Sometimes incorrect file permissions cause erratic system behavior, such as inability to mount disk images or add files to the Applications folder as an administrator user. The First Aid pane in Disk Utility has a button that will scan and restore the permissions of Mac OS X system files and Appleinstalled software.

  MORE INFO

  Refer to Knowledge Base document 106712, "Troubleshooting permissions issues in Mac OS X."

  
  

• If you have problems accessing a specific file due to incorrect permissions, you can often use an administrator account to fix the permissions manually. Use the Get Info command (Command-I) in the Finder, and authenticate as an administrator to override the ownership permissions.

• Changing ownership for a large number of files can be a problem. If you need to reassign ownership for a number of files, for example when you restore a deleted user, the easiest method is to create a new user account and copy the deleted user's disk image file into the Drop Box of the new user account. After the user logs in with the new user account, the user can mount the .dmg file. The Finder will automatically change ownership of the files when the user copies the files from the disk image to the user's new home folder.

  You can also use the command line to perform large-scale permissions changes. This will be covered in Lesson 7, "Command-Line Interface."