Problem with Itunes access privileges

snowleopard13 · Apr 1, 2011

I just installed a SSD. The HDD went into the Superdrive holder using an Obtibay. The SSD went in the original HDD spot.

All runs well after cloning the system with carbon copy cloner except iTunes. When i start iTunes i get an error: 'You do not have enough access privilieges for this operation'. This shows up a few seconds, then iTunes closes and asks me if i want to report, ignore or reopen.

I already repaired disc permissions and set the itunes folder in my home folder to read and write for all users.

Does any of you guys know what's the problem here?

Spikestrip · Apr 1, 2011

Try holding the option key as you click on iTunes in the Dock. When it opens, tell it to create a new library. It will be empty, but you can get an idea of whether iTunes works at all, or if your library is to blame.

If it works when you create a new library, the easiest option is to simply drag all the music from your Music folder (you can even drag the whole music folder) onto the running iTunes window. This will re-import all your music as if you had never heard it before. If you don't make playlists, this won't be a problem.

Otherwise, you can try to pinpoint which file(s) within the iTunes folder has incorrect permissions. It can also be hard to tell, because if the permission were incorrect from moving it the way you did, the Owner would still be you. It often has the username shown like Username(Me). If it doesn't show that(Me), it is likely still owned by the old you. You can check and change ownership and permissions in the Get Info window, -I, or Command-I for the newer Macs, or just File>Get Info. If you tell it to do this for enclosed items, and your iTunes media folder is included, it might take a while, and is not really necessary. It would be one of the files in the iTunes folder, most likely the iTunes Library itself.

Permissions on my iTunes Library file look like this.

snowleopard13 · Apr 2, 2011

The first option is really the last one as i have about 50 playlists in my itunes library and i don't wanna lose them

I changed permissions of my hdd/users/name/music/iTunes folder to read&write for every of the 3 lines and it DOES say username(me). I also did apply this to all enclosed items of this folder. Are there any other folders iTunes accesses?

Another strange thing is that when i open iTunes this error displays and if i click OK fast enough i can play any song for about 4 seconds before iTunes quits. It does quit though in any case and always after the same amount of time.

Any other suggestions? I really miss my music already.

msriotdoll · Apr 2, 2011

just posted this on someone elses thread....

i had the same issue with itunes.. how i solved it was go into the SSD and under your users folder do <<command i >>and make sure you have permissions set to read/write.
Do the same for your users folder on your data drive.
I have a users folder on my ssd and data drive.
Run disk utility>repair premissions and see if that works for you.

Spikestrip · Apr 2, 2011

snowleopard13 said:
The first option is really the last one as i have about 50 playlists in my itunes library and i don't wanna lose them

I changed permissions of my hdd/users/name/music/iTunes folder to read&write for every of the 3 lines and it DOES say username(me). I also did apply this to all enclosed items of this folder. Are there any other folders iTunes accesses?

Another strange thing is that when i open iTunes this error displays and if i click OK fast enough i can play any song for about 4 seconds before iTunes quits. It does quit though in any case and always after the same amount of time.

Any other suggestions? I really miss my music already.

The only other things iTunes accesses would be at /Library/iTunes, and ~/Library/iTunes. There shouldn't be anything in either of those places that would cause this. If you find anything in the plugin folders in these locations, you can try temporarily moving these out of that folder while you try again to open iTunes. Did iTunes open when you told it to create a new library?

msriotdoll said:
just posted this on someone elses thread....

i had the same issue with itunes.. how i solved it was go into the SSD and under your users folder do <<command i >>and make sure you have permissions set to read/write.
Do the same for your users folder on your data drive.
I have a users folder on my ssd and data drive.
Run disk utility>repair premissions and see if that works for you.

Your suggestion with the read/write permissions sounds like the fix, but it seems not to be working in this case. Repairing permissions doesn't touch any of the files you have installed, only parts of the OS. Downloading and installing iTunes again should replace any files that permissions repair would fix. I would reinstall iTunes, if you haven't already, before I ran permissions repair to fix this. It's mostly the specific file called "iTunes Library" with no file extension that I think would be to blame for this. Make sure that one file has the correct permissions, including who the owner is, not just who has access to it. If you don't see the(me) on that particular file, you can use a Terminal command to fix it. if your permissions look the way they do on the screenshot I included above, I'm not sure what is keeping iTunes from opening.

You can always Archive and Install whatever OS you are currently running. If you do this, please back up first. If you go through all this, and you still can't open iTunes, starting over without playlists may be your only option left.

Spike

snowleopard13 · Apr 3, 2011

ok guys, so i did what msriotdoll said. I set SSD users and HDD users to read&write for everyone + for all enclosed items. The first line in both of these folders is system and not name(me). But it didn't fix the problem and caused another three:

"The folder 'iTunes' is on a locked drive or you do not have write permissions for this folder."

and

"A copy of Firefox is already open. Only one copy of Firefox can be open at a time." But there isn't!

and

I wanted to download iTunes again from apple.com but it doesn't let me download to my downloads folder (in users) and says 'Safari could not download the file iTunes10.2.1.dmg because there is not enough free disk space." but there ARE over 20gb free on both of the disks. must have something to do with write permissions.
I tried to copy a jpg file to the downloads folder and it asked me for my password. then it copied but i couldn't delete the file because "i don't have the permissions" to do so.

These errors even occur when i restart OSX.

Then i tried to reset the permissions as they were (to read only for everyone) + all enclosed items and repaired permissions. But the errors are still there.

damn... i think i fu**** up

edit: every one of my mp3s or any other file in hdd/users/name/ now has 'system' instead of name(me) at read&write permissions...
same for ssd/users/name/ although i don't use that users folder.

edit2: after all this i reset the users folder to the HDD in settings/accounts and now i'm on stock OSX with question marks on documents and downloads folder in the dock. what the ******* have i done??!

edit3: ok figured out how to add ownership to username(me) and am back to scratch now with the old itunes access priviliges problem from post #1
temporarily removed the one file in iTunes plugins - same error without it.
held option key at clicking iTunes in dock - iTunes ask for an existing library or create a new one. but i really want to try everything before creating a new one.

this is how one mp3 in my users/music/itunes/media/music folder looks like atm:

snowleopard13 · Apr 4, 2011

I completely deinstalled and reinstalled iTunes - same error.

I tried the "last option" --> new library with option key - got a new library but the error at the same time.

So i really run out of alternatives...

All other Apps are running perfectly (iMovie, iPhoto,...). Why does only iTunes have this Problem?

Edit: could this be a problem? every apple application has 'wheel' as user, but not iTunes.

Please help

snowleopard13 · Apr 4, 2011

SOLVED !!!!!!!

my users folder on the SSD had no (read or write) permissions for my username(me).

i really don't understand why it is working now, because this users folder on the SSD is NOT in use. every folder in there is empty and all the itunes media is on the 'real' users folder on the HDD.

Spikestrip · Apr 7, 2011

snowleopard13 said:
SOLVED !!!!!!!

my users folder on the SSD had no (read or write) permissions for my username(me).

i really don't understand why it is working now, because this users folder on the SSD is NOT in use. every folder in there is empty and all the itunes media is on the 'real' users folder on the HDD.

Wow, nice find. Is your iTunes Library and other files still on the SSD, with just the iTunes media on the HDD? Or did you have all the stuff together on the SSD?

Spike

snowleopard13 · Apr 7, 2011

no, that IS the strange part. i have an iTunes folder in hdd/users/username/music with all my media plus my iTunes Library.xml and other library files.

they have never been on the SSD, because i copied everything BUT the users folder to it.

really really strange, but at least it's working now and maybe this thread helps someone sometime

Spikestrip · Apr 7, 2011

snowleopard13 said:
SOLVED !!!!!!!

my users folder on the SSD had no (read or write) permissions for my username(me).

i really don't understand why it is working now, because this users folder on the SSD is NOT in use. every folder in there is empty and all the itunes media is on the 'real' users folder on the HDD.

That is definitely strange, I would never have guessed that. But, now I'll know to look out for it. Thanks for sharing your fix!

Spike

moez · Apr 18, 2011

I could confirm the same thing. There were issues with access rights on Users folder on my SSD even though the user folder is stored on HDD. Changing the access rights fixed the issue.

cheung · Jun 6, 2012

Thanks for this! I did the same thing the OP did; copied everything but the Users folder over to my SSD and then directed the OS to use the original Users folder on my HDD which was still in the computer in an optical bay drive caddy. I had the same issues with iTunes, which got me here (thank you Googles).

Robbomac · Dec 18, 2012

Shared Folder in /Users

I just upgraded to an SSD on my iMac, and came across the same authorization/permissions problem with iTunes. I checked permissions everywhere on both my SSD and data hard drive, but the error persisted.

Thanks to a Google search, I found that iTunes needs the "Shared" folder in /Users. I had neglected to copy that over to my SSD, but as soon as I recovered it from my Time Machine backup, the iTunes error was fixed.

comountainclimber · Nov 21, 2015

snowleopard13 said:
SOLVED !!!!!!!

my users folder on the SSD had no (read or write) permissions for my username(me).

i really don't understand why it is working now, because this users folder on the SSD is NOT in use. every folder in there is empty and all the itunes media is on the 'real' users folder on the HDD.

This was the solution to the my problems.

Zogthefrog · Jan 5, 2016

This problem has been bugging me since I added an SSD and moved my HDD to a caddy. Thanks to snowleopard13 I now have access. Well done you. Why is it always iTunes that screws up?

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