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Solution to: No Copy+Paste, Drag+Drop in Leopard due to ACLs

timothyandrew

timothyandrew

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 8, 2008
19
1
Just some info. Not too long back, I mistakenly changed the permissions of my Home Folder to read-write for everyone, and I clicked 'Apply to enclosed items'. This screwed up my ACLs, and I subsequently couldn't copy paste, drag drop, and spotlight wouldn't startup on its own.

I resolved this issue (quite simply), and I hope this helps someone who's stuck in a similar situation.

Open terminal.app (in /Applications/Utilities), and type:

sudo -s
(type password)
mkdir /tmp
chmod -R 1777 /tmp

logout, login, and that's it.
 
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Reactions: brainwave89
Sky Blue said:
well that was silly!
Click to expand...

Uh, under Sharing in System Preferences, I shared my Home Folder with 'Everyone' set to no access. I didn't know this was the actual filesystem permissions. The mac refused to boot. Thankfully I had a bootable backup, which I restored from. To avoid the same thing happening again, I changed the entire home folder's permissions.

:S
 
After 5 hours, this was the solution for my MacBookPro

Thanks for posting this solution, I´ve tried everything I read in other forums but nothing helped except this solution.
Thanks a lot

Luis
 
help..

can you explain how to do it in detail? cuz when i tried to type my password, it didnt show up.. as in nothing typed out..
 
Please help me!

timothyandrew said:
Just some info. Not too long back, I mistakenly changed the permissions of my Home Folder to read-write for everyone, and I clicked 'Apply to enclosed items'. This screwed up my ACLs, and I subsequently couldn't copy paste, drag drop, and spotlight wouldn't startup on its own.

I resolved this issue (quite simply), and I hope this helps someone who's stuck in a similar situation.

Open terminal.app (in /Applications/Utilities), and type:

sudo -s
(type password)
mkdir /tmp
chmod -R 1777 /tmp

logout, login, and that's it.
Click to expand...

I have a MAC OS X version 10.5.8 and am having the same problem as you. Unable to copy/paste, drag/drop, and spotlight has disappeared. Been using a mac for school for awhile now but not too good with Terminal and its uses. But I did follow your directions step by step for Terminal and I still am having problems. Any suggestions? Can I send you a screen shot of what it looks like after I use terminal and would you mind checking if i typed it in correctly.

Thanks for looking at this and hopefully thanks for helping me fix my comp!
 
Thank you!

I was having the same problems: no Spotlight icon in menu bar, couldn't cut/paste, and couldn't move folders.

I was depressed. I tried a bunch of things: Repair Permissions, DiskWarrior, zapping the PRAM, Safe Boot. Nothing helped.

I have no idea what I did to create the problem.

But I followed the Terminal instructions you gave and that fixed it. Hallelujah!

Thank you timothyandrew

Now it's back to work...
 
didn`t work

Hello,

It didn´t work for me. Pity. I had to reinstall the Os From Scratch.

thanks anyway. I guess it worked for some other people.
 
Thank You!

I've been suffering from the same frustrating problem over the past few weeks and your solution fixed everything for me.

I NEVER post on threads or message boards, but i registered with this one so i could thank whoever it was that posted this fix.

So there it is: Thanks Very Much!

-C
 
Yes!

I, like the poster above me, joined just to thank you. I was minutes away from reinstalling the OS, and that terminal fix did the trick. MIDI is back, copy/paste, click/drag! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
 
heey
i also have the same problem with copy-paste... also when i turn on my computer it doesnt show desktop, its blue without anything, somehow i suceed to get :apple: sign and with it i can go on the system preferences (over it i can connect with internet) and recent items - i can go on safari, i have not much options... also i cant play games from internet and watch videos on ytb (or anywhere). I think thats all... Please help me, im worried!
Thanks :)
 
Merci!

timothyandrew said:
Just some info. Not too long back, I mistakenly changed the permissions of my Home Folder to read-write for everyone, and I clicked 'Apply to enclosed items'. This screwed up my ACLs, and I subsequently couldn't copy paste, drag drop, and spotlight wouldn't startup on its own.

I resolved this issue (quite simply), and I hope this helps someone who's stuck in a similar situation.

Open terminal.app (in /Applications/Utilities), and type:

sudo -s
(type password)
mkdir /tmp
chmod -R 1777 /tmp

logout, login, and that's it.
Click to expand...


Same here...

I actually erased the tmp file myself thinking it was junk folders.... Something I of course regreted later... :D

But following TimothyAndrew' Solution... Miracolo! It is working...

I don't understand the "Terminal" language but that giberish fixed it up!

I did register myself, also, to just say : THANK YOU!


Byyyyyyyyye
 
Same Problem using lion

Hello

I am having the same problem but I can't seem to get to the Applications/Utilities directory.

I assume the file structure has been change around a bit in Lion and I can't seem to get the the right directory.

I tried to log out of my user so that I can get higher in the file structure but it simply logs out and stops terminal.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks
 
Solved for lion

Hello All

After doing some digging I found out how to get to the directory.

when your in the home directory type

cd / - This command move you to the directory above the current directory.

ls - This command lists the the files in the current directory so you know your in the right place.

cd Applications - this puts you in the Applications directory

cd Utilities - this puts you in the Utilities directory.

now type

sudo -s
(type password)
mkdir /tmp
chmod -R 1777 /tmp

logout, login, and that's it.
Click to expand...

The file tmp already existed on in my Utilities directory but the:

chmod -R 1777 /tmp
Click to expand...

Still worked and the problem was solved
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tip!

Hey, I have to say that I didn't expect it to work but ur advice totally helped fix the computer! I only have a couple more details to add for the dummies like myself, cuz it took me like 5 attempts to figure out how to work it! So, -After you open the "Terminal," start typing the code right away, without pressing any "return" keys or anything else: sudo -s
-After each line, you have to press "return," and as it has been mentioned before, your password will comprise the second line. You do not need to put anything else in the second line besides Your password and the "return" key;
- While inputting all the lines, pay attention to the spaces between the symbols. For instance, there is a space after "sudo" in the first line, and so on. After you input the last (4th) line, press "return" (like with the previous 3 lines), go to the Apple sign to log out, and click on "close Terminal" after it asks you whether you want to close it or to cancel. Just close it. You should then be logged out.
- After you log back in, the problem should be fixed, voila.
 
Thank the lord it worked!!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you

IT WORKS
 
Hi,
ThimotyAndrew ... I have absolutely no idea of what I did following your commands in my terminal (... which I find quite unconfortable), but finally ... like others in here I made an account just to THANK YOU !!!!

That stupid problem just went of after booting again ... Thank also Marinatesh : I did exaclty like you (and I would like to ad that getting bash-3.2# as an answer in terminal during the process is cool ... means you are the boss of your computer an you can do bad things to him if he does not behave as you want him too !! In other words don't try tipping things for fun !!

THHAAANNNNKKSSS aaaa 'lot !!!

PS: runing on PPC Imac 2.1 Ghz 2.5 DDR2 SDRAM and OS X 10.5.8 in 2015 (which is another problem... :)
 
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