*@&#^@*#&@ Read-Only Files

[Moof1904]

I have a folder full of subfolders and files. Some items were created from scratch, some were emailed to me, and some were copied from CDs. Throughout this huge directory of files, some items are flagged as Read Only. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what's Read Only and what's not.

I very simply want to give myself Read and Write permission for EVERY freakin' thing in my entire Documents folder. Sounds simple but it's driving me crazy. I've selected the Documents folder, and choose Read and Write from the Ownership pop-up in the Get Info dialog and still items in sub-folders are flagged as Read Only. I've done the same thing selecting some of the sub-folders directly and STILL some of the items in the that folder and in sub-folders are flagged Read Only.

I've repaired permissions THREE times after doing all of this and I'm STILL encountering Read Only files.

And one other thing: 10.3 is randomly lauching ColorSync Profiler or some other app when I double-click on a jpeg, even though numerous times I've selected a jpeg, opened the Get Info dialog, selected PhotoShop as the application of choice for all such items.

This is driving me insane.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Open terminal...

Navigate to where the folder is: cd /path/to/where/folder/is

Check that the folder actually is there by listing everything in that directory: ls

Change permissions for the folder, and all subfolders and files in it: chmod -RP 755 foldername

 

[cjc343]

If you aren't fully comfortable with Command Line, there is a GUI utility called BatChmod (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/mac/12057) which will allow you to do pretty much the same thing. From an admin account, you can "Mass Change" the permissions of an item and every single item within it.

 

[daveL]

Anytime you copy a file from a read-only device/media, the file will be marked read-only. So if you copy files off a CD or DVD, those files will be read-only until you change them.

 

[Moof1904]

Spot checking a dozen or so files suggests that this corrected the problem. Thank you very much!

 

[yellow]

I've repaired permissions THREE times after doing all of this and I'm STILL encountering Read Only files.

Mainly because repairing of permissions doesn't descend into /Users. It compares the BOM archives in /Library/Receipts/ against the existing permissions of Security updates, OS updates, applications, etc.. whatever has a receipt. But it never touches /Users..

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I had this problem recently. The way I fixed it was by selecting the parent folder with all of the read-only files, doing a Get Info on the folder, pulling down the Ownership & Permissions section of the Get Info window, changing my permissions to Read & Write, clicking the "Apply to enclosed items" button, and confirming that I want to do this. I had to open each folder twice before it realized that its permissions were changed, but it worked...

 

[AppleAce]

Anytime you copy a file from a read-only device/media, the file will be marked read-only. So if you copy files off a CD or DVD, those files will be read-only until you change them.

Really? I copied a bunch of mp3 files from a couple cds when I got my newest computer and none of them are read-only. Why would they do something like that anyway?

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Really? I copied a bunch of mp3 files from a couple cds when I got my newest computer and none of them are read-only. Why would they do something like that anyway?

This behavior has been inconsistent for me. Sometimes it marks the copied files read-only; other times it doesn't. What I have noticed is that the files were marked read-only more often in Mac OS 9 than in Mac OS X.