Access problem/Boot freeze : 2009 Macbook Pro running El Capitan

[mAd66]

good morning. this is my first post here.

yesterday i wanted to share files from my macbook pro to my imac - both from 2009/2010 and both are running el capitan 10.11.6. I was having trouble connecting and figured i would change the settings on my macbook pro to something else and then back again as a sort of kick-start.

I chose the hard drive and changed to "no access for everyone" and then i wanted to change back to "read and write". I did not consider that "no access for everyone" would also mean me - any and all icons on my desktop disappeared leaving an empty desktop with the taskbar full of my program icons but i could not access any of them. I have tried numerous reboots in different modes but i have no idea how to get this setting changed back. now for example i rebooted with command-P-R but i can only move the mouse but not click on anything (a bluetooth mouse will let me click on the 4 options though) it is a OSX utility window but i have no idea where to go from there. for purposes of showing what i set i have made a screenshot on my imac.

any help would be great!

thanks in advance for taking the time!

mAd

 

[mAd66]

ok. 190 views. well like i am sometimes "forced" to think: hope for the best expect the worst..... ill be talking to my local apple workshop this morning.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't know if a re-installation of macOS on top of your current system would help or not. If someone says it won't I wouldn't be surprised.

Permissions are tricky and more complicated than the Get Info box might lead one to believe.

For what it's worth this is what my Mojave system drive Get Info section looks like:

 

[christiann]

good morning. this is my first post here.

yesterday i wanted to share files from my macbook pro to my imac - both from 2009/2010 and both are running el capitan 10.11.6. I was having trouble connecting and figured i would change the settings on my macbook pro to something else and then back again as a sort of kick-start.

I chose the hard drive and changed to "no access for everyone" and then i wanted to change back to "read and write". I did not consider that "no access for everyone" would also mean me - any and all icons on my desktop disappeared leaving an empty desktop with the taskbar full of my program icons but i could not access any of them. I have tried numerous reboots in different modes but i have no idea how to get this setting changed back. now for example i rebooted with command-P-R but i can only move the mouse but not click on anything (a bluetooth mouse will let me click on the 4 options though) it is a OSX utility window but i have no idea where to go from there. for purposes of showing what i set i have made a screenshot on my imac.

any help would be great!

thanks in advance for taking the time!

mAd

View attachment 970285

why did you do that?

 

[mAd66]

why did you do that?

thank you so much for your reply...... ähhmmm, well i believe the answer to your question is in my initial post in this thread. i chose to post here @ macrumors because it seems like a very serious platform for mac users. i am hoping for a reply to my question or some advice how to deal with my mistake. it seems i unfortunately did some sort of harikiri with my hard drive but if i indeed wanted someone to additionally turn the blade adding insult to injury, so to theoretically speak, i would have posted below a youtube video on the subject or something similar. thanks anyways. best regards, mAd ps. i will be bringing my macbook to an authorized mac workshop today to see if they can help.

 

[mAd66]

Permissions are tricky and more complicated than the Get Info box might lead one to believe.

thank you brian. so so painfully true. a simple warning window, "you are about to destroy your macbook pro 4ever" should have, in my opinion, appeared...... wishful thinking eh?!

 

[christiann]

thank you brian. so so painfully true. a simple warning window, "you are about to destroy your macbook pro 4ever" should have, in my opinion, appeared...... wishful thinking eh?!

did you fix it?