A friend of mine has a MacBook Pro and it's not allowing her to install apps. She has only one account, which is obviously the admin account. When an app is dragged to the applications folder, a pop-up says that she does not have sufficient privileges to replace all items. The computer was given to her by her employer, who set everything up for her, but did not intend for this problem to occur. Any ideas on what her problem could be?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Admin account doesn't have sufficient privileges to intall apps?
- Thread starter swindmill
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I would check with her employer. There's obviously some block set-up that disallows her to add new programs.
I'm not sure how the employer set it up, but it's possible to have the root account enabled, which doesn't show up by default, and to have no visible admin accounts on the system. So it's possible and in fact likely that she doesn't have admin privs - or that someone goofed and installed software using the root account and with the wrong permissions.
The first thing I'd check (in System Preferences) is that it's definitely an admin account.
If so, I'd repair disk permissions in case the applications folder has incorrect permissions set.
If so, I'd repair disk permissions in case the applications folder has incorrect permissions set.
It is definitely the admin account she is on. She told me that when her employer set it up, he used the same account name and password on all the employee's machines and then told her to change the account to a username of her choice and set her own password. So, she just transferred his account to a new username and reset the password. Could this be where the problem originated? Her account is presently the only one listed in System Preferences, and I do not believe that he set up a root account to intentionally prevent her from making changes because he has actually suggested that she install certain apps. I only attempted to replace Firefox with the latest update, so is it also possible that it is specific to FF, due to the way it was installed?
I will tell her to repair permissions, as that seems like the most obvious fix . . .
I will tell her to repair permissions, as that seems like the most obvious fix . . .
An administrator is not root.
Her boss may have set up a chmod on her applications folder which disallows her to install apps.
Her boss may have set up a chmod on her applications folder which disallows her to install apps.