Administrator permissions and other questions.

[Glorglab]

I just got a Macbook and whenever I'm saving files or moving files it either asks me for my password or says I don't have permission. I just used a picture editing application to make a blue square to set as my desktop and it said I didn't have permission to save it. I only have one account on this computer so I don't know what the problem is. Can someone help me out?

EDIT:
Thank you for trying to help, guys. It appears the OS just doesn't want to let me do what I want to do. I have a couple of other problems that you might be able to solve.

1. When I'm in full screen, I am not able to minimize a window, and the bar at the top disappears.
2. When I'm not in full screen, I can't adjust the window size.
3. When I change file extensions, the files become completely unusable. (I changed a .paint to a .png and it wouldn't let me use it. I had to change it back to .paint, open .paint and resave the file as a .png. Huge pain.)

Any help is appreciated.

 

[LV426]

I just got a Macbook and whenever I'm saving files or moving files it either asks me for my password or says I don't have permission. I just used a picture editing application to make a blue square to set as my desktop and it said I didn't have permission to save it. I only have one account on this computer so I don't know what the problem is. Can someone help me out?

I would try running the Disk utility to "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk Permissions". See if that fixes things.

 

[Shirasaki]

Would it be convenient to know which version of OS X is shipped with your new MacBook?

Regards.

 

[Daniva]

I just got a Macbook and whenever I'm saving files or moving files it either asks me for my password or says I don't have permission. I just used a picture editing application to make a blue square to set as my desktop and it said I didn't have permission to save it. I only have one account on this computer so I don't know what the problem is. Can someone help me out?

Try to repair your Home Directory permissions:
Restart your Mac and hold Command + R to boot in Recovery Mode.
Select Utilities on the menu bar and then Terminal. Type reset password into the Terminal and press Enter.
Click the hard drive and select the user account.
At the bottom of the window, click the Reset button under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs.
Restart your Mac when you’re done.

 

[mw360]

I just got a Macbook and whenever I'm saving files or moving files it either asks me for my password or says I don't have permission. I just used a picture editing application to make a blue square to set as my desktop and it said I didn't have permission to save it. I only have one account on this computer so I don't know what the problem is. Can someone help me out?

In which folder were you trying to save it?

 

[Glorglab]

I'm trying to save it in the Solid Colors folder under Desktop Pictures. I'm running Yosemite 10.10.5.

 

[mw360]

I'm trying to save it in the Solid Colors folder under Desktop Pictures. I'm running Yosemite 10.10.5.

Okay, on a Mac you can't write to folder outside our your own 'home folder' ie /Users/<your_name>

Everything outside of your own folder is protected so you don't mess something up, or so that your tinkering doesn't impact other users of the computer. Normally you would save your stuff in your home folder.

I can see you're just trying to add some new wallpapers. I'm not at a Mac right now but I assume the preferences app will let you select a wallpaper from your home folder instead.

You could of course just type in the password to save where you are trying to save but doing that isn't guaranteed to work as expected. For one thing, changes you make to system folder could be lost if you update your OS, and the files may not get backed up in the way you expect.

When you're installing new software you'll also be promoted to authorise, but in that case you can go ahead and do it. It will install them in the Applications folder.

 

[Glorglab]

Yes, this is my problem. It won't let me modify certain folders. Is there any way around this?

 

[DeltaMac]

If you have a graphic file that you want to use for a desktop picture, you don't need to place that in the /Library folder at all. Just right click, and choose Services, then Services, then Set Desktop Picture.
And - done.

But, even El Capitan doesn't prevent you from moving a graphic file to /Library/Desktop Pictures folder.
The Finder DOES require you to enter your admin password. So drag your desired graphic to /Library/Desktop Pictures/Solid Colors, and you should see the window with:
"Modifying “Solid Colors” requires an administrator name and password."
Enter your password, and done.

I don't use FileVault, so I wonder if that is an additional obstacle?

 

[ApfelKuchen]

There are always a minimum of two accounts - the Administrator account that you probably setup with your name, and the Guest User account. Make sure you're not signed into Guest.

Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups. That will show you what account is signed in, whether that account has Admin rights, and what other accounts exist.

 

[mw360]

Once you've set things up the way you want them it will probably stop being a problem. In your day to day usage, as I said, your own files and preferences will go in your home folder. Most of your system configuration and customisation can happen through the UI. Poking around in the system folders is only likely to be something you need to do when installing a big cross-platform app like Maya or something. I suspect you're coming from Windows which I recall was pretty lax about keeping system and user data apart. You will be thankful after a while ;-)

 

[Glorglab]

Thank you for trying to help, guys. It appears the OS just doesn't want to let me do what I want to do. I have a couple of other problems that you might be able to solve.

1. When I'm in full screen, I am not able to minimize a window, and the bar at the top disappears.
2. When I'm not in full screen, I can't adjust the window size.
3. When I change file extensions, the files become completely unusable. (I changed a .paint to a .png and it wouldn't let me use it. I had to change it back to .paint, open .paint and resave the file as a .png. Huge pain.)

Any help is appreciated.

 

[mw360]

Thank you for trying to help, guys. It appears the OS just doesn't want to let me do what I want to do.

Yes, you will meet a lot of this. Most of it though is for solid reasons, including security. It's likely that want you want to do isn't the correct Mac way to achieve your goals anyway. There is likely a more appropriate way to do what you need.

I have a couple of other problems that you might be able to solve.

1. When I'm in full screen, I am not able to minimize a window, and the bar at the top disappears.
2. When I'm not in full screen, I can't adjust the window size.
3. When I change file extensions, the files become completely unusable. (I changed a .paint to a .png and it wouldn't let me use it. I had to change it back to .paint, open .paint and resave the file as a .png. Huge pain.)

Any help is appreciated.

1. Full screen mode is a mixed blessing. Some apps don't suit it. The bar at the top should reappear when your mouse hits the top of the screen.

2. You may be trying to drag in the wrong place. Try a different corner.

3. Don't change the extension. A Mac Paint file isn't a PNG so changing the extension will only confuse you and your apps. The cases where changing the extension does something useful are rare. If you need a PNG you should save it as a PNG.

 

[Glorglab]

So basically just do what Apple tells me to do. Got it.

Thanks for your help, mw360!

 

[motrek]

So basically just do what Apple tells me to do. Got it.

Thanks for your help, mw360!

"Do what Apple tells you to do" is a mischaracterization of what's going on.

Every operating system has files and directories that aren't supposed to be modified by users for various reasons (security, stability, etc.).

Windows does exactly the same thing. If you try to copy/move/delete files in C:\Windows it will ask you for your password. Does that mean you just have to do what Microsoft tells you to do too?

Also, file name extensions are a part of the file name and simply indicate what kind of file that file is.

If you change the extension, you are just changing the file's name, and not the contents of the file, so basically you just mess up the information about what type of file it is. You shouldn't do that and you shouldn't expect anything to work right after you do that.

This is the case with any computer and any operating system. It has been that way on all operating systems since the mid 60s. It has nothing to do with Apple.