Followed instructions on this forum and made my computer worse. Help! :(

[LittleRedRiding]

I followed the advice in this: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=13084113&#post13084113

Terminal is not that scary. Open Terminal and type the following

sudo chown -R [B]YourShortName[/B] .

Replace YourShortName with your username, which is generally the same as what is written on the home folder in Finder in the sidebar. Usually has a house icon. Then enter a space afterward and a dot. The dot represents the current directory you are in, which will be your home folder.

After entering the command, it will ask for your password. As you enter it in, there will be no feedback, no asterisks, just keep typing and hit enter when it's in. it'll take a little time to run depending how many files are there.

If any errors come up, copy and paste them into a post here. the command itself changes the owner of the files (ch=change, own=owner). The -R means it's recursive so everything in your home folder will have its owner property changed to your username.

and now I don't have permission to do anything. If I try to save a picture I get told I don't have permission. What should I do?

 

[chrfr]

I followed the advice in this: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=13084113&#post13084113




and now I don't have permission to do anything. If I try to save a picture I get told I don't have permission. What should I do?

Did you actually use the text "YourShortName" in the terminal? If so, you need to repeat the command with the short name of your own account on the computer, as explained in the instructions.

 

[StealthscrapE]

Just to clarify, if you are using leopard or snow leopard (and probably other OSX versions); Click finder, and the icon with the house followed by a name should be the short name/username they are talking about.

 

[LittleRedRiding]

Did you actually use the text "YourShortName" in the terminal? If so, you need to repeat the command with the short name of your own account on the computer, as explained in the instructions.

No, changed it to my name that is used as the user on the computer.

 

[Hansr]

You most likely used the user name as apposed to the short user name?

Try using this, it does the same via GUI: http://www.macchampion.com/arbysoft/BatchMod/Welcome.html