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HD permissions problem

M

MatthewCobb

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 7, 2005
202
0
Manchester, UK
Have just spent nearly 3 hours chatting with Apple Support both online and then on a very long phone call, with no resolution.

I have two identical iMacs running 10.13.1, including the latest root security patch. On both machines (one is at home), despite being an admin, I cannot save to the Hard Disk, which is Read Only, nor can I change the permissions. It says I don’t have the necessary permissions.

Desktop access is fine. We have tried everything the Senior Advisor could think of (Disk Utility, repairing permissions via Terminal, enabling the Root user etc etc) but the problem persists. (Root can’t change the permissions on the HD either, neither could a test admin account we set up). They are now escalating this to engineering, which will take couple of days, they say.

I don’t know when the problem developed (I generally save documents to Dropbox, which isn’t affected as it is on the Desktop), but my laptop still has 10.12 and is behaving normally. My bet is that it is the 10.13.1 root patch.

Has anyone else noticed this, and if so have you found a solution, or does anyone have any ideas (apart from wiping everything and doing a Time Machine restore)…
 
I have a solution for you.
It will take time and it will be involved.

What I recommend:

1. You'll need ALL of the following:
- an external drive
- CarbonCopyCloner (FREE to download and use for 30 days)
- a USB flashdrive 16gb (or larger)
- FREE software app named "Boot Buddy"
- a fresh copy of the High Sierra installer

What to do next:
- initialize the flashdrive to HFS+ with journaling enabled
- use Boot Buddy to create a BOOTABLE USB flashdrive installer of High Sierra (do this on the "good Mac" if necessary)
- when it's done, put it aside for the moment

Next:
- Use CarbonCopyCloner to clone the contents of the internal drive of "the problem Mac" to the external drive
- Set this aside for the moment

Next:
- Boot the [problem] Mac using the USB flashdrive installer, but DON'T start the install yet
- Instead, open Disk Utility and ERASE the internal drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
NUKE IT!
- Now, quit Disk Utility, reopen the installer, and install a fresh copy of High Sierra onto the internal drive
- At the close of the install, begin the setup procedure
- At the appropriate moment, setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate data from another Mac or drive
- Connect the CCC cloned backup and "aim" setup assistant at the backup drive
- Select to bring over everything -- apps, accounts, settings, data
- Let setup assistant "do its thing".
- When SA is done, login to your desktop.

How are things now?
If you try this and it works, you owe me dinner.
 
Fishrrman said:
I have a solution for you.
It will take time and it will be involved.

What I recommend:

1. You'll need ALL of the following:
- an external drive
- CarbonCopyCloner (FREE to download and use for 30 days)
- a USB flashdrive 16gb (or larger)
- FREE software app named "Boot Buddy"
- a fresh copy of the High Sierra installer

What to do next:
- initialize the flashdrive to HFS+ with journaling enabled
- use Boot Buddy to create a BOOTABLE USB flashdrive installer of High Sierra (do this on the "good Mac" if necessary)
- when it's done, put it aside for the moment

Next:
- Use CarbonCopyCloner to clone the contents of the internal drive of "the problem Mac" to the external drive
- Set this aside for the moment

Next:
- Boot the [problem] Mac using the USB flashdrive installer, but DON'T start the install yet
- Instead, open Disk Utility and ERASE the internal drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
NUKE IT!
- Now, quit Disk Utility, reopen the installer, and install a fresh copy of High Sierra onto the internal drive
- At the close of the install, begin the setup procedure
- At the appropriate moment, setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate data from another Mac or drive
- Connect the CCC cloned backup and "aim" setup assistant at the backup drive
- Select to bring over everything -- apps, accounts, settings, data
- Let setup assistant "do its thing".
- When SA is done, login to your desktop.

How are things now?
If you try this and it works, you owe me dinner.
Click to expand...

I think that's what OP want to avoid at this moment - format the drive and restore. And if his recovery partition still working (It should), there is no need to make thing so complicated. Just boot to recovery partition, format the drive, and restore from his time machine backup.

Anyway, to OP. Did you try disable SIP? I don't think it can really help. However, what I notice on my Mac is that SIP claim it's enabled after the security update (I disabled it intentionally for a long time), but it is not. I can still alter the system files.

So, just in case, if your SIP is the other way around (protection expended beyond system files), disable SIP may help.
 
MatthewCobb said:
Have just spent nearly 3 hours chatting with Apple Support both online and then on a very long phone call, with no resolution.

I have two identical iMacs running 10.13.1, including the latest root security patch. On both machines (one is at home), despite being an admin, I cannot save to the Hard Disk, which is Read Only, nor can I change the permissions. It says I don’t have the necessary permissions.

Desktop access is fine. We have tried everything the Senior Advisor could think of (Disk Utility, repairing permissions via Terminal, enabling the Root user etc etc) but the problem persists. (Root can’t change the permissions on the HD either, neither could a test admin account we set up). They are now escalating this to engineering, which will take couple of days, they say.

I don’t know when the problem developed (I generally save documents to Dropbox, which isn’t affected as it is on the Desktop), but my laptop still has 10.12 and is behaving normally. My bet is that it is the 10.13.1 root patch.

Has anyone else noticed this, and if so have you found a solution, or does anyone have any ideas (apart from wiping everything and doing a Time Machine restore)…
Click to expand...

Your first thought should be why is this happening on your two Macs but not on the millions of other Macs out there? And, when did the issue begin? For example, did you follow any instructions on the Internet to enable your root user and set a password prior to Apple releasing a fix for the root bug? If so, and that's about when the issue started, then you need to follow your footsteps back and possibly post exactly what commands that you executed to enable the root user and set a password prior to the root bug patch and then what you did to disable the root account after the root bug patch was applied to your Macs.
 
No I haven’t done anything, and one of the advisors I spoke to said they had this on other machines.
[doublepost=1512548025][/doublepost]
MatthewCobb said:
Have just spent nearly 3 hours chatting with Apple Support both online and then on a very long phone call, with no resolution.

I have two identical iMacs running 10.13.1, including the latest root security patch. On both machines (one is at home), despite being an admin, I cannot save to the Hard Disk, which is Read Only, nor can I change the permissions. It says I don’t have the necessary permissions.

Desktop access is fine. We have tried everything the Senior Advisor could think of (Disk Utility, repairing permissions via Terminal, enabling the Root user etc etc) but the problem persists. (Root can’t change the permissions on the HD either, neither could a test admin account we set up). They are now escalating this to engineering, which will take couple of days, they say.

I don’t know when the problem developed (I generally save documents to Dropbox, which isn’t affected as it is on the Desktop), but my laptop still has 10.12 and is behaving normally. My bet is that it is the 10.13.1 root patch.

Has anyone else noticed this, and if so have you found a solution, or does anyone have any ideas (apart from wiping everything and doing a Time Machine restore)…
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1512548226][/doublepost]Interestingly, I can drag items from the desktop and drop them into the GD (though it asks for a pw), and I can save a file to a folder within the HD But I can’t save to the top of the HD, nor canI (or anyone) change the permissions on the HD. As to the drastic suggestions down-thread, I’ll wait fir Engineering to respond. Its an irritation, no more, at the moment.
 
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