How to access folders owned by another user on 10.4

[wad11656]

Hey there!

Well, we have this 10.4.11 Mac OS X iBook G4, but I have NEVER been able to figure out how to access folders owned by other users!! (Folders with the red "(-)" symbol on them):

On 10.5, it's REALLY simple. Just right-click, "Get Info," unlock, and Read & Write! It's really nice.

But it doesn't seem to work that way on 10.4. There are so many options after clicking "Get Info," and all I want to do is be able to read and write! I am trying to change the permissions within an administrator's account. Here's what I tried in order to access the other user's folder:

Then on the drop-down lists, there are TONS of groups/owners you can choose from and many of them are just gibberish to me. Even after setting everything for Read & Write, I still can't access the folder and its contents! It doesn't make much sense to me.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the owner of the non-administrator account whose folders I am trying to access is away at college [and obviously won't reveal their password].

Oh--I also don't want to just copy the entire folder to a public or shared folder or whatever 'cause that would take up tons of space

How do I access others' folders?
~~~
Thanks in advance!

 

[jzuena]

Oh--I also don't want to just copy the entire folder to a public or shared folder or whatever 'cause that would take up tons of space

How do I access others' folders?
~~~
Thanks in advance!

I think the closest that 10.4 comes to working like 10.5 is to change the Others drop-down to Read & Write. That would be like changing the everyone drop-down from No Access to Read & Write in 10.5. 10.4 is actually more like the underlying Unix interface, so from your administrator's account the same thing can be done from terminal:

sudo su - (you will be prompted for your password)
cd /Users/{account you are snooping on}
chmod -R o+rwx {directory you want to snoop on}

This changes you to the root account (so be careful), changes to the home directory of whoever you are snooping on, and changes whatever directory you give and all of its files and subdirectories to allow read and write access to everyone (the o stands for other users). Using the -R is similar to clicking on the "Apply to enclosed items..." button, so leave the -R off if you weren't planning on changing the permission on every file as well as every subdirectory when making the directory read+write.