System Hidden folders not hidden

[soundbase]

I have installed 10.5 on an new hard disk for my G5 iMac. After the install I can see the system folders which are meant to be hidden. How can I hide these.

I logged in as root and tried the chflags hidden in terminal, but after hiding the folders that were meant to be hidden it would not boot back into Leopard

 

[r0k]

I have installed 10.5 on an new hard disk for my G5 iMac. After the install I can see the system folders which are meant to be hidden. How can I hide these.

I logged in as root and tried the chflags hidden in terminal, but after hiding the folders that were meant to be hidden it would not boot back into Leopard

Were those folders hurting your eyes? Were they as annoying as not being able to boot? Clearly hindsight is 20/20 but the terminal as root is no place for you unless you have done your homework UP FRONT. I suggest you never see the # prompt again in your natural life unless you have first taken the time to thoroughly research the results of your actions BEFORE you do them.

When I first got a Mac, I enabled the root account. I used it on and off on my Linux boxes and I assumed I would need to do the same on OS X. I understood after years of Unix sysadmin experience that the # prompt comes with an awesome responsibility. When you are root (or even sudo), you are standing in front of your computer with a loaded bazooka and no safety. OS X isn't going to waste your time asking "are you sure" when you type "\rm -rf *" from /. At that point you would be looking for data recovery utilities. With each successive OS X update, the root account become disabled and after a while I realized I never needed it in the first place. I do sudo from time to time but again it is extremely rare.

You might even get away with booting from the install disk and repairing permissions in disk utility. If that doesn't work, I suggest you reinstall (archive and install) the OS and forget the word sudo and loathe the # prompt like the plague. Then come back to the forums and ask for advice on why those folders were no longer hidden and how to go about hiding them without breaking your Mac BEFORE you do anything.

One thought comes to mind. You might have "show hidden files" turned on in Finder. It's easy enough to turn it back off. The first two things I change on a new Mac or fresh OS X install are "show extensions" and "show hidden files" but that's me.

 

[soundbase]

System Hidden folders not hidden

Thanks for the reply. No need to get petty in your response.

I have had to go into the root account many times before to fix permissions issues which were unable to be resolved in the disk utility and other repair tools.

I have been working with Macs for awhile and do repairs and maintenance on them on a regular basis.

I thought it was strange how the hidden folders were showing, and no "show hidden folders" was not ticked in the Finder.

After much troubleshooting I figured what the issue was. I have 3 x 10.5 Leopard Retail install discs. I tried another disc and it worked perfectly fine, so something was obviously damaged on the disc and it was not completing the installer correctly even though it verified the disk before installing.

Users don't come on this forum to get sarcastic replies. I thought someone else had come across the same issue. I tried searchnig on the web and couldn't find anyone with a similar issue. I have always relied on MacRumors for helpful advice.

 

[wpotere]

Users don't come on this forum to get sarcastic replies. I thought someone else had come across the same issue. I tried searchnig on the web and couldn't find anyone with a similar issue. I have always relied on MacRumors for helpful advice.

Welcome to MacRumors... This site is full of crap level remarks. Glad you got it sorted though.

 

[soundbase]

System Hidden folders not hidden

Thanks wpotere

 

[r0k]

Thanks for the reply. No need to get petty in your response.

I have had to go into the root account many times before to fix permissions issues which were unable to be resolved in the disk utility and other repair tools.

I have been working with Macs for awhile and do repairs and maintenance on them on a regular basis.

I thought it was strange how the hidden folders were showing, and no "show hidden folders" was not ticked in the Finder.

After much troubleshooting I figured what the issue was. I have 3 x 10.5 Leopard Retail install discs. I tried another disc and it worked perfectly fine, so something was obviously damaged on the disc and it was not completing the installer correctly even though it verified the disk before installing.

Users don't come on this forum to get sarcastic replies. I thought someone else had come across the same issue. I tried searchnig on the web and couldn't find anyone with a similar issue. I have always relied on MacRumors for helpful advice.

Sorry you thought my response was sarcastic. Glad you got it sorted. I stand by my suggestion that the root account is to be avoided and used only after the action you are about to take is fully understood.