What are the correct permission settings for the internal hard drive?

[allan.nyholm]

Hello,

So I'm having a little issue with CandyBar not giving me a dialogbox to enter my password when changing the internal harddrive icon. I'm therefore asking what the correct permissions are for the internal harddrive?

Mine are(for Macintosh HD):
system: Read & Write
admin: Read only
everyone: Read only

You can find these settings by choosing Get Info while on the harddrive and go to the bottom of the window and reveal the Sharing & Permissions view.

I recently installed a fresh copy of Leopard by formatting the harddrive first using Disk Utility and then doing a clean install. CandyBar is supposed to ask for admin password upon changing drive icon. And then Finder is supposed to relaunch. None of this happens.

Please help.

To the mods: This is a mix of application troubles and OS X troubles so if a mod feel the need to move the thread then please do.

 

[chaostheory639]

If you ever have any doubt about CORRECT permisions, just repair them with Disk Utility. However, make sure that you (the account running CandyBar) has both read and write provlodges on the HD. If that doesn't work you can change the icon by copying a .icns and clicking on the icon in the get info pane then pasting. Not too hard, seeing you have some knowledge of OS X.

 

[Mal]

Never, EVER, change permission for an entire drive which is running OS X. You will hose your system and for most people that will require a reinstallation of the entire operating system. In fact, don't touch the permissions for any folder you didn't create unless you are 100% certain of what you're doing. That includes, particularly, the Applications, Library, and System folders on your hard drive, as well as generally the Library folder in your home folder. OS X has a fairly complex system of permissions which are very different for files in different locations on the drive, and applying any changes to the entire drive will be disastrous for the operation of the system.

jW

 

[allan.nyholm]

Thanks you two

I have repaired permissions on the drive many times. However I was just puzzled that admin is read only.

the thing that got me wondering was why changing the external drive required admin password while changing the internal drive did not. I think it's time for me to ask CandyBar support team about this particular issue.

 

[Tesselator]

My OS X drive is: admin READ & WRITE

I don't think I've ever changed it so I guess that's the default.

 

[nikomoja]

Permissions Breakdown! HELP!!

Dear All,

I am new to the forum so appreciate all advice.

I seem to have (ignorantly) changed the permissions for my Macintosh HD. When I did this, the computer subsequently froze (spinning ball) while I was running a text app so eventually I shut it down. On attempting to reboot, I have since not been able to access the Admin screen and the start-up freezes on the Apple Icon on grey background (mouse pointer is maneuverable).

I seem to have tried every option: Running Disk Utility in OSX recovery mode: tried verifying and repairing disk and permissions for Macintosh HD to no avail. I have tried Safe Boot (Power + Command + Shift) and that ran half way then failed: back to grey background. Finally I have tried running Single User mode and running file system check with: fsck -fy command. Result:

**blah blah blah
** The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.
*****The volume was modified*****

I ran fsck -fy again and the "The volume was modified" disapeared so I Rebooted but same problem persists. Start-up freezes on the Apple Icon.

Please help! I have not backup my files yet so I am weary to re-install Mountain Lion, also I am currently away from home with terrible internet connection and in urgent need of my laptop for work purposes.

I am using a Macbook Pro retina running OSX Mountain Lion v.10.8 (latest).

Appreciate in advance all help and any advice.

 

[justperry]

Dear All,

I am new to the forum so appreciate all advice.

I seem to have (ignorantly) changed the permissions for my Macintosh HD. When I did this, the computer subsequently froze (spinning ball) while I was running a text app so eventually I shut it down. On attempting to reboot, I have since not been able to access the Admin screen and the start-up freezes on the Apple Icon on grey background (mouse pointer is maneuverable).

I seem to have tried every option: Running Disk Utility in OSX recovery mode: tried verifying and repairing disk and permissions for Macintosh HD to no avail. I have tried Safe Boot (Power + Command + Shift) and that ran half way then failed: back to grey background. Finally I have tried running Single User mode and running file system check with: fsck -fy command. Result:

**blah blah blah
** The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.
*****The volume was modified*****

I ran fsck -fy again and the "The volume was modified" disapeared so I Rebooted but same problem persists. Start-up freezes on the Apple Icon.

Please help! I have not backup my files yet so I am weary to re-install Mountain Lion, also I am currently away from home with terrible internet connection and in urgent need of my laptop for work purposes.

I am using a Macbook Pro retina running OSX Mountain Lion v.10.8 (latest).

Appreciate in advance all help and any advice.

You clearly messed up didn't you.

Boot into Single User Mode, next enter the next commands

fsck -y
mount -uw /

sudo chmod ugo+rwx /

Edit: sudo is most likely not needed, you are already using it as root, so : chmod ugo+rwx /

If this still does not work you have to do it recursively which will change all file permissions on all Folders and files, this will mess up the whole disk permissions, you need to get the data of, reinstall and import data for it to be safe again.

Edit: Just reply to this post if the above did not work and need more assistance.

 

[benwiggy]

Please help! I have not backup my files yet so I am weary to re-install Mountain Lion, also I am currently away from home with terrible internet connection and in urgent need of my laptop for work purposes.

The best solution is to reinstall the OS. This should not affect your user data, which will be left on the disk in a default installation. However, let this be a warning to you about the need to back up your data regularly.

There are too many different files attributes on system files to recursively repair everything. "Repair Permissions" won't help you either.

 

[old-wiz]

I think one reason Apple made the iPhone/iPad/iPod file systems hidden is to prevent people from going in and messing up and resulting in an unworking system.

If you don't really understand *NIX permissions do not ever fool around with disk permissions below your home directory. And never do it without a bootable clone backup.

For that matter always have a bootable clone, period.

 

[justperry]

I think one reason Apple made the iPhone/iPad/iPod file systems hidden is to prevent people from going in and messing up and resulting in an unworking system.

If you don't really understand *NIX permissions do not ever fool around with disk permissions below your home directory. And never do it without a bootable clone backup.

For that matter always have a bootable clone, period.

Nobody can change permission if there is no tool on the iPhone, so a filesystem should be no problem, other phones have/had it without problems.

You are right though about people messing with permission, don't do it unles you know what you do.

 

[benwiggy]

If you don't really understand *NIX permissions do not ever fool around with disk permissions below your home directory.

You are right though about people messing with permission, don't do it unles you know what you do.

Well, I've learnt more from my mistakes than from my successes. In the early days of OS X, I made all kinds of major blunders.
As long as you are prepared to reinstall or restore, hack away!

 

[old-wiz]

Well, I've learnt more from my mistakes than from my successes. In the early days of OS X, I made all kinds of major blunders.
As long as you are prepared to reinstall or restore, hack away!

I made my share of blunders with permissions, but they were long ago with *NIX boxes, the names of which few people here would remember. And I always had backups.

One thing that kept causing problems was installing programs in *NIX that had been ported from other systems. More than once I wanted to smack the developers for wanting special permissions combos.