My Desktop Is Locked!!!!! Help!!!! Please!!!

[manny_festo]

I recently downloaded a music production program (FXpansion Guru) onto my desktop. Out of nowhere all the files on my desktop dissappeared. When I try to open it i get: "The folder "Desktop" could not be opened because you do not have sufficient access privileges." I tried to repair disk permissions but no luck... I have OS X 10.3.9... I would be extremely greatful if anyone can help.

Thnk you..

[simbalala]

Start terminal and type ls -al

(When Terminal starts you should be in your home directory.)

The result should look something like this for Desktop:

drwx------ 25 somename somename 850 Aug 16 21:03 Desktop

Let us know if it reads: drwx------

[manny_festo]

This is my whole conversation so far in a different forum. Here's where I'm at:
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ME

Today, 06:44 PM

I recently downloaded a music production program (FXpansion Guru) onto my desktop. Out of nowhere all the files on my desktop dissappeared. When I try to open it i get: "The folder "Desktop" could not be opened because you do not have sufficient access privileges." I tried to repair disk permissions but no luck... I would be extremely greatful if anyone can help.


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THEM

Which permissions did you try to repair again? Oh, you fixed it. Dang. j/k

The file you downloaded is very possibly corrupted. Or more likely, it got expanded into a corrupted folder. Open a Terminal window. Type:

cd Desktop
ls -l

Note that if the command were all uppercase, the second command would be "LS -L". This will navigate to your Desktop folder, and give a complete file list. Highlight the file you downloaded (including extension) and hit command-c to copy to the clipboard. Then type the following command to delete the file:

rm filename.extension

... except paste in the real filename. This deletes the file, "rm" is short for remove. If it complains that the file is actually a directory with files inside, then use this command:

rm -r foldername.extension

The "-r" flag makes the command recursive, it will jump into the folder and get anything inside, then remove the folder as well. If Terminal complains that the file is busy, or something like that, add the "-f" flag to force deletion. ie:

rm -rf foldername.extension

If it still gives you guff about not having enough priviliges to delete the file, type:

sudo rm -rf foldername.extension

Terminal will ask for an administrator password.

Once the problem folder is gone, relaunch the Finder. If you haven't installed the Quit command to the Finder using various utilities, then call up the Force-Quit dialog. Option-Command-Escape. Quitting the Finder through this dialog will cause it to relaunch. The Desktop should appear as usual.
__________________



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ME
Today, 07:28 PM

This is what I got from the first command (cd Desktop):

Last login: Wed Aug 16 20:22:22 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ cd Desktop
-bash: cd: Desktop: Permission denied
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$

----But when I gave the second command (ls -l) this is what came up..

Last login: Wed Aug 16 20:22:22 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ cd Desktop
-bash: cd: Desktop: Permission denied
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ ls -l
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 3 cleanuse admin 102 14 Aug 16:18 Applications
drwx------ 23 501 501 782 15 Aug 14:08 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 1882 cleanuse admin 63988 15 Aug 15:26 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 64 cleanuse admin 2176 29 Jul 12:39 Incomplete
drwxr-xr-x 19 cleanuse admin 646 7 Jul 2005 JayZ Fade To Black1
drwx------ 33 cleanuse admin 1122 14 Feb 2006 Library
drwxr-xr-x 6 cleanuse admin 204 7 Jul 2005 Million.Dollar.Baby.LiMITED.DVD.SCREENER.XViD-MPAA
drwxr-xr-x 11 cleanuse admin 374 22 Jun 14:45 Movies
drwxrwxrwx 9 cleanuse admin 306 21 Jul 2005 Music
drwxr-xr-x 5 cleanuse admin 170 23 Oct 2005 Napoleon Dynamite - 02 -
drwxr-xr-x 56 cleanuse admin 1904 19 Jul 2005 Napoleon.Dynamite.2004.PROPER.DVDSCR.XViD-TWiST
-rw-r--r-- 1 cleanuse admin 0 14 Feb 2006 Opera 7 Preferences.new
drwxr-xr-x 12 cleanuse admin 408 17 Jun 00:40 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 10 cleanuse admin 340 6 Jul 2005 Sin City
drwxr-xr-x 18 cleanuse admin 612 6 Jul 2005 The Wire - season 1 complete
drwxr-xr-x 17 cleanuse admin 578 6 Jul 2005 The Wire - season 3 complete
-rw-r--r-- 1 cleanuse admin 0 7 Jul 2005 kjs-napdyn.avi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 8 17 Jun 00:45 loc.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 40 17 Jun 00:45 tmp1.txt


-----I notice that where it should say (cleanuse admin) it says (501 501) instead. Do you think this could be part of the problem?


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THEM
Today, 07:48 PM

Yeah, it should show the same owner/group as the rest of your files. Scratch my advice on deleting stuff, the owner got changed on your Desktop folder. Did you rename your home folder recently, or change your user name in Accounts?

Anyway, to try a quick fix, type:

chown cleanuse Desktop

chown = change owner. If it wants more permissions to do this, then:

sudo chown cleanuse Desktop

As usual, using sudo will cause it to ask for an admin password.

note: 501 is the dafault UID for the first user created. If you haven't edited the Accounts, it will be the admin user created right after a fresh OS install.
__________________



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ME
Today, 07:59 PM

Ok so I gave the command and then it asked me for my password.
The problem is when I try to type the password the letters aren't there as if my keyboard is unresponsive. so this is what it looks like now...

Last login: Wed Aug 16 20:23:58 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ chown cleanuse Desktop
chown: cleanuse: Invalid argument
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ sudo chown Desktop
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
usage: chown [-fhv] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] owner[:group] file ...
chown [-fhv] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$


----Is my password supposed to be invisible?




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THEM
Today, 08:07 PM

Yes. Terminal usually doesn't show anything, where a browser shows ****** in place of the password.
__________________





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ME
Today, 08:10 PM

Where do I go from here? So should I relaunch my finder or restart my computer or something to see if this worked?
And if it does or not I appreciate you taking the time to help.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
CharlesS

Quote:
Originally Posted by manny_festo
Ok so I gave the command and then it asked me for my password.
The problem is when I try to type the password the letters aren't there as if my keyboard is unresponsive. so this is what it looks like now...

Last login: Wed Aug 16 20:23:58 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ chown cleanuse Desktop
chown: cleanuse: Invalid argument
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ sudo chown Desktop
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
usage: chown [-fhv] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] owner[:group] file ...
chown [-fhv] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$


----Is my password supposed to be invisible?
Instead of "sudo chown Desktop" you need to:

sudo chown cleanuse:admin Desktop
__________________


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ME
Today, 08:16 PM

hmmm.. I tried this and I typed my password but then it reads: invalid argument
I must say, this is a pretty frustrating situation. I'm arguing with my computer and my computer is winning.


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ME
Today, 08:31 PM

Yesterday I was in another forum that said to type in the terminal :
ls -la

andthis is what I got:

total 56
drwx------ 25 cleanuse admin 850 15 Aug 15:01 .
drwxrwxr-t 7 root admin 238 15 Aug 16:19 ..
-rw------- 1 cleanuse admin 15364 15 Aug 18:06 .DS_Store
drwx------ 290 cleanuse admin 9860 15 Aug 14:06 .Trash
-rw------- 1 cleanuse admin 1686 16 Aug 21:24 .bash_history
drwxr-xr-x 13 cleanuse admin 442 22 Jun 14:44 .dvdcss
drwxr-xr-x 3 cleanuse admin 102 14 Aug 16:18 Applications
drwx------ 23 501 501 782 15 Aug 14:08 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 1882 cleanuse admin 63988 15 Aug 15:26 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 64 cleanuse admin 2176 29 Jul 12:39 Incomplete
drwxr-xr-x 19 cleanuse admin 646 7 Jul 2005 JayZ Fade To Black1
drwx------ 33 cleanuse admin 1122 14 Feb 2006 Library
drwxr-xr-x 6 cleanuse admin 204 7 Jul 2005 Million.Dollar.Baby.LiMITED.DVD.SCREENER.XViD-MPAA
drwxr-xr-x 11 cleanuse admin 374 22 Jun 14:45 Movies
drwxrwxrwx 9 cleanuse admin 306 21 Jul 2005 Music
drwxr-xr-x 5 cleanuse admin 170 23 Oct 2005 Napoleon Dynamite - 02 -
drwxr-xr-x 56 cleanuse admin 1904 19 Jul 2005 Napoleon.Dynamite.2004.PROPER.DVDSCR.XViD-TWiST
-rw-r--r-- 1 cleanuse admin 0 14 Feb 2006 Opera 7 Preferences.new
drwxr-xr-x 12 cleanuse admin 408 17 Jun 00:40 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 10 cleanuse admin 340 6 Jul 2005 Sin City
drwxr-xr-x 18 cleanuse admin 612 6 Jul 2005 The Wire - season 1 complete
drwxr-xr-x 17 cleanuse admin 578 6 Jul 2005 The Wire - season 3 complete
-rw-r--r-- 1 cleanuse admin 0 7 Jul 2005 kjs-napdyn.avi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 8 17 Jun 00:45 loc.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 40 17 Jun 00:45 tmp1.txt

____ I notice in this one, towards the top, it says :

drwxrwxr-t 7 root admin 238 15 Aug 16:19 ..

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THEM
Today, 08:42 PM

Adding the "-a" flag to an ls command causes it to list invisible items too. That is, items that begin with a period. The "." item is a shortcut to the folder you are already in. The ".." is a shortcut to the next folder up, in this case the Users folder. The Users folder is supposed to be owned by root, so you can ignore that part of the listing.

CharlesS is correct, the longer command he gave fixes both owner and group at the same time. I'd given the shorter change-owner-only version in hopes of keeping things simpler. Once the Finder can get owner access again, you can usually change the group using the more familiar Get Info pane.

So is it accepting CharlesS's version? If not, what does Terminal have to say about it?
__________________

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ME
Today, 08:47 PM

Last login: Wed Aug 16 21:27:34 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ sudo chown cleanuse:admin Desktop
Password:
chown: cleanuse: Invalid argument
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$

no luck....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
THEM

It looks like the username "cleanuse" isn't a valid account.

Try typing:

whoami
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[manny_festo]

OK so... When I typed ls -al this came up:

Last login: Wed Aug 16 22:00:12 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ ls -al
total 56
drwx------ 25 cleanuse admin 850 15 Aug 15:01 .
drwxrwxr-t 7 root admin 238 15 Aug 16:19 ..
-rw------- 1 cleanuse admin 15364 15 Aug 18:06 .DS_Store
drwx------ 290 cleanuse admin 9860 15 Aug 14:06 .Trash
-rw------- 1 cleanuse admin 1830 16 Aug 22:01 .bash_history
drwxr-xr-x 13 cleanuse admin 442 22 Jun 14:44 .dvdcss
drwxr-xr-x 3 cleanuse admin 102 14 Aug 16:18 Applications
drwx------ 23 cleanuse admin 782 15 Aug 14:08 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x 1882 cleanuse admin 63988 15 Aug 15:26 Documents
drwxr-xr-x 64 cleanuse admin 2176 29 Jul 12:39 Incomplete
drwxr-xr-x 19 cleanuse admin 646 7 Jul 2005 JayZ Fade To Black1
drwx------ 33 cleanuse admin 1122 14 Feb 2006 Library
drwxr-xr-x 6 cleanuse admin 204 7 Jul 2005 Million.Dollar.Baby.LiMITED.DVD.SCREENER.XViD-MPAA
drwxr-xr-x 11 cleanuse admin 374 22 Jun 14:45 Movies
drwxrwxrwx 9 cleanuse admin 306 21 Jul 2005 Music
drwxr-xr-x 5 cleanuse admin 170 23 Oct 2005 Napoleon Dynamite - 02 -
drwxr-xr-x 56 cleanuse admin 1904 19 Jul 2005 Napoleon.Dynamite.2004.PROPER.DVDSCR.XViD-TWiST
-rw-r--r-- 1 cleanuse admin 0 14 Feb 2006 Opera 7 Preferences.new
drwxr-xr-x 12 cleanuse admin 408 17 Jun 00:40 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x 10 cleanuse admin 340 6 Jul 2005 Sin City
drwxr-xr-x 18 cleanuse admin 612 6 Jul 2005 The Wire - season 1 complete
drwxr-xr-x 17 cleanuse admin 578 6 Jul 2005 The Wire - season 3 complete
-rw-r--r-- 1 cleanuse admin 0 7 Jul 2005 kjs-napdyn.avi
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 8 17 Jun 00:45 loc.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 40 17 Jun 00:45 tmp1.txt
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$


I notice this line towards the top... I have a feeling that this is the problem...

drwxrwxr-t 7 root admin 238 15 Aug 16:19 ..

[simbalala]

Your username appears to be cleanuser, just look at the command line prompt, the listing is truncating your name which is normal.

repeat the chown commands you were given using the real name 'cleanuser'.

[simbalala]

No, the

drwxrwxr-t 7 root admin

is perfectly normal, I have the same.

[manny_festo]

Ok.. this is what I got. and It didn't say "invalid argument". This should be some sort of progress. what next?

Last login: Wed Aug 16 22:17:51 on ttyp1
Welcome to Darwin!
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$ sudo chown cleanuser:admin Desktop
Password:
Macintosh:~ cleanuser$

[simbalala]

Can you see the Desktop yet? The last listing seemed to show that you've changed the owner.