Very Frustrated with OS X Privileges

[cutman1000]

I am getting very frustrated with the privileges (or lack there of) in OS X. My user is the administrator, but for some reason I don't have control of my OS X partition. I can't index it in Sherlock, and when I try to empty the trash (delete the old version of Sharity) it says "Operation could not be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges." I also can't save movies from Quicktime Pro to my hard drive.

Can someone help me out with this stuff? I am the only user of my computer...I should have all the privileges that I want!!! How can I fix this crap? Thanks.

cutman

[Tom Kroening]

Well, i hear your pain. It takes a while to get used to the whole priv thing but you will. In my eyes apple still has a ways to go to get its copy working right.. something always fails. But anyhow. You should save all your personal stuff to your user directory only. The only thing you don't put in your user dir are apps if you want everyone to be able to use them. Nothing goes to the root level of your disk because you can't remove it unless you use the root account. Now to undo what you've done jsut read up on the terminal or login as root (you must enable it first www.macosxhints.com). Good luck...

[christian]

You don't need to enable root access to delete a file. You just need to "su" for the delete opeation.

Open "Terminal"

Locate the file.

Delete it using:

sudo rm -f <filename>

[pbrice]

Are you trying to manipulate things that were installed or created before you loaded OS X or in 9.1 (not Classic)?

I've found that since I have the OS X partition and one from 9.1, I basically have two (2) computers. Sure I can see 9.1 docs and apps form OS X (and vice versa), but you can't delete 9.1 docs apps when in OS X. In order to delete them, I've had to reboot into 9.1.

This may seem a little odd, especially from a Mac users point of view, but remember, OS X in set-up to be Multiuser from the start. Even though you may be the only user, and are the admin, when you are logged in to OS X, you are the admn of OS X, not the 9.1 partition. Same thing for the reverse. When you are booted into 9.1, your are in your 9.1 computer, and OS X docs/files will deny you priveledges as well. The two (2) partitions have no idea that you are the same person, at this point. It makes sense, really, but can be a little frustrating.

Good luck!

[Tom Kroening]

Yeah, like i said read up on the terminal if you don't know how to use it or enable root and login (in aqua) and fix your stuff. Its probably the easiest way to do it.

[bigbadbill]

I'd like to add that in my opinion Apple's privileges, permissions and authentications SUCK ASS!!! Can they be any more difficult to understand and operate. Not to mention Apple hasn't provided so much as a shred of documentaion or support to help us deal with this. I am fed up! One day I can log into other computers on my network and the next day authentication fails. One day I create a file, and the next day I can't delete it. Even logging in as root does nothing for me. This sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fahrvergnuugen]

anyone who says that UNIX's privileges "suck ass" is clueless. Learn how to use your computer, don't bash something you obviously know nothing about.

man chmod & chown

OSX is secure which is a good thing.

[boi]

how many OS X users do you think know what chmod is? how many users are angry at their computer because they cannot delete a program they just installed because their computer won't let them. "you do not have permission to do this". i get pretty peeved when i see that. especially when i can't empty my trash. permissions are spastic. sometimes i can do stuff, but when i log out/back in, i can move/edit the file. from a typical computer user's standpoint, this totally sucks and should be fixed. OS X was built so you wouldn't have to mess with the terminal unless you wanted to, but it's kind of a requirement.