# change permissions to all files at once



## mickeylou (Mar 13, 2009)

i have a bunch of old files and folders i copied from old external HD into my new Mini (OSX 10.5.6).  now many of them don't have me set as the User.  how do I change permissions for EVERYTHING to make me the User?


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## Tommo (Mar 13, 2009)

You can do a Get Info on the drive, and set the permissions you want and then click on the button next to the '-' and select apply to all enclosed items. You may need to login as root to be able to do this.

An alternative, and this carries a big warning,is to go through the Terminal. cd to the top level of the disk which is usually /Volumes/<volume name> and type the following :

chmod -R 777 * followed by Return and enter your admin password when prompted.

I must stress that you must make sure you are at the TOP LEVEL of the Volume or folder whose permissions you want to change as this will give read/write and execute permissions to everyone on that folder and all sub-folders and files.


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## Mikuro (Mar 13, 2009)

Tommo said:


> chmod -R 777 * followed by Return and enter your admin password when prompted.



Careful there. That will set the permissions on the files to allow full read/write access to ALL users, which is probably not what you want.

To change the owner of the files you should use the *chown* command instead. Something like this should work (not that I've tested it!):

```
sudo chown -R mickeylou /path/to/folder
```
(Where "mickeylou" is the name of an OS X user account.)

That will leave the permissions intact, so if you had files set to deny read or write access to a group or other users, that will still apply.


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## mickeylou (Mar 13, 2009)

i'm a newbie to this scripting bizniz.  where do i enter this info, Mikuro?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Mar 13, 2009)

In the Terminal.


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## mickeylou (Mar 13, 2009)

que?  where's that?  seriously... newbie


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## mickeylou (Mar 13, 2009)

i found an non-scripting run-around.  copy affected files to Sharing folder, then drag them to HD.  all locked permissions assigned to me as User.


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## Mikuro (Mar 13, 2009)

In your Applications folder, go to Utilities, then open Terminal. Type this: "chown -R mickeylou" (again, substitute your OS X user name for "mickeylou", then a space, then drag the files/folders whose permissions you want to change from the Finder onto the Terminal window. The result should look something like this:
	
	



```
chown -R mickeylou /Users/mickeylou/Desktop/some_folder
```
Then hit Return. There is no way to undo this! So unless you're really, really sure this is a good idea, make backups.

Tommo's first suggestion, using the Finder's Get Info window, is probably simpler. Looks like they changed it a little in Leopard, though, so I'm not sure exactly how to do what you need to do that way. Maybe someone else can answer that.

Edit: Nice solution, Mickey!


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## mickeylou (Mar 13, 2009)

okay, thanks boys!  until I'm certain, i may just stick with the Sharing folder option.  but I'll keep this script for future use when I'm feeling cocky.


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## fryke (Mar 13, 2009)

That's the right attitude.


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