Fixing Privileges...

T

The Madhatter

Registered
In a lame attempt to give another computer full access to my computer, I gave everyone read/write privileges and copied to all enclosed folders in OS X. I have been told that I completely messed up the privilege structure of the OS. Does anyone know how to reset all the privileges back to default, even if it means deleting current users and starting the list over? Anything but a reinstall. Is there a way, using NetInfo or something that it's possible to reset or manually specify who can do what?

Assuming other people have run into problems of this nature, someone surely knows how to deal with it. Is it possible to do in the terminal, or NetInfo? Where can one manage the users, besides in Control Panels, which is quite elementary. What does the -fsck or -fshk (I probably mispelled it)command do?

The following persons Mac Homepage (http://homepage.mac.com/lprall/FileSharing2.html) has a set of files that he claims can reset privileges, but it didn't work for me. I can do everything in root user, but I can't write anything on the HD when I am logged in as my normal self, or open any app that reads and modifies files from the drive (Classic and iTunes won't even work). I would really appreciate some help with this, thanks a lot.

If you want more info you can read previous posts such as "Weird Problems" that relate to the same subject matter.
 
I highly doubt there is anyway to set all of the priveleges to defaults -- there's just too many nested folders and documents that could be created by different users that it would be impossible to tell which document is whose and if this document is a system file or not.

In short, I think a reinstallation is necessary. And NEVER reset priveleges unless you know what you're doing, and NEVER EVER EVER in any circumstances change the priveleges of every single file on the entire drive. Some of the system files need to retain their default priveleges for things to work correctly.
 
Sadly I did the exact same thing last week. The only fix I could do was a full re-install of OS X. After the re-install, everything worked as it should.
 
So when you reinstall X, do you just delete all the OS X files off your hard drive in 9 and then install X from the CD? I figure that while I am at it I might want to partition my hard drive, one for OS 9 and one for X. I'd have to back my stuff up, but I do have a Superdrive, so I could just put all my files on a DVD and then I'd be set to initialize and reinstall correct?

If I have a partition and I am using iMovie, I can save to either HD right? What will the little bar that tells you how much hard drive you have left say if I have two of them?

If I do partition, should I just split the drive in half and give OS 9 30 GB and OS X 30 GB, or what? Any suggestions?

BTW, how do you give a network user full access of your hard drive? I don't like how they can just see their set of folders, I want them to be able to get the whole HD, and that's when I screwed up the permissions.

Thanks so much for your help.
 
When I re-installed OS X, I changed my configuration from 2 partitions, down to only 1. I don't really see the need that I once did for having OS X & 9 on separate partitions.

I would at least erase the entire HD before re-installing. That way there is no chance of the installer skipping files/folders that are already present.
 
I still recommend 2 partitions for one simple reason: the Startup Manager. You know that thing on startup (only newer Macs -- if you have an older Mac, this argument doesn't apply) where you press option and you can pick the Startup partition you want to use? Problem is, when you have 9 and X on the same partition, it can't recognize this and only offers you the choice that you must recently started up with, so you basically can't change systems on the fly like that, and have to wait to startup and use the Startup Disk control panel or preference pane.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top