Permissions ... impossible to repair !

N

Namin

Registered
Hi everybody,

There is something strange happening on my MacBook Pro 2.8 G Intel Core 2 Duo with 10.6.8: it is impossible to repair the permissions... I tried with Disk Utility, with Onyx, with Disk Warrior with the same results...

Why do I need to do it ? Because some strange things occur from time to time: in the finder window, I added long time ago two files in the left column, files which are located in the Document file. One day, those aliases on the left column refused to be opened... The original files were still ok, so I put a second alias of the files in the left column, and it works fine. But I still have those old aliases that refuse to be opened, or moved to another place or to the trash ...

I have also from time to time some troubles with the "logo" of the files on the desktop: some refuse to be displayed, eventhough the file itself is still available and works fine...

So I thought it might be the permissions who needed to be repaired, but I can't ...

I checked the hard disk with three or four different programs, and they all says that the hard drive is ok.

So what is going on here ???

Thank you for your comments.
 
Please explain, in great detail, what you mean by "impossible to repair the permissions" and "...but I can't."

Open Disk Utility, highlight your hard drive, then press the "Repair Permissions" button. What happens? Is someone standing next to you physically restricting you from pushing the button? Does the button not work? Do you get an error message explicitly stating, "You cannot repair permissions"? Does nothing happen? Does something happen?

You can remove shortcuts from the Finder's sidebar by holding the command key down and dragging the icon out of the Finder's sidebar. This would be useful for getting rid of those links that no longer work for you.

Different files will have differed "logos" (more accurately, "previews") when viewed as icons on the Desktop. Images may display a thumbnail of the image. Movie files may show the poster frame or a keyframe. PDFs may show a thumbnail of page 1. You can turn this feature on (display icon previews) or off (just show an icon representing the kind of document the file is) by pressing command-J while the Finder is active and viewing the Desktop with no Finger windows open, then either turning on or off "Show icon preview." You can also turn this option on and off for other folders on your hard drive, given you're viewing those Finder windows in icon view.
 
First of all, thank you for your infos concerning how to get rid of the "dead aliases": it worked !!!

Second, what I mean by "impossible to repair" is: the programs do what they are supposed to do, checking all the permission, repair every damaged permission, and finally tell me that the permissions were repaired. If I do it again, they'll do the exact same thing, and the list of the repaired permission would be exactly the same, as if the first time nothing was repaired ! I can do that 5 times, I'll get the same result 5 times !!!

Any idea ?
 
Are those permissions prefixed with "Warning?" If so, they're exactly that: a warning. A real error would say "Error." There's a big difference between a warning and an error.

There are a bunch of permissions warnings/errors that will always show up and are safe to ignore, and the fact that they show up does NOT, in any way, indicate any kind of permissions problem:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448?locale=en_US

If you're expecting to run a "repair permissions" procedure and eventually get a completely blank screen in Disk Utility that says, "100% of permissions are valid and ok," you're going to be disappointed -- that will never happen. Permissions repairs are something you should run when your computer exhibits a problem that specifically references a permission: like when you copy a file to somewhere that you've copied files to in the past, but your computer says, "You don't have permission to copy files here."

Running permissions whenever you suspect that something is amiss with your computer will only serve to make you more paranoid. That's like taking your car in for a tune-up every time the radio loses signal -- it's certainly not going to hurt it, but it's a complete waste of money and time because it's completely unrelated to the problem. Do not run to "permissions repair" every time something doesn't work, as it's usually a waste of time.
 
this is a sample of what he tells me:

Permissions differ on "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Classes/dt.jar", should be lrwxr-xr-x , they are lrw-r--r-- !
Repaired "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Classes/dt.jar"!
 
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