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Author Topic: Locked folders  (Read 13924 times)

Offline dplank

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Locked folders
« on: November 05, 2009, 03:16:38 PM »
I have some folders that are in my user folder which are locked. I have no idea how they became locked. How can I get them unlocked?

Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Library
Movies
Music
Pictures


Public  These two folders were in the same folder, but not locked
Sites
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Offline jchuzi

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« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2009, 03:28:40 PM »
The usual way is to do a Get Info on the folder (select the folder in the Finder and press Command-I) and then click the padlock icon in the Get Info window. You will be asked to enter your administrator password to authenticate but that ought to unlock the folder.
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Offline dplank

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« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2009, 10:21:49 AM »
QUOTE(jchuzi @ Nov 5 2009, 09:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The usual way is to do a Get Info on the folder (select the folder in the Finder and press Command-I) and then click the padlock icon in the Get Info window. You will be asked to enter your administrator password to authenticate but that ought to unlock the folder.



I tried this idea and nothing changed. Still can't open the folder.
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Offline jchuzi

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« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2009, 10:33:07 AM »
Have you repaired permissions? What else have you tried?
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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Locked folders
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2009, 03:23:24 PM »
Have you tried a Restart?
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Offline dplank

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« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2009, 10:02:44 PM »
QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Nov 6 2009, 09:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Have you tried a Restart?



Yes, I just did a restart and nothing changed. When I click on the locked folder this error message appears:

                   "The folder “Desktop” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents."
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Offline Paddy

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« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2009, 10:27:33 PM »
What were you doing before this happened? Have you done ANYTHING to the system (any updates?) at all? This isn't something that could just "happen" as far as I know.

Are you sure you're logged in as YOU? Did you try to recreate a user account with the same name as your original account? (That will really mess things up!) http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?t...&tstart=180

Which version of OS X are you using, BTW?

You will be able to access the user files if you log in as root. I'm not sure if this would work, but you could try creating a new user and then log in as root and move the contents of the files to the new user. You may need to change the permissions on the file before you do that - not sure. You could move one unimportant file as a test first - log back in as the new user and see if the file is visible and writable.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528
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Offline dplank

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« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2009, 10:44:11 PM »
I discovered this when I was attempting to update my Garmin GPS. I was having difficulty with the process so I emailed the company to get help. They asked me to open a "get info" window on a file and take a picture of the desktop and email it to them so that they could check my problem which I did. However, when I attempted to save the picture to my desktop I got an error message that said I couldn't save the picture because I didn't have permission put it in that folder. At that point I couldn't figure out why I couldn't put it on the regular desktop. I finally found that the desktop folder it was attempting to use was my user folder. Why, I have no idea.

As far as I know I did nothing to log in as anything but my own identity.
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2009, 03:15:47 AM »
The desktop folder is supposed to be in your user folder.

As long as you are logged in as your normal account and it is an admin account you can do the following:

Do a get info on any locked folder.
Unlock it in the usual way but do not close the Get Info window.
Click on the now black plus sign (+) in the lower left corner of the Get Info window.
The following window will appear with a listing of your account and any other on the machine including admins.
[attachment=1647:2.jpg]

Click on the administrators or your account if it is bolded,  then the Select blue button.
The new account will now appear in the bottom of the Get Info window but will have "Read only" next to it. You must click on the little arrows to select "Read and Write" for the account.

[attachment=1648:Picture_2.png]

Now this may be sufficient but most likely you will also have to click on the little gear at the bottom of the window and select "Apply to Enclosed Items". If there is a lot of stuff in the folder it may take a short time to apply new permissions to all in the items in that folder so don't be too quick to think it didn't work.

[attachment=1649:Picture_1.png]
« Last Edit: November 07, 2009, 03:17:46 AM by krissel »
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2009, 08:33:51 AM »
QUOTE
when I attempted to save the picture to my desktop I got an error message that said I couldn't save the picture because I didn't have permission put it in that folder. At that point I couldn't figure out why I couldn't put it on the regular desktop. I finally found that the desktop folder it was attempting to use was my user folder. Why, I have no idea.
Just trying to "read between the lines" here and not implying that you did anything wrong. If you have more than one account, it is not that hard to 'wander' into another "user" account and even their 'Desktop.' I'd simply suggest that, in any "Find/Save/Save as.." dialog, you use the command-d keyboard shortcut to be sure that you are selecting your own Desktop. Of course, making sure different users have distinctly different names will also help. smile.gif

All that said, I think Kriss's instruction will solve your immediate problem. wink.gif
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Offline dplank

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« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2009, 02:51:21 PM »
krissel,

You da man!! It worked. Those Apple store Geniuses have nothing on you!!

When I moved all of my stuff from old iBook to my new MacBook Pro it asked for my user name and it wouldn't accept my old one so I made up a new one. I guess those folders remained locked to my old user name.

Thanks a bunch!!!
« Last Edit: November 07, 2009, 02:52:15 PM by dplank »
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2009, 01:55:39 AM »
You're welcome.  salute.gif

Yup, that's exactly what happened with the transfer of user data to the new MBP.

QUOTE(dplank @ Nov 7 2009, 03:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
krissel,

You da man!!



Um, hope not... wink.gif
« Last Edit: November 08, 2009, 01:58:02 AM by krissel »
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Offline dplank

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« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2009, 10:44:07 AM »
QUOTE(krissel @ Nov 8 2009, 07:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
You're welcome.  salute.gif

Yup, that's exactly what happened with the transfer of user data to the new MBP.

QUOTE(dplank @ Nov 7 2009, 03:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
krissel,

You da man!!



Um, hope not... wink.gif


Sorry, just an expression!!!
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Offline krissel

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« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2009, 02:58:13 AM »
S'OK, just joshin'.   smile.gif
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