Universal Access???
Is there a way to be able to access files on other peoples accounts through the finder? None of the users on this computer have passwords, yet if you try to find a movie or file from that users account, it requires you to login as that user. Just wondering if there is a way to go in to the finder to retrieve that file. Thanks.
Edit: not sure if "universal access" is the correct term, but hopefully my paragraph explained my issue well enough.
Edit: not sure if "universal access" is the correct term, but hopefully my paragraph explained my issue well enough.
Comments
To do what you want, you could probably just log into the user accounts and change the permissions of the home folder recursively to give you read/write access.
The "simple" way is to be root, but running around as root is strongly discouraged.
As mentioned above, it is possible to change the permissions on the other users' home folders, but this is tricky.
It is also possible to set the other users to share their data, from the Sharing commands in iTunes, iPhoto, etc.
It is also possible to place the desired data of the other users in the "Shared" user folder.
If you have a full backup or don't need the data in those user accounts (i.e. can tolerate having to reinstall), you could try setting the permissions on their Home folder to read and write for your group, or for "Others", or both. You would do this while logged into the user's account - select the Home folder, do a Get Info, and change the permissions at the bottom of the Get Info window.
There is no good answer to this. Mac OS X does not let Admin users access other users' account contents - only the settings for the accounts.
The "simple" way is to be root, but running around as root is strongly discouraged.
As mentioned above, it is possible to change the permissions on the other users' home folders, but this is tricky.
It is also possible to set the other users to share their data, from the Sharing commands in iTunes, iPhoto, etc.
It is also possible to place the desired data of the other users in the "Shared" user folder.
If you have a full backup or don't need the data in those user accounts (i.e. can tolerate having to reinstall), you could try setting the permissions on their Home folder to read and write for your group, or for "Others", or both. You would do this while logged into the user's account - select the Home folder, do a Get Info, and change the permissions at the bottom of the Get Info window.
I've been using the shared folder, and just figured there must be a better way. The only problem to the shared, is I cannot make an Alias, I actually have to duplicate the folder. I thought an alias wouldn't take any more space up on my hard drive, and a duplicate takes up how ever much the original folder was, or am I way off on the alias part?
Maybe the alias would work the other way, however? Put the shared items in the Shared folder and alias it back to the user's home folder? Worth a try.
EDITED TO ADD: I just tried it and that does work. Put all the shared items in the Shared folder, then make aliases and drag the aliases back to the Users' Home folders.
Yeah - you can't alias a private item into a shared folder. Security issue and all.
Maybe the alias would work the other way, however? Put the shared items in the Shared folder and alias it back to the user's home folder? Worth a try.
EDITED TO ADD: I just tried it and that does work. Put all the shared items in the Shared folder, then make aliases and drag the aliases back to the Users' Home folders.
Thanks for the help.