Need to "Authenticate" Everymove?

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I don't have FileVault on, or anything like that, but for some reason, everything I want to do it asks for my password. Anytime I move something to applications folder it asks me to authenticate. Why? It won't let me rename any folders in their either, its like it is all locked. When I say details, is says /system/library/coreservices I dont know if that would give anyone a clue.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by nd32k3

    I don't have FileVault on, or anything like that, but for some reason, everything I want to do it asks for my password. Anytime I move something to applications folder it asks me to authenticate. Why? It won't let me rename any folders in their either, its like it is all locked. When I say details, is says /system/library/coreservices I dont know if that would give anyone a clue.



    It is asking for an Admin password, which suggests that the account you are logged into doesn't have privileges on those items. Did you make a second account?



    Get Info on the Applications folder and let's see what it says.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    nd32k3nd32k3 Posts: 187member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by lundy

    It is asking for an Admin password, which suggests that the account you are logged into doesn't have privileges on those items. Did you make a second account?



    Get Info on the Applications folder and let's see what it says.




    Well I just got the info, and everything was set to owner=system. I changed it all to owner=My account. However why did this happen, because it's my laptop, I have 2 accounts on it, one for me which I made the admin account, and one for my family.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Actually, it's *supposed* to be owner=system. You may have just screwed up future updates to those apps. \



    Three things set the security for a file: the owner, the group, and 'other'. The owner is pretty obvious. So is 'other', it's just 'everyone else'. It's the group setting that gets people.



    A 'group' is a group of users that share some similarity. A user can belong to many groups. Your admin account belongs to the 'admin' group, for instance. My account at work belongs to several groups, one for each research group I'm involved with. The reason? You can set a file to have certain abilities for members of a particular group. Say I'm in the facetop group at work, and the spqr group. (Two of my research groups.) Karl is also in the facetop group, but not in the spqr group. I can edit any file that has a facetop group setting, or an spqr group setting. Karl can only edit the facetop files.



    Looking at my own /Applications, owner is set to system (read/write), and group to admin (read/write), and of course other is (read only). This is normally what you want - only Administrators can modify computer-wise settings, such as what's in /Applications.



    If you're attempting actions from the admin account, it should work just fine. If you're attempting it from a non-admin account, it'll ask your for your admin password.



    I'd put all the owner info back the way it was, and check the group setting instead.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    nd32k3nd32k3 Posts: 187member
    Ok I am very confused. I did what you said Kickaha, but that way I can't do anything to Application folder. I am on my admin name. What is happening here? I get info on applications, it says Owner-System Read and Write. Group Admin-Read only, but I can't change it. Why is this?
  • Reply 5 of 11
    hardeeharharhardeeharhar Posts: 4,841member
    Run Disk Utility repair permissions...



    That might do it...
  • Reply 6 of 11
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    this reminds me of a somewhat similar problem i have been having, but on our windows file-server. my i.t. dept seems to be at a loss, but sometimes, i will make a directory on the server, and then either immediately, or later on, i will be unable to change its name or any of the names of directories within it without a password. and even then, it'll say i don't have access privileges to do that, even though I WAS THE ONE WHO MADE THE DIRECTORY. needless to say, this makes file organization and rearrangement a friggin' nightmare. strangely, though this ONLY affects directories... the files themselves can be moved, renamed, etc.



    the only way to fix the problem (i.e. rename the folders) is to create new folders with the right name, and then move the files over by hand into the new directories. and sometimes, these new directories have the same problem.



    obviously, my i.t. dept just says "it must be a mac flaw," but it isn't even happening to all of our mac users... just ME.



    can i repair permissions on a networked windows directory, or am i risking making matters worse by doing so? sorry to hijack the thread, but it seems to relate, AND several people seem to have contributed, so i might get some insight.



    thanks.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Repair Permissions only affects installed applications, the OS, and the like. If you used an installer, RP will fix any found problems. This won't work for you, rok, may it be the fix nd32k3 needs, but if it doesn't work then...



    nd32k3, you'll need to click the little lock down in the permissions panel. You should see it as locked. Click it, it'll ask you for your password as admin. Then it'll be unlocked. Make the necessary change (Group: Read/Write), and click 'Apply to enclosed'. That should do it if RP doesn't.



    Basically, anytime you see a little padlock as admin, it's saying "You *could* make a change here, if you authenticate yourself first." Normal users won't even see the padlock.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    nd32k3nd32k3 Posts: 187member
    I did that but it is blurred out. this is what it looks like

    http://homepage.mac.com/nd32k3/appinfo.tiff
  • Reply 9 of 11
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Urk. Somehow it managed to get stuck on admin: read only. Have you tried the Repair Permissions?



    *IF* that doesn't work (try it first), then you can change the owner to yourself, apply to enclosed, then change the admin rights to read/write, apply to enclosed, then change the owner back to system, apply to enclosed.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    nd32k3nd32k3 Posts: 187member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Urk. Somehow it managed to get stuck on admin: read only. Have you tried the Repair Permissions?



    *IF* that doesn't work (try it first), then you can change the owner to yourself, apply to enclosed, then change the admin rights to read/write, apply to enclosed, then change the owner back to system, apply to enclosed.




    Well I tried to repair permissions, but that didnt do anything. But then I tried the second thing and it worked. Im a little nervous because how you said *IF*...Hopefully doing that didn't do anything bad.



    However, hopefully it didnt and thank you very much for solving my problem!
  • Reply 11 of 11
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    You're welcome - I'm mildly surprised that RP didn't work, but OTOH, it was just a guess, and now that I think about it, I *believe* RP will only fix permissions problems with the OS itself. ie, it wouldn't work on the /Applications folder.
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