Preview is locking me out of my own PDFs, saying I don't have permission to view them even though I do
I've only noticed this since the software update (10.7.1), but I've got a big problem with preview at the moment. I'm trying to open some PDFs (journal articles) saved on my MacBook Pro, which I've previously had no trouble opening, but all I get is an error message saying:
"The file couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it. To view or change permissions, select the item in the Finder and choose File > Get Info."
I then go to get info for the file, and see that I DO have read and write permission for the file. But it still won't let me open it.
I'm trying to write my Masters dissertation (due in in less than 2 weeks) and it is ESSENTIAL that I'm able to view these files to complete it. Needless to say this is making me very stressed out and frustrated! I'm almost certain they all worked before the 10.7.1 update, but can't be 100% sure.
Any guidance on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
George
Thanks for trying to help but this is a different issue - see my post for details. I'm pretty sure sandboxing is the cause: you can only access files via bookmarks etc if you have already explicitly opened them.
From: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Security/Conceptual/AppSan dboxDesignGuide/AppSandboxInDepth/AppSandboxInDepth.html
"Your sandboxed app can access file system locations outside of its container in the following three ways:
At the specific direction of the user
By using entitlements for specific file-system locations (described in “Entitlements and System Resource Access”)
When the file system location is in certain directories that are world readable"
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Select one of the problem files in the Finder and open the Info window. Do you have read & write access?
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i have a new email so have a new apple ID now and am trying to change it in icloud. but it has locked me out and won't send my email a reset password link for some reason. even though it says its sent, it doesnt come to the email address. help!
Welcome to the Apple community.
If you are unable to remember your password, security questions, don’t have access to your rescue address or are unable to reset your password for whatever reason, your only option is to contact Apple ID Support, upon speaking to an operator you should explain that your problem is related to your Apple ID, this way you will not be charged for assistance, even if you don’t have an AppleCare plan.
You will need to show patience with the procedure and be prepared to demonstrate without question that the account belongs to you. Don’t expect access to be restored immediately and if you aren’t the owner of the Apple ID registered to the device the account won’t be reset.
This is answer is provided from my own database of boilerplate responses and the content was last reviewed and/or tested on: 2014/12/18 -
Hello this week I'm unable to open any pdf's with preview, when I select to open a window opens up with message "file couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it" none of the pdf's have any security thanks if you can assist
Back up all data. Don't continue unless you're sure you can restore from a backup, even if you're unable to log in.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click the following line to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
▹ Restart
from the menu bar. -
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I repaired permissions with disk utitlity with no success.I booted into recovery and repaired disk permissions with the disk utility from there. That fixed it. Apperently it repairs more stuff than when you´re booted into the OS. But what an annoying bug, this happened twice to me already by now...
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I don't have permission to view the contents of hidden files on my own Macbook Pro.
Im fairly new to Mac and for some reason I do not have permission to view the contents in hidden files.
Can someone please help.
Thankskata505 wrote:
After some time, I found the location of the files to be in the folder 'Masters'.
Thank You everyone for their help.
Much appreciated
It is not good to mess with the structure of the iPhoto or Aperture Libraries.
You can access the image "files" from within the programs. Anything you would want to do with an image file you can do with the image in the iPhoto app itself.
If you really must get to the file, you can select Reveal in Finder from the File menu. -
Trying to resize jpeg in Preview but says I don't have permission...
I have always resized images in Preview but this time around I keep getting an error message (screen shot attached) that I don't have permission to make any changes even after checking/changing when I right-click>Get info... I clicked on the little padlock on the corner, i changed the settings for (me) and everyone to Read & Write (screen shot at bottom of post), i deleted/copied the images again and again, renamed it, tried to Save-As, and it still doesnt work.. It's driving me crazy... Any body else having this problem?
(btw, i couldn't even resize the screenshot so that it would fit within the required dimensions, gave me the same error msg)...I don't have this problem (yet) but when I save a "New from Clipboard" image the resize tool is dimmed. When I close the image and re-open it I can resize it - my fingers a wearing out closing and re-opening files all day......
Sorry not to be of help but I must say I liked the old Preview.... -
Why is my iPhoto locked? It says I don't have permission to change it?
Today I'm getting a message that my Iphoto is locked and I don't have permission to change it.
Yesterday My iPhoto libraries where inconsistant and needed repaired. I'm really tired of all the problem I've been having with iPhoto 11 since ugrading to Mountain Lion. Are these problems related to that upgrade?No.
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD -
I have installed iphoto 9.5.1 and now my iphoto library is locked, anybody have a fix for this?
Have you tried to restart the system? Sometimes this is caused by a running application blocking the access.
If that does not help, look for a lock file in the iPhoto library package as described here by Terence Devlin:
Re: The iPhoto Library is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have permission to make changes to it. iPhoto can try to repair the permissions. -
It's frustrating to not be able to view my own Facebook page using the iPad mini. I have the iPad 1 and the Facebook app works fine there, I can see my personal FB page with 1. Is this characteristic of the iPad mini only?
Try this:
Make sure IOS is updated to latest version
Reboot device by pressing both the home button and sleep/wake (power) buttons at the same time for 10-15 seconds until the apple logo appears on the screen, then let go.
If that doesn't work then reset the device by going to settings/general/reset/reset all settings
(no media or data will be deleted from the device, this will only take a minute).
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As above
Some mail programs, including Apple Mail, can reduce the size of images that are attached to a message. It's happening at the sender's end, and all you can do is ask the sender for a larger image.
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"Custom Access" permissions are locking me out of my own computer!
"Custom Access" permissions are locking me out of my own computer!
I have a Mac Book Pro which I can no longer access, due, I believe, to a problem with disk and file permissions. When I attempt to open up the volume, which I am able to put in FireWire target mode and mount on the desktop of a nearby iMac G5, I get an error message saying: "The folder 'MacBook Pro' could not be opened because you do not have sufficient access privileges."
When I select the 'MacBook Pro' volume and run the Get Info command, I learn that the system, admin, and everyone else groups now have "custom access." I suppose that this newly acquired "custom access" is the reason that the volume icon now appears on the desktop with a lock at its lower left corner! Unfortunately, that lock is keeping me out, so I need help in finding the key back in!
How all this came about overnight is a mystery wrapped in a enigma similar to my getting pneumonia last summer. Coming down with both diseases would require telling long stories that would only have as their common objective the desire to be cured. I might have gotten the pneumonia at my college reunion; my laptop computer might have caught a cold last night when I ran TechTool Pro and optimized my volume prior to installing its eDrive today. Or, my laptop computer may have choked when I tried to add Disk Warrior to the TechTool Pro eDrive and inadvertently issued some command that resulted in my normal permission settings getting changed and rendering everything on the computer completely inaccessible to me. Who knows for sure? Right now, the cause doesn't matter: finding the solution does.
I used TechTool Pro to run a series of tests before (and after) I got locked out of my own computer and the volume passed all the tests for volume integrity and file integrity. TechTool also rebuilt the directory, defragged all the files, and optimized the hard drive into one, large, well-organized segment of files --that I unfortunately can no longer access!
*What I think I need now are some very explicit, error-free, Terminal (UNIX) instructions telling me how to change the permissions on an external FireWire volume called "MacBook Pro" containing Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.7 from its current custom access privileges back to my settings before my poor computer caught this disabling cold.*
I do have a SuperDuper clone of this MacBook Pro computer on an external FireWire, which I could probably use to relieve me of my pain. But, if at all possible, I would like to call upon that option only as a last resort for two reasons:
(1) I am not entirely comfortable that the clone is completely reliable at this moment. My last cloning operation last night (before this corrupted permissions problem occurred) did not complete itself, leaving the cloned volume in an unknown, or unstable, state. (2) I would like to use this problem as an opportunity to grow and learn more about the Terminal and UNIX commands.
I have read the relevant sections in David Pogue's missing manual on Mac OS X Leopard, so I am familiar (in theory) with the concepts he explained regarding ownership, file permissions, the root, Terminal, the CHMOD command, and the SUDO command. It's just that, considering the awesome power of the SuperUser Do command, I'm not all that confident yet that I could write the command(s) that could affect the state of my entire computer hard drive. So, *I'm asking for guidance from a UNIX guru to guide my hand this first time out.*
I know about the idea of safe booting up as a single user, but since I do have my laptop computer mounted on the desktop of my iMac as a Firewire volume, I would prefer to use Terminal on the iMac to fix the permissions on that mounted volume, called "MacBook Pro".
*Experts only, please*. Theories about what might have caused this problem would be nice, but what I really need is explicit command line code to cure this one. Since other people may occasionally encounter this problem of being locked out of their own computer, it would be fine with me if some knowledgeable guru wants to use this as a springboard to write a detailed tutorial on the topic along the way to the solution. Thanks.
bowlerboy_jmb{I read that article you sent me to, Baltwo, but it does not seem appropriate, because the disk is not invisible. It's locked! I also went through all the discussions on flag changing you directed to me to look up, and I tried to apply something from there to my situation. But that's not working for me yet either. The topics there seem to be close enough to be relevant to my case, but none are exactly on the mark, and so far they deliver no cigar. Maybe I missed the one thread you had in mind from among the twenty I looked through: I can't be sure. You point it out, if you have one in mind. Anyway, in the absence of anyone providing me with specific Unix code or suggestions about my particular situation, I plunged ahead on my own, and I attempted to write some Unix code that might fix my problem. So far, I've had no success. This posting intersperses my comments along with the lines of Unix code which were displayed on my MacBook Pro during my recent attempts to tinker under the hood. My remarks are contained inside of curly brackets like { and } while the results of my Unix experimenting in Single User Mode on the laptop are presented without curly brackets. These were initially notes to myself, so I'm creating a post around my Unix dabbling to see if it triggers any feedback, corrections, and guidance for moving ahead. I'm stuck right now.}
date
Fri Jun 19 17:52:25 EDT 2009
:/ root# sudo chflags nouchg /
sudo: can't open /private/etc/sudoers: Permission denied
:/ root# sendmail: warning: valid_hostname: empty hostname
sendmail: fatal: unable to use my own hostname
:/ root# ls -l
{The screen filled up with rows of file names and their permissions, like...}
drwxrwxr-x+ 43 root admin 1462 Jun 16 04:36 Applications
:/ root# exit
{Nothing happens for quite a while, then...}
jettisoning kernel linker.
{...and then several lines of replies fill up the screen, ending in that same loop regarding no such file or directory found, in regards to mDNSResponder. I had tried the {chmod 775 > solution recommended by a user at a web site I Googled to deal with the mDNSResponder problem he had. The chmod 775 / command worked for him, he reported, but it does not succeed for me. The mDNSResponderline continues to repeat itself ad infinitum, so I must force the Mac to turn off by holding down the power button for several seconds. Upon restart in Single User mode, I observe that, as before, "Root device is mounted read-only," so this time I try to amend permissions at the root level with...}
:/ root# sudo chmod 755 /
{If I understand what I've just learned about Unix, this tells the Mac to give me permission to do anything, but to give all others permission only to read and execute. Unfortunately, the command fails. The computer again responded with the same lines that it gave me when I had issued the command regarding no user flags, namely:}
sudo: can't open /private/etc/sudoers: Permission denied
:/ root# sendmail: warning: valid_hostname: empty hostname
sendmail: fatal: unable to use my own hostname
{So, to summarize, I have a MacBook Pro which I am apparently locked out of and cannot change. The hard disk is not invisible: it will appear as an external drive when placed in Target Mode and connected via a Firewire cable to an iMac. I tried to use Terminal on that iMac to change permissions on the MacBook Pro, but permission was denied.
{So, I have tried to make changes on the MacBook Pro directly. I learned that it will neither start-up under normal circumstances nor via Safe Boot mode. It will, however, start-up under Single User mode. Based on my bleary-eyed crash course in Unix throughout all of last night and early this morning, I did gain some additional understanding about UNIX from some [free online books|http://www.scribd.com/doc/12747795/Made-Easy-Unix-for-Beginners] and articles, especially from a thorough and lucidly written article at Indiana University called [In Unix, how do I change the permissions for a file?|http://kb.iu.edu/data/data/abdb.html]
{Also, I followed the links to the Apple discussions on user flags, and I cherry picked the most appropriate solutions suggested there to see if they will apply to my situation. However, none quite fit. None have thus far succeeded. I think I now know how to formulate the syntax of Unix commands in regards to modifying permissions, and I'm willing to plow ahead and try things out. But I'm only a rank beginner in this Unix realm, so maybe I'm doing something wrong in that department.
{It just boggles my mind that someone can inadvertently be locked out of their computer without a way back in, so all I'm asking for is some trouble-shooting guidance to find the key back in. Anyone got it? Is this a problem that can be cured by writing some Unix commands to the system? Or, does the solution lie elsewhere?}
bowlerboy_jmb -
When i send an apple gift does it come out of my own itunes vouchers that i already have?
when i send an apple gift does it come out of my own itunes vouchers that i already have?
No, it wil be charged to the credit card that you have on your account - you can't use your account's balance for gifting
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i recently purchased a 21.5 iMac with Yosemite (10.10.1) and was disappointed to discover that my CS6 programs are not functioning correctly. I am unable to use the "Save As" command when making changes to a JPEG file in Photoshop. The message I get says that either another program is using the file or it is locked and I don't have permission to execute that command. I'm experiencing a similar problem in Bridge when trying to move an unwanted file to the Trash. Again, I get a message telling me that i don't have permission to do this. Lastly, I'm unable to open any Camera Raw files. Any suggestions? I had no problems with the Mavericks OS on my old iMac and although it's much slower, I'm tempted to go back to using my old iMac. At this point, I feel as if I've just wasted $2300+ (tax included).
Back up all data before proceeding.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership, permissions, and access controls to the default. If you've intentionally set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it, but you do need to follow the instructions below.
Step 1
If you have more than one user, and the one in question is not an administrator, then go to Step 2.
Triple-click anywhere in the following line on this page to select it:
sudo find ~ $TMPDIR.. -exec chflags -h nouchg,nouappnd,noschg,nosappnd {} + -exec chown -h $UID {} + -exec chmod +rw {} + -exec chmod -h -N {} + -type d -exec chmod -h +x {} + 2>&-
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C.
Launch the built-in Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.
Paste into the Terminal window by pressing command-V. I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, you may have to press the return key after pasting.
You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. Type carefully and then press return. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command may take several minutes to run, depending on how many files you have. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1, if you prefer not to take it, or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Start up in Recovery mode. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open. In that window, type this:
resetp
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your startup volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
▹ Restart
from the menu bar. -
The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items. ive moved these files from my sd card to the trash, when i take out the sd card the trash empties but then fills up when i put it back in, it wont empty.
In the Finder, press the key combination shift-command-C, or select
Go ▹ Computer
from the menu bar. A window will open showing all mounted volumes. Select the one in question and open the Info window. What is shown as the Format in the General section?
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