"Can Repair Permissions: no". Why?

Hello,
My computer's hard disk has 5 partitions (except Recovery HDs), whose 4 have valid Mac OS system installed (10.6, 10.5, 10.8 and 10.7).
I'm running 10.6 generally. When I launch Disk Utility, I can verify and repair 3 partitions: 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. For the 10.5 one, the buttons are grayed out; if I get information about it, all but one thing is expected:
Mount Point:           /Volumes/Macintosh HD
          System Name:           Mac OS X
          System Version:           10.5.8
          System Build:           9L31a
          File System:           Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Writable:           Yes
Number of Files :           863'127
          Number of Folders :           178'997
          Owners Enabled:           Yes
          Can Turn Owners Off:           Yes
          Can Repair Permissions:           No
          Can Be Verified:           Yes
          Can Be Repaired:           Yes
          Can Be Formatted:           Yes
          Bootable:           Yes
          Supports Journaling:           Yes
          Journaled:           Yes
“Can repair permissions” is no…? I can't think of any reason why it would be so. What component decides the value of Can Repair Permissions? What's the problem here?

seventy one wrote:
You have to go a different way with the original post. I can't remember exactly where it is but an original post offers an option to edit on the top left side I seem to recall, near where it says 'actions'. The limit is still 15 minutes.
Nice to know, thank you. I'll search further the next time.
Sadly this is the only part of your question I can answer as I have never partitioned four different OS's.
I understand, thanks anyway. However, I'v read the same, unresolved question on this forum (asked years ago), so I don't think partitionning matters.
What I consider a shame is the fact that things like that aren't known from "most users". Looks like Apple just don't document some things and no one seems to ever want understanding the "under the hood" functioning, as if no one cared about knowledge of things unless something is actually acting wrong.
I don't get the point of Apple hiding why "can repair permissions" can be false on a valid system partition, among other things.

Similar Messages

Disk Utility: Can Repair Permissions = no. Why?

Disk Utility: Can Repair Permissions = no
Why?

It might help a little more if you would explain your situation enough so that people can make a guess what the problem might be. My guess is that the Repair Permissions button is grayed out - you can only repair permissions on a volume that has OSX installed on it. See http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106712 for more information.

Can Repairing Permissions Harm Regular Operation

I have read many times that repairing permissions cannot harm normal operation of your mac and .... it's certainly never caused me any problems as I run permissions repair every so often.
The reason I ask though is because of a buddy of mine whose mac, running OS 10.5, was running sluggishly. Out of curiosity I asked - "have you ever repaired your permissions" and he said - "what's that?" So I decided to run "Verify" permissions just to see what came up and it was a huge list. I told my friend that I did not know if this was a cause of his computer's sluggishness but that if he wanted I would run "Repair" permissions. He said to go ahead. So I did.
A few days later he was trying to update through "software update" iTunes and Safari ... and he tried to install "App Delete" as well. His mac would not install any of these apps. When he took his mac to the the Apple store they asked if he had recently repaired his permissions and he said "yes." they said that was the problem and that he shouldn't repair permissions unless he had a problem. (To me "sluggishness" is a problem.) Since he had all his stuff backed up the proceeded to wipe his computer and do a clean install. Seems a brute force fix to me. Personally I would have loved to sleuth a more subtle remedy, even if for nothing more than learning more, about the workings of OSX.
So, did I mess up my friends mac?
Any opinions?
Message was edited by: riverside

There is no reason to repair permissions unless there is a permissions related problem. Repairing permissions is not a troubleshooting or maintenance procedure. Repairing permissions will not fix "sluggishness." That would be caused by any number of things, but not permissions.
You did not mess up your friend's Mac. It was already messed up, and it's still messed up for some other set of reasons.
Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.5.1 or higher are Intel Mac compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. Versions 1.5.1 or later are Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts had been significantly reduced in Tiger and Leopard. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc. Other utilities are also available such as Onyx, Leopard Cache Cleaner, CockTail, and Xupport, for example.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack (not compatible with Snow Leopard.) If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack is not compatible with Snow Leopard.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
6. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
7. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
8. Data Backup (Commercial)
9. SilverKeeper 2.0 (Freeware)
10. MimMac (Commercial)
11. Tri-Backup (Commercial)
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Can I always repair permissions from the install disc, even after updates?

Does anyone know if I can always repair permissions properly from my original install disc that came with my iMac thats 10.4.1. I now am 10.4.3 and was wondering if things change with every update rendering the install disc out of date for permission repair.
I read some where on the internet that after you update from the original OS you should just use disc utility. I know nothing about this sort of thing, any help on this and the types of utilities I might need would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe this is dumb, but what do you mean by don't believe the hype on permissions repair.
are you talking about the posting I read about not being able to continuously update and boot from the original OS disks, or that repairing permissions is overated as far as system maintanence.
I get a lot of conflicting advise on system maintanence. Thats why I ask this. I'm fairly new to macs and how to keep them going problem free.
by the way,...
thanks for the replies guys
Yes, he can do the same with overkill third-party
utilities that aren't on a bootable disc for which
he's already paid. (And is Disk Utility so hard to
use that we need third-party utilies with this
function?)
Hmm. What if he specifically needs a bootable disc
that can repair permissions? Can't assume his
specific needs and environment when he hasn't
detailed them.
Bryan:
Don
't believe the hype about running permissions
repair.

CANNOT REPAIR PERMISSIONS - pls help!

While booted from my restore disk (with Disk Utility Open & attempting to repair permissions), D.U. goes about 33% of the way & stops/displays the following onscreen message: Disk Utility Internal Error
Disk Utility has lost it's connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue. Please quit and relaunch Disk Utility.
I used DiscWarrior to rebuild the directories & then ran TechToolPro 4 from my eDrive to check Volume Structures (came up clean).
For the heckuvit, ran D.U. from my Apps Utility Folder. This time it did complete, making some changes. Ran a second time. Results of each are shown below.
Repairing permissions for “Panther:Operating”
Determining correct file permissions.
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles. New permissions are 16893
Permissions differ on ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles, should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxrwxrwx
Owner and group corrected on ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles
Permissions corrected on ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/jobs. New uid is 1
User differs on ./private/var/at/jobs, should be 1, owner is 0
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/at/jobs
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/at/jobs
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/spool. New uid is 1
User differs on ./private/var/at/spool, should be 1, owner is 0
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/at/spool
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/at/spool
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/install.log, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/install.log
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/install.log
Permissions differ on ./private/var/log/wtmp, should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rw-r-----
Owner and group corrected on ./private/var/log/wtmp
Permissions corrected on ./private/var/log/wtmp
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Permissions repair complete
This is from D.U. in Apps folder run while booted from startup drive.
Repairing permissions for “Panther:Operating”
Determining correct file permissions.
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./Library/ColorSync/Profiles. New permissions are 16893
We are using special permissions for the file or directory ./System/Library/Filesystems/cd9660.fs/cd9660.util. New permissions are 33261
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/jobs. New uid is 1
We are using a special uid for the file or directory ./private/var/at/spool. New uid is 1
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Permissions repair complete
This is from D.U. in Apps folder run while booted from S.U. drive (run a second time).
Then tried once more, booted from the restore disc & STILL it stops a 3rd of the way & displays the same onscreen message.
Why is this happening & how can I resolve it?
Don

This has to do with a problem with the latest update and Panther and iTunes.
Tip offered by Kappy and others in the 10.3& earlier Forum;
1) Move iTunes onto the Desktop.
2) Run Disk Utility
3) Go to HD>Library>Receipts and trash all iTunes .pkg files EXCEPT for iTunesX.pkg and iTunesPhoneDriver.pkg
4) empty Trash.
5) move iTune from Desktop back to 'Applications'.
Hey presto. you should now be able to repair permissions again.
Offered by Bee;
Kappy, et all . . .
This was posted earlier today . . .
I'll have to get the author's name, sorry don't have it now.
It seems that it may not necessary to pull iTunes out of the App folder:
Did you recently update your iTunes?
If so, that seems to have caused a bit of a problem with Panther.
If that is the case,
Go to HD>Library>Receipts and trash all ITunes .pkg files
EXCEPT iTunesX.pkg and iTunesPhoneDriver.pkg. Then see if you can repair permissions.
Be very careful here, be sure to leave the last two there!
Cheers!
DALE

Repair permissions now takes literally hours

on my MBP, i can repair permissions in five minutes or so. on my wife's macbook, it takes up to four hours. does anyone know why this may be and how to fix it? both are running the latest version of 10.6.3.

Carolyn Samit wrote:
HI,
on my wife's macbook, it takes up to four hours.
That shouldn't happen.
Boot your wife's Macbook from her install disc, run Disk Utility to Verify and if necessary Repair any errors on the startup disk.
Insert your install disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu and launch Disk Utility.
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
*(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)*
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
While you have the Disk Utility window open, look at the bottom of the window. Where you see Capacity and Available. *Make sure there is always 10% to 15% free disk space*
Carolyn
thanks for the response. so.... i repaired the disk as you suggested. nada. "the disk appears to be fine." i thought i'd repair permissions from the boot disk. big mistake. it's said, "15 minutes remaining" for the past 30 minutes and isn't budging. plus, now it won't let me quit (or even force quit). i know my wife's HD is quite full - i think there's 12GB free of 80GB total - but that shouldn't be it, should it?

Repairing Permissions With DU -Vs- MainMenu

Hello,
I was curios does it matter if I repair permissions with disk Utility versus repairing them with Main Menu Pro version? Also will it hurt doing system maintenance using Main Menu. I know Main Menu is 3rd party, but I think it has been around long enough to be trusted. I've used it on my iMac 2008 without issue, but don't want to take any chances with this new MBP.
Jaco

All maintenance applications use the same programs as Disk Utility so it wouldn't make any difference. But you can perform all the needed maintenance that the third-party software does just a few specific utilities.
There isn't that much maintenance required. Disk Utility can repair permissions (something you should rarely if ever need to do) as well as repair the hard drive. For the rest of it you can install the freeware, Applejack - CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.
For the occasional time when a hard drive has a problem DU cannot fix use Disk Warrior. And, to clean caches if needed use Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner.
Also, see:
Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.5.1 or higher are Intel Mac compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. Versions 1.5.1 or later are Intel Mac compatible.
OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts had been significantly reduced in Tiger and Leopard. These utilities have limited or no functionality with Snow Leopard and should not be installed.
OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc. Other utilities are also available such as Onyx, Leopard Cache Cleaner, CockTail, and Xupport, for example.
For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard. AppleJack 1.6 is compatible with Snow Leopard.
When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
Backuplist
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
iBackup
JaBack
Silver Keeper
MimMac
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
ynchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
SyncTwoFolders
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
Tri-Backup
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
Referenced software can be found at CNet Downloads or MacUpdate.

Repairing Permissions & 10.5.2 Upgrade

Before I start the update to 10.5.2 I have the following questions about repairing permissions:
1) Why do you have to repair permissions before you do the update?
2) Exactly how do you repair permissions?
3) What am I looking for when I do this process?
4) Should I repair permissions after I do the 10.5.2 Upgrade?
I have a brand new MacPro (Early 2008) and I'm trying to avoid any mistakes.

1. To insure that everything is OK before hand.
2. In the Utilities folder is an application called Disk Utility.
Open it up, click on your HD on the left sidebar, and then click on "Repair Disk Persmissions.
3. Nothing really. Let it do its thing.
4. Yes. Anytime you install something you should run Disk Utility and Repair Permissions.
Joseph Kriz

What disk and when do I repair permissions?

Hi I'm wondering how and when to "repair permissions" - Do I select the icon in disk utility marked 111.8 GB Samsung HM120JC or the icon beneath it marked and named as my hard drive? Does it matter? And how often/when should I do this?
Thanks much
KB

Hi, Kent. It doesn't really matter whether you select the hard drive mechanism (the top line that you've named in your post) or the volume that appears as the startup drive on your desktop — either way, the permissions on that volume will be repaired. If your hard drive is partitioned into two or more volumes, and you select the drive mechanism, permissions will be repaired on each volume that contains an OS X installation. (Permissions can only be repaired on a volume that contains OS X; a partition that doesn't have OS X installed on it can't have its permissions repaired.)
You should always repair permissions after any software update, upgrade or installation that involves Apple's Installer application (Installer.app). Most knowledgeable folks here also recommend doing so before every such installation, upgrade or update, to prevent a damaged or corrupt permission from interfering with the Installer's business and thereby fouling up whatever's being installed.
Repairing permissions is not a cure-all, and though some people consider it a routine maintenance practice, others emphatically don't. I think of it as a totally harmless, free, quick, easy procedure that sometimes solves minor problems, and I probably do it more often than is really productive: every two or three weeks, even if I haven't installed anything lately or had any problems. But I always do it before and after every Apple software installation, even ones that are installed through the Software Update utility — and that means I never allow SU to install more than one thing at a time, specifically so I can repair permissions between installations.

Why can't I delete repaired permissions?

I recently upgraded from Tiger to Snow Leopard. I repaired permissions before and after. For the most part, the upgrade was successful without any major problems. The issue I have is when I repair permissions I can't delete the "history" of fixed permissions ... they clear with the clear history button but as soon as I repair again they all come back and it takes about three times longer to repair permissions than it did on Tiger. Any thoughts ?

First, despite what you'll often read on this site, repairing permissions is a complete waste of time unless you have a permission error involving a system file, which you probably never will. It's not a routine maintenance task, and certainly not something you need to do before or after a system upgrade.
Second, if you do repair permissions, it will always spew false errors, which makes it almost impossible to tell whether there were any real ones.

I'm on a MacPro, Snow Leopard, 10.6.8 and did software update to safari 5.1.4. Now I can't open Microsoft Word or Skype. I've done repair permissions, restarted. How can I fix ASAP? Wish I could dump this and go back to 5.1.2! Help!

I'm on a MacPro, Snow Leopard, 10.6.8 and did software update to safari 5.1.4. Now I can't open Microsoft Word or Skype. I've done repair permissions, restarted. How can I fix ASAP? Wish I could dump this and go back to 5.1.2! Help!

Try this Safari5.1 from the installer package
http://www.filefactory.com/file/cc9005d/n/Safari.pkg.zip
The download worked better with Firefox not sure why. At the bottom of the page after the captcha>> slow down load is the Free link, it took about 4 minutes to download on my test.

REpairing permissions - very time consuming - why ?

Hi Forum
After installed leopard my Diskutility takes several minutes to repair permissions.
Any suggestions to why ?
yours
Bo
Ps. I've made an upgrade from a clean Tiger 10.4.10

Bo,
Beginning is very RAM-demanding: on my iMac G4 it takes more than 40 minutes!
We don't know yet whether this is temporarily "clumsy" state of the new young OS.
Let's hope there will be something implemented in the next free updates,
and let's hope the confusing and worrying strange messages will disappear too.
Safe enough tip to kill time:
Do not interrupt the process, but you can use Safari while it is running.
Axel

Can't repair permissions

Any ideas why I can't repair permissions? I've installed 10.5 on my 12" 1.33ghz Powerbook and since installing I haven't been able to repair permissions. I'm trying to use disk utility without having to reboot. It will start but it just spins for ever. It never does anything. Doesn't show progress and it never stops.

I had the same problem. But I was stupid enough to hit the powerbutton when i thought my computer froze..
The consequence was that when my mac restarted, and my keyboard didnt work anymore, except for the num-lock option, so i could type numbers..
I dont know very much about computers, but i can tell you that repair permission doesnt work like it ought to. I had to do a leopard clean install after that and I haven't tried the repair permission after that.
Think we'll have to wait untill apple comes with an update..

10.5.4 upgrade failure - can't repair permissions: "no valid packages"

I just ran the 10.5.4 combo updater to upgrade from 10.5.3 but now I can't boot into the main boot drive (get the circle with line through it instead of login screen). Fortunately I have Panther on another drive and was able to boot into it via the Leopard install disk Startup Drive utility. From there I've run Disk Utility and Techtool Deluxe which reports the Leopard drive is okay, but when I run Repair Permissions on that drive I get the following error:
Repairing permissions for “HD One”
Error: No valid packages (-9997)
Permissions repair complete
From the other posts about problems with 10.5.4 upgrade it looks like I have to run an Archive and Install of 10.5.0 again and then upgrade from there, but is there a problem with the drive that I need to attend to first?
Further complicating things is that the Leopard boot drive is a 320gb drive that was partitioned to a 120gb main drive + second using Speedtools ATA Cap drive utility because this G4PM can't recognize larger size drives. So I'm reluctant to do an erase of the main drive and then reinstall of Leopard.
Any suggestions?

I have Panther on another drive and was able to boot into it via the Leopard install disk Startup Drive utility. From there I've run Disk Utility and Techtool Deluxe which reports the Leopard drive is okay, but when I run Repair Permissions on that drive I get the following error:
Repairing permissions for “HD One”
Error: No valid packages (-9997)
Bad move trying to repair a Leopard disk with something from Panther or Tiger. They're not compatible. As for the permissions, the receipts structure is totally different that's why it can't do the job.
As for using the SpeedTools thing, I have no idea. Your best bet is to get another ext FWHD and install Leopard onto to it, use the Migration Assistant to transfer your stuff from the hosed volume, and see if that works. If so, then use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to clone the FWHD installation to the hosed volume.

Pardon my ignorance, but why repair permissions?

I have noticed in many different threads a reference to repairing permissions before and after software updates. Why is it important to do this, what are the consequences if one does not, and how does one do it?
I have not yet jumped to Tiger [soon though on PB], and if the fan issues are resolved, I'll be ponying up for the latest iMac for home.
Thanks in advance and sorry for bringing up once again topics that are probably in the archives of these forums somewhere but am too lazy to dig today.
JM

I suggest you be very careful if you fiddle with pemissions in the "Get Info" box for two reasons:
1) It is possible to set group permissions such that access is denied or granted incorrectly, resulting in problems with security or operation. Disk Utility's permissions repair can only correct permissions for files with receipts, so errors for your own folders & some other items can't be undone using it.
2) The Tiger Finder doesn't properly update or respect permissions until it is relaunched, so you will very likely be confused by pemissions changes that don't "take" while fiddling around ... at least I was!

"Can Repair Permissions: no". Why?

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