Time machine file restore fails "you don't have permissions to access.."

Frequently I work my macbook (10.7.3) in the terminal as root. I seems like files that owned by root are not eligable for restore via time machine by the system administrator. Is there a way to operate time machine as root? Or is there a way to grant root rights to the user account designated as administrator?
Specifically, the time machine copy dialog reports "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access [filename]. For example, in one case case, it is .gitignore.

In post https://discussions.apple.com/message/9945786#9945786 Scott T. states that "time machine always runs as root.", I take that to mean that time machine will have rights to copy all files, regardless of the owner.
That's great. So I can restate the question: how do I restore a file that is owned by root?

Similar Messages

Help! Time Machine is telling me I don't have permission to access backup

I recently did a clean SL install to try and correct some issues I am having with Aperture. The install did not correct the problem, and I now have a library of 70,000+ images (years worth of edits, etc..) that I cannot run in Aperture 3. Today I tried to access a copy of that library via time machine, based on the instructions in the FAQ above: I opened a finder window, went to "enter time machine" and tried to restore the library from February 8th (the day before I upgraded the library to AP3) to my newly installed snow leopard. I am getting the following error message:
The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access "Aperture Library".
Please help. I checked the troubleshooting section, but did not find any helpful info pertaining to this particular issue.

some additional info about the clean install, I did not Migrate any data over from a Time Machine, I started fresh. Perhaps this could be my issue. Do I need to Migrate over the User account in order to have access to my old data?

Time Machine:...you don't have permission to access

Hello People (it's been a while)
I'm having trouble restoring files from Time Machine to my desktop. Specifically, i accidentally deleted an imovie project i was working on and turned to Time Machine to get it back. Unfortunately when i click restore i get the message "the operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access..."
It's a head scratcher, as i've found from hunting around google and these forums. Has anyone come up with a solution?
I've tried repairing permissions and had a look in the get info box on my external (TM) hard-drive. Nothing appears to be amiss.

Read the following:
What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Also, see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

Can't move any files... "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items."

This is a strange one... I just recently did a complete format/reinstall of Lion because of very poor performance after upgrading.
So I'm on a totally fresh system, no TimeMachine restore or anything. I've installed all my apps from scratch - no prefrence file backups or anything. Everything is fresh.
Yesterday I tried to copy a file from one folder to another and I got the error "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items". Checked file permissions... repaired disk permissions... made sure I was logged in as admin (I only have one account)... everything looks good.
This is now happening when trying to copy any files anywhere on my machine... Very frustrating.
There's a couple strange side-effects I've noticed:
- I can move & copy files just fine in terminal... without sudo...
- The little lock icon in the bottom right of the Get Info window doesn't do anything - I can't unlock it. I can still edit the permissions for the file/folder but I can't select the "apply to enclosed items..." option.
Does anybody know what the heck is going on?

jsd2 wrote:
Try creating a new admin user account, logging into it, and then creating some new items on the Desktop and elsewhere. Does the same thing happen there?
Ok the strangeness continues!
I created a new "TestAdmin" account, but it doesn't show up in the Users & Groups prefrences sidebar... The /Users/testadmin folder was created, but the account doesn't show up in the prefrences or login window...
I tried a reboot to see if the account would show up and it still doesnt.... However after the reboot I am now able to copy files again!
I'm paranoid that the problem will show up again since I have no idea what fixed it. I tried rebooting previously after repairing permissions which didn't solve the issue so it's not like I haven't rebooted since it started.
And now I have the issue of not being able to create user accounts.
A little dissapointed with Lion to be honest... the new features are cool but there are so many little bugs it really feels half-baked.

Unable to recover Time Machine back-up because I "don't have permission"...

Trying to recover an old version of my iPhoto library from a Time Machine backup. I get about 1/3 into the restore and I get the message "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access iPhoto Library". Any suggestions? Does the back-up have an error in it?

This article might help:
http://pondini.org/TM/E9.html

File Vault: You don't have permission to access /~anybody/ on this server.

I tried it on several machines without success:
403 Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /~anybody/ on this server.
Apache/1.3.33 Server at localhost.local Port 80
I can reach the main site on the computer but not the user site if user was setup with File Fault.
I did control permissions and tried this issue on other machines with clean installed 10.4.x
:::[Wed Apr 4 13:19:17 2007] [error] [client 192.168.0.10] (13)Permission denied: access to /~anybody/ failed because search permissions are missing on a component of the path:::
NO SOLUTION. IS THIS A BUG?

If I log in to a FileVault user's account, change the group of that user's home folder to "www" and allow group "---x" permissions, it is possible, from another account, to access "http://127.0.0.1/~filevaultuser". I'm not in a situation where I can test access from a different machine, and my system is PPC, not Intel, but I don't think that should matter. I'm not sure why it is not working for you.
Note that for it to work requires that the user is logged in (otherwise, because of how FileVault works, the "~/Sites" folder doesn't exist), and the permissions along the path "/Users/filevaultuser/Sites" have to allow "www" access. If the user is not logged in, access may fail for a couple of reasons. First, because the "Shared" folder doesn't exist - the home folder is encrypted - leading to a 404 error. Second, the permissions of "/Users/filevaultuser" may be "drwx------" by default (access only for the owner), leading to a permissions error.
It might help to recall that when a FileVault user's home folder is stored in an encrypted disk image "/Users/filevaultuser/filevaultuser.sparseimage", and when they log in, "/Users/filevaultuser" is moved to "/Users/.filevaultuser", and "/Users/.filevaultuser/filevaultuser.sparseimage" is mounted at "/Users/filevaultuser". I.e. the path "/Users/filevaultuser" refers to two different folders depending on whether or not the user is logged in.
..."it writes that if I'm looged in as the user which is using File Vault it should work - but it doesn't."...
I think that statement refers to 10.3 - lower in the article, it says that for Tiger, the "Public" folder won't be visible after logging in. It could also be referring to some changes made to personal file sharing that were made between 10.3 and 10.4, rather than a filevault specific issue.
Just to reiterate, I don't think enabling web sharing for a user that needs the security of FileVault is really a good idea. It might be better to give that user a second non-FileVault account, where they can place their materials. That way, the homepage would be available even if they are logged out.

Copying failed because you don't have permissions to change your iTunes me-

This is what it says: Copying failed because you don't have permissions to change your itunes media folder or a folder within it
I'm using iTunes media consolidation procedure to copy all media files from the existing folder on an external Lacie 180 GB firewire 400 to an external Hitachi duo pro 2TB firewire 400 that has a raid feature which is switch to 1 (essentially it does 2 copies on both disks at the same time)
It won't even copy a single file. I've tried to copy other stuff from the internal hard disk to the new 2TB disk and copies fine (5GB folder full of software). It only does this with iTunes.

I did what you suggested on all three folders: The main Music folder on the Mac hard disk, on the iTunes folder on the external 160GB Hard drive which contains the current media content and on the new 2TB hard disk on which I created a new media folder. I selected permission for myself which were already read+write and chose the apply to enclosed items on all three folders. I then changed the permission for others to read+write and applied to enclose items also an all three folders.
But it didn't solve anything.
Here's what happens: I choose the new directory in iTunes preferences (the media folder on the 2TB disk) I then go to File > Library > Organize Library and then choose Consolidate files. A window pops up and says copying "filename" with a progression bar underneath but the filename never changes. Instead the beachball appears when the mouse pointer hoovers over iTunes. Upon pressing the iTunes icon in the Dock it says that iTunes is not responding. At this point there's 2 different ways:
A - If I then force quit iTunes the iTunes window disappears but the application does not close. When I want to eject the 2TB disk it says it's being used by another application. Only when I cut the power to the 2TB disk does iTunes fully close. A window then pops up and says that the drive was not put away properly etc.
B - if I cut the power to the drive without force quitting iTunes, a window appears with the said: "Copying failed because you don't have permissions to change iTunes media folders etc." iTunes remains open and fully functional.

HT201250 I need to restore my iPhoto library. But, when I select an earlier iPhoto library from TimeMachine and click on restore, I get a message "You don't have permission to access iPhoto library." I am the only administrator this Mac Mini has ever had

I may have accidentally trashed my iPhoto library (fomr the pictures folder). No problem, I thought1. I;ll jsut resore it using Time Machine, but I have tried it several times and get the message "You don't have permission to accesss the iPhoto library". How can this be? Any help will be appreciated.

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
It's a known problem using Time Machine. Read > http://pondini.org/TM/E9.html

Lion - deleting files on TC - The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items.

I am trying to delete some files from my Time Capsule (2TB) but I keep getting this error:
The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items.
How do I solve this?
Thanks,
Jonathon

is the file faded and unable to be opened? i was transferring files from an old external hard drive to a time capsule, it stopped half way through and now refuses to delete the interupted folder because i dont have the correct permissions.

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.

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?

The File could not be found or you don't have permission to access it.

I teach Acrobat in a junior college. For an assignment students are to share an Acrobat portfolio file via Acrobat.com. So far two students have attempted to do that, I have clicked the link in the email message generated by Acrobat.com, and in each instance the error message in this discussion heading appeared.

Michelle,
I don't sign in. The moment Acrobat.com opens, it displays the error
message, "The File could not be found or you don't have permission to
access it." So, I'm guessing that the automatic sign-in email address is
different than the one used when sending me a shared file notice.
People use Acrobat.com to share files with individuals, most of whom
don't have Acrobat.com IDs. Those non-members gain access smoothly.
There shouldn't be a bouncer at the door to refuse entry to those who
have Acrobat.com IDs but who happen to have multiple email addresses.
You need to simply allow entry to all persons receiving invitations to
download files whether or not they have an Acrobat.com ID.
Jeff
=========

I can not delete an email I get a message218130.emlx" couldn't be copied because you don't have permission to access "Messages"

I can not delete an email I get a message218130.emlx” couldn’t be copied because you don’t have permission to access “Messages”

Actually, the Finder solution did not work for me, but here's what did:
Quit Mail (for safety's sake).
Open Terminal (it's in Utilities folder usually, but since I updated to ML it's in a folder called Other for some reason)
Once Terminal is open, you'll want to login as ROOT. You do this as follows:
Type
sudo -i
Then hit Enter/Return. You'll be promoted for your system password. Hopefully you'll remember it. Enter your password then hit Enter/Return.
You'll then be at what's known as a root prompt.
At this point BE VERY CAREFUL. You have the ability at this point to completely destroy your machine beyond repair. Only type what I list below:
To find the folder that contains the email message you'll need to type the following:
find . -name "218130.emlx"
Hit Enter/Return
This will take a minute or two but what should appear in the list of other items that appear is something along the lines of the following (it won't be exactly this but will look LIKE this) I've replaced some personally identifying info:
./Users/yourname/Library/Mail/V2/POP-youremailaddress@yourmailserver/INBOX.mbox/ 0355DF0D-5E99-4798-B79E-48D71E68AF34/Data/3/2/Messages/23219.emlx
This line describes the location of the offending email. You know what to put yourself into this directory:
cd /Users/yourname/Library/Mail/V2/POP-youremailaddress@yourmailserver/INBOX.mbox/0 355DF0D-5E99-4798-B79E-48D71E68AF34/Data/3/2/Messages/
Hit Enter/Return
Notice, I left of the name of the actual email address. You'll need to be sure you type the location EXACTLY or this won't work. You want to be in the Messages folder. You'll know you're there because your Terminal prompt will look something like this:
Your Name - iMac:Messages
Then just to be sure you're in the right place, type
ls
Hit Enter/Return
You should then see something like this:
iMac:Messages root# ls
23013.emlx 23096.emlx 23100.emlx 23156.emlx 23210.emlx 23213.emlx 218130.emlx
You'll see the offending message. Now, you delete ONLY this message. Type:
rm -f 218130.emlx
That's RM at the start above. You'll need to type it in lower case. Be sure that's all you type.
Hit Enter/Return
You'll should be disappointed at the results because it will look like nothing happened. You can hit ls and Enter/Return one more time and the offending file should be gone.
EXIT TERMINAL. DO NOT TYPE ANYTHING ELSE. DO NOT "POKE AROUND". THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO EXPLORE. SERIOUS SYSTEM DAMAGE CAN BE CAUSED FROM HERE. EXIT TERMINAL NOW.
Now re-open Mail - the message will still appear to be in there, but magically, you can delete it. you can also delete it from your Trash for good measure.

Can't save multiple folders to external drive. Get: "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items." when dragging large folders to mac os extended journalled external drive from OS 10.6.8

Hi
I am feeling VERY desperate!
After losing an external drive [dont ask....] -   I got another one : 2TB WD formatted properly [ OS extended journalled for mac ] ready for action to move my thousands of files and images and ppts in hundreds of folders across from the laptop to this drive because I travel a bit with the laptop and this is too risky not to back up at home.
But this message came up after starting on moving folders across [** and not straight away, sometimes after moving a folder when 4 of 6 gb of files across then the message comes up = very frustrating]:
"The operation can’t be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items."
I am dragging mixed sometimes large complex folders to this os extended journalled external drive from my mac book pro OS 10.6.8 - it would take decades to move items one by one or even folder by folder and really confusing.
I have dragged-copied various small folders and files across successfully, but it is only working 50:50 and I can't leave machine with the idea of things copying eg: overnight - it just won't work....
I have been browsing google and find some people describing in CODE how they overcome this 'message'   .... but I [and I guess some other viewers of this in future & also in desperation] would need instructions for beginners.... to try this type of thing. I don't know any code.
How can this be happening - I feel ANGRY at APPLE !!!! for not posting easy fix instructions yet re; this, or better still updating software so it doesn't happen [ that I can find at least !!! ] .   There seem to be hundreds of people stuck with this stupid message and inability to back up their projects etc.
Can anyone help ?
Many thanks
Julie
15 August 2011

hi Samberl
thanks a lot for the fast reply.
I was dragging folders from main folders on the laptop-desktop onto the external drive icon - to copy them across....
Your suggestion sounds very promising - I didn't know about 'cloning'.
Yes the idea is to backup the laptop -    I thought I would just move it all now, new - and then keep saving/dragging physically   across to the new drive myself each day or two...
Would this be the sizeof the internal hard drive = c.500 gb ?   =   under the HD icon on desktop is written :
" 499.76gb , 311.5 gb free "
I can erase and start agin on the new external drive - so this plan is to make two partititions, rather than the one at present, and make one of them 500 gb ?
I have found CCC [carbon copy cloner] googling - looks good.
When CCC site says it backs up the hard drive - would this mean all my files [over 100 gb] that are mostly in folders on the desktop, plus the others in itunes, iphotos etc found in the HD icon, would all copy across successfully [wherever they are in the computer ] ?
thanks again, hope you can clarify these things and then I will go for it.
It would be great and amazing if this 'lack of permission' message doesn't show up in the process of doing this ccc transfer - hopeful!
Julie

You don't have permission to access ** on the server, HELP please

For the last months I've been working with Muse and updating my website through Muse without any problems.
I use my extern HTML for update pages in Muse, and usually this went without any problems too.
But if I test my new update, when I want to download a specific clip, it says: "You don't have permission to access ** on this server."
The files are in the correct place on my FTP, the link is correct and when I open the specific link in my browser without using my website, I CAN download the file.
How is it possible that this suddenly doesn't work anymore? Last time I updated this way was one week ago - without any problems.
Can anyone help, seeing I have done everything I usually do, and everything is in the correct place and the link does work.
Thanks

In my case I have to close/quit Muse. Then re-open the program. For me the problem goes away. This only happens occasionally.

"You don't have permission to access"

I am having problems with Web Sharing on my primary user account.
In the Setting>Sharing>Web Sharing panel it shows my computer address and the address for my personal website.
When I click on the computer's address, I get a page that says "It Works!" but when I click the personal website address, I get "You don't have permission to access..."
I created a test account and everything works fine there. I repaired permissions and ran the 10.6.4 combo update again and neither helped.
Any suggestions on what else to look at? I'm baffled.

j.v. wrote:
Now try doing a chmod -vv 755 Sites. See whether that fixes you.
This did not fix the problem
If doing that chmod doesn't fix it, do a ls -dle@ Sites since that folder is showing some additional extended attributes, so I can see what they are.
Results of ls -dle@ Sites
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 j staff 204 Aug 13 17:05 Sites
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
I presume your "Graphics" folder that is in your "Sites" folder is something that you put in there?
Yes, some time ago, don't remember why and I'm not using the contents so I will probably delete it.
If you do those things, then hopefully that will fix you up. If you are still having problems, just like you first did, do a
ls -Rle@ Sites > Desktop/modperms.txt
so you can easily show other helpers here what I've done to you
Done
PS - in your test account that you created, since it works, the files' and folders' permissions there are exactly like what your files' and folders' permissions in your account should look like. So if you were to do a
ls -Rle@ ../testAcctShortUserName/Sites
and a
ls -Rle@ Sites
that will give you a recursive listing, showing permissions, owner/group, access control lists, and extended attributes, of both Sites' folders for you to compare.
Results
[jay-hs-macbook:~] j% ls -Rle@ ../websharetest/Sites
total 1184
-rw-r--r--@ 1 websharetest staff 302232 Aug 12 19:18 Pictures alias
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
com.apple.ResourceFork 301907
drwxr-xr-x 3 websharetest staff 102 Aug 12 00:49 images
-rw-r--r-- 1 websharetest staff 2642 Aug 12 00:49 index.html
../websharetest/Sites/images:
total 32
-rw-r--r-- 1 websharetest staff 16624 Aug 12 00:49 gradient.jpg
[jay-hs-macbook:~] j% ls -Rle@ Sites
total 8
drwxr-x--- 8 j staff 272 Feb 18 2003 Graphics
drwxr-xr-x 3 j staff 102 Aug 12 00:49 images
-rw-r--r-- 1 j staff 2642 Aug 12 00:49 index.html
Sites/images:
total 40
-rw-r--r-- 1 j staff 16624 Aug 12 00:49 gradient.jpg
(Note: I removed the results for the Graphics folder since I plan to delete it)
It seems that the critical folders have the same permissions. Where else should I look?
Message was edited by: Hugacrv

Time machine file restore fails "you don't have permissions to access.."

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