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

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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?

Unable to access time machine backup. The folder "Documents" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.

My MacBook Pro with 750GB storage refuses to startup due to a problem with logic board (unfortunately I'm in Singapore and there is no Apple store here and zero customer support). I'm trying to access some of the files from the time machine back-up using my MacBook Air with 120GB storage, but I'm unable to open the backup. I receive an error message "you don't have permission to see its contents". Unable to access time machine backup. The folder “Documents” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
I don't really want to migrate the data from the time machine to the MacBook Air as I simply don't have sufficient storage space on the MacBook Air. The iPhoto library which I'm trying to access is 200GB, which is more than the size of the MacBookAir.
Is there any way I can view the photos and documents stored on the time machine backup.
Thank you very much.

When you setup the Mac, you created a Admin user account with say name X
You ran Migration Assistant and it migrated user Y from the Windows machine.
User Y has different permissions than User X.
User X can't normally access User Y's account.
So what you do is log out of User X via the Apple menu and into User Y, this way you have permission to access the files.
If you want to transfer files from User Y to User X account
Transfer files between user accounts on the same machine instructions
Finder > Go menu > Computer
A window appears with your boot drive, double click on it to open
Inside is Users folder, double click to open it
Inside is your User accounts, double click on the one you want to send files too
Double click on the Public folder drop the files into the DropBox folder,
The permissions will change and can be used in the other user account when you log into it and moved to the appropriate folders.
Applications are typically installed and kept in the Applications folder which is a global access folder all users can access to run them from, but not all users can modify unless they are a Admin user.
Windows programs won't run on a Mac, but they can be instaled into a virtual machine program that is running Windows.
Windows in BootCamp or Virtual Machine?

Leopard. Did a full restore from Time Machine. Now I can't access my other internal and external drives. I get the following error: The folder "Capture Video" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.

Leopard. Did a full restore from Time Machine. Now I can't access my other internal and external drives. I get the following error: The folder “Capture Video” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents. I have repaired permissions pn the main harddrive. When I try too click on a disk I get the previously stated error. I can't even open up information to see what permission/access there is. It simply will not let me see the content. It shows the content of my main hard drive when I have clicked the other harddrive's name.

Solved:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chmod -N /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"

Time machine backup saysThe folder "Documents" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.

I am trying to install my time machine backup. But as I open the backup it says
:The folder “Documents” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.
I did get the info on the file to unlock it but still it gives me a no entry sine. How do I install my backup to my new mac when this backup can't be opened?

Hello yvettefrompretoria,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
From your post it looks like you're trying to restore a Time Machine backup to a new computer. To do that simply follow the steps in the article below, in the section "Time Machine or other disk migration."
OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5872
Take care,
Alex H.

I backed up my old core 2 duo imac and and was trying to transfer files to my new 2011 imac and when i go to oppen a folder from what i transferred it says "The folder "Music" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."?

I backed up my old core 2 duo imac and and was trying to transfer files to my new 2011 imac and when i go to oppen a folder from what i transferred it says "The folder “Music” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents". Why cant i access the files from my old mac? I tried the time machine and that isnt working either. I have files that I need to use on my new mac, all my old programs and such. I thought they said it was easy to get your files from one mac to another. Please help.

Your account names are probably different on the two Macs. If you know the UNIX command line, open a terminal window and run:
$ id
You should see a line that starts with something like this:
uid=501(your_user_id_here)
now check the owner of the folder you copied over:
$ ls -ld Music
drwx------+ 8 some_user_id_here staff 272 May 14 16:08 Music
Do the IDs match? If not, you could change the ownership. Say your id is "johnsmith"
$ chown -R johnsmith Music
Now try and access it with iTunes.

HT2506 Hello I'm unable to open any pdf's with preview 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

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.

My os is 10.8.4. Airport Utility is 6.3. When I try to pull backups, time capsule says: 'The folder "Pictures" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.'.

My os is 10.8.4. Airport Utility is 6.3. When I try to pull backups, time capsule says: 'The folder “Pictures” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents.'. So I cannot use Time capsule to back up so what gives?

Did you use migration assistant when you set up the computer?
TM will treat this as a different computer and permissions issues can arise from that.
Pondini is the expert on that stuff.. hopefully he can drop in.
But I recommend you read all the FAQ to do with restore.. Q14-17.
And then look at the permissions issues he lists in troubleshooting.
E9 in particular. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

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?

After trying to restore from time capsule, I get the following message when I try to access the folder "data." The folder "Data" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents. Any ideas?

after trying to restore from time capsule, I get the following message when I try to access the folder "data": "The folder “Data” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents." Any ideas?

Are you restoring from a TM backup??
Check the methods Pondini outlines to do restore.
Q14-17
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

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?

Time Capsule Says: "The folder "Data" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents."

I have a new Mac 27 with two users. Both are admins. For the second user, it will not allow me to access the "Data" file on Time Capsule but instead tells me "The folder “Data” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents." I have tried all manner of "fixes" suggested on the internet without success. Can anyone tell me how to fix this problem? Many thanks.

Are you trying to do both at once? There is an issue with TC where if you have one login user accessing the drive, another user cannot use it. You need one to log out so the other can log in. It is ok from another computer I think.. just you cannot maintain two logins from the same computer.

Every time I try to print from word.mac it tells me that it can't save the file because I don't have permission then it closes the file. what do I do?

Everytime I try to print a doc from word.mac it tells me that it can't save the file because I don't have permission then closes the file. What do I do to change this?

If you have problems with updating or with the permissions then easiest is to download the full version and trash the currently installed version to do a clean install of the new version.
Download a new copy of the Firefox program and save the DMG file to the desktop
* Firefox 5.0.x: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html
* Trash the current Firefox application to do a clean (re-)install
* Install the new version that you have downloaded
Your profile data is stored elsewhere in the [http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox Firefox Profile Folder], so you won't lose your bookmarks and other personal data.

HT201250 i'm getting message: can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents. and he operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8003).

I took my computer in to have the Backup restored onto my computer after having a new harddrive put onto my 1year 1/2 old MacBook Pro. When i got it home there was a new User that i had to logout of to getting into my normal user. Don't know why this was, just figured the Mac guys that installed my backup did this for some odd reason. Today i could not open any of my files in the backup on the time machine. All the folder had line going thought them and when i clicked on them I revieved this message: can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents. After talking with that same mac store. I decided to just delete all the files out of the time machine as it was just put back on my computer and i have everything i need. Hours later when i tried to empty the trash i got this messsage: the operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8003).
Any advise how to fix my problem?
thanks in advance

While you see a single trash can, in reality there are trash folders on each mounted volume. I don't use TM but what you are describing implies that a TM drive is no different with the way trash is treated. So when the TM is unmounted the trash folder on there is gone and thus the trash looks empty. Remount the drive, the trash folder on it now causes the trashcan to look like something is in it.
If TrashIt! could not remove the file, I'm sorry, you will need to use the terminal. We can do this one step at a time so you only have to copy/paste the lines into terminal (except the first time). So launch Terminal (in utilities). You might want to make the window that is shown a bit larger with the grow box since it's pretty small.
This first line is the only exception to the copy/pasting since you have to enter some information.
sudo ls -laR /Volumes/your-TM-volume-name/.Trashes
where your-TM-volume-name is the name of your TM volume. That's the part you have to fill in since I don't know it.
When you hit return the sudo in that command will cause a prompt for your admin password. Enter it and hit return again. Note the password will not be shown as you type it. Post the results so I can tell you what to do next.
Note this ls command is not doing anything but listing the files in the TM's .Trashes folder. Remember I said each drive has it's own trash folder. .Trashes is it.

The folder "myuser" can´t be opened because you don´t have permission ...

I send my MacBook Pro to the service, and before sending it, I clone it´s drive to another MacBook. When it´s come back, I made another clone to restore it to my MacBook Pro, but now I´m having problems with my Time Machine external drive.
I can backup any files, as always, to my TM disk, but I can´t access my old backups. The old folders appears with an icon with a lock sign, and when I try to open one, appears this message:
The folder "myuser" can´t be opened because you don´t have permission to see it´s contents.
What can I do to restore the permissions?
Regards
Rodrigo.

Select it and open the Info dialog. In the Sharing & Permissions section, you should have read & write access, and everyone (else) should have read access. If that's not the case, click the lock icon, authenticate, and make the necessary changes. Close the window and try again.

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

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