Unix Command to repair permissions

Is there a way to repair permissions with Remote Desktop? Is there a Unix command to do this?

Send
diskutil repairPermissions /
as the user "root" (no quotes).

Similar Messages

UNIX command to set permissions for a "public" partition?

I have a bunch of Core Duo (1.83) iMacs running 10.4.11. We have the drive partitioned so that students can save/store stuff locally for myriad reasons.
With infrequent regularity, the read/write permissions on the partition get munged up and staff have to reset permissions (using the Get Info window).
I would DEARLY love to use ARD 3.2 to send a UNIX command to set permissions so that EVERYONE has access to EVERYTHING on the partition regardless of who has logged in. We have cleverly named this partition "Scratch" 'cuz, well, you know, that's what scratch drives are for, yes?

What I was hoping for was the ACTUAL chmod command so that I could just cut and paste it.
Sorry not to be sufficiently specific. If you'd said that initially, I could have provided a more direct answer. I didn't know if you were even aware of chmod, and lots of people when they learn about it don't want to go anywhere near a chmod command, so I posted only to the general description first so you knew what you were getting into. Templeton has you covered for the specific command.
For future questions, the more specific you can be about what you're aware of/have tried and what it is you're looking for, the more precise folks here can be in their answers.
Regards.

Unix command to repair disk permissions

ARD 3.2.1
Send UNIX command>Template>Miscellaneous>Repair Disk Permissions
This command works but the report does not show the results under the correct computer. If several computers are given the command, they report back under the next computer name in the list even though they show correctly in the display under "Active Tasks".
Ron Taylor

Send
diskutil repairPermissions /
as the user "root" (no quotes).

HT4710 when i try to go into iphoto i get a message To examine and repair permissions, quit iPhoto. Press the Command and Option keys while you open iPhoto, and select "Examine and repair iPhoto Library file permissions."

in iphoto i get the shreen with just thr download circle and nothing happens. i click on on edit and get "
To examine and repair permissions, quit iPhoto. Press the Command and Option keys while you open iPhoto, and select “Examine and repair iPhoto Library file permissions.“
it still does not work

Have you tried doing what it says?
As a Test:
Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?

Rebuild iPhoto library? I have opened iPhoto with Command Option keys held down. I get the Photo Library First Aid window. When I hit the repair button for the repair permissions command, iPhoto opens and nothing else happens. What do I do now?

I have opened the iPhoto First Aid window. When I press the repair button for the repair permissions operation, nothing happens but my iphoto opens at the place I have been stuck since July 3. What do I do now.

How big is your library? You should see the following:
OT

Repairing permissions has taken days - and still going

After the slew of problems I had after upgrading to 10.5.2 it was suggested on one of these forums that I repair my permissions. I started that last Thursday morning - when I left work for the weekend on Friday afternoon it said "20 hours) still to go. This morning (Monday) I come in, it's still running, and says it has "One Day, 18 hours" left.
So that means it's been running for almost 4 straight days, with another couple to go (if the "one day, 18 hour" is to be believed".
If you open Force Quit it tells you the application's not responding, but if you sit there and watch the Disk Repair window you can see it processes a file about once every minute or so.
So far all of the messages have begun with "ACL found but not expected on..."
Mind you, I have two 1 TB hard drives installed, running as a mirror RAID.

You should "force quit" the application even if your TB drives are completely full.
Run fsck from bootup. This is a UNix command you can initiate from restart. Press the Apple and S keys at the same time as you boot. Then type in fsck -fy . Let it run to completion, and then type exit.
The machine will reboot.
Then run "verify disk" in Disk Utility. Then run "repair permissions" for each disk separately.

Repair Permissions - "Info does not esist"

Just curious - Whenever I run Repair Permissions, the first line of the resulting log says "parent directory ./Users/Shared/SC Info does not exist". What is this telling me? The computer seems to be running just fine, and no other problem areas show up on the log. Thanks for the help.
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi, R.G.
Well, this could lead to long and tedious UNIX tutorial. The bottom line is that you need not be concerned about this message when you run Repair Permissions from Terminal.
The info you posted is a directory listing. It basically says that the Users > Shared > SC Info folder (directory in UNIX parlance) contains a file called SC Info.sdb. The data from the ls command you issued provides details about the ownership, permissions, size, etc of that folder (line ending in "."), its enclosing folder (line ending in ".." — the Shared folder), and the file(s) contained in the SC Info folder (line ending in "SC Info.sidb").
The data in the first four columns is explained in Figure 2 of "Troubleshooting permissions issues in Mac OS X", though one also needs to read the earlier part of that document to understand what columns 1, 3, and 4 are about.
The rest of the columns are explained in the section entitled "The Long Format" of man (UNIX manual) page for the ls (list directory contents) command.
If you open the Macintosh HD > Users > Shared folder in Finder, you won't see SC Info folder because the "Invisible" file system attribute for that folder has been enabled in order to hide it.
If I execute the same ls command I provided to you earlier (ls -al /Users/Shared/SC\ Info/), I see:<pre>total 0
drwxrwxrwx 3 drsmoke wheel 102 May 26 2004 .
drwxrwxrwt 31 root wheel 1054 Mar 17 05:56 ..
-rw-rw-rw- 1 drsmoke wheel 0 May 26 2004 SC Info.sidb</pre>The zero (0) highlighted in red in my output indicates the file SC Info.sidb is zero bytes in size. This is because no content (songs, etc.) has been purchased from the iTMS on this computer. That file on your Mac has a non-zero size since you've purchased songs or other content from iTMS.
None of the Apple Developer documents address the specific purpose of the SC Info.sidb. In investigating this file, and comparing it with the same file on some other Macs, it was found that this file's size is non-zero if one has purchased content from iTMS and a little more digging led to the understanding that this contains descriptor keys, perhaps related to authorizing a Mac to play purchased music.
If you really want to get into the UNIX command line, check out the UNIX-related books I recommend in my "Learning About Mac OS X" FAQ. Terminal is powerful and is especially useful in exploring the underpinnings of Mac OS X, accessing facilities that have yet to be exposed in the GUI (Graphical User Interface), as well as troubleshooting. One should study on it a bit since, if used incorrectly, certain Terminal commands can erase your hard drive or otherwise render one's system unusable.
I hope the info above explains this better.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Can I repair permissions on an external RAID1

I have an external RAID1 set that has permissions set to Read & Write, all categories, Ignore ownership is turned on. Intended for data storage only. When I copy a folder of files to this RAID, the files in the folder wind up with "No Access" permissions under the Group and Others categories. I am trying to get these files to take on the permissions of the drive itself, which is R&W but can't find out how. The Ignore ownership is supposed to correct this but doesn't. I started Disk Utility on the Boot Drive and tried to repair permissions on the RAID set but no luck, repair permissions does not highlight. Does repair permissions work on a RAID1 drive? Any other thoughts on why the individual files in the folders do not take on the R&W attributes of the drive?

You could use folder actions to change the permissions on a file that you dropped on your external hard drive. I believe you will it need to place an action on each folder that you drop a file on.
first, you need to have the AppleScript program in the correct folder.
"/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/"
Also, shown in the pull-down below.
second, you need to enable folder actions by clicking on the box.
third third, you need to pick a folder and assign the AppleScript.
!http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/3358154729_ab483596a9.jpg?v=0!
Here is an example, dropLog, folder actions Applescript.
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving dropped_items
repeat with dropped_item_ref in dropped_items
display dialog "dropped files is " & dropped_item_ref
set posix_path to POSIX path of dropped_item_ref
(* Check out "'" how valid this is with Unix!!! *)
set the_query to "ls -lF " & "'" & posix_path & "'"
display dialog the_query
set ls_result to do shell script the_query
display dialog "ls result = " & ls_result
end repeat
end adding folder items to
How to use chmod
mac $ pwd
/Users/mac
mac $ touch testseeit
mac $ ls -l testseeit
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 0 Nov 11 23:33 testseeit
mac $ chmod 660 testseeit
mac $ ls -l testseeit
-rw-rw---- 1 mac staff 0 Nov 11 23:33 testseeit
mac $
of course for cryptic info...
man chmod
There is the chown command for changing the owner and group.

Slow Repair Permissions

I know this has been discussed a lot here but I'm having trouble finding the definitive solution. If someone can point me in the right direction I would be grateful.
I click Repair Permissions and it says Estimated time: Less than 1 minute.
Hours later it finishes.
This gives me no confidence that it is working.
How do I get it to run at about the same speed as it used to in Tiger - a minute or so?
Thanks

IanB wrote:
Hi Thierry,
I can see you are whacking a few unix commands into a bash shell there but can you explain what they do for me?
Indeed! But I can't go to in detail on "how to" manage your Mac through a Unix shell. It's a bit of topic here. Anyways, here are some explanations on the commands themselves.
First I realize I've used one of my shell aliases 'll'. It's a command built in the Korn shell, that doesn't exists in Bash. So, I've created a convenient alias, that allows for some uniformity between the Unix shells I have to cope with.
alias ll='ls -alsG'
I've listed the content of the /Library/Receipts/db directory, which I'm allowed to read (and execute). This reports the presence of this file: a.receiptdb
That's it, it's what I'm looking for: the DataBase file MacOSX uses for many of its applications (thanks to a built-in SQL engine)
Apple provide a simple SQL client 'sqlite3' to manage and access these DB files. I prefer to provide the absolute path to this command to be sure I'll use the Apple provided binary and not some other 3rd party (or Darwin ports installed) version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQLite3
I use the 'vacuum' command that cleans and reorganize the DB file. This has for effect to optimize read accesses to the database
http://sqlite.org/lang_vacuum.html
You can excercise this 'sqlite3 vacuum' command onto your Mail Envelope Index file too. This makes Mail.app a tad bit faster browsing through your mails.
Finally, I've listed again the directory content to see how much space that file has freed on my HD. It means that my DB file needed some clean-up/reorg.
That command 'echo $((291647488 - 284282880))' is simply to use the math functions of the Bash shell I've used here as a simple calculator.
The receipts DB file is appended with information about installed packages. It's used by Repair Permissions (of Disk Utility) and Software Update. Both applications need to read the patterns defined by the applications designers to correctly apply the Unix permissions to each of the files installed/created by applications ... MacOSX system in first place.
I hope this will help.
Thierry

Error message: There is a problem accessing one or more files in your iPhoto library. Do you want iPhoto to repair permissions for this library for you?

I have been using iPhoto for years. Today when I tried to upload pictures from camera, I received the above error message. I select "Repair", enter my password, and then a message "iPhoto was unable to repair permissions for the library" appears. I select "Quit" and it closes iPhoto. Quit is the only option. What has happened? I have tried to access the photos via other avenues such as uploading to gmail, and the photos load fine. I have about 28,000 photos.
I do not know what version of iPhoto I am using as I am unable to access the software. I have a iMac OS X (10.7.5). What should I do?

Select the iPhoto application in the Applications folder and type Command+i to bring up its Info Window. There will tell the version number. If it's iPhoto 9 or later apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Since only one option can be run at a time start with Option #3, followed by #4 and then #1 as needed.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
1 - download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
2 - click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
3 - Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option.
4 - In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
5 - Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

HD Not Accessible to Repair Permissions

Hello. I hope you can help me isolate the error that is keeping my Intel iMac G5 from booting properly. I’m running 10.4.
It froze after I’d been backing up onto DVD/dumping old data (about 20GB worth). Whenever I tried restarting the screen would freeze on the grey apple logo, sometimes with the swirly icon.
When I ran Disk Utility off the install disk at first it indicated “error detected” on mass storage, but later said it was fine. But I could not run Repair successfully (I kept getting "repair failed" messages), and the Repair Disk Permissions button was not accessible (greyed out).
I could not startup in safe mode. And if I tried to restart in DU the only option was a Network (which I'm not hooked up to).
Once I got a Kernal panic screen but most of the time it was just a grey apple with the fan hitting 900 rpm.
Finally I ran DiskWarrior and in 15 minutes it had cleaned out and rebuilt my HD. I thought I was home clear.
However, even though Disk Utility now says my HD is fine, it still does not allow me to Repair Disk Permissions - the option is greyed out. And if I boot up pressing Option to select a Startup Disk, the rebuilt drive is not one of them.
It appears my /Library/Receipts folder is empty.
What’s more, if I try to run an admin command in Terminal, like
sudo diskutil repairPermissions /
I get the message:
-bash: sudo: command not found
In fact, any way I try typing sudo I get a “command not found” message, even if I try to run other command like chmod.
When I type:
Users
I get
Users: command not found.
So I typed:
Echo $PATH
And get
/bin:/sbin:/usr/bn:/usr/sbin:/usr/libexec:/System/Library/CoreServices
I’m not sure at this point whether the fact that the DiskWarrior-rebuilt drive doesn’t show up among Startup options (when I boot with option key) is because of missing/broken permissions; an empty /Library/Receipts folder; missing users; or a missing path.
Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you.

Oy. I purchased an external drive and began installing Mac OSX onto it, so that I could then migrate all files from the unbootable hard drive before running an Archive & Install. That part seemed to go smoothly. But a few problems have emerged:
1. Though I was prompted to keep Disk 2 of the install ready, it never asked me for it, even though I ran the installation 2 or 3 times. Consequently while I can select the external drive when booting up command-S, I can only see Install window, Disk Utility or Terminal windows - never a desktop, preferences drop down, help menu, finder, all the things I'd typically see when launching my machine. Is this normal? Is there a way to force it to install only disk 2 if it has things it needs for full bootable GUI / access?
2. Booting up with the install disk, in disk utility I can see both drives but still cannot repair permissions on my affected HD. I tried via Terminal (repairPermissions, chmod or chown) commands; I keep getting error messages (command not found).
3. Switching cd / to my new drive in Terminal, I was able, I think, to change permissions (755) but when I open Disk Utility the drive is still not writable and "Repair Disk Permissions" is still grayed out.
4. I could not open Migration Assistant on the new drive via Disk Utility, so I copied it from the HD into its own folder on the new one, but am really confused about the whole Disk Image thing. If I create a new disk image and try to open it, convert or checksum it, it still is grayed out, I can never just open it. I tried running commands in Terminal to run that application on the external drive, pointing to the new folder, to the .app, to the contents, .dmg, and no commands seem to work, I keep getting the command not found message.
If I just run the A&I, I fear I'll lose my data which is why I wanted to migrate everything over before I did so. But if the user / owner permissions are screwed up and the only way to fix them is A&I, I don't know what else to do.
Is there ANY way to boot from the install, run Migration Assistant from the external drive (either through Disk Utility or Terminal) and copy all files from HD? If not, I guess I'll have to cross fingers and A&I.
Gee, I used to love my Mac ...

Help needed - disk utility cant repair permissions

after upgrading to Leopard - when few days later I verified my permissions in disk utility and ask for repair received log;
<<
Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/load_hdi" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/A/Resources /DiskManagementTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DesktopServicesPriv.framework/Versions/A/Reso urces/Locum" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Install.framework/Versions/A/Resources/runner " has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions differ on "private/var/log/secure.log", should be -rw------- , they are -rw-r----- .
Permissions differ on "Library/Preferences", should be drwxrwxr-x , they are drwxrwxrwx .
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/readconf ig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Admin.framework/Versions/A/Resources/writecon fig" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "usr/libexec/authopen" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/OwnerGroupTool" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.
Permissions differ on "Library", should be drwxrwxr-t , they are drwxrwxrwt .
Permissions verification complete
<<
I'm not unix knowledgeable.
please advice how to solve it?

done - and now I have following info after running disk utility repair :
+Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”+
+Stopped by user+
+Permissions repair complete+
+Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”+
+Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAg ent" has been modified and will not be repaired.+
+User differs on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.5.0/Home/lib/jvm.cfg", should be 0, user is 95.+
+User differs on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.5.0/Libraries/classlist" , should be 0, user is 95.+
+Permissions repair complete+
Can you advice what should I do next to fix it.
thank you
Tomasz

Disk utility won't repair permissions (related to error -8003)

I have an odd, recurring problem I can't diagnose. Recently my seven-month-old MacBook Pro has begun showing an error code (-8003) when I try to do common, system-related things like empty the Trash. At the same time, Time Machine stops backing up and Disk Utility can't repair permissions. If I go into System Preferences I can't open the lock to make changes, even though my account is still clearly marked as the Admin account. All third-party applications run fine, so I can't quite figure out what's going on.
I've tried repairing the disk via TechTool to see if there was directory damage and it checks out fine. I've reformatted my TM backup disk with Disk Utiity according to Apple's instructions, used the Terminal to ensure my Trash and old TM files were properly deleted, etc. Nothing seems to have made a difference.
When I restart the problem goes away for a couple of hours and then – at some point that I haven't been able to identify – the problem starts up again. This is the case whether I'm working on the MacBook or if it's just sitting there idle.
Before I reinstall I wondered if anyone had run into a similar problem and had figured out what caused it.

error code (-8003) when I try to do common, system-related things like empty the Trash
That's a common symptom of throwing stuff from a Time Machine backup into the trash in the Finder, which is a big no-no and can irreversibly corrupt your backup. In the Terminal, type the following command:
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/*
Copy and paste that! Don't try to re-type it, I've seen people put a space in the wrong place and wipe their whole user folder. Type your password when prompted, and expect that nothing will show until you hit return.
Next, repair your Time Machine backup according to:
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/A5.html
At the same time, Time Machine stops backing up
If the above troubleshooting doesn't fix your backup, you may have damaged it beyond repair. In that case, you'll have to erase it and start your backups over from scratch.
Disk Utility can't repair permissions
Where are you trying to repair permissions? Note that repairing permissions is only meaningful on a drive with a system installed on it, and only repairs permissions on a specific subset of the stuff on the drive. Also, note that there are permissions messages you can safely ignore... if you think it is failing because you're seeing them over and over, it's not failing.
If I go into System Preferences I can't open the lock to make changes, even though my account is still clearly marked as the Admin account.
I've never seen that before, and it may indicate you have much more serious problems with your computer. First, try repairing your hard drive with Disk Utility. Then trash the System Preferences preference file, located at:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
...where '~' means "your home folder".

Execute Unix command on login

Hello, is it possible to execute a unix command on user login?
I want that every time a user login on a mac at my company, a unix command be executed.
Is this case, this is the command: defaults write com.apple.mail NSPreferredMailCharset "UTF-8"
thks in advance

{quote}Loginwindow Scripts
Another way to run applications at login time is to launch them using a custom shell script. Mac OS X provides two options for launching scripts when the user logs in. When creating your script file, keep the following in mind:
* The permissions for your script file should include execute privileges for the appropriate users.
* Scripts launched by loginwindow are run as root. Therefore, you should thoroughly test your scripts before deploying them to make sure they do not adversely affect the user's system.
*In your script, the variable $1 returns the short name of the user who is logging in.
* Other login actions wait until your hook finishes executing. Therefore, have your script do what it needs to do quickly and then exit. {quote}
I want the script to be run as the current user that does the login, and not as the root. I think that if its run as root, it changes nothing in the user. Does this root issue apllies to the Zerwas method?
It depends on how Zerwas was thinking you'd implement it. If you added it to each user's login items, it should run as the user. If you create a startup item to run it, it will run as root. I'm assuming Zerwas was suggesting the former because there would be no point in wrapping the shell script in an AppleScript if you are going to turn it into a startup item.
What you might be able to do - at least with the loginwindow script - would be to explicitly run the command as the user by making use of the fact that the user name is passed to the loginwindow script as $1. I've never used loginwindow scripts but it seems as though it should work.
Another possibility would be to use a LaunchAgent. These are really intended to manage background processes, though, and it seems an unnecessary use of resources to load one which will only ever be run at startup.
Can I ask why you wish to run the script every time a user logs in? Is the concern that the default will get set to something else and needs to be reset regularly?
- cfr

Repair Permissions in Single User Mode

So, I have searched various posts and have yet to find anything that has worked so far. Hopefully, someone can still help. I recently made the mistake of changing my permissions on my hard drive. I clicked "Get Info" for the Boot volume and changed the permissions for "Everyone." I thought I had corrected it, but now when I try to boot, it just sits at the apple grey screen with the spinner and never loads the OS. Judging from other comments, this appears to be a permissions issue and all I need to do is repair the permissions which is why I ran through these commands in Single User mode:
/sbin/fsck -fy<return> --I did this twice to fix the drive
/sbin/fsck -fy<return>
/sbin/mount -uw<return>
/sbin/autodiskmount -va <return>
/usr/sbin/diskutil repairPermissions /<return>
sudo diskutil repairPermissions /
I am having to run through the Single User mode because I do not have the SL install disk. However, I have Windows installed on a Boot Camp partition and I can access files on the mac side but everything is read only.
I am a novice at the command line so any guidance on what commands might help to repair permissions would be great.

Found this for Leopard. Will probably work in 10.6
Run these commands and hit enter after each. Be careful with the spaces; keep exactly as written. There are various suggestions in this thread, which you might first want to check out, but this seems to be the most promising.
http://forums.macnn.com/90/mac-os-x/370223/changed-hd-permissions-mac-wont-get/
mount -uw /
chmod 775 /
chmod 1775 /
Then restart
BTW, not recommended to repair Permissions from the install disk, since if you've updated since installing, those will be out of date and incorrect. Permissions Repair should be done from the normal boot volume.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Unix Command to repair permissions

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