[whtgrower]

I have created new user accounts for family members in OSX. Why is it that even if I am logged in (administrator) I cannot open the folders which have been created for the new users?
I wanted to add some files (address book data, pictures, etc) and it tells me that I do not have permission to open these folders. It does not ask for my password either.
Is there a better way to share certain items? Or is it best to copy items into the new user folders?
thanks;

[chris v]

I went through this yesterday setting up a new user. If you log in as root and move stuff from one user to another, everything you move will be owned by the system, which sucks.

The easiest workaround I found was to burn whatever you want to move onto a CD while logged in as user 1, then log out and back in as user 2, then copy the files back from the CD to user 2's documents folder.

I'm sure there's a convoluted way to do it via sudo and chown in the Terminal, but that's over my head.

CV

[kovacs]

Yeah I understand that it can be confusing sometimes, but it does make sense if you are a long time unix user, only the user who owns the folder can open it, the admin can make new users and even assign passwords for these new users but he can not open any folders located in the home folder of that user. If you want you can always place files in the Public folder located in the home directory, files and folders located in the public folder can be used by all users not only the admin, as an admin you can change file and folder permissions in the finder or with an app like batchmod, but this can be tricky and dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, select the folder you want to open and press command-I, choose permissions and click the little lock icon...

[zeebe]

I was wondering if there is a way to share a folder? My wife and I have a folder of files that we both modify, but when she opens them, it says Read Only after the file (in word) or it won't let her change it (photoshop). I have the folder located in the root of Macintosh HD
any help??

[wadesworld]

For the question in general, if you have things which users need to share, put it in the Shared user folder. That's what it's there for, after all.

As for the question of sharing a generic folder, you'll either have to give all permissions to everyone for that folder, or give group permissions to that folder and make sure that folder's group is set to your group.

Wade

[weezie]

Originally posted by wadesworld:
For the question in general, if you have things which users need to share, put it in the Shared user folder. That's what it's there for, after all.

Wade

The problem I have with doing this is that any file put into the shared folder is read-only to anyone but the user who put it there. This isn't particularly useful. Isn't there a way to give a folder read/write permissions to everyone and have everything that gets added to that folder (or any nested folder within) have read/write permissions for everyone?

My wife and I have our photos in the shared folder (don't even get me started about how difficult it is for iphoto to do this), but I have to keep blasting the folder with batchmod everytime one of us adds any photos--If I don't do this, we can't crop photos that the other uploaded. This is VERY annoying. It seems silly to put something in a folder called "shared" if I don't want others to use it.

I can see that in a school or work setting it is important to have tight permissions, but Apple should find a way to create a "simple permissions" options ala "simple finder" for home users who only create different user accounts because they want to keep their preferences and favorites separate. Or at a minimum, make a preference setting that would change the permissions of any file or folder that gets moved into the shared folder to be read/write for everyone as long as it is in the shared folder.

[Cipher13]

'Get Info' on a folder to make it a drop-box, or public, or whatever.

The way I'd do this:

Log in as root, copy and distribute files, then chown the files/folders as is appropriate.

[weezie]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
'Get Info' on a folder to make it a drop-box, or public, or whatever.

The way I'd do this:

Log in as root, copy and distribute files, then chown the files/folders as is appropriate.

Well, I'd do that except I have no idea what you just said. chown? huh?

Seriously though, I follow the advice of all the posts on this board which say to never log in as root unless you know what you are doing. I don't, so I won't. I know BatchMod can be just as dangerous, but I only use it on document folders -- I never go anywhere near applications or system folders. Even then I still get the heebie-jeebies using it because it has dropdowns containing all sorts of things I really know nothing about.

So, does anyone know a gui way to do this? Do this in a way that will keep the folder's contents read/write? Even content that gets put in the folder after the permissions for that folder were set?

Thanks

[Angus_D]

You should set the group to admin, and give the group rwx permissions (they're rwx------ by default on the standard subdirs of ~).

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by weezie:
Well, I'd do that except I have no idea what you just said. chown? huh?

Seriously though, I follow the advice of all the posts on this board which say to never log in as root unless you know what you are doing. I don't, so I won't. I know BatchMod can be just as dangerous, but I only use it on document folders -- I never go anywhere near applications or system folders. Even then I still get the heebie-jeebies using it because it has dropdowns containing all sorts of things I really know nothing about.

So, does anyone know a gui way to do this? Do this in a way that will keep the folder's contents read/write? Even content that gets put in the folder after the permissions for that folder were set?

Thanks

Well... eh, it can all be done through 'Get Info' I think, but that's SO slow. chown = change owner.

When I say log in as root, I mean through the gui, not terminal... it's easier to drag and drop files than do it with the Terminal. Depending, I guess.

Don't be so paranoid about logging into the GUI as root. It isn't like your machine will blow up. People love to overstate the risks... and yeah, I'm gonna get flamed for saying that , but whatever. When logged in as root, all applications are also executed with root privs, that's where the danger lies... that, and the system won't try to stop you messing with it. It'll trust you on that, sorta. Log in, just use the Finder and there isn't an issue.

But yeah. I'm not entirely sure what you want to do, so... eh. Listen to Angus (again, what he said can be done simply through the 'Get Info' window).