[vja4him]

Today I was trying out Freeway and Nvu, and somehow one of the System folders and another folder (and all of the folders within those two major folders) cannot be modified. When I try to drag another file/folder into the restricted folders, a message tells me, "The item .... could not be moved because "Folder" cannot be modified."

How do I undo this restriction? There are two choices in the message window, one says "Authenticate," and the other says "OK." If I click on "Authenticate," then I can type in my password and complete the action.

I cannot find any settings to undo this problem! Help please!!!

-- vjamacaddict, G4 iBook, OS X 10.3.9, Bluetooth


edit by [APi]TheMan: One animated brick is enough ; )

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally Posted by vja4him

Today I was trying out Freeway and Nvu, and somehow one of the System folders and another folder (and all of the folders within those two major folders) cannot be modified. When I try to drag another file/folder into the restricted folders, a message tells me, "The item .... could not be moved because "Folder" cannot be modified."

How do I undo this restriction? There are two choices in the message window, one says "Authenticate," and the other says "OK." If I click on "Authenticate," then I can type in my password and complete the action.

I cannot find any settings to undo this problem! Help please!!!

So I'm guessing that you installed some software (I've never heard of Freeway or NVU) and it was installed as an administrator, no? When an installer prompts you for your username and password, that usually means that it wants to install something and change ownership and/or permissions on the installed items (usually to an admin account).

I am also assuming that you were trying to delete or move one of the installed folders? Because your user does not own them (remember, the installer changed the owner), so the system tells you that you cannot modify them, and prompts you for your password and if your user is an admin, the action succeeds.

This is a very basic summary, but that's probably what happened.

[vja4him]

How can I unlock the folders? I may have accidentally clicked on something, however, Freeway and Nvu were already installed (last night), and this problem with locked folders only appeared this morning.

Originally Posted by [APi]TheMan

So I'm guessing that you installed some software (I've never heard of Freeway or NVU) and it was installed as an administrator, no? When an installer prompts you for your username and password, that usually means that it wants to install something and change ownership and/or permissions on the installed items (usually to an admin account).

I am also assuming that you were trying to delete or move one of the installed folders? Because your user does not own them (remember, the installer changed the owner), so the system tells you that you cannot modify them, and prompts you for your password and if your user is an admin, the action succeeds.

This is a very basic summary, but that's probably what happened.

[TETENAL]

The System folder should not be modified by you, therefore it is owned by root and you must not change that.

What is that other folder? It might be not writable for you for good reason too. You can change permissions in the Get Info dialog of the Finder or with tools like BatChmod, but you absolutely must know what you are doing or you will render your system unusable.

[vja4him]

Thanks for your reply. Somehow the folder WebPages got locked and all the sub-folders as well this morning. I just went through and unlocked the first level of folders via Get Info. I still have many hundreds of sub-folders to unlock at different levels!!!! I wonder how all of the hundreds of folders could have suddenly became locked??

As far as the System folder is concerned, I probably don't need to worry about it being locked. I'm just so used to the System Folder being available in System 7x, 8x, and 9x.

-- vjamacaddict, G4 iBook, OS X 10.3.9, Bluetooth

Originally Posted by TETENAL

The System folder should not be modified by you, therefore it is owned by root and you must not change that.

What is that other folder? It might be not writable for you for good reason too. You can change permissions in the Get Info dialog of the Finder or with tools like BatChmod, but you absolutely must know what you are doing or you will render your system unusable.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally Posted by vja4him

I still have many hundreds of sub-folders to unlock at different levels!!!! I wonder how all of the hundreds of folders could have suddenly became locked??

That Nvu software is for web development, no? I have had problems in the past with files managed by Macromedia Dreamweaver, in that, if the files were part of a current project, they're locked. Mac OS X wouldn't have done it randomly, that's for sure.

And yes, you can leave the System folder alone in Mac OS X. Everything you need is in your personal Library folder (/Users/vja4him/Library), such as QuickTime Plugins, Preference Panes, Preferences, etc.

[Wevah]

(Or the global Library at root level, depending.)

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally Posted by Wevah

(Or the global Library at root level, depending.)

Yeah, there too.