Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 12:19 PM

Cannot install new applications -Cannot modify Applications folder

So today I download the new version of KidsGoGoGo and try to srop the new application folder onto my hard drive, but get this error:

The item "KidsGoGoGo" could not be moved because "Applications: cannot be modified.

WTF? I tried restarting the finder, restarting, installing it elsewhere. But nada. If trying to install it just on my harddrive I get same error, except where it says "Applications" is says"Uriel", the name of my harddrive.

So then I downoladed that Apple Permissions Utility that is supposed to fix things like this and nada. Still getting the problem after installing it. I even tried restarting again too. Argh! This is so frustrating!

Anyone know what I can do to fix this? Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Oh yeah, BTW I am currently running Mac OS X 10.1.5 on my eMac if that helps any.

pobodysnerfect · Aug 26, 2002, 12:25 PM

sounds to me like for some reason the access is set to read only. Get info on that folder, go to "Ownership & Permissions" make yourself the owner (by choosing yourself from the dropdown menu)and change everything to "Read & Write" Hope that helps...

Developer · Aug 26, 2002, 12:35 PM

Or repair permissions in First Aid of the Disk Utility (in Jaguar) / run Apple's fix permissions app (pre Jaguar).

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 12:58 PM

Here's what I get.

When I go to privledges it says

Owner: unknown
Group: admin
Owner: Read & Write
Group: Read only
Everyone: Read only

And I cannot change any of these. The drop down boxes are for Owner, Group & Everyone but are greyed out.

Also I don't have Jaguar and I did run the 10.1.5 Apple permissions thing to no avail.

Any other ideas?

Osirisis · Aug 26, 2002, 01:06 PM

Originally posted by Kon-El:
Here's what I get.

When I go to privledges it says

Owner: unknown
Group: admin
Owner: Read & Write
Group: Read only
Everyone: Read only

And I cannot change any of these. The drop down boxes are for Owner, Group & Everyone but are greyed out.

Also I don't have Jaguar and I did run the 10.1.5 Apple permissions thing to no avail.

Any other ideas?

Seeing as I'm not sitting at a Unix box right now I'm going to attempt this from memory. You'll need to open terminal and type:

sudo chmod -r 775 \Applications

When you are prompted for a password, enter your password.
Some of the more knowledgeable Unix guys, please correct the statement if I'm wrong. You might also want to fix the ownership with a chown statement, but I'm not sure of the specifics. BTW If you'd prefer to avoid the command prompt and stay in 10.1.5 as opposed to 10.2, you might want to look at XRay.

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 01:19 PM

Osirisis,

I do what you said, and here is what the Terminal said back to me:

chmod: 775: No such file or directory

Umm, that doesn;t sound good. Any other ideas?

CatOne · Aug 26, 2002, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by Kon-El:
Osirisis,

I do what you said, and here is what the Terminal said back to me:

chmod: 775: No such file or directory

Umm, that doesn;t sound good. Any other ideas?

Well you need to find 'chmod' -- sounds like your path is screwed up.

It sounds like your system is pretty wacky -- chmod should *CERTAINLY* be in root's path (and I think, but I'm not sure, that sudo includes root's path).

You could also try this:

'sudo su -' -- be sure to include the dash

Then at the # prompt do the chmod

Make sure you 'exit' after you've made the changes. You don't want to run as root for long.

Alternatively try disk repair to "fix" permissions.

King Bob On The Cob · Aug 26, 2002, 01:26 PM

Originally posted by Osirisis:

Seeing as I'm not sitting at a Unix box right now I'm going to attempt this from memory. You'll need to open terminal and type:

sudo chmod -r 775 \Applications

When you are prompted for a password, enter your password.
Some of the more knowledgeable Unix guys, please correct the statement if I'm wrong. You might also want to fix the ownership with a chown statement, but I'm not sure of the specifics. BTW If you'd prefer to avoid the command prompt and stay in 10.1.5 as opposed to 10.2, you might want to look at XRay.

*cough cough* this is NOT DOS! sudo chmod -r 775 /Applications

that should work. or you could
sudo chown /Applications admin

UmarOMC · Aug 26, 2002, 01:29 PM

you MIGHT want to consider logging in as 'root' to change permissions via the Info window... first enable it using the NetInfo app (Applications/Utilities/), assign a password, quit NetInfo, login as 'root' (make sure that auto-login, nor "List of Users" is enabled via the Login control panel because you're going to have to type in 'root'- it won't appear as a user) and make your changes...

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 01:33 PM

Did the last post's (King Bob's) suggestions and this is what I got:

Welcome to Darwin!
[localhost:~] nik% sudo chown /Applications admin
Password:
chown: /Applications: invalid user name
[localhost:~] nik% sudo chmod -r 775 /Applications
chmod: 775: No such file or directory
[localhost:~] nik%

What now?

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 01:35 PM

Just got Omac UMC's replay after doing the above and went to my Applications folder.

Guess what? It's empty! There's nothing there anymore! Umm, anyone have any further suggestion? Obviously I have Applications, or I couldn;t post it, but when looking via columns, clicking on Applicvations only shows a giant Applications folder!

Ack!

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 01:38 PM

Oh wait, I tried to go as list and this is what it says:

The folder "Applications" could not be opened because you do not have sufficient privledges.

I'm guessing one of these terminal commands in this thread may have done that? I did Cat One's right before I found this problem.

Kon-El · Aug 26, 2002, 03:14 PM

nkuvu over at http://forums.macosxhints.com/showth...4791#post24791 helped me out and got it fixed for me. A big thanks to everyone here who tried to help me out as well. God Bless you all! And look, because of this, I'm now a Veteran member. Woo hoo!