Repair disk permissions mac os

How to Repair Disk Permissions on Mac

Long-time macOS (or OS X) users are familiar with terms such as “repair disk permissions,” which often comes up when troubleshooting a Mac. More often than not, this troubleshooting method comes first, as it’s quite easy to go through and can often lead to successful results.

However, what does “repair disk permissions” actually mean? And how do you repair disk permissions on the latest version of macOS? We’ll answer all of those questions, so keep reading.

Also read: How to Share Files Between Mac and PC on Your Network

First Things First – What Are File System Permissions in macOS (Mac OS X)?

Apple’s macOS is based on Unix, and just like Unix, it’s dependent on permissions. Every file and folder on your computer has a set of permissions. These indicate which users or applications can interact with certain files and in what way.

Files can have a range of permissions indicating which users can read, write, and execute the file and other more nuanced options. While this may seem unnecessary for an individual user’s laptop system, it’s a critical part of the operating system’s functionality.

What Causes File and Folder Permissions to Become Corrupt in macOS?

In older versions of macOS, apps could easily change individual permissions for files and folders in the home directory. As a result, permissions in the home directory could erroneously change and corrupt.

These incorrect permissions could cause all kinds of strange problems, making applications function incorrectly and sporting all sorts of strange bugs.

With incorrect permissions, applications and services could be denied access to essential files, causing them to crash or operate unusually. However, on a modern macOS system, home folder permissions are locked and much harder to access and change, meaning they can’t easily be messed with anymore.

What Does the “Repair Disk Permissions” Function Actually Do?

The “Repair Disk Permissions” function returns the home folder’s permissions to their expected state. Using this function, the home directory’s contents were checked against the “Bill of Materials” files found in “/var/db/receipts” and “/Library/Receipts.”

By analyzing those files, the operating system could determine what the home directory’s permissions should be and correct any discrepancies.

Is this Feature Available on All Versions of macOS?

Starting with OS X 10.11 El Capitan, you are no longer able to repair disk permissions explicitly. That’s because that feature was replaced by something called “System Integrity Protection.” That feature is designed primarily to prevent potentially malicious software from accessing important files on your Mac.

However, Apple didn’t really remove that option completely. Instead, you can still repair disk permissions on your Mac, even though this feature is now a part of something called “First Aid,” which bundles a group of actions that resolve all kinds of disk-related issues.

Also read: Need to Fix a Water-Damaged MacBook? Find Out How to Save It

How to Repair Disk Permissions in macOS

Finally, the below instructions show how to repair disk permissions in macOS. Make sure to go through the following steps very carefully.

1. Open Disk Utility by typing “Disk Utility” into Spotlight (which you can launch by pressing Command + Space on your keyboard). You can also launch Disk Utility from “/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.”

2. Click on your boot volume using the pane on the left. If you didn’t rename the volume, it will be named “Macintosh HD.”

3. Click on the “First Aid” icon in Disk Utility’s toolbar (found in the top-right corner of the “Disk Utility” window) to start the repair process.

4. Read the confirmation dialog to confirm you’ve selected the correct drive, then click “Run” to start the disk repair process. Read the warning message as well, then click “Continue.”

5. During the repair process, your computer won’t respond to your input, which is normal and expected. The operating system needs to lock you out of the drive to make sure it can correctly analyze the drive’s contents. Even for large drives, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

6. When the process finishes, you will see a report showing everything the First Aid process accomplished. If the process finds any serious errors, it will inform you of the problem.

Additional Tip – Should You Repair Disk Permissions on a Regular Basis?

Today, resorting to repairing disk permissions should only be done in one case – if you suspect that you have a file/folder permissions problem. This can happen to Mac users who install and delete software frequently.

That’s right – malicious software installers and installers that may not be properly optimized for macOS are what causes disk permission errors. With that said, be very careful about what kinds of software you download to your Mac, especially if they come with traditional installation wizards.

Wrapping Up

Don’t expect miracles from repairing your drive. Repairing disk permissions may fix some problems with your system but only if they’re related to issues with permissions. If you have other problems with your Mac, especially those related to performance, you may want to continue your search for a solution.

And finally, while we have your attention, we’re providing a few useful resources. Here’s how to customize the latest version of macOS – and make it truly yours. Also, here are the most interesting (and hidden) customization settings in macOS.

Isaac is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience covering the latest technological innovations. Mainly focused on Apple-related software and hardware systems, his aspiration is to explore all the ways today’s digital world intertwines with our everyday life.

Источник

How to repair disk permissions on Mac

Some Mac hiccups and startup issues can be resolved by repairing disk permissions in macOS. Disk permissions allow your Mac to control what users have access to files and folders on your Mac.

Unfortunately, it’s quite easy to unintentionally mess up disk permissions. In fact, the very act of installing and uninstalling apps on your Mac can over time result in broken permissions.

And when file permissions break, your apps might be allowed to alter each other’s files or even modify read-only system files, which in turn can lead to various permission errors and erroneous behavior in macOS. It is therefore essential that disk permission in macOS are as they are supposed to be.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to verify and fix disk permissions in macOS, which is typically a basic troubleshooting step to fix any software issues your Mac might be plagued with.

Understanding disk permissions in macOS

Every file and folder on your Mac’s disk has an associated set of permissions that determines who can read, write to or execute it. macOS keeps a master list of what the permissions for each file should be.

This allows the operating system to run through the files on your disk and compare their permissions with its original master list of permissions. In turn, any inadvertently altered permissions can be reverted back to their default state in case of failure.

How to verify disk permissions with Disk Utility

Step 1: Open Disk Utility on your Mac. You can find it in your Applications/Utilities folder. Alternatively, choose Go > Utilities or use Spotlight by hitting Command (⌘) – Spacebar to locate it.

Step 2: Select the disk you wish to verify permissions for in the lefthand column which lists all of your detected volumes and disks. If necessary, click the disclosure triangle to the left of the disk icon to display the names of your volumes and partitions.

Step 3: Click the First Aid tab.

Step 4: Now hit the Verify Disk Permissions button. Disk Utility should display a “Permissions verification complete” message when the repair process is finished.

Tip: Depending on the size of the chosen disk, the process might take a while so be patient. Should Disk Utility find any incorrect permissions, you’ll see a list of messages about what’s incorrect.

You can repair broken permissions by following the steps outlined in the next section.

How to repair disk permissions with Disk Utility

Step 1: Open Disk Utility on your Mac.

Step 2: Select your disk in the lefthand column.

Step 3: Hit the First Aid tab.

Step 4: Click the Repair Disk Permissions button. Disk Utility should display a “Permissions repair complete” message when the repair process is finished.

Tip: it’s perfectly fine to repair disk permissions without verifying the disk first.

How to repair disk permissions from the command line

Step 1: Open Terminal on your Mac. Find it in your Applications/Utilities folder, or choose Go > Utilities or use Spotlight search to locate it.

Step 2: Type, or paste, the following command into Terminal’s window:

sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

The repair process will begin on your default startup volume and you should see a message like this:

Started verify/repair permissions on disk0s2 Macintosh HD

Tip: to repair disk permission on a volume other than your startup disk, replace “/” in the above command line string with the other volume name.

Disk permission error messages that you can safely ignore

Regardless of using the command line method or Disk Utility, the verification and repair process will yield the same results. Should you find tons of incorrect permissions on your disk, don’t panic as most of them can be safely ignored.

Apple maintains a list of disk permission errors that can be safely ignored in a support document here. For instance, you can usually ignore any “ACL found but not expected…” types of messages that typically occur if you change permissions yourself on a file or directory.

“They are accurate, but generally not a cause for concern,” explains Apple.

Disk Utility and permissions FAQ

Should I boot from macOS install disc to repair permissions?

It isn’t necessary to start up from an macOS install disc or Recovery partition to fix disk permissions, unless you want to repair permissions on your startup disk.

Should I repair permissions prior to installing macOS?

It is unnecessary to repair disk permissions prior to installing macOS over a previously-installed OS because the macOS installer does this automatically.

Why doesn’t Disk Utility repair my account permissions?

Oddly enough, Disk Utility won’t actually repair the permission settings on folders and files in your account’s home folder. Should you need to reset disk permissions for a user’s home directory only, start up your Mac from an installation disc in macOS 10.5 and later or boot into Recovery partition or Internet Recovery.

Now choose Utilities in the menu bar, select Terminal, type “reset password” (without the quotes) in the Terminal window and hit Return. Next, click your Mac’s disk icon at the top, click the menu below it and choose the user account that has issues. Now click the Reset button located at the bottom of the window.

Running the Reset Password utility also resets your home directory permissions to their default states. This method works in all macOS versions from macOS Lion onward, and has to be done on a per-account basis.

Is my Mac OK if disk permissions are broken?

Many Mac users unintentionally modify disk permissions without even knowing it. In the vast majority of cases, erroneous disk permissions won’t do any harm to your Mac aside from occasional software hiccups. Repairing disk permissions is the quickest way of resetting system privileges to their correct default values.

What if I’m on macOS 10.6 or earlier?

If you still run macOS 10.6 or earlier on your Mac and don’t start up your Mac from an Install or Restore disc when using Disk Utility, you might see some disk error messages.

Do I need to fix permissions after a software update?

No, macOS repairs disk permissions on its own after an macOS software update.

What if I have multiple drives attached to my Mac?

It might be a good idea to perform a health check of disk permissions on all your drives and volumes, not just on the startup disc.

Should I regularly check disk permissions on my Mac?

That’s a great idea! Because permission issues typically occur as you install and uninstall apps on your Mac, it’s always good practice to make permissions checkups a regular part of your monthly Mac cleanup routine.

Is this tip useful? If you like tutorials like these, please bookmark the article and pass it along to your Mac friends.

Источник