Unlocking all files within folders

On 20-10-07 01:06, Stephen C. wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:49:25 -0700, NoSp wrote
> (in article ):

>> Is there a way I can select the top-folder and tell it to unlock any
>> locked file(s) within its own folder/sub-folders?

> Doing a Get Info on the folder, setting permissions, and then clicking on the
> "apply to all enclosed files and folders" button usually does the trick for
> me.

That's what I thought, but it doesn't work.
I assume the section where it says "You can: ........" applies to me
while the "details" section applies to any other user on my computer.

I can see that it already says "You can: Read & write". I had expected
something like "You can: read & write some files" as a few files are
locked while the rest aren't, but from the choices I can see that
there's no such option (Read only/Write only/Read & write/no access).

So I'm thinking that if I just leave that as it is, then press the
"Apply to enclosed items..." button that I'll surely make *everything*
within that folder (including all its sub-folders) "read & write", but
that's when I get an error message saying: "The operation cannot be
completed because you have insufficient priveleges for some of the items".

Hmmm... very helpful information from Apple! "Some" items? I have no
idea which items MacOS finds problematic, so what do I do now?

by the way, I'm the "admin" user, in case that makes a difference.
 >> Stay informed about: Unlocking all files within folders 

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 06:48:31 -0700, NoSp wrote
(in article ):

> On 20-10-07 01:06, Stephen C. wrote:
>> On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:49:25 -0700, NoSp wrote
>> (in article ):
>
>>> Is there a way I can select the top-folder and tell it to unlock any
>>> locked file(s) within its own folder/sub-folders?
>
>> Doing a Get Info on the folder, setting permissions, and then clicking on
>> the
>> "apply to all enclosed files and folders" button usually does the trick for
>> me.
>
> That's what I thought, but it doesn't work.
> I assume the section where it says "You can: ........" applies to me
> while the "details" section applies to any other user on my computer.
>
> I can see that it already says "You can: Read & write". I had expected
> something like "You can: read & write some files" as a few files are
> locked while the rest aren't, but from the choices I can see that
> there's no such option (Read only/Write only/Read & write/no access).
>
> So I'm thinking that if I just leave that as it is, then press the
> "Apply to enclosed items..." button that I'll surely make *everything*
> within that folder (including all its sub-folders) "read & write", but
> that's when I get an error message saying: "The operation cannot be
> completed because you have insufficient priveleges for some of the items".
>
> Hmmm... very helpful information from Apple! "Some" items? I have no
> idea which items MacOS finds problematic, so what do I do now?
>
> by the way, I'm the "admin" user, in case that makes a difference.
>

I am not enough of a power user to know for sure, but my guess is that some
of the locked items are "owned" by a user with privileges greater than an
admin. Say root for example.

You could test my theory by examining the owner of the locked files. If they
are owned by other than your admin account, then I suspect I am correct.

If so, the GUI answer would be to manually change the owner of all the files
in question to the admin account. Once owned by the admin account, the
"change all enclosed files and folders" should work. As I said, it does for
me.

Not being a CLI guru I don't know for sure, but I suspect that it would be
possible to do the whole job in one whack with the right Terminal commands.

StephenC
 >> Stay informed about: Unlocking all files within folders 

On 21-10-07 17:11, Stephen C. wrote:

> I am not enough of a power user to know for sure, but my guess is that some
> of the locked items are "owned" by a user with privileges greater than an
> admin. Say root for example.
>
> You could test my theory by examining the owner of the locked files. If they
> are owned by other than your admin account, then I suspect I am correct.

It seems that checking the "locked" box isn't the same as permissions.
By doing a "Get info" for the files in question the owner is still me,
but I'm unable to unlock them except if I do a "Get info" for the actual
file and uncheck it.
That's OK if I know where the file is, but what if I have 1000 files and
a 100 sub-folders to look through?

Anyone else have a solution to this problem?
 >> Stay informed about: Unlocking all files within folders 

On Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:28:37 -0700, NoSp wrote
(in article ):

> On 21-10-07 17:11, Stephen C. wrote:
>
>> I am not enough of a power user to know for sure, but my guess is that some
>> of the locked items are "owned" by a user with privileges greater than an
>> admin. Say root for example.
>>
>> You could test my theory by examining the owner of the locked files. If
>> they
>> are owned by other than your admin account, then I suspect I am correct.
>
> It seems that checking the "locked" box isn't the same as permissions.
> By doing a "Get info" for the files in question the owner is still me,
> but I'm unable to unlock them except if I do a "Get info" for the actual
> file and uncheck it.
> That's OK if I know where the file is, but what if I have 1000 files and
> a 100 sub-folders to look through?
>
> Anyone else have a solution to this problem?

You are right. Locked files are different. They are not affected by a
permissions change.

I did find a small program that is supposed to do what you want. Please don't
hold me responsible if it accidentally deletes your entire HD! Backup well,
backup often!

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20751&vid=114708

StephenC
 >> Stay informed about: Unlocking all files within folders 

On 23-10-07 18:30, Stephen C. wrote:

> You are right. Locked files are different. They are not affected by a
> permissions change.
>
> I did find a small program that is supposed to do what you want. Please don't
> hold me responsible if it accidentally deletes your entire HD! Backup well,
> backup often!
>
> http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/20751&vid=114708

Thanks. That little application did the trick!
Strange that Apple themselves don't have a solution to this though.
Perhaps in the new OS version....
 >> Stay informed about: Unlocking all files within folders