Post-installation questions
I was trying yesterday to change the permissions on the Boot file to make the timeout 5 seconds instead of 10 and to define a better resolution for display. Well, I haven't succeeded at all at changing the permissions... At this point, you…
- Primary Author
- @nitzw Published 2008-04-09
- Collection
- Leopard 10.5
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- 5,092 historical reads · 1 curated field notes (from 3 dispatches) · 2008-04-09 – 2008-04-11
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- @nitzw (2)@Puttabong
I was trying yesterday to change the permissions on the Boot file to make the timeout 5 seconds instead of 10 and to define a better resolution for display. Well, I haven't succeeded at all at changing the permissions... At this point, you probably know I'm a newbie
I was logged as me. I tried several things to finally make a potential mistake:
chmon -R MyName:admin /*
I presume that this command changes the ownership of all the files to me, of the admin group. Well, my system doesn't boot anymore. Am I right to suspect that because somes files are no longer own by the "system" user, there are problems? So here are my questions:
1- Can I revert to command or do I need to reinstall the OS?
2- How in hell do I change the permissions of a file when I'm logged as me?
3- What's up with the "root:wheel" I see in every examples I find on the web... "wheel"?
4- I know there are tons of post about this, many old, which is what makes it very confusing, but what do I have to do to make the OS recongnize my AGP ATI Radeon 9800?
I use Zeph's 10.5.2 rev.2 release.
Author Updates & Technical Revisions
Follow-up dispatches by @nitzw
first thanks a lot for the answer. Great post Sorry about the delay, I have had crazy days.
I reinstalled the OS and haven't tried to fix it like you suggested, because anyway I had done nothing to it so far. I modified the Boot.plist file like you said (with the sudo nano command) and it worked great. But I must ask... why I wasn't able to save my changes when I was opening the file with TextEdit? When trying to save, I always got a message "you don't have the permissions"... that is why I was going crazy about trying to change the permissions on this file...
Another question... so if I change the owner of a file to root:wheel, what does it do to me? I mean, if I'm logged as MyName (group admin), how root:wheel will affect my permissions?
Thanks again for taking time to answer my newbie questions
Synthesized Community Field Notes
1 technical responses curated from 3 original dispatches
You set the permissions wrong, mate
Most System Files are labeled as root:wheel, which means User: Root and Group: Wheel. This is the default by Apple.
Here's how to fix/repair the permissions correctly, after you have installed a new kext, for example:
sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/Your.kext
sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/Your.kext
rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions.mkextExplanation
1. Chmod -R 755 changes the File Permissions to 755, which means read and execute access for everyone and also write access for the owner of the file.
2. Chown -R root:wheel sets the owner to root and the group to wheel
3. The last step deletes the extensions cache
---
To edit your boot.plist file, you don't have to change any permissions, though:
All you do is launch a terminal, and type -
sudo nano /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist- to open & edit the file to your liking, save it by pressing CTRL + O, then quit with CTRL + X.
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As far as I know, the permissions for com.apple.Boot.plist are labeled as root:admin
Try this to fix your system:
1. Boot with the DVD
2. Enter single user mode by entering "-s" at boot prompt, without the quotes
3. Type
sudo chmod -R 755 /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist
sudo chown -R root:admin /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plistSources & Contributor Provenance (2 credited usernames · Thread #924)
| Username | Dossier Contribution | Dispatches | Active Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| @nitzw | Primary Author | 2 | 2008-04-09 → 2008-04-11 |
| @Puttabong | Contributor | 1 | 2008-04-09 |