Macintosh HD read only!!

Hello experts!

I have messed up my MACBOOK Pro...

I have by mistake changed the user rights on Macintoch drive and all folders under (That means the whole machine!!) to read only.

Now, I cannot start the MAC in normal way. Therefore I have opened it in Single User Mode (CMD+S) and there it says
READ ONLY MODE.

I am right now in the Philippines and I have a performance in 3 days ......

Any suggestions what to do so I can start up and use my MACBOOK PRO normal again?

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Are you saying that it won't let you set the permissions on the main hard drive to Read/Write?

-DH

Yes that is the issue.

I do not know what command to use in Single User Mode to change from Read Only to Read and write.

Att. print screen of the single user mode as is now. And even the print says that the drive appear to be ok, it still runs read only!

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

If you boot up normally, right-click on the Macintosh HD icon and choose Get Info. When the Info window opens, can you change the user permissions at the bottom of the window?

-DH

Problem is I cannot boot up normaly. And since I am not home, I have not my original OSX disk.

What only happends is the same, even for hours -the blu/grey screen with the apple logo and the time circle rotating. Nothing else.

And what You write was exactly what I by mistake did - changed the permissions at the bottom of the window.....

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hi Raj,

Thanks for Your input.

And thanks for Your link. Only problem is I cannot start/boot up my MAC normally...

If I could boot up the MAC in normal way, I am sure Disk Utility would solve the problem.

If I start up via CMD+OPT I get the icon of the harddrive but that does not work either.....

I can start up in Single User Mode. Can I use Your commands in there?

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Let me ask you...
what access do you have when you are logged in as a Single User Mode???

And Yes, you can use the command above.

/path is for the drive (in other words, you will use /path if some of the files on the system are read only and you want to change them to read and write) If you see /path syntax is not working, just type sudo chmod 777...

Good Luck!
Raj

The only way I can access the computer (experts may have other ways) is to press CMD+S when power on the machine. And that access is just like DOS in Windows, right?

Ok I can use the commands You gave me. I am not expert in this... Perhaps I can ask You to write exactly what to write in the single user mode (like DOS in Windows) so I do not mess it up again...

Right now, not some files are read only. All are...

I gladly try to use commands in single user mode. Just need to be total sure I am doing it right so I do not make things worse, if You know what I mean?

You mention /path is for the hard drive. Does it have to be named specific?

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

just try with this command only:

mount -uw /
chmod o+r /

Hi again,

Here is latest screen info / it says sudoers is mode 01664, should be 0440...

Does that say anything to You?

(ammac is logon code to the computer)

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

just try with this command only:

mount -uw /
chmod o+r /

Hi again!

Thanks for the 2 commands.

I have now tried the 2 commands and after that used the command reboot.

Now after more than 20 minutes, still try to reboot, screen still the same:

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Did you ever see this screen before the commands and reboot?

It usually does not take that long, because whatever commands I have been giving you here, I test them on my mac first.
Anyways, either force restart it or give it a time.
Its time for me to leave work and I will be back online in about an hour or so.

Good Luck!

Hello Jon.

Thanks a lot for Your input.

I have used Your command and after that I used the command reboot (no more no less)
Now, after more than 15 minutes of rebooting, still same screen... (Apple logo and turning wheel)...

Maybe something more is wrong if You read the last screen print I uploaded?

Or should I have used more commands than the one You send to me: chmod u=rwx / ??

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

How I have also tried:

mount -uw /
chmod u=rwx /
reboot

After 15 min try to reboot, same result.

And after start up again in Single User Mode, it still says: Root devise is mounted read/only ...!

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hello my Friend :-)

Yes it have always looked that way after reboot (and also first time I start it up after my mistake, before I found out about Single User Mode.)
Still running now more than 46 min.

I will stop it and send You a new screen shot (provided by iPhone... hihi) so You have the latest info about the machine.
Perhaps You can find other errors from the print screen?

Local time here in the Philippines as I send this mess. is 8.20 AM... friday I have the presentation..... Huha... I hope we make it work...

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Okay, Let's try this:

from a single user mode, type in (each followed by return)

mount -uw /
chmod 755 /System
chmod 1775 /Library
chmod 1777 /Users/Shared
reboot

See if that helps. If you can get the system to boot, then you can run Repair Permissions and get everything else back the way it's supposed to be.

Good Luck!
Raj

Hi Raj,

Thanks for Your support and effort. Means a lot to me.

I have now tried Your commands:

mount -uw /
chmod 755 /System
chmod 1775 /Library
chmod 1777 /Users/Shared
reboot

2 times to be 200% sure I was doping it right, both times with min. 15 min to reboot after.
Same result. The Apple logo is not moving away....

After 2nd time I open again in SUM, still state that Root devise is mounted read-only......!

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hi Andreas, as to single user mode reporting that "Root device is mounted read-only" this is quite normal, it always does. . My advice would be to find a local Apple store or someone who has a OSX Leopard install disk. You can boot from this and use the disk utility to investigate your system or change passwords. If you cannot boot from the OSX DVD then it looks like you have hardware problems I'm afraid.

I have found these addresses in the Philippines:

Greenbelt 3
2 Level Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City
Tel. No. (632) 729-7087 or 88
Fax No. (632) 729-7087

3rd Level, Trinoma Mall
Edsa cor North Ave., Quezon City
Tel. No. (632) 901-3980
Fax No. (632) 901-3981

SM Megamall
4th Level SM Megamall Bldg. B, Mandaluyong City
Tel. No. (632) 633-7452 or 54
Fax No. (632) 633-7438

SM Mall of Asia
2nd Level SM Mall of Asia, North Parking Bldg.,Bay Blvd., Pasay City Philippines 1308
Tel. No. (632) 556-0791
Fax No. (632) 915-1948

SM City North Edsa
G/F SM City North Edsa, Cyberzone Quezon City
Tel. No. (632) 925-6680
Fax No. (632) 925-6690

Power Plant Mall
R3 Level, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell Center Amorsolo Drive, Makati City Philippines 1200
Tel. No. (632) 757-6687
Fax No. (632) 757-3858

Good luck !

Well, we gave our best. If it can't boot into Single User Mode, there's definitely something wrong besides screwed up permissions.
Sorry, I was not able to fix the issue.

Please go by what XGTV suggested above.

Good Luck! and perform well on Friday :)

Raj

Raj, I have read with interest your Unix commands as a solution to Andreas's problem. I'm more of a scalpel and forceps man, sometimes followed by a BIG hammer. I've never come across this problem before, do you think it's even possible to put a disk into a "Bubble", or such state that System, Admin, and Users have no access priviledges, but single user mode reports that the disk structure is ok. If this is so what would your strategy be.

In the days of OS9 you could have similar problems if you were previously connected to a server and booted without clearing the recent servers first, then the system would hang because it was looking for it's missing server.

Now, do you think it's possible that Andreas computer is looking for it's HD but can't find it because although it is there, the attributes have been changed and so the system doesn't recognize it as it's startup disk and is looking for the previous disk, hence the spinning startup icon. Just a thought.

Best wishes

Hello my dearest DAVID, RAJ, JON and XGTV!

Thank You all so many times for Your individual support.

It is always nice to have "Someone around" to talk to when having problems!

I guess I cannot fix my MACBOOK Pro before tomorrow when I make my presentation.
(For the local elementry school here where my family lives. We sponsored some food and school materials and I was teacher in each class too and those events we shoot some photos that I present for them tomorrow)

But I have a not so old Toshibe Windows LT that I can borrow. And YES I would prefer to use my MAC.... But I will get it fixed when I get back to Denmark August 2nd.

XGTV, You say that "Root device is mounted read-only" this is quite normal, it always does, You say. So that is not my problem then, I guess?

Thanks again to all of You for Your effort in trying to help me :-)

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hello XGTV,

Thanks for reviewing my suggestions. To tell you the truth, I tried the similar change in my "experimental mac" what Adnreas did in his machine and was able to reboot from the system Disk.

Anyways, it looks like as you know Unix commands also. I was thinking to suggest Andreas with these commands now. Please let me know what you think.


/sbin/fsck -fy

and hit return. This will check the file system. After that, enter

cd /Users

followed by

ls -l


To exit single-user mode, enter

reboot

ANDREAS, PLEASE WAIT FOR THIS ACTION...

Sorry about the above post. I forgot that Andreas will hate to work in command prompt after that. I tested in my mac, because i am in a command prompt all the time.

Andreas, you will have to use OS disk in order to make it to work. Once you have the disk,


1. Insert MAC OS Disk 1 and boot your mac. Hold the C key while booting. The mac will start-up using the dvd.

2.The Language menu will appear. Choose language and proceed by clicking the arrow button.

3.From the menu bar on top of the screen, choose Utilities -> Terminal.
The terminal will open.

4. Type
cd /Volumes
and press enter

5. Type the command
chmod 755 Macintosh\ HD/
and press enter

The part Macintosh\ HD/ on the command is the HD name, that is the default. You might have changed it however so type the name of your main HD instead. It's a bit tricky to write name that has more than one words separated by space (as in the case of Macintosh HD) so to be sure, type the first few letters and press the tab key. The terminal should fill the name in the command correctly.

6. The permissions have now changed!

7. From the menu bar choose Mac OS X Installer -> Quit Mac OS X Installer

8. On the question asked click Choose disk
Choose your main HD and click restart

9. Your mac should start-up normally again

This is obviously something that shouldn't be happening so I filled a bug report to apple. Untii they fix it, don't change those permissions. Note that this problem can also come up through the file-sharing permissions as well.

Andreas, let us know how you perform on Friday. Have Fun!

Hi again Raj.

Thanks for not giving up on me :-)

Here in the Philippines I did not bring my original OS X software disk...

Yes I am not too happy about the command prompt, but if that can be a part of a solution here in Fili I am ready to give it a try if You can guide me? To start command prompt will that be CMD + V for verbose?

I cannot use those commands in Single User Mode?

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hi Raj,

Ok I take no action before I got a "GO!" from You!

When it happened I was reading a book of Scott Kelby "Mac OSX Snow Leopard / Leopard. Great book by the way....!

I was try to arrange folders in the hard drive so MAC was doing the arrange for me. By gitter/mask and by name. That succeeded in the folders in main drive. Then I wanted the MAC to do the same in all folders inside the folders of the drive. I saw an tutorial in internet. It said: Take prefs for the drive (CMD+I) and then in the bottom You can change prefs. I click something like set same prefs for all folders. And I was not thinking, bec. I got a warning saying: this action can not be undone!. Even so, I did it...
And later in the tutorial I read that THIS step was WRONG....!

That is the situation. And then when I entered Single User Mode I thought the issue was "Root device is mounted read-only"

But perhaps it is not??

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hello again Everyone!

Here is my update on the presentation :-)

We had app 200 happy and exited kids in the school yesterday.
The show got started by getting each kid what they here in the Philippines call Ang Exato. Means "Precice one for each" It is a 0,2 Liter Cola.
Then we started the show... They had never seen something like that. I am sure all may have seen paper-pictures even at the neighbour or other places. But this..... Huge pictures made out of light from a projector. That seemed to be like magic to them.
There were in all app 350 pictures from my activities in the school:

Free apple and pencil to all students.
Free food one day: Sopas (pasta soup with vegetables and chicken) and special bread and one cola each student.
Me as a guest teacher, all students producing each a paper airplane with a rubber-band as engine.

Measured from the look at their faces, they seemed to like it :-)

We live app 300 meters from the school and everafter the first activity I made with them, all kids are waving when they are passing by.
And that walking-traffic is still increasing :-)

So I am for sure going to miss then when we leave from here July 31th....

Thanks to You all for Your serious effort in trying to help me. Makes me very happy!

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Andreas,

I am Very Proud of YOU! Glad to hear that your event was very successful.
We need lots and lots of people like you in this world. Once again, I apologize that I was not able to help you out further on the issue, however, as you may know that Apple released LION on July 20th. It will be my pleasure to take a cost on the OS for your Mac, and trust me, its nothing what you do for the kids.

Good Job and Keep Up the Good Work!
Raj

Raj...

What can I say? You make me speechless...

Thanks for Your kind words, warms me inside :-) I think I will tell that to my mom so she (hopefully still) believe I am a good person... Hihi hihi...!

I can only a few Tagalog words but it seems like all kids know what words I can... So when they pass outside ang bahay (the house) here, some come and "give me 5" or say ingat (take care), guwapo (handsome)... And to all the cute girls, I usually say Maganda (beautifull). Then they send me back a lovely, shy smile.

Yes, Raj, I sure am going to miss them all....

Yes I am aware about the new Apple release. But I did not quite get what You meant about my MAC in that sense?

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

MAC=Macintosh or Apple or in other words "Steve Jobs"(Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple).
Trust me when I said Mac, I was not talking about BIG MAC from McDonalds...lol
But, Yes, My offer is still ON! Now its up to you, if you would prefer Big Mac or the LION! (chops)....lol

Regards,
Raj

Raj, are You offering me a free full version LION upgrade software?

Speaking of Big Mag.. hihi... You can get a BigMac Menu for app. 0,4 UDS here... So low price. Or app 10% of the normal price in Denmark....

And I believe the success of Apple is made bec. of Steve Jobs. Is he fine again by the way? He was out of the office for some time, right?

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Yes, I am offering the LION.
As far as, Big Mac goes, I hope you are not making another "Super Size Me" movie.

Hihi...

Raj, I have to say I am very touched by Your offer. I really did not expect that. Thanks so so many times. You are a very generous and kind person!

And since You will pay for that I will pass over the value to the kids at "my" school.
App 30% of all kids in that school is getting too little to eat and many kids have not proper basic schooling materials. So I will buy some more school materials that they need for the value of 1 LION OS software and telling the kids that You have given that!

How do we arrange the practicals?

Thanks again, Raj!

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark

Hi again all!

After I came home, I booted up from my Snow Leopard disk. I used Disk Utility to repair disk permissions. Made a new account, logged out and then... There my "old" account was again and 100% working :-)

Thanks for all Your input!

Kind regards,

Andreas Mortensen
Aarhus, Denmark