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How to Repair Permissions on EL Capitan (OS X. 11. x)

Anonymous
2015-12-12T16:53:40+00:00

As of El Capitan Repair Permissions is No long in Disk Utilities. In fact Disk Utilities has been renamed First Aid and does all other task that were in Disk Utilities. To repair permissions now, you must restart computer in Safe-Mode. Where permission are automatically fixed. 

Background:

It seems Apple has decided either through misinformation, or their own choice, people are unnecessarily repairing Permissions. This would be true and could even be removed altogether except for Microsoft products.

Microsoft, software installers, have always altered Permissions when installing. Problem is, 99% of the time they get it wrong. Either they don't understand how FreeBSD UNIX works, or just want make it uncomfortable Mac users. Were it not for this. Apple could conceivably remove Permission repair all together

Steps to Repair EL Capitan and above:

  1. Once you have determined you need to Repair Permissions. Quit all Applications.
  2. Hold down Shift Key while Restarting Computer.
  3. Now wait for safe Boot to do it's housekeeping chores including Permission Repair
  4. When task are completed you will be asked to sign in.

(using password you used to set Profile/Username Name when you first setup computer.) 5. Now Open one of the Application that has been acting up and try.

(if successful you are done.) 6. If not Open Font Book and Check for Duplicate Fonts and defective fonts. 7. Remove the oldest versions of any duplicates from the computer. 8. Now retry again. If works you are Done. 9. Restart Computer normally now. 10. Now Try applications again. If works you are done. 11. If not Then click on Smiley Button of right side of Ribbon

Fill out report.

Then, tick Check Box for sending email address.

Fill in Email address. 12. Send report.

_________

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-14T16:47:57+00:00

    Perhaps you should do more research before making such a sweeping statement. (A quote from Apple is not research.) I jumped from Snow Leopard to El Capitan (supposedly a supported action), and El Capitan created hundreds of permission problems. I was logged on as administrator and couldn't open my own files within my own Documents folder. A huge number of permissions had been changed from Read & Write access for Greg (me) and 'admin' to access for 'fetching...' (whatever that is). Whenever that occurred, access to the file or application was incorrectly restricted.

    Further research showed that there a been a permissions protocol change with Lion (10.7), which meant trouble for Snow Leopard updaters. Second, El Capitan choked on atypical permissions of files, folders, and apps. I had many files with 'looser' permissions. Third, I had numerous hard drives and disk images open when I installed El Capitan. Spotlight tried to index all of them. When I tried to move folders and documents when Spotlight was grinding away, permissions sometimes were changed to 'fetching...' I was too slow to realize what was happening and put other drives and disk images into Spotlight's Privacy list.

    I spent dozens of hours fixing permissions only to have El Capitan restart the 'fetching...' problem a few days ago. I'll run through recommended steps once more. If that doesn't work, I'll have to do a clean install of El Capitan and manually move files after checking their permissions using Terminal. I'm so glad that El Capitan never has a time when permissions need to be repaired. I find Apple's arrogance greatly annoying.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-13T14:45:24+00:00

    When you do a Safe Boot in El Capitan you are changing many system environment factors. Among them: only a limited number of fonts load, so if you have a bad font it won't come into play. The system font cache is emptied, so if a bad font was cached it is dismissed. Disk Utility runs and fixes directory problems and other problems with files, catalog B-tree, and more. You don't get to see what was broken and what was fixed during a safe boot, so any of these problems fixed during a safe boot can result in a smooth running Mac. A messed up directory or catalog B-tree can cause symptoms that can be mistaken as permissions problems. 

    If you want more detail about what's going on while your file system is being repaired you can use a disk utility to perform disk maintenance. My personal favorite is Drive Genius, but there are several others.

    Regardless of the technicalities, just know that doing a Safe Boot is both diagnostic and curative. In El Capitan Safe Boot fixes a lot more things that can go wrong than previous versions of Mac OS.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  3. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-01-15T16:25:29+00:00

    Mac OS X is a GUI for UNIX, the underlying operating system. UNIX files each have a set of permissions. I am certain Apple knows what they are talking about when they say: "Beginning with OS X El Capitan, system file permissions are automatically protected. It's no longer necessary to verify or repair permissions with Disk Utility."

    A light explanation of what Disk Utility does in older version of Mac OS X and what El Capitan now does automatically is available on this CNET page. More detail is explained onthis Macworld page. 

    It is important to understand that Repairing Disk Permissions has nothing at all to do with Spotlight or Spotlight indexing. That is an entirely different issue and has no place in this discussion about repairing disk permissions in El Capitan.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-13T02:26:47+00:00

    I based my information Post I have Read from Apple Users both on Answers on Apple Forums.

    If this indeed the case. (What is in Apple's note.) That wonderful. But what explains that issue with 2016 that are clearly Permissions related are fixed when restarted in Safe mode. According to users.

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  5. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-12T19:32:23+00:00

    While performing a Safe Boot and doing font maintenance are good ideas, in El Capitan there is never a time when you have to repair disk permissions.

    Quoting Apple:

    "Beginning with OS X El Capitan, system file permissions are automatically protected. It's no longer necessary to verify or repair permissions with Disk Utility."

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201560

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