Permissions error on jpeg files

I am getting the message "The file .....jpeg couldn't be opened because you don't have permission to view it" whenever I try to open a jpeg from Finder.

The photos are ones that I created. When I check "Get Info " as the error message tells me to do, I have Read and Write permissions.

When I was getting the message the other day, I rebooted and could then open the files. Now it has reverted to not being able to open any jpeg. I only seem to get the error on jpegs, word or excel files open fine. Rebooting didn't help this time.

I'm running MacOS X Version 10.7.4 on my iMac.

Welcome to Mac-Forums

You might want to load up Disk Utility and have it repair permissions, looks like things are a little out of whack in your directories..

Thanks Ashwin. I repaired the permissions as you said, and it seems to be working ok now. Time will tell if it keeps working I guess! I've copied below the log report that the disk utility gave, just wondering if this sheds any light on the problem, and why it occurred?

Thanks
Claire

Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.
User differs on “Applications/.DS_Store”; should be 0; user is 501.
Permissions differ on “Applications/.DS_Store”; should be -rw-rw-r-- ; they are -rw-r--r-- .
Repaired “Applications/.DS_Store”
Group differs on “Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.
Repaired “Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist”

Claire, good that the disk repair fixed the problem. You can make that part of your maintenance routine to run it a few times a year to keep things in check. Nothing in the log file specifically addresses the issue you had since it's talking about directories where you would normally not be putting your JPEG files anyway..

And just for your own information:

Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.

Click to expand...

SUID is SuperUser ID and in Unix land, there are certain programs that can be configured with this permission such that when a regular user runs them, the program itself will run with SuperUser privileges.

User differs on “Applications/.DS_Store”; should be 0; user is 501.

Click to expand...

User 0 is root and 501 is most like you. So you have some images in your Applications folder it seems and when you copied them there, the .DS_Store file/directory was created as you and since the Applications folder is really owned by root, it's tell you that all folders underneath should be owned by root as well.

Permissions differ on “Applications/.DS_Store”; should be -rw-rw-r-- ; they are -rw-r--r-- .

Click to expand...

This is same file/directory as before, now it's saying that the read/write permissions were set to Owner and Group, while Other (world) had read permissions, but it wants to be read/write for just the owner and read-only for everyone else.

Group differs on “Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist”; should be 80; group is 0.

Click to expand...

Here it's complaining about group ownership of the file here, 80 is probably staff and 0 is root again.

BTW, where ARE you putting your JPEG files anyway? In Pictures in your home directory or somewhere else?

Wow, thanks for the speedy response, and thanks for the details.

Hmm, as to where I am putting my photos - I am a new mac user, coming from years of pc use. I can't stand iPhoto as I am used to seeing all my files in a directory, and like it that way, and I found iphoto frustratingly hard to locate my files. I realise that it was probably designed so people didn't have to access their photos this way! So, after playing around a bit I have decided to go back to using Picasa and have loaded all my photos (lots!!) into my User directory. However, on trying things out there are probably some jpegs in different places and I now need to go back and tidy them all up, into my file structure in my User directory.

Is there some different software that you would recommend on the mac instead of Picasa, that allows me more a backend/pc feel access/management of my photos?
Thanks
Claire

Alas, I'm prolific in taking pictures and very bad at maintaining/organizing them...I used to use Picasa on my PC back in the day and I have very little experience with iPhoto..I imagine other members who are more intune with photo management will be chiming in at any point now to bail me out..

Ideally you want to put pictures in the Pictures folder in your User directory to it's easy to access, from what little I know of iPhoto I imagine you can tell it to import pictures from that folder and just to leave them in whatever order you left them in..or you can have it organize them by year or whatever..

I should go back and try this on my Mac to get more familiar with iPhoto and also deal with the 10+ GB of photos that are in some random order..

kiwiclaire said:

However, on trying things out there are probably some jpegs in different places and I now need to go back and tidy them all up, into my file structure in my User directory.

Click to expand...

Unlike Windows, OS X's file system layout is a little more restrictive. Ideally, you should limit yourself to the user directory since this directory should never pose permission issues. Outside of your user directory lay a few directories that are accessible but they should only be used to house what they are designed to house. For example, although you have write permissions to /Applications, you should only really put applications in there.

If you ever try to put a file somewhere manually and you're prompted for a password, stop and find somewhere else (unless of course you're using an installer of some sort). This will happen with most directories outside of your user directory and for good reason since much of the file system outside of your user directory should be managed by the operating system.

Thanks for this - makes sense. Just getting used to the Mac way of doing things.

Same problem - utilities not fixing it.

I had the same problem - thought the solution didn't work but it did - so thanks for helping out!

same problem

Raz0rEdge said:

Welcome to Mac-Forums

You might want to load up Disk Utility and have it repair permissions, looks like things are a little out of whack in your directories..

Click to expand...

i have the same problem, i thought it didnt work because i still cant open the file, but after i quited preview and tried to open it again, it works! thank you!

And for those who find IPhoto too restrictive:
Media Pro photo management software
PhotoMechanic

Yikes Craig, can't you suggest photo management software for us poor people? $199.99 and $150.00 is a "little" more than I'm willing to pay.

Heh heh heh...
9 Photo Management Apps for OS X | Mac.AppStorm
http://mashable.com/2012/06/21/photo-organization-tools/
The Best Photo Management App for Mac OS X

EDIT: turns out Photo Mechanic isn't an organizer. Tried it out. It's just a glorified viewer.

so after all the fiddling i just quit preview which showed that all these photos were open therefore causing an error. once i quit preview it all worked normally again.

Perhaps a fix for someone...

I know this thread is aging, but since it topped my Google search on the subject I thought I'd respond...

I was having the same issue. I was opening 300-500 JPGs simultaneously in Preview to convert them to PDF (Batch Image Conversion in Mac OS X the Easy Way with Preview | OSXDaily).

After converting a few of these batches, and upon trying to open a new set of JPGs for conversion, I started to see these permission issues. If I closed Preview entirely and re-opened it the problem went away.

I also found that simply rebooting the computer solved the issue as well.

So if you're having these problems...

1) Close Preview entirely and then start it again

if that doesn't work...

2) Reboot your Mac

if that doesn't work...

3) Check permissions on the folder containing the JPGs and the JPGs themselves (adjust as necessary)

if that doesn't work...

4) Use the Disk Utility program to Repair Disk Permissions on your drive

if that doesn't work...

5) Keep searching until you resolve the issue

if that doesn't work (and you must have a resolution)

6) Contact a Mac/Linux pro