"Apply to enclosed items"

Hi,
I'm running OS X 10.4.10 on a macbook pro with two accounts (mine [administrator] and my wife's). My problem is that when using "Get Info" with either of our accounts on any folder that I can find anywhere on the system, the option to "Apply to enclosed items" remains continually greyed out. I've tried repairing permissions to the HD volume, but the problem persists.

Also, I have boot camp and parallels both installed, though I don't know if that has any bearing.

Though this problem is really more annoying than it is serious, any thoughts you have on it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
-Nathan

Welcome to Mac-Forums, nathanb27.

On which folders are you trying to change permissions, exactly? Can you post screencaptures?

Thanks for the welcome. I guess I should have given some sort of introduction. In short, I'm a long-time mac user, part-time forum peruser, and first-time poster. This is really the first mac-related problem I've encountered that I couldn't find any sort of lead on through a little searching around.

The problem with not being able to apply permission changes to enclosed items seems to be system-wide. I realized the problem when I was trying to add access for my wife to the folder that contains my Parallels Virtual Machine and related files; however, any new folder that I've made or pre-existing folder that I've looked at since has the same issue, so I don't really know when or how the problem began.

This issue applies to something as simple as making a new folder on my desktop and putting a couple of text files inside. I can see the "Apply to enclosed items" button, but it's always greyed out, regardless of whether or not I have the lock symbol next to "Owner" locked or unlocked. The same happens with my wife's account.

I'll post a picture later today of the option not being available. I'm at work right now, and my macbook's at home. Really, though, a picture wouldn't be that interesting; it looks just like the picture below except with the "Apply to enclosed items" button visible but greyed out. This picture with the button working was taken on my G5 in my office, which is not suffering the problem discussed.



Thanks again,
-Nathan

The only thing I can think of is if, for security reasons, you are using a non-admin account at home.

Hmmm... I don't think that's it. Whether I use my admin account or my wife's non-admin account on the macbook, the option is still greyed out. And in fact, the option is normally available even to non-admin accounts, you just have to verify your name and password after clicking on it.

I might try creating a new account this evening to see if the problem persists with an entirely new user. I've also wondered if Fast User Switching might be playing a role somehow, but I haven't yet checked on it.

-Nathan

Nathan, Fast User Switching can't be the culprit because I have it on on my iMac and I don't have the Apply to enclosed items greyed out.

For now, I'm stumped. I looked at my pref files in my user account and I just can't see a file that would be related to your problem.

Lemme think on this a bit more and I'll see what I can come up with.

Just for completeness' sake, here is a screen capture of the inactive "Apply to enclosed items" button from my macbook. Additionally, I have created a new user account only to find that the problem applies to it as well. Again, it appears to be system-wide.

-Nathan

Well I hope another member can find a solution to this. I'm totally stumped. The only diff between your system and mine is that you have a Windows partition and I don't.

Maybe you could always try booting in Safe Mode by restarting while pressing the Shift key: this helps clean out certain clogged up invisible system files. Empty the trash. Restart normally.

Then download MainMenu and running the Cleaning -> Clean User Cache -> All Users Caches and the Clean System Cache -> Deep Clean tasks.

You will need to restart once again: don't worry if the restart seems longer than usual, the system is rebuilding its cache files from scratch.

See where that takes you and report back with your findings. Good luck, I hope these work!

Well, I tried both the Safe Mode and MainMenu suggestions, but no luck. However, I did discover one piece of helpful information. If I use Disk Utility to create a new volume, I do have access to the "Apply to enclosed items" option for folders placed or created on that volume. So, I think that the problem must not be user-related so much as it's tied to how my HD volume is formatted/configured. Comparing the information supplied on the two volumes by Disk Utility, the only difference I can see is that my HD volume isn't Journaled, while the newly created volume is.

To my knowledge, I've never directly altered the format/configuration/permissions of my HD volume; however, I wonder if my creation of a Windows partition could have switched something. Then again, Boot Camp and Parallels are pretty widely used, so it seems like someone else would have noticed something.

Interesting input, Nathan. Only members with the same config as yours (with a Boot Camp + Parallels/Windows install) can check out this hypothesis.

This new volume you created that now lets you have access to the Apply to Enclosed Items, is this on the same hard drive as your main OS X/Boot Camp-Parallels/Windows installs?

But I do like your way of analysing this.

Yes, the new volume is on the same hard drive as my main OS X and Windows partitions.

I haven't had much more time to test anything else out. I'll post anything I find when I do.

Okay dokay sir! Hope you find a solution to this problem.

Locked

Looking at your picture: just to the right of the owner is a little lock that is 'locked'. Did you try unlocking it first (by clicking on it)?