Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3: Clicking "Apply to enclosed items" copies permissions but not owner or group

Note: This document applies to Mac OS X 10.2 through 10.3.9.

Symptom

Your chosen Owner and Group settings are not copied to enclosed items after you click "Apply to enclosed items".

Solution

If you need to make such changes to many files, you can either:

• Change each item individually in the Finder's Info window (Command-I), or
• Use Terminal commands like sudo chown -R and sudo chgrp -R to make such changes.

If you need to correct the permissions on folders created by the Mac OS X Installer, click Repair Privileges in the First Aid pane of Disk Utility.

For example, to change ownership:

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/)
2. In the Finder, open the window that contains the folder that you wish to modify, so that you can drag that folder into the Terminal window later
3. Type the following: sudo chown -R username
   
   Leave a space after the username, which is the shortname of the user that you'd like to own the items (for example, "smith"). Do not press Return yet.
   
   
4. Drag the folder you wish to change into the Terminal window--the path automatically appears in Terminal
5. Press Return
6. Enter your admin password when prompted
7. Quit Terminal when this is finished

For example, to change group:

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/)
2. In the Finder, open the window that contains the folder that you wish to modify, so that you can drag that folder into the Terminal window later
3. Type the following: sudo chgrp -R groupname
   
   Leave a space after the "groupname", which is the shortname of the user that you'd like to own the items (for example, "smith"). Do not press Return yet.
   
   
4. Drag the folder you wish to change into the Terminal window--the path automatically appears in Terminal
5. Press Return
6. Enter your admin password when prompted
7. Quit Terminal when this is finished