Can't cd to Desktop folder Mac commandline

Question

I am using OSX Lion and every time I tried to cd to my Desktop folder using "cd ~" and cd "Desktop" it stays in my home directory instead of going to Desktop. I've tried to perform the commands using sudo but it makes no difference.

Thanks.

Solution

Using the sudo command will grant access to any folder or file on the Mac.

The commands sudo cd ~ return and sudo cd Desktop return only appeared to fail. In fact, both commands succeeded but exited without any output.

To demonstrate this try the command sudo -i "cd ~;pwd"return which should print /var/root in the terminal window.

In order to use the same commands interactively, do following:

6. sudo -i return
7. cd ~ return
8. pwd return

Output

/var/root

Comments

[Canadian Luke]

If you type pwd and press Enter, what is the output? (Star out username if you want)

[HikeMike]

What's the output of ls?

[Karolos]

Does cd ~/Documents work ?

[superuser]

After doing pwd I realized I was in another user's home folder. That's why I couldn't access the home folder. But I am the administrator, why can't I access the other standard user's folder, even with sudo? It looks like their Public folder is the only one I could access.

[Karolos]

@David: Using sudo doesn't mean you own the files from other users. Permissions still apply.

[superuser]

@Karolos: But if I am the administrator of a machine, I should be able to access other user's file when I wanted. Is there anyway to add a rule on Macs that will let all administrators have access to other people's files?

[Karolos]

@David: No, the role of an administrator is to manage the machine and its applications. It's a breach of privacy to use administrative power to access other people's files. But in case your reasons are legitimate, you can impersonate the other user using sudo bash and then su username.