sudo chmod -R 777 /

macos unix permissions sudo chmod

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Solution 1

Take a look at Apple's Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1452?viewlocale=en_US

Solution 2

From http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2963:

Using the Repair Privileges Utility

Most users of Mac OS X have not intentionally modified privileges and simply need a utility to reset system privileges to their correct default values. If you have Mac OS X 10.2 and later, this utility is included in the operating system. If you have Mac OS X 10.1 you can download it. For versions 10.0 to 10.1.4, you must update to version 10.1.5 first.

For Mac OS X 10.2 or later, open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/). Select your Mac OS X startup volume in the column on the left of the Disk Utility window, then click the First Aid tab. Click the Repair Disk Permissions button. You may see an erroneous message.

Solution 3

You're in luck:

About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature

It won't fix everything, but it will fix everything that's listed in the bill of materials file for an installed package.

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Casey Flynn

American software engineer living in Taipei, Taiwan. 只是一個住在台北的工程師. Mostly speaks English and 中文. 11100100 10111101 10100000 11100101 10100101 10111101 https://cflynn.us

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

Casey Flynn over 1 year
```
 sudo chmod -R 777 /
```
I did this. It was a mistake. Is there any way to undo it?

Basically it's messed up more things than I can list. I don't have time-machine enabled on my mac.
- Casey Flynn almost 13 years
  
  Serious question man, is there any way to undo it.
- joaquin almost 13 years
  
  777 permissions are almost never the answer to any permissions problem. It might get you past a hiccup, but it is seldom a good idea, even when restricted to a directory deep in your disk system. It is a catastrophe when applied to all files and directories under root, not least because it attempts to remove SUID bits from programs such as 'sudo' that need them. Don't do it again! (Many Unix users can regale you with a story of an analogous mistake; I won't bother you with mine, but the backups of the system saved the day, and it wasn't me who typed the command that achieved the rm -fr /.)
- Scott almost 13 years
  
  Let this be a lesson to everyone about why sudo goes on about "think before you type" the first time you use it. ;-)
- ott-- over 12 years
  
  Do a ls -lR / >list on a healthy system (or ask someone else for a list). You could automate this process to re-set the permissions (if this Dirk Utility Repair won't work).
- hwshadow almost 11 years
  
  Tab Auto-complete saves lives ;3
kylex almost 13 years

This won't undo your changes, but it should fix most of the issues due to improper permission settings.
Casey Flynn almost 13 years

Will this repair my 'sudo' program?
kylex almost 13 years

@Casey - What is the issue with sudo? sudo just allows you to run a command as root. ie. bypasses many security restrictions.
sehe almost 13 years

@kylex: it probably refuses to work since /etc/suoers is worldwritable :) Good thinking
larsks almost 13 years

Sudo probably refuses to work because it needs the suit bit set and by recursively changing everything to mode 777 the OP has stripped the suid bit on sudo (and all other privileged programs). Without the suid bit set, sudo cannot gain elevated privileges and hence cannot grant you access other than that which you already have. Unless Disk Utility has an alternative mechanism for gaining elevated privileges, Casey will probably have to arrange to log in as root.
Keith Thompson over 12 years

chmod -R 644 will make all directories non-searchable. It would be difficult to recover from that.