How to Eliminate Permission Denied Messages on UNIX

UNIX uses a system of user permissions to secure itself.

Part of the security of UNIX comes from its system of user permissions. While the root user can access or modify any file on the system, normal users are restricted to accessing files that they own. If they try to access files they do not own, they will get "Permission Denied" messages. While becoming the root user is one way to get around permission denied messages, it is not very practical. An easier way to is change the file's ownership.

Instructions

1. Launch your terminal emulator. For Linux-based systems, these will be in the main menu in either the top or bottom left corner of your screen, depending on which desktop environment you use. In the Mac OS, the terminal emulator is located within the "Utilities" sub-folder of the "Applications" folder.

2. Type "chown - R user-name target-directory" into the terminal, where "user-name" is the name of the regular user for whom you want to eliminate the "permission denied" messages and "target-directory" is the directory address whose files you want that user to access.

3. Type "exit" to leave the root user.

References

• Dartmouth University; Understanding File Permissions on Unix: A Brief Tutorial
• Chown(1) - Linux Man Page