Read only on docs & spreadsheets

Hi

A while ago, I had all sorts of probs going up from the original Firefox 2 to 3.6. Managed, in the end, with help from friends on this forum.

After a while, with prompts keep coming in from Firefox to go to Firefox 4, I tried to upgrade and again met with disaster.

Copied all my docs, spreadsheets etc to a memory stick and reinstalled the whole system from another memory stick copied from the disc supplied with the machine, which gave me Firefox 2 again. Managed to get up to Firefox 3.6.18 and am happy. I then copied all my docs etc back from the memory stick and I thought all was well.

Have now found that all the docs, in various folders are all read only.

The folder below File Manager "Documents" is called "Aspire One", and is read/write as is the folder below this (which I called "Document1") but I cannot put any files in it. The only files I can save have to go alongside folders "Aspire One" or "Documents1". (The Permissions were displayed by a right Click on the folder/file icon and viewing Properties).

All the files below "Documents1" show Read Only when loaded and when any file or folder icon below "Documents1" is Right Clicked and the Properties displayed, the Permissions are all greyed out and the only black text is "Owner root (root)".

I cannot create a new folder in either "Aspire One" or "Documents1" which doesn't help my keeping my things in order - "Permission Denied". I had thought I could create a few new folders, and then labouriously cut & paste all my locked files into nice new R/W folders, but even then I wouldn't be able to delete the originals. Space in a 16 GB machine is at a premium.

Any (simple) theories as to what I have done wrong and what I can do to rectify my situation?

Many thaks

Steve

 

The new user account you created no longer "owns" the documents...

Can you open a terminal, by hitting Alt+F2, then typing terminal, then clicking Run

When the terminal opens, enter:

Code:

ls -l /home

hit the Enter key... and post back the resulting output.

This will allow us to see the user and group ownershiip of your home directory... when we know that, we can give you instructions on taking ownership of your docs.

For clarity the above command is LS -L /HOME but it MUST be all lower case... Linux commands ARE case sensitive.

I'm expecting an output similar to:

BTW, upgrading Firefox 3.6.18 to the latest Firefox 5 is quite easy, it just requires an extra library (libstdc++6)... ask on this forum thread, and I'll be happy to help.

 

Hi

Thanks for your suggestion, PCNetSpec

I am on holiday at present, which explains my late reply.

Also, I am unable to use your suggestion at present. - away from my Aspire. One

Will report back when I have done as you suggest and let you know the result.

Thanks again.

Sreve

 

Hi

Thanks for your suggestion, PCNetSpec

I am on holiday at present, which explains my late reply.

Also, I am unable to use your suggestion at present. - away from my Aspire. One

Will report back when I have done as you suggest and let you know the result.

Thanks again.

Sreve

 

Hi PCNetSpec

Back at last and have followed your suggestion, with no luck - docs still read only.

Here's the response to the input suggested...

[user@localhost ~]$ ls -l /home
total 4
drwxrwxrwx 43 user user 4096 2011-08-06 21:43 user
[user@localhost ~]$

NB The last word 'user' in the "drwxrwxrwx 43 ......." line is in a 'green box'. Not sure what that means.

Hope you can come back after all this time with a few comments.

Incidently, I have lost the icon ot the bottom of the screen showing the wireless connectionk and the Network Center does not react to a click. The networklight is on. This problem is in a query entitled "No wireless connection" which had no replies. This mail is written using my sim card dongle, so that shows the Acer is working at some level, even if it wont use my expensive Home Broadband link!

Any help out there on either prob?

Anyway, many thanks for your suggestionso far.

Steve

 

Hi

To end the suspense, I will let you know what happened to both the read only doc files and the missing connection icon (bottom right of the screen to the left of the battery icon ......

I gave in and restored my Aspire One to its original state, updated to Firefox 3.6.17 and copied back all the docs from the memory stick. The docs are now in RW state (Why?) and the connection icon has returned.

Hope this is the last time I have to go through this and that I do not accidently remove the connection icon again.

Steve