Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5): Repair permissions takes too long or does not complete

Several users have reported that the repair permissions function, performed by Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities), takes an extremely long time or does not complete under Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). In some cases, the issue is accompanied by the error message:

Warning: SUID file "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent" has been modified and will not be repaired.

Users have reported completion of the repair permissions routine in times ranging from 5 minutes to over 30 minutes in some cases, but as aforementioned, some people are unable to repair permissions at all.

One MacFixIt reader writes:

"I've confirmed this on 8 different machines that now have Leopard installed (5PPC and 3Intel). Disk Utility can no longer repair permissions. When you click REPAIR PERMISSIONS it goes into what appears to be repair mode... but it never does a thing. It acts like it is busy, but no information or feedback shows up. I've left one machine running a permissions repair for over an hour and a half without anything occurring. Fortunately, you can stop the repairs with a simple click... but as of now it is impossible to repair permissions."

Some users are also receiving ACL (Access Control List) error messages when repairing permissions, e.g.:

Apple recommends repairing of permissions in Mac OS X 10.5 for the following issues, among others:

• You can't copy a file or folder
• You can't compress an item
• You can't open a file or folder
• Unable to start up after installing Apogee audio drivers

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources