John, On the second machine, try going to Users/username/Library/Preferences and deleting the com.apple.finder.plist file. If you want just move it to the desktop and after a restart if it does not solve the problem, just replace it. On the first machine, when you click once on your drive and highlight it, and then Get Info on it, what does it say your permissions are? Read & Write? I am not a Terminal expert, so I can't help you with the Terminal, but I can tell you how to log into root and change permissions. ( For members who use X and don't understand the Terminal, you may want to do this also to set up root access ) Go into the Applications folder and launch the NetInfo Manager. Go into the "Security" menu and choose "Enable Root User". Put a password you will not forget in the second and third field. It will then ask you to put in your Administrator password and you then can quit NetInfo Manager. You now have root access set up. Now go into the System Preferences and click on the "Accounts" icon. Click on the "Login" options and make sure the "Display Login Window as:" is set to "Name and Password". Now go into the Apple and log out. It will log you out and up will come two fields. Type root in the first field, and type your root password that you just made into the second field. Now log into root. Once into root, highlight your hard drive, and Get Info on it. Turn the "Ownership and Permissions" triangle, and once that opens turn the "Details" triangle. Next to the word "Group" it should say "Admin", and next to "Access" it should say "Read & Write". If not, change them. Then log back out and back into your account. Then see what happens. Here is a photo of my settings while in root. http://www.njpinebarrens.com/~teegate/root.jpg Guy John McGibney wrote: > I have 2 problems with OS-X 10.3.3 > > Machine 1 a G4 tower: > I can't access the root level on the startup drive. It's owned by System and > Admin users can read only. All other machines I have running X allow Admin > users read/write privileges. This means some installers don't work because > they can't access the root level. > > This is the only machine with this problem. The other machines I have access > to allow Admin users read/write access. I'm sure I'll have to do some > Terminal command to fix it as the normal maintenance/repair procedures > didn't work. All machines are running 10.3.3 with the latest patches from > Apple. > > > Machine 2 G4 PowerBook: > The windows don't seem to remember the Icon placement nor settings to keep > arranged by name. The global settings for Icon view are "Keep arranged by > name" this setting doesn't change. But when the Applications folder and > Utilities folder are opened they revert to "this window only settings and > the icons, window size, etc. are all messed up. Window placement is off etc. > If I set window view options back to global they stay for a while, usually > the next reboot. If I set the "This window only" settings to keep...by name > placement will also foul up after a while. > > Either way settings don't seem to keep after a restart. I've run the usual > maintenance routines on the PB but it didn¹t help. Nor did deleting the > invisible .DS_store files inside each folder. I know there was a preference > file to delete to cure this oddity but when I read the articles I didn't > have the problem. Of course I didn't save the info nor remember where I read > it. Anybody know the cure? > > TIA > John > >