Forum Discussion
Goofy Mac issue...
It's a permissions thing, similar to Linux. It's possible that the folder you created had admin permissions and it's asking you authenticate before you put something in there...
Incidentally, it's very rare that you'd need to reinstall the entire operating system, let alone wipe a disk.
Edit: Right click on one of the files and choose Get Info. At the bottom (Sharing & Permissions) it will tell you who the owner is and what privileges you might have (Read & Write is optimum). Then do the same on the folder you're trying to drag them into.
That said... I just noticed you're trying to copy them to an external drive. It's also possible that there could be a group ID issue on the drive, or, the drive wasn't formatted using a GUID Partition Map with a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition.
In short, there's a whole lot of things that could be going on here. Very hard to determine which it is without having a terminal to have a look-see.
And sorry for not saying so earlier, but I do very much appreciate the help and suggestions you've given.
Thank you, and, not to worry. I'm trying to remember if I ran into this once before and how I solved it.
Might want to check "Users and Groups Preferences" to make sure you're still listed as an Admin.
I checked it and it's still showing me as the Admin, with no others listed, save for a greyed out Guest User, which shows Off.
I don't want to jinx myself, but this problem hasn't happened in about a week and a half or so. I have absolutely no clue what changed, but something must have. It wasn't the upgrade to Big Sur 11.6, as that happened just a few days ago, and the problem had disappeared prior to that.
Whatever it is, I'm just glad its stopped. It was as aggravating as could be.
