Goofy Mac issue...

[GabeU]

@MarkJFine 

You know a bit about Macs, so I figured I would ask you...

A month or so back I had a power dip due to some storms in the area.  It was really quick, like the power was going to go out, but it didn't.  It lasted maybe a quarter of a second.  

Shortly afterward my Mac started prompting me for my password when doing innocuous things, like emptying the trash or moving a file from one folder to another, or even trying to copy something to an external USB drive.  Things that should never prompt for my password.  It didn't do it all the time, but enough that it was getting annoying.  

After talking to someone on both reddit and Facebook, it was suggested that I reinstall Big Sur, and erase the disk before doing so.  I did that and the reinstall went without issue.  But the problem is still here.  When I click cancel and try the action again, it works normally, without the password box popping up.

Any idea what could be causing this?  

The following is from when I was trying to move six downloaded PlayOn TV episodes from the folder I downloaded them into to a smaller folder within it (the sixth episode is behind the password window).  Again, nothing that should prompt the password requirement.  

[MarkJFine]

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.

[GabeU]

The folder shows the right permissions, as in read and write, and for my 'account'.  I don't believe it's the folder, as it does it with any folder, and practically any action.  When I empty the trash, move a file, open Maps, open my AV GUI.  That was just an example to show what's happening.  

What I was doing there was just moving them from one place to another in a folder on the system drive, not copying them to an external drive, though it sometimes does the same thing when I actually do go to copy the files onto an external drive.  Moving the files is what I've been doing most lately, so that's when it happens most.

None of this started until that power dip, now it's practically every day that this happens, sometimes four or five times.  It's more annoying than anything else, but I don't understand why a reinstall didn't fix it.  And now today the Music app won't stop opening.  I've had this Mini on for 20 minutes and it's already opened four times for no reason whatsoever.  This is the second time that's happened, with the first a few weeks ago, but the last time a restart fixed it.  

I think the only other thing I can try is reinstalling Big Sur from a USB drive, but I don't know if that would be any different than what I already did, and the idea scares me, as I've ready too many posts of people trying to reinstall the Mac OS, following the instructions to a T, and bricking their units.  Well, not bricking them, but causing a state where the unit has to go back to Apple to have the OS installed.

[GabeU]

Yep, a restart fixed the Music app starting thing.  I read a few posts about that, and it seems that it's common enough that they've actually created an app called "noTunes" to stop it from happening.  So, at least I got that covered if it becomes a bigger problem.  

Macs are temperamental.  LOL.

[maratsade]

Can you call support? Is there a Mac store you could call?

[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote:

Can you call support? Is there a Mac store you could call?

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I'm sure there is, but I haven't gotten to that point yet.  

[GabeU]

@MarkJFine 

And sorry for not saying so earlier, but I do very much appreciate the help and suggestions you've given.  

[MarkJFine]

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.

[GabeU]

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.  

[GabeU]

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.