2

Not sure what caused it but one day I couldn't download any files into my download directory where the error was "Insufficient permissions". I tried other locations /Documents /Desktop but I didn't have permission for those either. I can only download into /home. I thought this might be google chrome specific but I tried in firefox and also with transmission but every time it fails. I'm running 64 bit, 14.04 on AMD FX(tm)-8320 dual boot with windows 8. How can I get permission to download files anywhere but my home directory?

Thanks and sorry for the noob question

Output of ls -l

drwxr-xr-x   3 www-data www-data     4096 Jul 11 18:13 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x   4 www-data www-data     4096 Jul 14 18:43 Documents
drwxr-xr-x   5 www-data www-data     4096 Jul 10 13:29 Downloads
-rw-r--r--   1 www-data www-data     8980 Jun 26 19:39 examples.desktop

drwxr-xr-x 450 www-data www-data    20480 Jul  8 19:03 Music
drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Public
drwxrwxr-x   5 www-data www-data     4096 Jul  1 00:58 sketchbook
drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Templates
drwxr-xr-x   2 www-data www-data     4096 Jun 26 19:53 Videos

And output of ls -l /

total 100
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Jul 24 09:56 bin
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Jul 23 14:17 boot
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Jun 26 20:50 boot-sav
drwxrwxr-x   2 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:39 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x  17 root root  4360 Aug  1 09:04 dev
drwxr-xr-x 145 root root 12288 Aug  1 12:58 etc
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:39 home
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    33 Jul 17 20:23 initrd.img -> boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-32-generic
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    33 Jun 26 19:41 initrd.img.old -> boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-24-generic
drwxr-xr-x  23 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:42 lib
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Apr 16 21:21 lib64
drwx------   2 root root 16384 Jun 26 19:29 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jun 26 19:53 media
drwxr-xr-x   3 root root  4096 Jun 26 20:50 mnt
drwxr-xr-x   4 root root  4096 Jul  1 00:52 opt
dr-xr-xr-x 257 root root     0 Aug  1 05:04 proc
drwx------   8 root root  4096 Jul 14 18:02 root
drwxr-xr-x  25 root root   820 Aug  1 12:39 run
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root 12288 Jul 24 09:56 sbin
drwxr-xr-x   2 root root  4096 Apr 16 21:21 srv
dr-xr-xr-x  13 root root     0 Aug  1 05:04 sys
drwxrwxrwt   8 root root  4096 Aug  1 17:17 tmp
drwxr-xr-x  10 root root  4096 Apr 16 21:21 usr
drwxr-xr-x  14 root root  4096 Jul 11 18:17 var
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    30 Jul 17 20:23 vmlinuz -> boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic
lrwxrwxrwx   1 root root    30 Jun 26 19:41 vmlinuz.old -> boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic
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  • 1
    Can you edit the answer to include the output of the command ls -l
    – Tim
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:21
  • woop sorry you edited that. I messed up the formatting
    – tausch86
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:25
  • 1
    Also, could you add the output of ls -l /? And have you run any chown commands lately?
    – Wilf
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:25
  • Don't worry! (Ctrl+K when you've selected it to format code).
    – Tim
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:26
  • Do you mean /home or /home/<USER>?
    – Tim
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:28

2 Answers 2

2

You have the wrong owner set on your /home/$USER

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /home/$USER to change the user and group as well.

6
  • Is sudo needed?
    – Tim
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:30
  • 1
    Yes because its a chown
    – squareborg
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:31
  • 2
    @Tim - yes, to change which user owns the home directory. N.B. sudo chowb -R $USER:$USER /home/$USER should change the group as well.
    – Wilf
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:31
  • 1
    Cheers for the group @Wilf slipped my mind!
    – squareborg
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:35
  • @Shutupsquare - your welcome - beware of any typos, I should of put chown etc...
    – Wilf
    Aug 1, 2014 at 21:37
2

The problem is you changed your folders to be owned by the user www-data.

To change them back to your own user do chown -R your-username ~/*. Also do chgrp -R your-username ~/* to change them to your group. You might have to use sudo for that.

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