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I'm trying to add a new keyboard layout for a non admin user on my mac.

I had thought that the keyboard layout would be applied for all users when I added it to mine but alas no.

I cannot get into the /Users/<username>/Library/Keyboard Layouts/

folder, as it won't let me (but I'm an admin FFS!)

I even went into 'get info' and set it to 'everyone read and write' but it still tells me that I don't have permission

How on earth can I update the other user's keyboard layout folder?

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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

If you want the a resource (keyboard layout, font, whatever) to be available to all users, don't go putting it in individual users' Library folders; instead, put it in the "local" Library folder (/Library), which applies to all users on the computer. Just drop the layout in /Library/Keyboard Layouts (which is writable by admins), and you should be good to go.

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up vote 2 down vote

Might be time to use the command line (Terminal.app) and the root user.

[EDIT]

It sounds like you want to copy a file from your user to another user. Well you should be able to do this with the following command:

sudo cp ~/Library/Keyboard\ Layouts/yourKeyboardLayoutHere /Users/theUserNameHere/Library/Keyboard\ Layouts/

If you're adverse to the Command Line, then you can try enabling the root user, and logging in as Root, and trying your action again.

If the root user is unable to perform an action, there's usually something nefarious (filesystem, hard drive issues) at work.

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While sudo cd /Users... should work, it doesn't for me (Snow Leopard). I found that I have to do a sudo su and actually BE root to change anything in these folders. The open command does bring up a Finder, but it doesn't seem to inherit root-level permissions. – Nextraztus Feb 22 '10 at 20:57
this is what I was worried about. If Root User is enabled, you can log in as root and perform super-user level GUI operations. – jweede Feb 22 '10 at 20:58
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@Nextraztus in what way doesn't it work. Remember that sudo spawns a new shell, so sudo cd /path will spawn a new shell, do the cd, and then exit. The shell in which you performed the sudo will not change directories. – KeithB Feb 22 '10 at 23:16
Arg I must have typo'd somewhere because now it's working. So it does seem to be working properly with a command prompt. However, from a sudo open /Users/someotheruser/Library you get a blank finder window that can't see any files. If you attempt to copy something in there, it will let you copy it in only if it doesn't currently exist...very strange. – Nextraztus Feb 23 '10 at 0:00
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up vote 0 down vote

Try sudo -s to become root. This command spawns a new shell with root privileges.

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