Manage Permissions and Sharing

Question 1

What 4 ways can you access the Finder Info window?

Answer 1

1. Press Command - I
2. From the menu bar, choose File > Get Info
3. Control-click the selected item and choose Get Info from the shortcut menu
4. In a Finder window toolbar, click the Action menu (circle with three dots icon) and choose Get Info

Question 2

In the Finder Info window, where can you see/inspect file and folder permissions?

Answer 2

The Sharing and Permissions disclosure triangle

Question 3

In Sharing and Permissions, what are the three permission setting categories?

Answer 3

1. Owner
2. Group
3. Everyone

Question 4

In Sharing and Permissions, what is the “Owner” setting?

Answer 4

The owner is the user who created the item or copied it to the Mac

Question 5

Who can change ownership of a file?

Answer 5

1. The user who owns the file

2. Any administrator user

Question 6

In Sharing and Permissions, what is the “Group” setting?

Answer 6

By default, the group permissions for an item are inherited from the folder it was created in.

Question 7

In Sharing and Permissions, what is the “Everyone” setting?

Answer 7

It defines access for anyone who isn’t the owner and who isn’t part of the item’s group.

Question 8

What is the standard file-system permission structure of macOS based on standard UNIX-style permissions?

Answer 8

POSIX-style permissions (Portable Operating System Interface)

Question 9

What is the POSIX-style permissions system used for?

Answer 9

To define privilege rules separately at each ownership tier.

Question 10

What are the three file-level permissions options available in the Finder

Answer 10

1. Read and Write
2. Read Only
3. No Access

Question 11

What are the four folder-level permissions options available in the Finder?

Answer 11

1. Read and Write
2. Read Only
3. Write Only (Drop Box)
4. No Access

Question 12

How do access control lists (ACLs) differ from standard UNIX file system permissions?

Answer 12

ACLs expand the standard UNIX permissions architecture to allow more file and folder access control. macOS has adopted a style of ACLs similar to what’s available on Windows-based NTFS and UNIX file systems.

Question 13

What are access control entries (ACEs)?

Answer 13

A set of permissions defined for a specific user or group.

Question 14

What is the difference between ACLs and ACEs?

Answer 14

An ACL consists of one or more ACEs.

Question 15

True/False: If an ACL rule applies to a user or group, this rule trumps standard UNIX permissions.

Answer 15

True

Question 16

What are the default folder permissions for a users home folder?

Answer 16

Users have “Read and Write” access to their home folder and the staff group and everyone else are allowed only “Read Access”

Question 17

Where can you disable Guest access to your Mac without a password?

Answer 17

Users and Groups pane in System Preferences

Question 18

How does the default organization of the file system let users safely share local files and folders?

Answer 18

By using the Public folder that is readable by the everyone group. A user can share files, without configuring permissions, by moving files into their Public folder.

Question 19

How does the Drop Box folder work in regards to item permissions?

Answer 19

The Drop Box folder has a custom ACE, which ensures that the owner of a Drop Box folder has full access to all ties in that drop box, so normal ownership rules don’t apply.

Question 20

What’s unique about the permissions of /Users/Shared folder?

Answer 20

The Shared folder lets local users read and write files, but only the owner can delete it from the Shared folder.

Question 21

What does the permission setting “sticky bit” mean?

Answer 21

It prevents other users from deleting items they don’t own.

Question 22

How can you adjust sticky bit permissions setting?

Answer 22

They can be managed in Terminal.

Question 23

What access do new items that are created in a user have?

Answer 23

Unrestricted read access

Question 24

What is the easiest way to secure new items?

Answer 24

To store them in a folder that other users don’t have access to.

Question 25

How do you adjust Sharing and Permission settings of an item you aren’t the owner of?

Answer 25

By unlocking the lock icon in the bottom right-hand corner and authenticating as an administrator user.

Question 26

What do you have to do first before you can assign a new owner using the Finder Info window?

Answer 26

You must first add the user as an additional permissions entry (click the + button in the lower-left corner of the Info window and add user)

Question 27

How do you propagate folder permissions?

Answer 27

1. Click the lock
2. Provide admin credentials
3. Open the Action menu and choose “Apply to enclosed items”

Question 28

True/False: When you apply permissions to enclosed folder items, it does not apply all permission settings to all enclosed items, not just the changes you recently made.

Answer 28

False