Networking strangeness

[DanL]

I have a peculiar problem, but it takes some explanation. Bear with me. I have three Macs on my network. Let's call them A, B, and C. I have the same login on all machines. When I make a network connection from A to B, B to A, C to B, B to C, and C to A, all folders are accessible. BUT, when I connect A to C, only some folders on C are accessible. The other folders have a red dash through their icon, and when I click on them, I get "The folder 'XXX' can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents." But duuuuh, ALL of these folders are owned by me, and I have read/write permission assigned to them.

What is a little odd is that all files I can access have permissions me (r+w), staff (r only), and everyone (r only). The files that I don't have access to on C when connected from A have permissions me (r/w), and everyone (r only). There is no staff permission listed for these. I thought staff was a group permission assigned to everything. Why is it missing on these folders, and how do I put it back??? Also, why can I access everything on C from two machines but not from one?

I'm stumped.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

Sorry for the delayed response!

• What version of OS X/macOS on the three Macs?
• Are you sure the username on A and C is the same, not just the Full Name?
• Have you tried disabling Sharing on both of them, then re-enabling it?

C

 

[DanL]

A is High Sierra.
B is MountainLion
C is Montery

Ah, now when almost everyone connects to everyone else, they're reported connected as "(e-mail address removed)" (my Apple ID). EXCEPT when A connects to C, which is the problematical connection, it connects as "joeblow". So that's a key difference. In fact, when instructed to connect as registered user "joeblow", the connection is reported as "Connected as (e-mail address removed)" as if it was connected "Using an Apple ID." Why in the world does that happen???

Yes, when I do Go->Home on each machine, my username is listed as "joeblow". Same username on each machine.

So when I'm connected as "joeblow", my username. I don't have permission to see everything. But if I'm connected as "(e-mail address removed), I have permission to see everything.

One other oddity. When I'm connecting from A to C, and I only have permission to see certain folders, the folders I CAN see include "staff" as having "Read only" permission. The folders I am not allowed to see do not have any permission listed for "staff". I thought "staff" permission was a default. How do you add "staff" permission to a folder???

This is ridiculous, and I have no idea how I got myself into this situation.

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK, thanks.

Yes, that is strange, as I have only ever seen file sharing connect with users and not Apple IDs. One though - are you using iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options... > Desktop & Documents on all or some of the Macs?

Maybe check in Keychain Access on A to see what is stored for network password for each of the Macs. Then, maybe delete the entry for joeblow when connecting to C and try to reconnect with (e-mail address removed)?

Make sense?

C

 

[DanL]

I am using iCloud drive only on C, my Monterey machine. I do NOT have it set to use Desktop and Documents.

OK, I erased ALL entries for C in Keychain on A. Reconnected to C on A as registered user "joeblow". Now I have all my permissions on C!
Yay! But geez, Louise, the connection to C is now reported on A as "Connected as: (e-mail address removed)"!

So now I have permissions on everything to see everything, but I am everywhere "Connected as: (e-mail address removed)", even though I specifically connected as registered user "joeblow". As far as I can tell, "(e-mail address removed)"is not even a registered user! So all is now good, except it all makes no sense.

Thanks for getting me this far.

Oh, and what's the deal with some folders on C not having permissions listed for "staff"? I'm not even sure who "staff" is, but I thought "staff" permissions were a default for everything.

 

[DanL]

OK, I think I figured this out. When I establish a network conection from A to C, it SAYS that I am connected by my login name. But somehow I'm not. That's why many folders on C aren't accessible through A. I need to "Disconnect", and then "Connect As" my login name, and enter my password. After doing that it STILL SAYS I'm connected by my login name. But now, everything is accessible. This is absolutely nuts.