I am learning Nautilus. Some apps that I want to remove to trash; I cannot because I receive the error message that I am not the owner and do not have permission.

How do I rectify this? Please give me the steps.

BTW, if I log in as root at a terminal and save, does that mean I have root privilege from the GUI or only the terminal??

the safe way to do this is to go to a terminal, type "su" to become root, and do your housekeeping. You can also log in to the GUI as root.

Don't know what you mean by this: Save what?

In a terminal, you can su to become root, but that will not affect your GUI login.

If you are using Linxu "the right way" you should ONLY use root for specific maintenance purposes and be logged in as a "regular" user at all times.
With this in mind, if you cannot delete a file as a regular user, that means that likely the root user (or another user in the system) has ownership of that file.
If you cannot delete files you (with your regular user account) have created then there is a problem with your settings.
A way to know would be to right-click and inspect the file properties to see what are the settings. As the owner of the file you should have read, write and execute permissions.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your responses. I created some confusion myself by raising two different concerns: 1. use of root, 2. file permissions.
I'm still not sure how they're related, if at all.

Let me limit this response to my problem with File Permissions. I'll make a separate response as regards root and terminal vs. GUI.

In Nautilus mainly I am working on uninstalling and installing applications. When I want to remove apps I no longer need, such as SetiAtHome, how do I become the owner? When I right click and go to Properties and choose Permissions "Owner" is checked for Read, Write, and Execute. However, that same page says "You are not the owner so you cannot change permissions." I have a lot of files that I can't get rid of because when I "Send to Trash" I receive "Error while moving. X cannot be moved to the trash because you do not have permission to change it or its parent folder."

So I'm caught in a loop and can't remove apps I don't want.

What steps do I follow to remove these apps?

Hi Kajensen

If you are not the owner of the file it's normal that you don't have the right to trash, move, write or even read some times. To get ride of these file you have to change the owner or/and the file permission

Reminder:
Has told you Ralvez be careful when you are using root.

So to remove these file the best way is to change the owner of these files. In a terminal window type this to do so
Go back to your GUI and try to trash them again.

Tell me if you still have an error.

Actually, the right to delete and move files should not have to do with ownership or permissions to those files at all. Instead, you need (and only need) write permission to the parent directory to delete or move files.

I have applications that I want to move to trash. But I am not the owner, so I cannot do so. I do not understand this at all:

$su $chown your_user_name /patch_of_your_file/your_file

The only command I have used is cd. Am I right: I'm not supposed to type what you said to type. These are values that I have to substitute for. Well, I have no idea what my user name is. I have no idea what patch is, etc. Please explain. I'm lost. I need explanations and steps, not just "Do this." It is past my current level of comprehension.

The best way to remove apps is dependent on the way they were installed.
Can you tell us which apps you are trying to remove and how you installed them in the first place?

I am still trying to change file permissions so I can dump apps.

After - su in a terminal, now designated #, I am typing:

chown DorothyJ /atomic_clock_install

I am receiving: Searching for attributes and File not found.

What is patch_of_your_file and am I doing anything else wrong??


(Should I be here in Reply to Thread or should I use Quick Reply??)

HELP SPOOON OR ANGEL115!