The results of sudo chmod 777 /.*

[oof]

Hi,


I CD to specific directory on the Desktop and mistakenly typed:

sudo chmod 777 /.*

Instead of

sudo chmod 777 ./*

The results are catastrophic: Ubuntu cannot restart, and I do not know how to restore it to its the previous phase.


Maybe you have any idea

Thanks,
Oof

[_Purple_]

You can use a live CD to backup your work somewhere else and then reinstall.

[DeMus]

You can use a live CD to backup your work somewhere else and then reinstall.

I second that since I think you are in deep ****. Changing folder and file properties of system files is a terrible thing to do and results, as you have seen, in a not working system.
Backup your important stuff (don't forget the hidden files and folders) and start all over.

[Phasmagon]

Actually then only thing you can do is what is mentioned above. There no way to restore the file permission to what the were before. At least not on all files and you 're better off reinstalling the system. Then coping the files you own, to reset the permissions on them too. But I can't help myself on commenting.

You used SUDO to change permissions on a folder you OWN.
Please don't do that.
That's why Ubuntu does not allow you (by default) to log in as root.

[ActiveFrost]

You can't fix it ! The one and only choice is to backup your data and reinstall Ubuntu.
Good luck ;)

[sisco311]

Hi,

...

The results are catastrophic: Ubuntu cannot restart, and I do not know how to restore it to its the previous phase.


Maybe you have any idea

Thanks,
Oof

Try to boot in recovery mode and restore the permissions:

chmod 0755 /
chmod 0755 /*
chmod 1777 /tmp
chmod 0750 /root
chmod 0700 /lost+found


If you can boot in recovery mode, then boot a liveCD, mount the root partition and restore the permissions.

[theozzlives]

When you re-install, make a seperate /home partition by selecting: Manual.

[oof]

Try to boot in recovery mode and restore the permissions:

chmod 0755 /
chmod 0755 /*
chmod 1777 /tmp
chmod 0750 /root
chmod 0700 /lost+found
If you can boot in recovery mode, then boot a liveCD, mount the root partition and restore the permissions.

I'll try this option before doing anything too drastic. It is not clear to me: does the command "chmod ... /.*" change also sub-directories, or it is restricted only to the directories on the root.



Thanks all for the help,
Oof

[sisco311]

You can use a live CD to backup your work somewhere else and then reinstall.


I second that ...


Actually then only thing you can do is what is mentioned above. ...


You can't fix it ! The one and only choice is to backup your data and reinstall Ubuntu.
Good luck ;)


When you re-install, make a seperate /home partition by selecting: Manual.

The chmod command is NOT recursive by default.

/.* means all the files (and directories) in the root ("/") directory including the hidden files/directories ( . = current directory and .. = parent directory) but NOT the sub-directories.

The OP only needs to restore the permissions on the above mentioned directories. So there is NO need for a re-install.

[sisco311]

I'll try this option before doing anything too drastic. It is not clear to me: does the command "chmod ... /.*" change also sub-directories, or it is restricted only to the directories on the root.



Thanks all for the help,
Oof

It's restricted only to the directories.

[oof]

0
Try to boot in recovery mode and restore the permissions:

chmod 0755 /
chmod 0755 /*
chmod 1777 /tmp
chmod 0750 /root
chmod 0700 /lost+found
If you can boot in recovery mode, then boot a liveCD, mount the root partition and restore the permissions.


sisco311,


It seems that ubuntu works exactly as before after I changed the root permission according to your advice in the recovery mode (is there anythings else I need to do now to be sure ubuntu is fully restored?).
So thank you, and thanks all the other for trying to help (and I also want to thank god I was not listening to their advice ;))


What other dangers should I be aware of in this respect, and does ubuntu have any option of restoring itself (In my case, I must sudo many times in different ways, and it is impossible not to make simple misprints sometimes)

[Lucky75]

LOL, this is why you always get a second (or sometimes, sixth) opinion.

I think you should be okay now, since you essentially undid what you did in the first place and just set the permissions back. Just watch for anything unusual, and check if permissions are the problem if something else breaks.

[danger89]

Uhm, I did this stupid thing also mistakenly...
Should Ubuntu to make a confirm messange for only the input arg '/'?

[derrick81787]

Uhm, I did this stupid thing also mistakenly...
Should Ubuntu to make a confirm messange for only the input arg '/'?

Well, there are two problems with what you and the original poster did. First of all, if you own the directory, you shouldn't use sudo. Just doing chmod without sudo would have worked just fine.

Second of all, there is no reason to run

chmod 777 ./*
You can run

chmod 777 *
and it will give you the exact same results, but there is practically no chance that you will accidentally change your root directory's permissions.

Putting a warning message might not really hurt anything, but there are a million commands that someone can run to screw up their system, and it would be difficult and annoying to have confirmation messages for them all.

- Derrick