Who's in charge?

POOF
Wish 1: Delete your self (the genie deletes your sense of self)
- Would the genie get stuck in an endless loop, trying to find the owner of the three wishes for wish 2?

Windows moment

Not necessarily. Linux can have files that are r---r---r--- too
- sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /* && sudo chmod -R 777 /*
- Then you sudo chmod. Windows I have to do weird shit with the properties context menu. And even that sometimes doesn't work. I run commands in powershell as Administrator. Still doesn't work.
  Fuck Windows.
- It is also possible to make a file "immutable" such that even sudo rm -f will fail
Me, realizing I can't delete Edge because the OS assumes it's installed
- https://www.solveyourtech.com/how-to-remove-edge-from-windows-11-a-step-by-step-guide/
  https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to/how-to-uninstall-microsoft-edge
  https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-uninstall-microsoft-edge/
  You can find these in like 5 seconds.
Only if you don't know how to use Windows.
Which I am starting to suspect a ton of Linux users on here are incapable of.

If you're on windows this means you don't own the file. Go to properties security and take ownership.

The default windows configuration is aimed at old people who will call tech support when they fuck up their PC.

You can take ownership of pretty much the entire filesystem.

Windows is actually hugely customizable people just don't.

Glad to see another voice of sanity regarding Windows.
If you haven't learned by now, on Lemmy the only valid option for dealing with Windows configuration and basic Windows admin tasks is to yeet Windows and go to Linux.
- If you haven't learned by now, on Lemmy the only valid option for dealing with Windows configuration and basic Windows admin tasks is to yeet Windows and go to Linux.
  Not true. The only valid option to deal with Windows at all is to yeet it and go to Linux.
- That isn't the reason to yeet Windows. If you were talking years ago about 7 or XP, things were different. 10 is not that great comparably, and 11 is a mess. But keep your Windows, if it's what works for you. Until it doesn't.
  Dual boot for the best of both worlds (although I'm finding myself more and more on the Linux side because it's better for me.)
- Sometimes one wants to access a file without making changes though. Escalating privileges is the answer in this scenario and windows doesn't make that as easy,as it doesn't really want to you act as SYSTEM
- Sounds like a bad excuse for having a shitty product.
Except when you want to customize it to stop it from updating against your will. Then fuck you, secret code to change your settings and settings that simply do nothing.
- You should keep your software updated.
In the basic case you go to settings and change permissions.
In the more typical case for os modifications, you go to that tab, open advanced properties, change the owner account by typing in "everyone" or your account name by hand, saving, closing reopening the advanced security settings, probably disable inheritance then create a new permission entry.
In the most extreme case, where you change files belonging to something critical like windows defender or edge, you can't.
The only way I am aware of is booting into an older windows install iso, or a live linux iso, then performing the modifications there.
Disclaimer: I have not done this on windows 11 yet, but I can't imagine the process got simplified.
Windows has a lot of systems that allow some more complicated modifications. Those are often unnecessarily obfuscated, the registry for example doesn't have to be a weird custom database, it could have been part of the filesystem or at least a more standard database format. Windows will sometimes bite you with weird sketchy systems breaking expectations, and this tends to become inevitable when you try to change stuff Microsoft has decided to remove consumer choice on.
If Edge and the account push were as easy to avoid as learning how to take basic file ownership, we might not be where we are now (i.e. on Linux).

I am Root!

Me trying to uninstall edge

Edge is the best browser for downloading much better browsers lol
- Edge is literally the first program I use on a fresh install.
- Best Chromium browser*
I don't know what's the hate with edge, it works wonderfully for an average user, it's fully configurable with add-ons and handles security policies really well
The AI integration might be a bit over the top but nothing you can't disable in your side
Really I don't see why you guys pile on so much on it
- Microsoft's monopoly and their for-profit anti-consumer practices is what's wrong with it. Their history says they cannot be trusted. I'd ask myself why they need a browser in the first place.
- Because it’s my fucking computer and I shouldn’t have to edit the registry to uninstall a program I don’t use.
  After every update it’s also reset to my default browser which is infuriating
- Edge is a fine browser. I use it when Firefox isn't working for a particular reason.
- A lot of the hate comes from Microsoft forcing it down everyones throats.
  If it had been left to user choice, they may actually have a decent userbase; but instead it's been forcefully installed on pretty much every windows computer regardless of the owners preferences, it repeatedly re-asserts itself as the default browser, some windows features are hard-coded to use it and break if its removed, there is no simple uninstall process, and windows update will re-install it if you manually remove it.
  It's my damn computer; if I don't want a piece of software, I should be able to remove it.
  Ditched Windows entirely 2 years ago partly because of that, partly because of the same upcoming behaviour with AI. Fuck Microshaft, I'll take my money and attention elsewhere. (I was previously paying for/using pro licenses, for features like RDP hosting)
- It uses chromium which people shouldn’t use

My work laptop had a pop-up from an application that basically said "we couldn't restart last time, so you e got 15 minutes until we reboot your computer" with no way to cancel or prevent the reboot.

Me: the fuck you are

proceeds to kill the service and process from admin command line*

Get fucked fortinet, I'll reboot when I'm gods damned ready

One time Windows told me I needed admin privileges to edit s file. I had admin privileges.

You needed permission from the SYSTEM or TrustedInstaller account.
Which you can give to yourself if you are admin.
- Last time I did that it didn't work so I figured I will restart and it will recognize then. Windows got a 30 minute update.
  When I logged back in my account was gone and still asked for a password. My old password didn't work.
  Recovery option also fucked my grub. (Probably just the EFI now that I think about it.)
Just because you have admin rights doesn't mean the process you've invoked does. Unless you specifically elevate it or the process asks to elevate, it'll run unprivileged.

had a friend that was having problems with his PC and windows kept bitching about he didn't have permissions. he ripped out the harddrive with it still powered on and threw it off his balcony into the lake screaming, "I fucking own you!"

epic moment in my life to witness such an event.

Did it work after that?
- No, but this time the owner knows why it doesn't work. Big difference in IT.
- no but he had a second drive and installed xp on it.
  vista was at the bottom of the lake.
  goes to show how old the story is lol.

EZ fix i learnt from hunter2

chmod 777 -R /

sudo ufw allow 22

hunter2 ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

Can't shutdown there is a running program

/Me finger immediately goes to the power switch

I still remember the biggest brainfart moment as a child. I was playing video games on my computer, and kinda just looked around. On the pc was a turbo button, so i pressed it, turbo makes games faster. I looked again and one button said power. I wonder what that doe... I'm dumb.
- Ah, the turbo button. Where we first learned our devices can lie to us.

To own something is to control it.

You clearly don't have control, therefore you don't own it, microsoft does. You can fix that by seizing the means of computation and install linux.

Just to have linux be even more ruthless with its permission schemes.
- When you switch to an admin account on Windows, there are still files owned by "TrustedInstaller" that you can't touch, and processes owned by "System" that you can't terminate.
  Linux doesn't have that. When you switch to root, you can kill any process. You can modify or delete any file.
- sudo edit this file!
What the hell are you talking about? Permissions issues in Windows have absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft owning your files.
- I'm not talking about just the files. I'm talking more generally.
Or just ... right click to change ownership...
You don't have to change your whole OS because you can't access a file. I thought you Linux users knew how to use technology properly. But it seems you are "power users" instead.
- Like I said to /u/entwine413 I am talking more generally, not just about literal files.

God that is great mascot. It sears itself into your brain.

This fuckin line

Childhood me: "Whats he mean by that?"

My parents: "[explains slavery]"

Me: ...

Them: ...

Thanks, Disney!

I still love the soundtrack.

sudo chown....

Wrong root password, this incident will be reported

"TakeOwnership Registry Hack" PSA. It just werks.

Why use a hack when you can just go into properties and take ownership there?
The only thing this does is make a shortcut.
- Because it's a shortcut. That process is annoying.

Is there a technical reason that Linux apps can't/don't just pop up an authenticator thing asking for more privileges like Windows apps can do? Why does nano just say that the file is unwriteable instead of letting me increase the privileges?

Some do. I'm sure it is possible with terminal programs. In KDE, you do get authenticator pop-ups.
- With arch+xfce4 I mostly don't. Except for when I do systemctl reload
  <service>
  in a cli without sudo and it pops a surprise elevation password request gui in my face. I haven't figured out what makes it behave like that.
  I use Arch btw 👉🧐 eats booger
- Hmm I just tried editing some systemd service with Kate and it did actually give me an authenticator popup when I tried to save it
  Although then the prompt expired and now it does nothing when I try to save it. Restarted Kate and now it works again...
  I haven't tried that before
  When I try to go into the sudoers.d folder tho it just says I can't, and the same thing happens when I try to open the sudoers file in Kate. If I try to copy and paste a systemd service in dolphin tho it just says I don't have permission and doesn't give a prompt.
  lol if I open it with nano through sudo it says 'sudoers is meant to be read only'
Linux apps follow simplicity principles. If you don't have permission to delete a file, why assume you may know the password of the user who has permission?
You can preface sudo to any command to execute it with root privileges, which would be similar to running as admin in windows.
Graphical apps do tend to ask for authentication if it makes sense. No userland apps should need more permissions than the current user's in order to run.
- Small pedantic correction, but you can’t preface every command with sudo; only executables can be invoked with sudo as it can’t elevate your current shell. Naturally, the way to execute non-executables such as builtin routines as root is to just spawn into a root shell with sudo su.
The GUI apps do (depends on your DE). Terminal apps like nano are designed to work without fancy desktop stuff, like Polkit. Any sort of graphical text editor should prompt you for your password.
systemctl still asks for a password, though. Because it's systemd, and it's part of everything.
Iirc there are ways to format your command to get it to do this. So whatever app you're using just chose to format its command the simpler way.

    
sudo chown <username> <file>

    
chmod 700 <file>

Don’t see a problem ;) /s

`

sudo chown -R <user> / `
Never have a permission issue again! Lmao

Ah ah ah! You didn’t say the magic word!

sudo edit the file!

…

Ah ah ah! You didn’t say the secret word right after!

I own you!
take ownership & full access of all resources
threat actor exploits a vulnerable application that is (1) running as you to (2) access resources it doesn't need: they commandeer your system
how did that happen?

🤔

sudo stinking effer!

Think about this: let’s say you run a program. Do you want that program to be able to take over the computer and read all your files from now on and send the data to a remote third party?

Probably not.

Permissions were created to stop programs from doing that. By running most software without admin permissions you limit the scope of the damage the software can cause. Software you trust even less should be run with even fewer permissions than a normal user account.

The system is imperfect though. A capability-based system is better. It allows the user to control which specific features of the operating system a running program is allowed to access. For example, a program may request access to location services in order to access your GPS coordinates. You can deny this to prevent the program from tracking you without otherwise preventing the software from running.

You forgot the fact that there might be other people using the same computer and they shouldn't be able to access the others files.
- No I didn’t. Most computers on the planet (phones, tablets, laptops) have only 1 user. The whole multi-user system isn’t obviously useful for these computers.
  Everyone knows that multiple user accounts need permissions to prevent users from accessing each other’s files. I didn’t bring it up because it was too obvious.

When I want to end myself

My Body: Survival_Instincts.exe has activated

You don't even own your body lol

We are not root of our own minds

Visual representation of the first time I ever saw "owner: nobody"

"takeown /f c: icacls c:" changed my life. Windows literally has trusted installer listed as owning most of your hard drive on every fresh install, but that is negotiable. at least for the stuff you need.

"Own me? Maybe my physical form - but I don't have to do shit for you if you don't treat me with respect! Want to edit that file without my permission? Go ahead and do it yourself - take a magnetic needle and open up the HDD case yourself!"

So... Go try that and notice Windows is basically always encrypted at rest nowadays.
You can always decap your TPM and use a STM to read the static charges on its memory... But, good luck doing that.

Is this why people run Arch instead or atomic linux distros?

Lol, I had arch tell me that literally last night while I was updating Nvidia drivers. Just reopened dolphin as admin and deleted what I needed to.
I prefer to run subatomic Linux
- Disk block cryptographic signatures with automatic recovery?

I have Windows 10 Pro. I can alter the permissions for anything. If I wanted to, I could delete System32 and fuck the whole thing up.

Pretty sure you can do that for home as well, just as long as you aren't in S mode.
Otherwise, admin console and clear the file permissions.
All that being said, for your average user, if you are trying to delete a file and windows says you don't have permission, it's probably best to leave it alone.
Can you delete Xbox games installed by another administrator? I ran into that problem a few years ago because I reinstalled W10 and had it keep "personal files" which apparently included my Xbox games. I couldn't touch them at all, but I had W10 Home. I wonder if my problem could've been mitigated more easily than a full wipe of the drive? 🤔
- I'm pretty sure I can. It just takes a little more effort actually going into the permissions tab of the files because Windows doesn't have an equivalent to CHMOD AFAIK.
  Though, I am pretty sure you can do those basic permission options without Pro or Enterprise. You just need to be on an administrator account. Other things, like messing with actual system files, requires the Group Policy Editor.

Wrong OS.

idk tf chown does, use sudo instead. im not going to read man chown either.

    
sudo su
# do shenanigans in the cli/tui. gui is for noobs
# nvim, ls, touch, stroke, tease, rm

So I'm not the best at this, but this is my best guess (I have no experience in sysadmin, as I've only ever been the sole user of my PC and prefer not to network anything).
Owner #1, smackyboi, has ownership of a file called smutgame.AppImage. This means they can choose who accesses smutgame, if it can execute, if it can be read or written by certain groups, etc.
Owner #2, luvurealgood, on the system via their own account (or networked computer in the case of server storage) can't change these settings unless smackyboi says they could, because they're the owner and can add luvurealgood to the admin group for the file if they want. Smackyboi suddenly writes, sudo chown luvurealgood smutgame.AppImage.
Now luvurealgood owns that file and can make every change they want to it, including removing smackyboi from accessing it, as they're no longer the owner. They can lock down the file and forbid it from being executed, etc etc. I believe anyone who is in the admin group of that file can do anything to it as well, except change it's ownership if its already owned.
This is just from pieces of info and my tiny experience in Windows sysadmin shenanigans. Someone swoop in and correct me if I got anything wrong.