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could not save because write access was not granted (Mac OS)

Explorer ,
Oct 01, 2010 Oct 01, 2010

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I keep getting the above error when working off of my xserve in photoshop. It is new in CS5 which we have recently upgraded to. Several people at my office are getting it. Sometimes it displays a random name with afp in front of it (I assume it is the temp name when photoshop is swapping out the new file for the old file.) It only seems to happen with psd and psb files. I have write access to the volume in question and it doesn't matter if I am the only one accessing the folder or not. I can save as and it seems to work; but it does delete the file.

Very frustrating. Anybody have any ideas? My IT guys are struggling with it, and one of them used to work on the Flash team as well as at Apple.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Adobe Employee , Jun 06, 2013 Jun 06, 2013

Hi everyone,

The recent Mac OS X 10.8.4 released yesterday has specifically named the following fix:

  • Resolves an issue saving files to an Xsan volume from certain applications

referenced from this Apple KB article. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5730

If you are still experiencing this issue, please update to 10.8.4 and then re-test in your environment. Please let us know if you are still experiencing issues.

The KB article also mentions this fix:

  • A fix for an issue that may prevent changes to files mad
...

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 29, 2012 Jun 29, 2012

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On the Mac they are bullets, pressing alt + 8 will get you one, and no one else is reporting issues (about 20 other desginers).  For the user who has the issues, we have reinstaled CS 5.5, performed an archive and install and wiped his machine building it back up from scratch.  The only way we can consistently resolve the issue is to delete the .plist.  Deleting the .plist is only a temporrary solution sometimes the issue returns a couple days later, sometimes a few weeks.  Something must be struggling to read that .plist consistently.

Atleast we have somewhat of a solution

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Jun 29, 2012 Jun 29, 2012

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Photoshop reads the plist only during launch (before reading preferences, because we need to configure the language early).

So my guess it that it is some OS component reading it.

Try working in another directory (with a normal name, no spaces, no punctuation) and see what happens.

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New Here ,
Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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Just as a follow on to my previous post and Chris Cox's previous post, I have to say that I am horrified by the lack of helpfulness from Adobe on these issues.

The annoying thing was the time it took to get the point across that this wasn't an issue with 3rd party server software but with vanilla Mac to Mac OS connections.

This issue is still causing us a lot of problems and due to the large number of images that we handle for ad campaigns it would be a nightmate to deal with the data duplication and the risk that the server version is not the latest version of the images.

I don't know if this is related but we also get a lot of file reading errors in Photoshop if the file metadata is edited.

If you save a PSD and then close it on one Mac and then edit the metadata (using exiftool) from another Mac, the original Mac is then unable to open the file at all -- or can open the file but it's unusable because the image data is disrupted. We have to open and re-save the data from a different Mac before the original machine can re-open the file. [Note that the image was closed before the metadata edit was carried out and sufficient time was left to ensure that that exiftool had completed the edit].

Wonder if this is also the result of Photoshop's super special file handling routines? Certainly never seen this happen with any other software.

--

Martin

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Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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>> The annoying thing was the time it took to get the point across that this wasn't an issue with 3rd party server software but with vanilla Mac to Mac OS connections.

We've been working on the problem for a long time.  But the most common problem used to be with third party servers.

MacOS changes have made it occur more often on any server using AFP or SMB.

>> I don't know if this is related but we also get a lot of file reading errors in Photoshop if the file metadata is edited.

Not related.  But if you're seeing image corruption like that, then you're looking at a bug in EXIFTool or your network server.

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New Here ,
Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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>>> I don't know if this is related but we also get a lot of file reading errors in Photoshop if the file metadata is edited.

>> Not related.  But if you're seeing image corruption like that, then you're looking at a bug in EXIFTool or your network server.

If that were the case then why is it *only* the Mac that saved the original file that is unable to re-open the image?

If exiftool were hosing the data then none of the server clients would be able to open the file.

--

Martin

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Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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>> If that were the case then why is it *only* the Mac that saved the original file that is unable to re-open the image?

I don't know -- I don't have your systems to debug.

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Explorer ,
Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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I started this discussion in 2009 specifically because I was having this problem on a standard macos xserve back in oct. 2010. (actually since cs5 appeared). I have given up on a solution, and have been soldiering on, as it is not an option to not save to a server in my environment.

>>We've been working on the problem for a long time.  But the most common problem used to be with third party servers.

MacOS changes have made it occur more often on any server using AFP or SMB.

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Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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>>> I've heard the 'we do more checks' response. It doesn't wash. If that's the case, why don't we see files disappearing with any of the other applications we use, warning or no?

I don't know why you don't see it.  We can reproduce such problems fairly often in other apps (and it's annoying as @$%^@#%).

We've been engaging with customers and OS vendors to solve the issue.

But the problem isn't simple, and the majority of what we've found it outside of our control -- but we're still investigating workarounds and improved error checking to detect OS failures.

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Guest
Jan 30, 2012 Jan 30, 2012

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Chris Cox wrote:

I don't know why you don't see it.  We can reproduce such problems fairly often in other apps (and it's annoying as @$%^@#%).

Chris,

Could you please explain which applications you are able to reproduce this in and how? Could you also explain the save process that Photoshop implements when including the writing of previews?

This would go a long way to helping us to understand the problem.

Many thanks

Dan

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Jan 30, 2012 Jan 30, 2012

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We see the problem in most apps when saving to servers.  It's worst in any app that writes to a resource fork.

And when Photoshop writes MacOS thumbnails, it writes them to the resource fork.

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Guest
Jan 31, 2012 Jan 31, 2012

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Could you name a few please Chris? And the circumstances under which the errors occur so we can try to reproduce same here?

Could you also please detail the Photoshop save process?

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Explorer ,
Feb 27, 2012 Feb 27, 2012

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Just happend to us again today.

Thanks GOODNESS I have DiskKeeper Undelte on my server system.  I can go back into the recovery bin and pull out the .afpdeleted file and then rename it on the PC side for the user.

At least we have a safety net installed where we can catch these.

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New Here ,
Jun 11, 2012 Jun 11, 2012

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I've been experiencing issues with saving some files to both a Mac Server (Lion) and a Windows 2008 server. AFP, SMB, ExtremeZ-IP (on Windows server) all do not resolve the "cannot write file" issue. I often have to save the file twice, with the file disappearing after the first failed attempt.

However, I did recently discover three things: 1) If i open a file from the "Open Recent" menu in Photoshop, and save the file after, there is no issue. 2) If I open a file from the FInder, but then close the finder window with the file I just opend, I can save the file. 3) If I turn off "Show preview column", I can save files with no issue.

preview-off.jpg

This all sounds like its a Preview.app issue - or MacOS thumbnail/preview issues and saving over a network with Adobe causing a conflict. Can someone try this if they are experiencing the " Could not save because write access was not granted" issue and verify if this solves the write problem?

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Jan 27, 2012 Jan 27, 2012

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>> Adobe Take Note: This would seem to indicate that your software may be holding a write lock on the file in order to write the preview. Please could you examine this section of your code to see if a resolution can be found here?

That's one of the areas we looked at, and that is one of the areas where we found a problem with MacOS file handling on some network protocols.

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New Here ,
Mar 23, 2012 Mar 23, 2012

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Hi

For info, my company is primarily PC based with a small percentage of Mac and PC designers to support the rest of the business.

We have a mix of different age Macs, iMacs and MacBooks all running either 10.6 or 10.7 with CS5.

The network share is a NetApp vFiler system and we connect using SMB to ensure the Macs and PC's can connect.

We have no specialised software either on the vFiler or Macs to handle the Macs.

We are experiencing the 'access not granted' issue while trying to save photoshop files and after finding this thread (as someone said it's a goldmine for google search results) I decided I would post my thoughts so here goes:

I agree with Chris that this isn't an Adobe bug as such . We've been running 10.6.8 with CS5 for a while now and had no issues, since upgrading a few machines to 10.7 though the save issue is occuring - that suggests to me that the software isn't causing the issue, but the OS is.

The people running 10.7 are now opening the file, saving locally and copying back to the server.

I've tried making sure that the save preview setting and finder preview panes are turned off, but this hasn't helped.

Thankfully we don't seem to be losing files - I assume this is because Photoshop is bringing up the error message.

We are also running the PC version of CS5 and these users aren't having any such issues saving to the same server - Now I know this thread is about the Mac version of Photoshop, but I'm sure Adobe don't re-invent the wheel when writing their software so even though the language may be different (?) the processes will be the same - again to me this points to an OS issue.

However I do think that Adobe need to work more closely and push Apple harder to get this resolved because the length of time this has been going on simply isn't good enough and as Chris pointed out, "customers don't have visibility into Apple's bug system"

I believe this needs to be Adobe because should we as end users report this to Apple, they'll no doubt tell us this is an Adobe issue.

Until this issue is resolved though, I still don't understand why Photoshop can't be changed to use the same save mechanism as Illustrator, even as an option we can set. We don't have any issues saving Illustrator files and my users would report if they had lost data - believe me. I know that you want to perform your safe save, but it doesn't seem to be working for a good number of people out there and these people are your bread and butter.

Additionally for Chris

Has anyone tested to see if this is just the OS API taking longer to report a successful save and PS timing out? Just a thought.

You keep telling us that you can't replicate these issues in house, would you be able to let us know what your in house setup is? Someone out there may be able to replicate it and run some further testing.

I'm actually supposed to be upgrading our Macs to Lion this weekend. If this goes ahead I know will get some stick over this issue and saying that it's a problem with Adobe and Apple isn't going to appease my users, or their managers.

I am running tests today to see if 10.7.2 works and if so then we'll roll this out instead of 10.7.3 but I am not hopeful.

The other test I am going to try is installing a demo of DAVE and seeing if this makes any difference to the process.

I'll let you know how this goes.

Matt

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Mar 23, 2012 Mar 23, 2012

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I can say that we are working as closely with Apple as Apple will let us work on these issues.

Meanwhile we are actively investigating workarounds to avoid the problem.

We can't use the unsafe mechanisms of other apps.

But we can improve the situation, and think we have in CS6.

>> Has anyone tested to see if this is just the OS API taking longer to report a successful save and PS timing out? Just a thought.

We're pretty confident that it is not a timeout, but a failure to move or copy files as the APIs are supposed to.

In house setup: those change day to day, we have hundreds of machines just on this floor, of all varieties. We've tried every combination we can think of.  Somewhere, there is some triggering factor that just isn't obivious.

And you really want 10.7.3 - Apple fixed a LOT of bugs in the latest dot.

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Engaged ,
Mar 28, 2012 Mar 28, 2012

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I've been watching and reading this thread closely for a few months now. We have a small in home business and turned an older Core Duo 2 iMac into a file server running Snow Leopard Server. That's when we ran into the .afpdeleted and write access not granted errors.

This even after having Apple help us set up a share point (they recommend never sharing the drive itself) and making sure the users have full read/write access to that share point. Didn't matter. Still got access errors (didn't have permission to write a file) and .afpdeleted errors. Which made zero sense since Photoshop would throw out either error on a file you've saved with Command+S a few times already with no issue, then all of the sudden you don't have permission to save the same file you've had open all along.

With either issue (.afpdeleted or no permission), the file gets deleted off the server (REALLY stupid!) and you have to remember to save it again immediately.

Running Photoshop configured this way, we never see the .afpDeleted error. This is a good workaround, and would also seem to be fairly conclusive proof that Photoshop is doing something wrong.

The fault could also be Snow Leopard Server, with QuickTime at the server failing to generate a preview, which in turn causes a file creation error.

May I make an observation, but requiring a major update to squash these bugs is a bit harsh.

Not harsh at all, in my opinion. That seems to be Apple's MO lately. They find the problem, but rather than fixing the issue in the current OS, they force you to upgrade to get the fix.

And you really want 10.7.3 - Apple fixed a LOT of bugs in the latest dot.

Not sure if Chris meant the client OS, or the server. Either way, my whole reason for this post is to note that we upgraded the server to Lion 10.7.3. The default came up as a stand alone server rather than open directory. I thought, heck, I'll just try it that first. I set up our share point and assigned our only two users (both on Mac Pros running Snow Leopard 10.6.8) full read/write access.

Now, it's only been up for a week so far, but we haven't seen a single .afpdeleted or no permission error since. It's also a very simple setup for a small business that may not be a feasible fix for a larger company. Who knows, it may have also worked to change SL Server to stand alone rather than open directory. But I'm not going to restore SL Server just to check that. I'll give it at least a couple of more weeks and report on if the problem seems to really be gone.

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Explorer ,
Mar 28, 2012 Mar 28, 2012

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Kurt,

My problem is that I don't have the flexability of going to server 10.7.3.  We are running Windows 2008 with Extremez-IP and my clients are all running 10.6.8 except for two or three macbook airs that were purchased and couldn't be downgraded.

As a larger comapny, I have to evaluate how each OS update is going to affect our workflow, and the loss of Save As in Lion, along with how apple is handing the versioning, gives me pause and I have to see how it interacts with our server and software.

I tend to be about 1 major version of Mac OS behind Apple due to the fact that rolling out a new OS in a company enviornment isn't the simple idealistic thing that Apple believes it is.  Point in fact is that Canon Inc. has finally released drivers for 10.7 for the Canon T1 Rips.  These drivers are so primitive that they don't even have the ability to access the finishing attachments for the printers, so those of my users that are on 10.7 can't collate or staple.

Right now I am between a rock and freaking hard place, I can't update the OS because my drivers don't work, AND with 10.6.8 and Photoshop I get the deleted file bug that this thread is about. 

BTW.. wanna know something more crazy???!!  Only in Photoshop... get this... at some point when someone is working in a file, they do something, and the file is deleted and kicked out to my server, into my Diskkeeper Undelete folder (this piece of software has been my saving grace for years) the users can still get to the file via the "Open Recent"  Drives me up the wall....

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Engaged ,
Mar 28, 2012 Mar 28, 2012

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My problem is that I don't have the flexibility of going to server 10.7.3.  We are running Windows 2008 with Extremez-IP...

Oh, no doubt Lion Server is not feasible for all situations. In Apple's usual mode of simplifying their software, they made Lion Server too simple. Which is why I noted: "It's also a very simple setup for a small business that may not be a feasible fix for a larger company." Lots of IT folks have been complaining about the loss of Extremez-IP support and other functions. LS works for me because our need is very simple. We run file sharing and the firewall, nothing else.

As a larger company, I have to evaluate how each OS update is going to affect our workflow, and the loss of Save As in Lion, along with how apple is handing the versioning, gives me pause and I have to see how it interacts with our server and software.

I do that here, also. I'm a rather long time member at Apple's forums, and it's almost comical. Every time a major version of OS X comes out, people are screaming that xxxx stopped working. They use their Mac for their business, and how are they supposed to get work done? Invariably, someone states the obvious. "Uh, you use your Mac for a living, and you jump on a point zero release of an OS without testing it, or have a backup you can restore to get back to your previous state?"

And don't even get me started on the insanity of Versions/Autosave/Duplicate. Absolutely the worst idea I have ever seen for a work OS. My Mac is NOT a gigantic iPad. I will save my data when I want to! Fortunately, so far, only Apple's own apps force the user to use the new paradigm. An app has to be written to use the new functions. And even then, it can be turned off with simple preferences. Note Open Office and Graphic Converter for examples. Why Apple chose not to make this an app by app, or global option defies logic.

Note to Chris Cox: Please, please, pleeeeaaase don't ever release Adobe's software without a way to disable this nonsense.

Right now I am between a rock and freaking hard place, I can't update the OS because my drivers don't work, AND with 10.6.8 and Photoshop I get the deleted file bug that this thread is about.

Yup. I thought my post may be helpful as I am still running 10.6.8 on both Mac Pros with CS 5.5. Only the server was upgraded to Lion and so far (knock on wood), the issue seems to have been solved.

Another one of those forced upgrade fixes is with fonts. I didn't even start using Snow Leopard on a day to day basis until 10.6.3, when they finally had most of the font bugs fixed. And they were awful! 10.6.4 really cleaned up all but one issue. And that was certain fonts with characters that didn't contain outlines, but instead referenced other characters within the font for their shapes. These fonts would show no character for those positions. The same fonts worked in Leopard and earlier, but Apple had to completely rewrite the font engine for Snow Leopard to make it 64 bit. So what happens? Apple finds the problem and fixes it in Lion. Do they apply the same fix to SL, even though they know what it is? NO!

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New Here ,
May 01, 2012 May 01, 2012

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I tried CS6 Beta and the issue is resolved.  No longer getting the "could not save because write access was not granted" error.

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May 01, 2012 May 01, 2012

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Not resolved - it still happpens sometimes due to external factors, but we tried a couple of strategies to minimize it.

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New Here ,
May 06, 2012 May 06, 2012

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So from what I can read above, I can not use my copy of Photoshop 5 on my iMac since I cannot find a way to save any changes I make.  Is that correct?  Which means I have wasted hundreds of dollars in buying Photoshop 5 for my iMac.  So unless I am going to switch to a PC, I should not buy Adobe Photoshop for the Mac.  Will you exchange my Mac copy for a PC copy of Photoshop 5 Extended?  Seems silly but that seems to be the only option unless I want to have all the money invested just going to waste.  I am serious about exchanging the product for a PC version.  Can I do that?  Thanks.

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Guest
May 07, 2012 May 07, 2012

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carlsbadphotographer wrote:

So from what I can read above, I can not use my copy of Photoshop 5 on my iMac since I cannot find a way to save any changes I make.  Is that correct?

No. That is not correct. The issue discussed above relates to saving to a network. You can still save files to your iMac.

If you want to move to Windows, you can contact Adobe Customer Service and ask for a 'crossgrade'.

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Community Beginner ,
May 07, 2012 May 07, 2012

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New Here ,
May 07, 2012 May 07, 2012

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I am working on an individual iMac in my apartment.  My photos were on an external drive.  CS5 would not allow me to save the changes I made to the photos as discussed in this thread.  I copied photos to the desktop and then made changes and was able to save the changes to the desktop.  Why will CS5 not let me save directly to the hard drive where the photo originated, when that is where it opened the file from?  Thanks.

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