"Internet Applications" Folder for all users

Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
"Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
How do I do that for standard users?
Temporarily elevate them to admin put the alias ont he desktop and then
put them back to standard user?

In article <gr9cje$oq4$>,
Justin <> wrote:

> Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
> "Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
> How do I do that for standard users?
> Temporarily elevate them to admin put the alias ont he desktop and then
> put them back to standard user?

I'm confused. What are you trying to do that you're unable to achieve as
a standard user? You don't need any special privileges to be able to
create an alias or to put it on your desktop.

--
I saw a truck today that had "AAA Batteries / Delivered and Installed" on the
side. My first thought was: That's a really weird business model. How many
inept people have urgent need of skinny little battery cells?

Gregory Weston wrote:
> In article <gr9cje$oq4$>,
> Justin <> wrote:
>
>> Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
>> "Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
>> How do I do that for standard users?
>> Temporarily elevate them to admin put the alias ont he desktop and then
>> put them back to standard user?
>
> I'm confused. What are you trying to do that you're unable to achieve as
> a standard user? You don't need any special privileges to be able to
> create an alias or to put it on your desktop.
>

Ah ha, because when I right click I don't see "Make alias" as an option.

In article <grao8c$ive$>,
Justin <> wrote:

> Gregory Weston wrote:
> > In article <gr9cje$oq4$>,
> > Justin <> wrote:
> >
> >> Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
> >> "Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
> >> How do I do that for standard users?
> >> Temporarily elevate them to admin put the alias ont he desktop and then
> >> put them back to standard user?
> >
> > I'm confused. What are you trying to do that you're unable to achieve as
> > a standard user? You don't need any special privileges to be able to
> > create an alias or to put it on your desktop.
> >
>
> Ah ha, because when I right click I don't see "Make alias" as an option.

I presume you mean when you right click on the thing to which you want
to make an alias.

Interesting. I can see the behavior you're talking about when I attempt
to make an alias to something in /System. But it doesn't happen for
something outside /System that's owned by root. I'm not really sure what
the deciding factor is in suppressing the command. Where'd your
"Internet Applications" folder come from and who owns it?

FWIW: There is a workaround that doesn't involve privilege escalation.
Create an alias to something else and then use the Get Info window to
retarget it.

--
I saw a truck today that had "AAA Batteries / Delivered and Installed" on the
side. My first thought was: That's a really weird business model. How many
inept people have urgent need of skinny little battery cells?

Gregory Weston wrote:
> In article <grao8c$ive$>,
> Justin <> wrote:
>
>> Gregory Weston wrote:
>>> In article <gr9cje$oq4$>,
>>> Justin <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
>>>> "Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
>>>> How do I do that for standard users?
>>>> Temporarily elevate them to admin put the alias ont he desktop and then
>>>> put them back to standard user?
>>> I'm confused. What are you trying to do that you're unable to achieve as
>>> a standard user? You don't need any special privileges to be able to
>>> create an alias or to put it on your desktop.
>>>
>> Ah ha, because when I right click I don't see "Make alias" as an option.
>
> I presume you mean when you right click on the thing to which you want
> to make an alias.
>
> Interesting. I can see the behavior you're talking about when I attempt
> to make an alias to something in /System. But it doesn't happen for
> something outside /System that's owned by root. I'm not really sure what
> the deciding factor is in suppressing the command. Where'd your
> "Internet Applications" folder come from and who owns it?
>
> FWIW: There is a workaround that doesn't involve privilege escalation.
> Create an alias to something else and then use the Get Info window to
> retarget it.
>

Hence my confusion.
I am trying to make an alias to something in the Applications folder on
the HD.

Here is a screenshot while under a normal account:
http://www.imagebam.com/image/2305ca31851117

and under an account with admin privileges:
http://www.imagebam.com/image/cbffb631851245

Justin <> wrote:

> Gregory Weston wrote:
> > In article <grao8c$ive$>,
> > Justin <> wrote:
> >
> >> Gregory Weston wrote:
> >>> In article <gr9cje$oq4$>,
> >>> Justin <> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
> >>>> "Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
> >>>> How do I do that for standard users?
> >>>> Temporarily elevate them to admin put the alias ont he desktop and then
> >>>> put them back to standard user?
> >>> I'm confused. What are you trying to do that you're unable to achieve as
> >>> a standard user? You don't need any special privileges to be able to
> >>> create an alias or to put it on your desktop.
> >>>
> >> Ah ha, because when I right click I don't see "Make alias" as an option.
> >
> > I presume you mean when you right click on the thing to which you want
> > to make an alias.
> >
> > Interesting. I can see the behavior you're talking about when I attempt
> > to make an alias to something in /System. But it doesn't happen for
> > something outside /System that's owned by root. I'm not really sure what
> > the deciding factor is in suppressing the command. Where'd your
> > "Internet Applications" folder come from and who owns it?
> >
> > FWIW: There is a workaround that doesn't involve privilege escalation.
> > Create an alias to something else and then use the Get Info window to
> > retarget it.
>
> Hence my confusion.
> I am trying to make an alias to something in the Applications folder on
> the HD.

The "Make Alias" command in the contextual menu or File menu will only
be available if the user trying to invoke it has write access to the
folder containing the original item. That command specifically creates
an alias alongside the original item.

If you want to create an alias in a different location, the easiest
method is to use the mouse gesture.

Hold down the Command and Option keys, then drag the original icon to
the desired location for the alias. (You might need two Finder windows
open to achieve this, and drag between the windows.)

The mouse cursor will show an alias arrow while dragging to clarify that
you are making an alias rather than moving or copying.

--
David Empson

Justin wrote:
> Running 10.5.6 on my macbook 13, i was going to have an alias to an
> "Internet Applications" folder on every user's desktop.
> How do I do that for standard users?

In Terminal:

sudo for USER in (list the users); do
ln -s /Applications/whatever ~$USER/Desktop
done

Each symlink will consume one block of disk space.
An alias will consume that _or_more_.

There are differences, but it won't matter for this case.

--
Wes Groleau

Words of the Wild Wes
http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/WWW

In article <1ixqu4g.y4bidu1rqyhz4N%>,
(David Empson) wrote:
>
> Hold down the Command and Option keys, then drag the original icon to
> the desired location for the alias. (You might need two Finder windows
> open to achieve this, and drag between the windows.)
>
> The mouse cursor will show an alias arrow while dragging to clarify that
> you are making an alias rather than moving or copying.

Neat. Thanks for teaching an old dog a new (to me) trick!

BakersT <> wrote:

> In article <1ixqu4g.y4bidu1rqyhz4N%>,
> (David Empson) wrote:
> >
> > Hold down the Command and Option keys, then drag the original icon to
> > the desired location for the alias. (You might need two Finder windows
> > open to achieve this, and drag between the windows.)
> >
> > The mouse cursor will show an alias arrow while dragging to clarify that
> > you are making an alias rather than moving or copying.
>
> Neat. Thanks for teaching an old dog a new (to me) trick!

Another benefit of this method is that assuming you drag to a different
folder, the newly created alias has exactly the same name as the
original file or folder.

By comparison, Make Alias creates an alias with "alias" appended to the
name, so you might want to edit the name after moving the alias
elsewhere.

--
David Empson

Frank P. Eigler <> wrote:
> That's great - I learned something new today!

I learned the same trick years ago from another helpful poster in this
group. c.s.m.s has been so useful to me over the years.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.