theob TH
@theob
Linux Nov 02, 2026

Permission denied on a folder I copied into my home directory

Copied a project folder from an external drive on Ubuntu and now I can't edit anything inside it, everything says permission denied. ls -l shows root as the owner. What's the right chown / chmod to make it mine without breaking things?
linux change owner
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nikhil_15 Nov 05, 2026
theob
probably copied with sudo, so the files are still owned by root. check with ls -l. fix: sudo chown -R $USER:$USER ~/foldername that makes everything in it yours.
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