For those who use Apple’s Music app on macOS, you could have encountered error -54 every now and then. This error can happen in response to a number of actions in Music:

1. When including or eradicating information to your Music Library
2. When including or enhancing file metadata in Get Information home windows in Music
3. When syncing your Music Library to iOS gadgets

Within the first two circumstances, error -54 is nearly all the time associated to permissions errors on the information or folders in your Mac’s storage machine. This could embody permissions on information themselves or on their containing folders.

The truth is, the -54 error is without doubt one of the oldest errors within the Macintosh filesystem courting again many years as first documented in Apple’s e-book Inside Macintosh: Information:

permErr = -54, /*permissions error (on file open)*/

It is a common file permission error which means an operation on a file or folder could not be accomplished as a result of filesystem permissions are stopping it.

For instance, in Music, in the event you drag information or folders containing information from the Finder into the Apple Music app’s most important window, you could have seen error -54 crop up. The identical error can occur typically if you choose information in Music’s most important window after which hit the Delete key or choose “Delete from Library” from Music’s contextual popup menu by Management-clicking on an merchandise.

You might also have seen error -54 when you choose a file in Music’s most important window and attempt to edit its metadata through the Get Information window:

Music’s Get Information window for enhancing file metadata.

That is often the identical problem as above: locked information, folders, or permissions errors on these gadgets within the filesystem.

To repair each of the above errors, you may want to alter the permissions within the Finder. You then return to Music and add or take away your information or re-open the Get Information window and edit the information’ metadata once more.

Music’s Get Information metadata editor window.

To take action in Music, Management-click or right-click the gadgets whose permissions you need to repair, then choose “Present in Finder” from the context popup menu. macOS will swap to Finder and reveal the information you chose.

Subsequent, choose a number of of the revealed information in Finder, then Management-click on them and choose “Get Information from the Finder’s popup menu. This opens the Finder’s Get Information window.

Choose “Get Information” from the Finder popup menu.

If it is not already proven within the Get Information window, flip the small arrow to the left of the Sharing & Permissions part on the backside to disclose the permissions pane.

A small lock icon seems on the backside of this pane, within the decrease proper nook. Click on it and enter your admin password to unlock the permissions pane:

Sharing & Permissions pane in Finder’s Get Information window.

Now change the highest merchandise (“Me”) to Learn & Write by clicking on the highest line beneath the “Privilege” label. Shut the Get Information window. You possibly can repeat these steps on every file, or on a folder containing gadgets in Finder.

You possibly can inform if a folder is locked or lacks write permissions by opening the folder and looking out within the lower-left nook for the pencil icon with a slash via it. For those who’re not displaying a folder’s Toolbar then the pencil icon could seem within the window’s higher proper or decrease proper nook.

The locked folder icon in Finder.

Now you possibly can return to the Apple Music app and check out your operation once more. Word within the case of enhancing file metadata in Get Information home windows in Music you could have to shut any open Get Information home windows and re-open them for the permissions adjustments to take impact.

Generally you might even see the identical -54 error while you attempt to sync your Music Library to an iOS machine. That is often within the type of an error akin to:

“The iPhone [device name] can’t be synced. An unknown error occurred (-54).”

This may be attributable to the identical permissions errors as above, or different issues such because the goal machine being full, a foul USB cable or unstable cable connection, or different issues. Apple technote HT205597 additionally says this could occur in case your Apple Music folder incorporates information in numerous places inside the Music folder on disk.

On this case, you may must stop Apple Music, consolidate your information in your Apple Music folder, then open Apple Music and check out once more. You could must take away and re-add all of the gadgets in Music earlier than you do that.

By default Apple Music shops information within the person’s /Music/Media folder – however this location might be modified in Apple Music’s Settings window.

For those who nonetheless cannot resolve error -54 after making an attempt all the above, there may be one latch ditch resolution: again up your total Music folder, delete it out of your Mac, and re-add all its content material to Apple Music.

To take action, again up your person’s Music folder from the Music folder to an exterior storage machine, delete all the Music folder, restart your Mac, then run the Apple Music app once more. This forces Music to create a brand new Music folder within the person folder with right permissions.

Lastly, copy the contents of your backed-up Music folder into the newly created Music folder within the person folder, then open the Apple Music app and re-add all of your content material.

In case your backed-up content material nonetheless has permissions locks on it, you should definitely unlock the whole lot first utilizing the steps above earlier than copying the information again to your Mac’s person Music folder.

Clearly, in case you have numerous Music content material, resetting every file or folder’s file permissions in Finder Get Information home windows might be fairly time-consuming. One various is to make use of Terminal to batch-change file and folder permissions.

Be warned: altering file permissions in Terminal is highly effective and in the event you’re not cautious you possibly can harm the software program in your Mac and even delete information unwittingly.

To bulk-change file permissions in Terminal you utilize the chmod and chgrp instructions.

chmod is brief for change file modes and chgrp is brief for change group. You possibly can learn extra about use each in Terminal by typing man adopted by an area, adopted by both command identify, after which urgent Return in your keyboard.

To make use of chmod or chgrp you may must find out about UNIX file and group permissions which we cannot get into right here.

Suffice it to say every file or folder in UNIX has an proprietor, a gaggle, and three units of permissions: proprietor, group, and everybody or “world” permissions.

In Terminal, in the event you kind ls -l and press Return whereas in any folder, Terminal will listing all information and folders and their permissions within the Terminal window:

Itemizing utilizing ls -l to listing folder contents in macOS’s Terminal app.

On the far left are the three units of permissions for every merchandise in a folder: proprietor, group, and everybody. If an merchandise has a “d” to the far left it means it is a listing as a substitute of a file or alias.

Permissions on every merchandise for every of the three varieties might be any mixture of “rwx” which suggests “learn, “write”, or “execute”. There are three units of them listed, so as in Terminal for the three varieties talked about above.

If any of those permissions shows a “-” it signifies that permission is turned off.

Utilizing the chmod and chgrp instructions you possibly can change these units of permissions in Terminal. These are successfully the identical permissions as proven within the Sharing & Permissions pane in Finder Get Information home windows.

You may also use the ls command with out the -l flag to show a folder’s itemizing in Terminal with simply the merchandise names with out all of the permissions data.

Error -54 is actually a file permission error within the filesystem and by utilizing numerous means to reset the permissions you must be capable to resolve it with out an excessive amount of bother.