got this working now with that permission. something new i've noticed now. i've unchecked the "Force local home directory on startup disk" from the Directory Utility, to stop students from saving files locally. this works great ( i think ), but i've noticed an issue. OSX creates "Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music etc" folders in the home area, and only seems to be able to browse these folders. As this structure didn't exist prior to logging in to OSX, it seems files in the root of the home area or in any other folders cant be navigated to. when i click "All Files" i see 1 file in a folder called "Development"? but other files i know to be in the same location do not appear any ideas anyone? thanks jack