This is a Snow Leopard update to an existing post about the same topic. Yes, you can still open a root Finder window in Snow Leopard, but there is an extra step required.
First, run the following command in Terminal and then enter your password:
sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder
Next, click on an empty spot on your desktop — not in an existing Finder window. Now, type Command-N or select New Finder Window from the File menu. A new Finder window resembling the following should open:

You can see that it opens up to the root user’s home. Use this window to navigate anywhere you like and make the changes you need. Keep in mind that you can do just as much damage with this as you can in the Terminal as root.
To end your root Finder session, go back to the Terminal window and hit ^C.
Quirks to be Mindful of
- You won’t be able to interact with any files you might have on your desktop, as those belong to your logged-in user account and root’s desktop is currently (and transparently) sitting on top of it.
- If you take any screenshots, they will be owned by the logged-in user and you’ll need to navigate to them via your root Finder window.
- If you attempt to open/double-click a file which requires root access to read, the corresponding application will open as the logged-in user and the file will fail to open. To get around this, you can launch the app’s /Contents/MacOS executable as root and open the file from within the app.
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October 1, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Thanks for the tip. When I try it on my machine, the new Finder windows doesn’t open with root, nor is it in the list of places. Is there more to it?
October 1, 2009 at 5:23 pm
This is strange. It works exactly as I wrote on my own machine. Try adding an ampersand ‘&’ after Finder in the command, then do a ‘ps -ef | grep Finder’ to see if you have two copies of Finder running.
October 1, 2009 at 7:01 pm
No feedback after entering the password. Should there be any?
Doesn’t like the ‘&’ after Finder. Get this: [4] 2744
After entering ps -ef | grep Finder, no feedback from terminal. Still no root after creating a new Finder window.
I don’t know much about the command line, probably something I’m doing wrong.
October 1, 2009 at 8:17 pm
There should be no feedback with the first method and just some numbers with the ampersand, so it appears to be working in both cases. Did you make sure to click on the desktop (not in any active window) before opening a new window?
October 1, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Ah, clicking on the desktop did the trick. I was clicking in the Finder window, thought that is what you meant earlier.
Many thanks. Great tip!
October 24, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Is there a way to add fonts from a root file using Font Book? i.e. when it asks you to locate the file have that window be a root finder? Thanks.
October 25, 2009 at 12:06 am
Sure. Just launch Font Book as root.
sudo /Applications/Font\ Book.app/Contents/MacOS/Font\ BookOctober 24, 2009 at 6:17 pm
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