Getting a warning message 'You do not have the correct administrator privileges' when attempting to license an SPSS Statistics product on Mac OS.

NOTE!

If you are not fully conversant with working from the Mac command line in terminal please call the ITS Service Desk at 928-523-3335 for assistance.

Technote (troubleshooting)

The following assumes SPSS 27. Later versions will have a slightly different folder name which you will need to determine.


Problem(Abstract)

You have successfully installed an IBM SPSS Statistics product on a Mac computer. When you start the License Authorization Wizard (LAW) to enter the authorization code for licensing. This assumes that you have administrator privileges for your account on the Mac. If you do not, a Mac admin for the system must perform this task.

You receive the following message:

"Warning! You do not have the correct administrator privileges to license this product. Log in as administrator and try again, or contact your network administrator to correct this issue."

Once this message is displayed the only option available is "OK" to click on and you cannot enter your authorization code.

Below is a picture of the warning:

error msg
Resolving the problem
If you encounter this message, perform the following procedure:

  1. If open, close the IBM SPSS Statistics product.
  2. If open, close the License Authorization Wizard.
  3. Open Finder.
  4. Select the 'Go' menu.
  5. Select the 'Utilities' menu.
  6. Open the 'Terminal' program.
  7. Type (copy/paste) the following command:

    cd "/Applications/IBM SPSS Statistics 27"
  8. Press Enter/Return.
  9. Perform the procedure corresponding to the Statistics product version as described below:

You will then do the following.

  1. Type (copy/paste) the following command:

    sudo chown -R root:admin *
  2. Press Enter/Return.
  3. Close Terminal.
  4. Launch the License Authorization Wizard.
  5. The warning message should no longer appear.
  6. License your IBM SPSS Statistics product.

To confirm the changes have been made

(1) In the Terminal window, type the following:

ls -l

(2) Press Enter/Return.

If you see some or all of subfolders or files shows a group ownership other than 'admin' (as displayed in Picture1, your list may be different), the procedure did not succeed. You will need to have your Mac IT support contact IBM SPSS Support for further assistance.

Picture1:


Picture 2:

If you see some or all of subfolders shows a group ownership of 'admin' (as displayed in Picture2), the procedure was successful.



This behavior is also reported on the following product correction report (APAR):

https://www.ibm.com/support/entdocview.wss?uid=swg1PI41134