Mac folder permissions problem

Highlight the folder. Hit the Apple Key + I (get info). There should be a sharing/permissions tab at the bottom. Try fixing the settings there. It would also help if you were an admin on the current machine.

i am admin on the current machine. when i look at the info box and unlock the padlock it says "you have no access" and the users below are greyed out with privilege set to "no access".

Try logon using the root account.

Are you accessing the folder while it's still on an external drive or have you moved it to the Users folder?

You can enable or disable permissions on a disk with the vsdbutil command:
% vsdbutil -h
Usage: vsdbutil [-a path] | [-c path ] [-d path] [-i]
where
        -a adopts (activates) on-disk permissions on the specified path,
        -c checks the status of the permissions usage on the specified path
        -d disowns (deactivates) the on-disk permissions on the specified path
        -i initializes the permissions database to include all mounted HFS/HFS+ volumes

i tried using root. this removes the red dot but i cannot see anything in the folder. the folder info windows says i can only read but the permissions are out. greyed

In terminal, type
sudo chmod -R 777 /path/to/folder

(you can drag and drop the folder after typing 777)

This will reset the everyone permission