"operation not allowed" when accessing network drive

I get an "operation not allowed" error in Matlab (only in Matlab) on MacOS when trying to access network-mounted RAID drive

Desktop Mac (1) running Macos 26.3.1, has network-mounted a USB-C external RAID drive connected to older desktop Mac (2) running 15.7.4.

I can view, edit, save etc. files on the (remote) RAID system using terminal windows on (1), using Finder, TextEdit, etc.. But attempting to access folders or files from within Matlab R2024b returns the error "operation not allowed".

Both systems (1) & (2) have Matlab given "full disk access" in Settings>Privacy&Security>FullDiskAccess. Both systems have user given read&write access for shared network drive in Finder>Get_Info, in Unix permissions, and in Settings>Sharing>File_Sharing.

Matlab on (2) can read & write files on the (locally-attached) RAID drive. The problem is only when trying to access the RAID drive from within in Matlab on (1).

smbd also has full disk access (as is clear since terminal and other apps can read & write RAID drive over network connection).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Walter Roberson]

I do not know what causes this, but a small number of people have reported similar problems.

It is common that the problem involves updating files, but not copying in complete files (to local drives), and sometimes not copying out (to networked drive) complete files.

[dpb]

As Walter notes, similar symptoms have been reported by others. I think the only chance of any solution will be to contact Mathworks as an official support request/bug at <Product Support Page>

[Walter Roberson]

In the case where in-place updates are affected, but not copying entire files in either direction, then the problems are often related to NTFS or SMBD permissions. Copying entire files in only requires read permission on the file. Copying entire files out requires write permission on the directory. Editing a file in place requires write permission on the file. If you do not have write permission on the file, then you have a failure of in-place updates, but not (necessarily) failure to read the entire file or to write the entire file.

[Ian]

Thanks for the comments.

As stated above, permissions for reading and writing the files seem to be correct, inasmuch as I can read, write, create, delete, etc. files on the network drive (attached to system (2) ) from the either command line or through the finder on system (1). The problem seems to be with MacOS's per-application permissions -- i.e., the permissions for Matlab. However, as near as I can tell, I have the permissions set to allow Matlab to access files, as I've given Matlab "full disk access" (on both systems). There must be some other place I need to set Matlab's permission to access the network-mounted drives, but am at a loss for where to do so.

[dpb]

I still think Mathworks support should be able to work through what is going on with you to figure out what, specifically, is stumping MATLAB.

Answer 1

[Ritam]

It does sound like this is related to macOS privacy controls rather than traditional file‑system permissions. Even if MATLAB has Full Disk Access, macOS can still restrict access to certain locations unless the app is explicitly allowed under "Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders". I suggest enabling access to all listed folders (Documents, Desktop, Downloads, etc.) for MATLAB as well. When launching MATLAB, macOS may also prompt to allow access to the Documents folder—accepting this prompt can avoid the issue. On macOS, access to some locations is enforced at the application‑privacy level, so the Terminal may be allowed while MATLAB is explicitly blocked. In such cases, MATLAB may detect that a directory exists but fail to list or read its contents, leading to secondary errors that are not resolved by changing file or folder permissions. To confirm this, you can run the following from the MATLAB Command Window:

[status, result] = system("ls -la <full file path>")

If this returns “Operation not permitted” in MATLAB while the same command succeeds in Terminal, it confirms that macOS is blocking MATLAB at the process level.