How to open the finder as root I'm back some twenty years after my last Mac. I've got a brand new iMac running Yosemite and I do need to access an external HD formatted on (Gnu/Linux) ext4 (a journaling file system). I downloaded a library (FUSE for OSX), which is able to read that file system and a complementary app (ext4fuse), which works as a client interface to FUSE. I can mount the disk and navigate it on the finder or on a terminal but, when it comes to actually copying files (either on a terminal [see * below, pls] or on the finder), I get an error such as "Cannot read the file" or even "File does not exist". I suspect that it has something to do with permissions, so I thought that doing the copying as root might help. 

I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance!

Nacho

P.S. I've tried any number of searches to no avail. [*] Trying to do the job from the terminal issuing a cp command didn't get my any closer to achieve it. Apparently, btw, the cp command in OSX is kinda restricted (regarding to its available options and functionality) wrt its Linux counterpart and, to add the insult to the injury, its options don't work the same (see -R, for instance).
I fully accept the warnings other people have given here regarding running finder as root... but in a limited scenario it is very useful.

The OP had a problem using the: 


  sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder


I suspect he/she may have also been using something like TotalFinder or XtraFinder

If so, then use the options in the custom menu for these add-ons to restart Finder.

Alternatively: 


Run the command above (sudo Finder) in terminal
You will notice the hard drive icon overlayed on your desktop for root... but it is probably not clickable (hence the error message)
Then open a new tab in Terminal (so the sudo tab is still running) and kill the standard Finder (without using Sudo)   "killall Finder"
You should now be able to double click on the overlayed HardDrive desktop icon, or...
In the same non-Sudo tab of Terminal, just type "open ."


One other point to note... if you're wanting to browse as root, you probably also want to see hidden files. So before starting all this, type the command below into Terminal. This is a permanent setting, so you only need to do it once for the root user.


  sudo defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE