diff --git a/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/Main.java b/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/Main.java
index 7223da8df..a34d92244 100644
--- a/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/Main.java
+++ b/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/Main.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package com.chameleonvision;
 import com.chameleonvision.config.ConfigManager;
 import com.chameleonvision.network.NetworkManager;
 import com.chameleonvision.util.Platform;
+import com.chameleonvision.util.ShellExec;
 import com.chameleonvision.util.Utilities;
 import com.chameleonvision.vision.VisionManager;
 import com.chameleonvision.web.Server;
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ public class Main {
     private static final String NT_CLIENTMODESERVER_KEY = "--nt-client-server"; // expects String representing an IP address (hostnames will be rejected!)
     private static final String NETWORK_MANAGE_KEY = "--unmanage-network"; // no args for this setting
     private static final String IGNORE_ROOT_KEY = "--ignore-root"; // no args for this setting
+    private static final String UPDATE_FILE_PERMISSIONS = "--update-perms"; // no args for this setting, exits program after running
     private static final String TEST_MODE_KEY = "--cv-development";
 
     private static final int DEFAULT_PORT = 5800;
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ public class Main {
                 case NT_SERVERMODE_KEY:
                 case NETWORK_MANAGE_KEY:
                 case IGNORE_ROOT_KEY:
+                case UPDATE_FILE_PERMISSIONS:
                 case TEST_MODE_KEY:
                     // nothing
                     break;
@@ -93,6 +96,19 @@ public class Main {
                 case IGNORE_ROOT_KEY:
                     ignoreRoot = true;
                     break;
+                case UPDATE_FILE_PERMISSIONS:
+                    if (!Platform.getCurrentPlatform().isWindows()) {
+                        System.out.print("Fixing file permissions...");
+                        try {
+                            new ShellExec().executeBashCommand("sudo chmod -R 0777 " + ConfigManager.SettingsPath.toString());
+                            System.out.println("Done. Exiting.");
+                        } catch (IOException e) {
+                            System.err.println("Failed to fix file permissions, exiting.");
+                        }
+                        System.exit(0);
+                    } else {
+                        System.out.println("Cannot change file permissions on windows, exiting.");
+                    }
                 case TEST_MODE_KEY:
                     testMode = true;
                     break;
diff --git a/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/config/ConfigManager.java b/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/config/ConfigManager.java
index 3003b6d02..5452618a2 100644
--- a/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/config/ConfigManager.java
+++ b/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/config/ConfigManager.java
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 package com.chameleonvision.config;
 
+import com.chameleonvision.Main;
+import com.chameleonvision.util.Platform;
 import com.chameleonvision.util.ProgramDirectoryUtilities;
 import com.chameleonvision.util.JacksonHelper;
+import com.chameleonvision.util.ShellExec;
 import com.chameleonvision.vision.pipeline.CVPipelineSettings;
 
 import java.io.File;
@@ -16,7 +19,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 public class ConfigManager {
     private ConfigManager() {}
 
-    static final Path SettingsPath = Paths.get(ProgramDirectoryUtilities.getProgramDirectory(), "settings");
+    public static final Path SettingsPath = Paths.get(ProgramDirectoryUtilities.getProgramDirectory(), "settings");
     private static final Path settingsFilePath = Paths.get(SettingsPath.toString(), "settings.json");
 
     private static final LinkedHashMap<String, CameraConfig> cameraConfigs = new LinkedHashMap<>();
@@ -33,6 +36,9 @@ public class ConfigManager {
                     System.err.println("Failed to create settings folder: " + SettingsPath.toString());
                 }
                 Files.createDirectory(SettingsPath);
+                if (!Platform.getCurrentPlatform().isWindows()) {
+                    new ShellExec().executeBashCommand("sudo chmod -R 0777 " + SettingsPath.toString());
+                }
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 if(!(e instanceof java.nio.file.FileAlreadyExistsException))
                     e.printStackTrace();
diff --git a/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/util/ShellExec.java b/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/util/ShellExec.java
index f0fa0f1cd..60856cf79 100644
--- a/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/util/ShellExec.java
+++ b/chameleon-server/src/main/java/com/chameleonvision/util/ShellExec.java
@@ -19,6 +19,43 @@ public class ShellExec {
         this.readError = readError;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Execute a bash command. We can handle complex bash commands including
+     * multiple executions (; | && ||), quotes, expansions ($), escapes (\), e.g.:
+     *     "cd /abc/def; mv ghi 'older ghi '$(whoami)"
+     * @param command
+     * @return true if bash got started, but your command may have failed.
+     */
+    public int executeBashCommand(String command) throws IOException {
+        boolean wait = true;
+        boolean success = false;
+        Runtime r = Runtime.getRuntime();
+        // Use bash -c so we can handle things like multi commands separated by ; and
+        // things like quotes, $, |, and \. My tests show that command comes as
+        // one argument to bash, so we do not need to quote it to make it one thing.
+        // Also, exec may object if it does not have an executable file as the first thing,
+        // so having bash here makes it happy provided bash is installed and in path.
+        String[] commands = {"bash", "-c", command};
+
+        Process process = r.exec(commands);
+
+        // Consume streams, older jvm's had a memory leak if streams were not read,
+        // some other jvm+OS combinations may block unless streams are consumed.
+        errorGobbler  = new StreamGobbler(process.getErrorStream(), readError);
+        outputGobbler = new StreamGobbler(process.getInputStream(), readOutput);
+        errorGobbler.start();
+        outputGobbler.start();
+
+        exitCode = 0;
+        if (wait) {
+            try {
+                process.waitFor();
+                exitCode = process.exitValue();
+            } catch (InterruptedException ignored) { }
+        }
+        return exitCode;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Execute a command in current folder, and wait for process to end
      * @param command   command ("c:/some/folder/script.bat" or "some/folder/script.sh")