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I just noticed this line in the System Preferences app on OS X:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VBhgt.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VBhgt.png)

It says

> 変更するにはカギをクリックします。
>
> Click the lock to make changes

Here, に is put after a verb's plain form. I have never seen this kind of usage
before. As far as I know, に is a 格助詞. And 格助詞 don't connect to verbs. They
only connect to 体言, which I think does not include verbs.

So i searched online to see if this is a usage that I am not aware of. And I
found
[this](http://www.coelang.tufs.ac.jp/mt/ja/gmod/contents/explanation/053.html).
But that does not show any examples of this "verb plain form + に" usage.

It also says that

> 格助詞は、主に **名詞** について、その **名詞** と他の語（他の名詞、あるいは、述語としての動詞・形容詞）との意味関係を示します。
>
> 格助詞 is mainly put after a **noun** and shows the relationship between that
> **noun** and another noun, a verb used as a predicate or an adjective.

How can に be put after a verb's plain form? What is this usage?
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particle-に
Why can に be put after a verb's plain form?
> (1)変更するにはカギをクリックします。  
>  (2)変更するためにはカギをクリックします。

Simply, the given sentence (1) is made of sentence (2) by omitting "ため". This
kind of abbreviation is very common.

"ためには" means "in order to."
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The article you linked say a 格助詞 **mainly** attaches to a noun. And according
to デジタル大辞泉, に is a 格助詞 which can safely follow a verb:

> ### [に](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/166083/meaning/m1u/%E3%81%AB/)
>
> ［ **格助** ］名詞、名詞に準じる語、 **動詞の連用形・連体形** などに付く。
>
> ５ 動作・作用の目的を表す。「見舞い―行く」「迎え―行く」

I think you are already familiar with expressions like 食べに ("in order to eat")
or 見に ("in order to see"), and these are the masu-stems of verbs followed by
the 格助詞-に.

See also:

  * [What is the meaning of 「読むには読んだ」?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/34564/5010)

* * *

By the way, this verb before に is actually in the 連体形 (attributive form), not
in the 終止形 (dictionary form). 終止形 is, as the name suggests, for ending a
clause/sentence as a predicate. On the other hand, 連体形 (despite its name)
worked as a nominalized noun in archaic Japanese. We can still see the 連体形 of
a verb used as a noun in proverbs. For example,
[逃げるが勝ち](http://jisho.org/search/%E9%80%83%E3%81%92%E3%82%8B%E3%81%8C%E5%8B%9D%E3%81%A1)
= "Running is winning",
[聞くは一時の恥](http://jisho.org/word/%E8%81%9E%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AF%E4%B8%80%E6%99%82%E3%81%AE%E6%81%A5%E8%81%9E%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AC%E3%81%AF%E6%9C%AB%E4%BB%A3%E3%81%AE%E6%81%A5)
= "Asking is a one-time shame".
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