longsummer

Q: how can I change home directory name

Truly I guess it's not crucial. I only occasionally notice it, but for some daft reason I named the home directory an old girlfriend's name in 2008.  The MacBook Air has lasted longer than the girlfriend and when I do see it I just think "I really ought to change that", but the "how to" article on the support site hasn't been updated to Macericks (and doesn't look as though it has been updated that recently really). Don't want to embark on this and have a non-functional laptop - it's not that crucial - but if it was possible to do safely then I would give it a go....

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 8, 2013 2:49 AM

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Q: how can I change home directory name

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  • by ViShVa,Helpful

    ViShVa ViShVa Nov 8, 2013 2:55 AM in response to longsummer
    Level 2 (272 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 2:55 AM in response to longsummer

    OS X: How to change user account name or home directory name

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428?viewlocale=en_US

     

    Not for the faint hearted so do backup before you proceed. The procedure works for Mavericks - I did it yesterday.

  • by longsummer,

    longsummer longsummer Nov 8, 2013 3:00 AM in response to ViShVa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 3:00 AM in response to ViShVa

    Thanks ViShVa!

     

    I had found HT1428 and it was this article that seemed to me perhaps not to have been updated for Mavericks (I've pasted relevant section below) because after logging in as root and getting to the Users folder it says "rename it just like you would rename any folder"..... well, I just don't think that's possible.  Am I missing something basic and obvious....I have no "rename" option for the folder and you can't click on it to allow an on-the-fly rename either...probably just me.

     

    HT1428 says:

    For Mac OS X v10.5 or later

     

         Enable the root user.

         Log in as root.

         Navigate to the /Users folder.

         Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any      folder. Keep in mind that the account name must be all lowercase, with no spaces, contain only letters or      contain a mix of letters and numbers, and it cannot be the same as an existing user's Full Name.

         Use the Users & Groups pane (Accounts pane in Mac OS X v10.6.8 or earlier) in System Preferences to create      a new user with the Account name or Short Name that you used in the previous step.

         Click OK when "A folder in the Users folder already has the name 'account name'. Would you like to use that      folder as the Home folder for this user account?" appears. Note: This will correct the ownership of all files in the      Home folder, and avoid permissions issues with the contents.

         Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.

         Log in as the newly created user. You should be able to access all of your original files (on the desktop, in      Documents, and in the other folders of this Home).

         After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Users & Groups      pane (Accounts pane in Mac OS X v10.6.8 or earlier).

         Disable the root user.

  • by ViShVa,Solvedanswer

    ViShVa ViShVa Nov 8, 2013 3:39 AM in response to longsummer
    Level 2 (272 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 3:39 AM in response to longsummer

    I had never enabled Root before so was wary. However, it went very smothly for me yesterday for renaming an Admin user home directory. The directory is located in Your HD/users/

     

    I renamed it as usual by selecting the folder, then clicking on the name to enable renaming. After that, I renamed the user in System Preferences and it advised me via a pop-up that a user folder of that name already existed, and did I want to use that. I clicked 'yes' and it repaired ACLs and finished the job. I then logged out of Root user, logged into the renamed account and disabled Root as advised. Worked fine. I then rebooted and logged into my Standard user account and now the HD/users/ has the renamed folder.

     

    There are other procedures using the Terminal command and Sudo but I am not familiar with those, and Apple states that the method above is the safest.

  • by ViShVa,

    ViShVa ViShVa Nov 8, 2013 3:36 AM in response to longsummer
    Level 2 (272 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 3:36 AM in response to longsummer

    I should also add that I have 4 user accounts on my Macbook Pro. One Guest user, two Admin accounts and one Standard user which I use for day to day stuff.

     

    I have 2 admin accounts with different passwords of varying complexity. I wanted to rename one of the Admin accounts. If anything had gone wrong, I still had the other Admin account to fall back on. The complex password one I hardly ever log into, but that is the one which I wanted to rename.

  • by longsummer,

    longsummer longsummer Nov 8, 2013 8:31 AM in response to ViShVa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 8, 2013 8:31 AM in response to ViShVa

    ViShVa,

     

    OK - thanks for this. I've done it, removed the old girlfriend, replaced her with a more anodyne "home" folder name and, miracle of miracles, deleted the old user and the MacBook Air still works. Amazing.
    Thanks for all your help.  I worked out what I had been getting wrong - I hadn't been logging in as root, just as my old admin name, in the mistaken belief that I had assigned it "root" status. Duh.  Now got it....


    The only thing that eludes me is now disabling the root user, which I just can't seem to do, but I guess that I'll live with it!

     

    Thanks

     

    longsummer

  • by ViShVa,Helpful

    ViShVa ViShVa Nov 9, 2013 6:59 AM in response to longsummer
    Level 2 (272 points)
    Nov 9, 2013 6:59 AM in response to longsummer

    Oooh don't do that!

     

    Not a good idea to keep Root User enabled! HUGE security risk.

     

    Open Users & Groups preference pane>Unlock it from bottom left with admin name/password>Click Login Options>Join... Network Account Server>Open Directory Utility...>Unlock from bottom left using admin name/password>from the menu>Edit>Disable Root User>Quit Directory Utlity>Click the lock to prevent further changes