FrenchAlain55

Q: Backup and delete old admin user account

Hi. An Apple Advisor (level 2) helped me to clean my Mavericks system, among other actions he asked me to create a new admin user. I think it's time to delete the old one, but Mavericks don't agree the backing up of the old user account (Home) before deleting it.

- I tried to find all files with Old-User ownership and change their permissions to the New owner. But Mavericks still say no.

The .dmg is created but not kept.

Why I want to do that ? An unknown and unwanted app is probably running backwards, I can't find it and delete it on this cleaned install...

it like a windows manager app. like "size up". I will look in the process manager.

Don't blame me about my language please, The "Apple Support Communities" does'nt deal with French. AlasSuppression.png

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), Apple care mid 2011

Posted on Dec 29, 2013 6:36 AM

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Q: Backup and delete old admin user account

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  • by Phil-CB,

    Phil-CB Phil-CB Dec 29, 2013 6:41 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (115 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 29, 2013 6:41 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    Is it important that you keep the old user's home folder, or would it be OK to trash it ?

     

    Est-il important de conserver le home folder de l'ancien utilisateur, ou bien peut-il etre supprimé ?

  • by FrenchAlain55,

    FrenchAlain55 FrenchAlain55 Dec 29, 2013 7:25 AM in response to Phil-CB
    Level 1 (42 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 29, 2013 7:25 AM in response to Phil-CB

    I would like to keep it in its inactive form of the .dmg file otherwise it would be already gone. Afraid of loosing some important setting files.

    Je tiens à le garder au moins inactif dans un fichier dmg, sinon il serait déjà parti sans problème, je pense. Trop peur de perdre des réglages importants

  • by Phil-CB,

    Phil-CB Phil-CB Dec 29, 2013 7:44 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (115 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 29, 2013 7:44 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    Sure, should've read your title more carefully.

     

    Well, if you think the issue is related to permissions, I would first suggest to reset permissions and ACLs for that user:

    - restart you system on the Recovery partition (holding CMD + R during boot)

    - once booted, select your language

    - in the menu bar, select "Tools" -> Terminal

    - in Terminal, enter "resetpassword" then hit enter

    - in the Reset Password Utility, select your drive, then select the user that has issues

    - do not enter a new password, just click the Reset ACL button at the buttom.

    - restart your system and test again the deletion

     

    If this does not help, I would suggest to make a manual copy of the home folder using Terminal

    cp /Users/old_user_name /Users/new_user_name/Desktop/old_user_backup/

     

    Then try to delete the user & erase its home folder.

     

    Need a French version ? just ask

  • by Phil-CB,Helpful

    Phil-CB Phil-CB Dec 29, 2013 7:57 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (115 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 29, 2013 7:57 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    You could also use the following in order to create a dmg file out of the old user's home folder:

     

    hdiutil create -format UDZO -srcfolder /Users/old_user_folder ~/Desktop/old_user_backup.dmg

     

    (if you're logged in from the new admin user, of course)

  • by FrenchAlain55,

    FrenchAlain55 FrenchAlain55 Dec 29, 2013 8:12 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (42 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 29, 2013 8:12 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    I'm reading and maybe grabbing ideas here

    How to change user account name or home directory name for Mac OS X v10.5 or later. (Not my issue but could help too )

    Enabling the root user is a good way, already done by the Apple Advisor

    • 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
    • After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Users & Groups pane.
    • Disable the root user.
  • by FrenchAlain55,Helpful

    FrenchAlain55 FrenchAlain55 Dec 29, 2013 11:05 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (42 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 29, 2013 11:05 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    It's a problem of alias that cancel the dmg creation ( in application support ) numerous alias are blocking the command.

  • by FrenchAlain55,

    FrenchAlain55 FrenchAlain55 Dec 30, 2013 3:53 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (42 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 30, 2013 3:53 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    One after the others, I deleted those annoying alias. The image disk  finally done ( with your command Phil-CB ) I'm writing here with my iPad ;) Now I think I'm going to call my favorite (lol) apple advisor since we are Monday, I will let him finish his job ( task ) on my iMac himself.

  • by FrenchAlain55,

    FrenchAlain55 FrenchAlain55 Dec 30, 2013 4:32 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (42 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 30, 2013 4:32 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    FYI : before deleting user account, the automatic creation of the dmg file is not working ( from system pref, user account prefpane ) even after cleaning aliases. Does this feature worked for any another MacUser ? It probably is a matter of rights.

  • by Phil-CB,Solvedanswer

    Phil-CB Phil-CB Jan 11, 2014 12:46 AM in response to FrenchAlain55
    Level 1 (115 points)
    iPhone
    Jan 11, 2014 12:46 AM in response to FrenchAlain55

    You mean, the creation of a dmg file containing the user folder (like shown on the second screenshot in your first post) ?

     

    Well, I can remember it failed once for me (in OS X Leopard, if I remember well). But I had to use that feature several times in the past, and it usually works quite well ...

  • by FrenchAlain55,

    FrenchAlain55 FrenchAlain55 Jan 11, 2014 2:04 AM in response to Phil-CB
    Level 1 (42 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 11, 2014 2:04 AM in response to Phil-CB

    Yes that feature . I should try on a brand new user account