Ara N.

Q: How to rename account name or home directory name in OSX 10.9.

After buying or getting a gift of a macbook that was used before, naturally we would change the user name and home directory of the macbook.

The following steps are focused on changing the home directory without the hassle of going into using the terminal.

  1. Rename user log in
  2. Rename the account name
  3. Rename home directory name

 

Rename user :

  1. Open System Preferences
  2. Click and open "Users and Groups"
  3. Click "Padlock" to make changes if locked
  4. Click on the "full name" to change user name
  5. The password can be changed in the same screen.

 

Rename account name and home directory name:

After changing the user name the account name and home directory name do not change automatically.

Follow the directions below, I've done this several times in different ways and the easiest answer came from a redditor 5HT-2a

 

Enable the System Administrator account.

 

To easily find it;

  • Open Finder>Go>Go to Folder
  • Paste that line
/System/Library/CoreServices/ 


click on go and find Directory Utility


  • OSX Mavericks users use this
/System/Library/CoreServices/Directory Utility 


  • OSX Yosemite
/System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Directory Utility 


 

In Directory Utility;

  • Click the lock icon and enter your administrator password.
  • Select Edit > Enable Root User.
  • Create a new password for the Root User.
  • Now, log out of your account. You'll see a new "Other" button in the login screen.
  • Click that, enter root as the username, and enter the password you just created. This will log you into the System Administrator account.


Once logged in;

  • Open the Users folder and go ahead and rename that folder.
  • Next, navigate to the "Users & Groups" section of System Preferences.
  • Right-click on your user account and select "Advanced Options." In the panel that pops up, go ahead and change "Account Name" and "Home directory" to the new desired one.


DONE!
Log out, then log into your normal account and make sure everything's still working.


Safety reasons!

You can disable the System Administrator account from Directory Utility.

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), null

Posted on Feb 11, 2015 1:04 AM

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Q: How to rename account name or home directory name in OSX 10.9.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Feb 11, 2015 2:12 AM in response to Ara N.
    Level 5 (7,552 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 11, 2015 2:12 AM in response to Ara N.

    Why on earth did you recommend enabling root?

    It is not necessary at all & it can leave the system compromised or damage the OS. There are other ways to achieve this.

    http://www.theinstructional.com/guides/how-to-re-run-the-os-x-setup-assistant (3 commands to rerun setup to make a new admin).


    If you must reuse a Mac without reinstalling a clean OS you should create a new admin account & delete the old accounts - do you know what the last user did in their account? That history will be lingering in this user account, they may have malware or key loggers installed or even apps like Prey, that track devices & user activity.


    You should setup an App Store account & buy an OS for it - only the original OS should be supplied with it. Anything else is software piracy.

    Personally I would boot straight to recovery & erase the disk, then clean install the default OS. Entering your Apple ID details into it is a potential risk until a 'known good' OS is installed.


    I can see you are pleased you found the procedure, but you got some bad advice, sorry that's reddit for ya.

  • by Ara N.,

    Ara N. Ara N. Feb 11, 2015 2:47 AM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2015 2:47 AM in response to Drew Reece

    In a unique case where a friend set up my new MBA MS Office and set it up using her apple ID, her name was populated in the home directory.

    I am not posting something I haven't tried and tested twice, once in a macbook air and a mbp retina 15"

     

    @Drew, the method works. Neither has damage happened to the OS and nor has it been compromised.

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Feb 11, 2015 3:17 AM in response to Ara N.
    Level 5 (7,552 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 11, 2015 3:17 AM in response to Ara N.

    Apple ID's are tied to the apps not the user account, there was no benefit to keeping the account.

    It's great it worked for you but enabling root is not something you should reccommend. Many desperate people find this site & copy without any understanding.

     

    Some users even continue to login as root 'just because'.

    Everything you did as root could have been done as an admin, it's nothing personal, just bad advice needs to be called out before someone follows it & loses data. I'm sure you can see it isn't the best way to start with a second hand Mac?

  • by Ara N.,

    Ara N. Ara N. Feb 12, 2015 9:04 AM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 12, 2015 9:04 AM in response to Drew Reece

    Please elaborate on what you mean by damaging the OS following the steps I wrote.
    Following your advice in the your first reply, one loses all installed software not assigned to other users.

  • by Drew Reece,Helpful

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Feb 12, 2015 11:17 AM in response to Ara N.
    Level 5 (7,552 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 12, 2015 11:17 AM in response to Ara N.

    Ara N wrote:

    Please elaborate on what you mean by damaging the OS following the steps I wrote.

    See Apple's own documentation on enabling root…

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204012

     

    In the second paragraph…

         If used without caution, the root user can make changes that can only be fixed by reinstalling OS X.

     

    So Apple say it's possible to damage OS as root, apparently you didn't damage it, but it is possible as I said earlier.

    Enabling root for this unnecessary & can break the OS if you muck up.

     

    You started your initial post with this line…

    Ara N wrote:

    After buying or getting a gift of a macbook that was used before, naturally we would change the user name and home directory of the macbook.

    That isn't the same as your situation & it is bad advice to recommend someone who recently acquired a new Mac from a stranger or family member to simply take that OS on trust and reuse the current user account & installed software.

    The OS is not a transferable licence - only the original OS that shipped with the Mac is. Your recommendation could violate the SLA of the operating system and if there were any third party apps installed it would violate the EULA for those apps and for the Mac App Store (assuming they came from the MAS).

     

    Ara N wrote:

    Following your advice in the your first reply, one loses all installed software not assigned to other users.

    Erase & clean install is what you are supposed to do when you acquire a Mac that has apps you do not own, keeping those apps is software piracy.

     

    In your situation you can delete the old user account & still manage to the update apps, they are installed into the /Applications folder (accessible for all users) & updates require the original Apple ID. You lose nothing by deleting the user account (which is wise if the Mac came from a stranger). Non app store apps may require a serial re-entering depending on how they are setup to licence installations.

     

    Once again, your situation is different to what you recommended this for. That is why you should not recommend that someone uses the same method when they are the owner of a new Mac.

     

    Here are some instructions that do the same thing without enabling root.

    Change your OS X account name and home directory name - Apple Support

    And another older alternative method

    http://mmug.org.uk/extra/changing-account-name-mac-os-x-106

  • by Ara N.,

    Ara N. Ara N. Feb 12, 2015 1:20 PM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 12, 2015 1:20 PM in response to Drew Reece

    Thank you Drew,

    I see there's an easier method without enabling root that you've shared;

    Here are some instructions that do the same thing without enabling root.

    Change your OS X account name and home directory name - Apple Support

    Thank you for the insight.