Computer name change after migration

Question

Level 1

7 points

Computer name change after migration

I did a software migration from my macbook to my new iMac. Everything went great except the migration named the new iMac "macbook", the name I used on the macbook. I went to system pref. and did the name change to iMac24 and that works fine for sharing on the local network. However, on the Finder the name of the new computer at Home is still "Macbook", the migrated name. Kinda confusing when looking at the Finder pane, two Macbooks show up, one under shared and one under places.

Also tried to change the name of the Home at the Mac HD but was told couldn't be done.

Is there anyway to change the name of the Home file or am I stuck with Macbook as the name for my iMac?

eMac, iMac, Macbook, iPODs, Apple TV, Linux DELL, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Dec 7, 2008 5:36 PM

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Answer 1

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Dec 7, 2008 6:03 PM in response to imagesbytjm

imagesbytjm wrote:
I did a software migration from my macbook to my new iMac. Everything went great except the migration named the new iMac "macbook", the name I used on the macbook. I went to system pref. and did the name change to iMac24 and that works fine for sharing on the local network. However, on the Finder the name of the new computer at Home is still "Macbook", the migrated name. Kinda confusing when looking at the Finder pane, two Macbooks show up, one under shared and one under places.

Also tried to change the name of the Home at the Mac HD but was told couldn't be done.

Is there anyway to change the name of the Home file or am I stuck with Macbook as the name for my iMac?

The Home name I presume is your "short" name.
You can change the short name in Accounts by unlocking the padlock and right-clicking the Account and selecting Advanced Options.
Pleased note the Warning and the required reboot.
I suggest being sure your backup is up-to-date before changing the short name.

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Answer 2

imagesbytjm Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 7, 2008 7:42 PM in response to imagesbytjm

I guess this was a change in 10.5 In 10.4 you could go to HD and click on Users, click on the name under the little house and change it. If I try that in 10.5, I get a message that says I can't change the name because the operating system uses it.

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Answer 3

nerowolfe

Level 6

13,090 points

Dec 7, 2008 7:53 PM in response to imagesbytjm

That other name next to Home should be your user name.
Do this: Open a terminal and see what name the prompt uses.

You should see something like this:
mbp17:~ nero$

where mbp17 is the computer name and nero is the name next to the house.

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Answer 4

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Dec 7, 2008 8:33 PM in response to imagesbytjm

imagesbytjm wrote:
I guess this was a change in 10.5 In 10.4 you could go to HD and click on Users, click on the name under the little house and change it. If I try that in 10.5, I get a message that says I can't change the name because the operating system uses it.

that name is the name of your home directory, not the computer name and you can't change it that way. see this link on how it's done in leopard
http://www.macworld.com/article/132693/2008/03/changeshortusername.html

The name of your computer can be changed in system preferences->sharing.

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Answer 5

imagesbytjm Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 8, 2008 9:03 AM in response to V.K.

OK, I did the "full monty" and it seems to have worked for the most part. It did change the name of the Home folder like I wanted. However, I had to transfer some of the Library files manually. When it created the new Home folder (iMac24) it also saved the old Macbook folder under users. Just had to transfer some of the old Library files from the old MacBook folder to the new iMac24 folder. Everything seems to be working so far.

Not sure about the migration thing. Next time I may just start with a blank hard drive and re-install applications.

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Answer 6

imagesbytjm Author

Level 1

7 points

Dec 7, 2008 6:47 PM in response to nerowolfe

Nope, that didn't get it. Changed the short name to iMac24 but the name next to the little house (Home) stayed as MacBook. The system re-named my MacBook as MacBook(2).

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