Darwin/bsd window -Need to repair permissions- help

I proceeded a bit further anyway. I got my list of users.

seems two accounts have the same UID but UID 501 is not one of them.

Quoted text from the Michael Conniff link:
Make sure you get the name right for UID 501!

here's my list:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 503 80 6148 jan 22 12:54 .Ds_Store
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 0 march 25 2005 .localized
drwxrwxrwt 8 0 0 272 jan 22 Shared
drwxr-xr-x 13 503 20 442 jan 21 16:26 admin
drwxrwxr-x 16 502 502 544 jan 25 15:40 XXXXXXX (x's for security)


If there is no UID 501 do i just skip to the next lowest number which is 502?

Is it safe to assume that my acct "xxxxxxx" has mostly all the permissions since "Shared" doesn't matter?


I think you guys are close to solving this!

How would i backup the drive at this point?

I should also mention there is a second drive installed in the machine as slave which also holds os9 and osX systems but not 10.4, i think its 10.2 lol. It may have enough space available to hold the backup. Is this back up done at the command line?

Should i create a dummy user at UID 501 then go in succession 502, 503? By creating this user, do i inadvertently allow this dummyuser admin priveleges by creating it first where UID 501's user was supposed to be?

as i understand, dummy user could be named hypothetically "dummy" and i would create a password for this user. Then i would create the next UID which would be 502(in my case). I would use the correct shortname and password and i would be able to access my "original identity" once i was done with the setup. Is this correct?

I got back to the "Welcome" page where you can setup the mac.

I tried creating a dummy user and selecting do not transfer files. That failed

I tried creating a user from the lowest # in my account list which was 502 and selected the option to transfer info from another partition.

I have been brought to a window that says:
Transfer your information

Information from: XXXXXXX's Computer
it says>>Click Transfer to transfer items:

Below is the list i see on screen with four options and checkboxes next to each.

checked > My User located at UID 502 is listed
checked > Network & other settings
checked > Applications folder
unchecked > Files and folders on "My second drive" which runs the system for 10.2 not my primary on which is running osx 10.4 and is the "master drive"

If i check this box next to Files and folders on "My second drive" in the lower left the remaining space turns red and gives a negative value.

(I am assuming i do not have enough open memory located on the second drive to copy itself to itself)

I am thinking that i am not actually accessing an identity within my "master" drive running os 10.4. I think i will try the admin account and see if i'm able to access that way. FYI i have a master slave setup. 2 hard drive's installed and both drives have 0s9 and os 10. master=10.4 slave=10.2

does anybody have any input as to what i should do from this point?

Target disk mode & Firewire>>yes and yes! I'll give it a go. I forgot about TDM.

I created a dummy user and the system started up in the new identity.I am assuming this is UID 501 now. I guess i could check by running that command to get the list of users again. Is that ok to do?

I was able to see the folders of the two previous identities(502 and 503) in the users folder but i do not have access priveleges. This is how i got into trouble in the first place.

I unlocked the folder of each identity and reset the group access to wheel and read and write.

I'm unsure if i am supposed to just recreate the next UID, which is 502 in my case, through> accounts >system preferences? or do i need follow the first step of setting up UID 502 through single user mode and follow the same procedure. I'm thinking the latter.

I appreciate everyone's help on this! You all are awesome!

It is an admin account. Admin privilege cannot be revoked from this user.

my old identities do not show up in Accounts in System Preferences but their respective folders are present in the Users folder.

If i do a get info on either of the old user folders, the owner drop down menu gives two selections. Either the "dummy" account i just created or system. Once i setup the UID 502 and 503 i should be able to access those users in the permissions.

I haven't gone any further than that so far. I'm unsure how to proceed to create the next user which is 502. Do i just create it in Accounts in System Preferences or do i have to go back into single user mode follow the instructions given by Michael Conniff and create the UID 502 from the Welcome page movie. Would inputting any of that code screw up the dummy admin account i've already accomplished?

ah, reading is fundamental: appears i have eyes but do not see...

If there are any further users, these can be added, in the order of their UIDs, i.e. 502, 503 …, using System Preferences > Accounts. Again, be careful to use the same shortname. If there are any gaps in the UID sequence 501, 502, … you will need to create dummy users to fill them. These can later be deleted.

SUCCESS!!!

I created the user at UID 502 with the same short name and password associated with that identity. I gave it admin priv's. Hit ok and was prompted with this window:

A folder in the Users folder already has the name "xxxxxxx". Would you like to use that folder as the home folder for this user account?

I selected OK and it scanned the folder and opened up my identity! WOOHOO!

I repeated for my UID 503 which is admin and before it prompted me that there was a folder in my Users folder with the same name, it told me by creating this user it would be an admin and priveleges would not be able to be changed EVER. So, this i assume is now my super-user account.

I hit OK.

A folder in the Users folder already has the name "admin". Would you like to use that folder as the home folder for this user account?

Then hit OK.

Then Restart

SUCCESS!!!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I could not have achieved this without your patience and knowledge. I hope this helps someone else down the line....