User profile for user: jimh79936
jimh79936 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Merge users in big sur

After migration assistant I have more than one user. How old I merge them?

Posted on May 24, 2021 10:43 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: jimh79936
jimh79936 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Posted on May 29, 2021 10:09 AM

Thanks for the rely. I am guilty of not wanting to do the Migration all at once so each increment created a new user. Ouch. My desire was to combine the pieces. I discovered the following process.

How to combine users on MacBook Pro M1

  1. In System Preferences select Users and Groups. 
  2. Ensure you are in an Admin profile.
  3. All users will be listed in box to left but are grayed out.
  4. Select lock icon at the lower left corner of the screen and enter password.
  5. Select Unlock.
  6. All users are now available in list to left.
  7. Select the user to be deleted.
  8. By default that user’s data will be saved to a file in your profile.
  9. You can copy the data you want from that profile
  10. Delete the temporary file and you are done


Comment: It would have been cleaner for migration assistant to allow the optional creation of a file in current user’s profile.

Thanks again.

View in context

Similar questions

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: jimh79936
jimh79936 Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

May 29, 2021 10:09 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for the rely. I am guilty of not wanting to do the Migration all at once so each increment created a new user. Ouch. My desire was to combine the pieces. I discovered the following process.

How to combine users on MacBook Pro M1

  1. In System Preferences select Users and Groups. 
  2. Ensure you are in an Admin profile.
  3. All users will be listed in box to left but are grayed out.
  4. Select lock icon at the lower left corner of the screen and enter password.
  5. Select Unlock.
  6. All users are now available in list to left.
  7. Select the user to be deleted.
  8. By default that user’s data will be saved to a file in your profile.
  9. You can copy the data you want from that profile
  10. Delete the temporary file and you are done


Comment: It would have been cleaner for migration assistant to allow the optional creation of a file in current user’s profile.

Thanks again.

Reply
User profile for user: Barney-15E
Barney-15E
User level: Level 10
122,102 points

May 24, 2021 1:33 PM in response to jimh79936

Did you have an old user and now the migrated user, too?

  • In Get Info, you can add your new user to the list of users in the Sharing & Permissions pane. You only need read only.
  • Open the home folder, find the things you want, and copy them to your new user.
  • You can't do it the opposite direction, i.e. add old user to new user with r/w and copy from old to new.

Or, was it a failed Migration followed by a complete migration?

  • You should just need to delete the user that was part of the failed migration.



Reply
User profile for user: a brody
a brody
User level: Level 10
85,296 points

May 24, 2021 11:08 AM in response to jimh79936

Use the Users -> Shared folder to include folders from both. Unfortunately some data may need to be imported manually.


Alternatively you can clone your migrated original system and then do an erase and internet restore of your operating system. The last step of internet restore asks if you want to migrate data, and then you migrate it at that time.

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Merge users in big sur

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up