Migration got me 2 user directories

Sparklight wrote:

I always use "Ken" as my user name. When I bought my new used Mac a few months ago, I set up the operating system, and then a day later I ran the migration assistant to bring my user data from my old computer.

Something went wrong. I wound up with /Users/ken containing the old migrated data, but my user Ken on my new computer is attached to a directory "/Users/Ken 1".

I'm leading a double life! I would really like to convince my Mac that user Ken has /Users/ken as its home directory; I will then manually merge the data from my new existence into the old one.

Please tell me how!

The most trouble free way to move to a new machine, is using the Setup Assistant on the initial boot of a brand new machine— you have one shot here. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205749

If that opportunity has past, the second best way is use the Migration Assistant.

How to move your content to a new Mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350

You can use the >System Preferences>Sharing to move over data.

Verify both accounts have admin privileges. After you successfully merge what you are looking for, sit on it fro a couple weeks to verify everything is in order— before you delete the extra account.

Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support

This is preferred compare to the error prone—Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder

Make sure to have a complete Time Machine backup!

Create a new admin account with a totally different name - say, "admin", and login to this account.

Go to System Preferences->Users & Groups.

Delete the account that you don't want, that has home folder "ken". You can choose to leave the folder for now, or delete it completely, if there is nothing useful in there.

Delete the account that you DO want, but this time choose to leave the home folder where it is.

In the Finder, navigate to the Users folder, and locate the folder called "ken 1 (deleted)".

Rename this folder as "ken".

Now, go back to System Preferences and add a new user, and make sure that the username is exactly "ken".

You will be told that a home folder by that name already exists, and whether you want to use it. Of course you do!

Sparklight wrote:

Thanks, but both those opportunities are past, and I'm stuck with this account that has the wrong home directory. What do I do NOW?

?

You can use the >System Preferences>Sharing to move over data.

Verify both accounts have admin privileges. After you successfully merge what you are looking for, sit on it fro a couple weeks to verify everything is in order— before you delete the extra account.

Set up file sharing on Mac - Apple Support

This is preferred compare to the error prone—Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder