"Name is used by another user"?

Could it be from another account you had and erased?
Or an old machine that you migrated from?
Or, do you have a "Previous System" folder on your HDD?



-mj

Hi

There are already existing accounts on your mac that are ordinarly invisible to you. You may occasionally see these users when accessing the Privileges and Permissions when sharing? The same is true for Groups. If you're trying to use a name that's already reserved for the system that could explain what you're seeing? To find out what accounts already exist on your mac launch terminal and issue this command:

dscl . list /Users

Tony

How would I remove this hidden user?

I can see the user in terminal, how would I remove this hidden user?

Hi

sudo dscl . delete /Users/whatevertheshortnameis

When prompted enter the local administrator's password. You won't see it being typed so don't panic. This assumes you have a password? It also assumes no home folder. If there is a home folder you should be able to delete it either via the Finder or command line:

sudo rm -R -v /Users/whatevertheshortnameofthehomefolderis

Be very careful with the "rm" command. It's extremely powerful and once an item is deleted it's pretty much gone for good. There are no undos in Terminal either. If you're not 100% certain about dusing the command I would make sure you have a full and up-to-date backup just in case before using it.

Tony