macbero wrote:
Thx, but the instructions I followed and shared in my post were directly from the APPLE website. So apparently THEY provided incomplete directions or they weren't specific to CATALINA since it's an older OS.
The article I linked has been the instructions for changing the macOS user account name for decades. The procedure has never changed. You must change the short user name, the name on the home user folder, and the path to the home user folder. What you posted was only part of those instructions.....at least that is all I see in the picture anyway.
I have reinstalled OS CATALINA from Recovery Mode since I posted for HELP here in the community. But that didn't solve the issue. Even after the OS re-install when I log in the MB still gets stuck in SETUP.
Because reinstalling macOS over top of itself still leaves all the existing user accounts as they were.
So far I've followed the instructions in the link you provided to get me to the DISK UTILITY by booting up in RECOVERY MODE. I've selected Data volume from the list on the left but it's already MOUNTED. My only option is to UNMOUNT. So I'm assuming the data volume IS mounted and I should just quit DU and continue on with TERMINAL instructions?
Yes, that is correct.
I mounted the HD using Disk Utility and then ran TERMINAL and typed in the command line. I tried it both ways, escaping the spaces and using the alternate provided with the double quotes and ENTER. Termonal repeated the comand line back and then I restarted.
If you entered the command correctly, then you should be prompted to confirm that you want to delete the ".AppleSetupDone" file. Since it repeated the command, it means you entered something incorrectly. Keep in mind that you must use the volume name associated with your macOS Data volume. Make sure to only use a single space in the path name whether you are using the "escaping spaces method" or enclosing the path in double quotes. In addition make sure you are typing a period (aka dot) at the ".AppleSetupDone" (see the dot just before the "A" there?).
Post a picture of anything shown when you attempt to use the command if you are not prompted to confirm deleting the file since anything else indicates an error of some sort.
rm -i "/Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data/private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone"
If there is an error, then please run the following commands as well so we can see the drive layout to make sure you are using the correct path:
diskutil list internal
mount
Edit: A slightly easier method would to boot into Single User Mode using Command + S, but there are a few different steps necessary in order to mount the internal volume as writable, plus the path to the file we want to delete is slightly different.
When booting into Single User Mode you should see text scroll by and stop at a root prompt with "#". The last bit of text on the screen should give you instructions for running a file system check & remounting the volume as writable. I believe these are the commands IIRC (I haven't done this for some years since Single User Mode was removed in later systems):
fsck -fy /
mount -uw /
If there are no errors, then you should be able to use the following command to delete the ".AppleSetupDone" file:
rm -i /private/var/db/.AppleSetupDone
