Why is the old user still appearing in the sharing & permissions options on my refurbished Mac?

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Level 1

4 points

Why is the old user still appearing in the sharing & permissions options on my refurbished Mac?

So my mac is refurbished and the old user is completely removed - I am the new and only user on this mac. I have admin permissions checked, every trace of the old user is seemingly gone.

I am burning a CD using this mac and for whatever reason, when I go under get info,

under sharing & permissions, there are the options, staff, everyone & then the name of the old user with a (me) next to it. This name is stricken and gone everywhere else on this computer, and even though the old name says it is me, I still do not have have permission to read+write, it’s saying only the admin does?

I am so confused... Again, I am the the only lister user under Users and Groups, and have admin permissions.

Ugh please help me

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on May 16, 2024 8:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

etresoft

Level 8

47,378 points

May 18, 2024 7:37 AM in response to oatstraws

oatstraws wrote:

So my mac is refurbished

False.

the old user is completely removed

False.

Sorry to tell you this, but you bought a used computer. You were scammed. It happens to the best of us. I've been scammed too. Such is life.

The best idea is to connect an external drive and copy all of your files to the external. Don't try Time Machine or anything like that. It's not appropriate in this case.

Then, follow these instructions to erase your Mac as if you were going to give it to someone else: Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings - Apple Support

Finally, setup your computer as new. You can then copy your old files back to the computer. By default, external files ignore ownership permissions so this should fix any permissions problems.

In the future, never buy an Apple device from anyone other than Apple. You can buy from an Authorized Apple Reseller. You can also buy refurbished devices directly from Apple. Anything else is a scam - anything. In most cases, the hardware will actually be faulty. There's a good chance this is the case with the computer you bought. People don't normally get rid of old Apple devices unless there is some kind of hardware failure or the device is stolen. There is a huge industry to re-sell stolen and faulty hardware to people like you.

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 6

19,807 points

May 18, 2024 6:50 AM in response to oatstraws

Open a Finder window and navigate to Macintosh HD > Users. Is there a folder there named "malia" with a house image on the folder icon? If so, that is the account you are currently logged into. Here is an example:

If the folder named "malia" is the one with the house on it, then I suspect what happened is that either you or the previous owner simply renamed the existing admin account instead of creating a new admin account for you. In essence, you would have just "taken over" the existing admin account by renaming it. There is more to the story, however ...

Each user account actually has two names associated with it - a Full Name, which is the text you see when you log in; and a shortname, which is the internal name of the account and the name of the home folder associated with the account. If you only change the Full Name, the shortname remains the same. (It's easy to change the Full Name; not so easy to change a shortname and it's generally not advisable to change a shortname anyway.)

So, if the previous owner was "malia" and there was only 1 admin account on the Mac, and either you or he/she only changed the Full Name from "malia" to, say, "oatstraws" that would explain why you continue to see malia (Me) as a user name when you do GetInfo. Because, internally, the account is still called "malia."

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Answer 3

PRP_53

Level 10

86,101 points

May 18, 2024 2:48 AM in response to oatstraws

User wrote " So my mac is refurbished and the old user is completely removed "

It would appear the Older User is not really and totally removed.

This is what the Older User Should have done Before selling the computer

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac

If the computer was purchased from a corner shop selling computers as refurbished.

Sorry, they too have done done the job properly

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

240,563 points

May 22, 2024 7:43 PM in response to oatstraws

Hmmm, it appears you did rename your home Folder but not the special way, is that correct?

Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder - Apple Support

Her's how that output should look...

im19% dscl . list /Users | grep -v “^_”

_amavisd

_analyticsd

_appleevents

_applepay

_appowner

_appserver

_appstore

_ard

_assetcache

_astris

_atsserver

_avbdeviced

_BGMXPCHelper

_calendar

_captiveagent

_ces

_clamav

_cmiodalassistants

_coreaudiod

_coremediaiod

_ctkd

_cvmsroot

_cvs

_cyrus

_datadetectors

_devdocs

_devicemgr

_displaypolicyd

_distnote

_dovecot

_dovenull

_dpaudio

_eppc

_findmydevice

_fpsd

_ftp

_gamecontrollerd

_geod

_hidd

_iconservices

_installassistant

_installer

_jabber

_kadmin_admin

_kadmin_changepw

_krb_anonymous

_krb_changepw

_krb_kadmin

_krb_kerberos

_krb_krbtgt

_krbfast

_krbtgt

_launchservicesd

_lda

_locationd

_lp

_mailman

_mbsetupuser

_mcxalr

_mdnsresponder

_mobileasset

_mysql

_netbios

_netstatistics

_networkd

_nsurlsessiond

_nsurlstoraged

_ondemand

_postfix

_postgres

_qtss

_reportmemoryexception

_sandbox

_screensaver

_scsd

_securityagent

_serialnumberd

_softwareupdate

_spotlight

_sshd

_svn

_taskgated

_teamsserver

_timed

_timezone

_tokend

_trustevaluationagent

_unknown

_update_sharing

_usbmuxd

_uucp

_warmd

_webauthserver

_windowserver

_www

_wwwproxy

_xserverdocs

bd

bd1

daemon

drd

Guest

nobody

root

im19%

The 3users on my im19 Mac are bd, bd1, drd.

So, exactly where does "~ % @" fall on yours?

I think you should do this my friend...

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

240,563 points

May 18, 2024 2:59 AM in response to oatstraws

OK, I'll try to be on here for you until we answer it my friend.:)

In the get Info widow, if you click the tiny + icon what choices are there? Does the real you show up?

Did you ever rename your home folder?

As for CDs/DVDs on a Mac you generally get one Write & close it & that's the last & only Writing you get, you cannot Format or erase a CD/DVDD unless using CDRW or DVDRW plus a 3rd party App like Toast.

To list the user accounts on an Apple Mac using Terminal:

Open Terminal
Type in or Paste the following command
dscl . list /Users | grep -v “^_”
You will be presented with a list of User accounts set up on the Mac.

Note: You will be presented with a few accounts additionally which you can ignore such as nobody, root, daemon

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

240,563 points

May 17, 2024 7:32 AM in response to oatstraws

Start with this...

Do a Get info on your Home folder, unlock the lock in the Get Info panel. Make sure it says you have Read & Write privileges.

Using the tiny gear icon, use the drop down to "Apply to enclosed items...

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Answer 7

oatstraws Author

Level 1

4 points

May 18, 2024 2:17 AM in response to BDAqua

First, thank you so so so much.

For giving me advice, responding to me & just your presence alongside me on this earth I can’t begin to express to you how much I appreciate you. Hope I could be so lucky as to get your attention & advice a third time real quick with some more context perhaps.

Here’s a screenshot of the "sharing & permissions" portion after rightclick selecting ‘get info,' on my personal Users Folder.

My name is not Malia - this is the old user - so certainly not me & strangely, I believe these 'getinfo’ windows are the only instance her name even pops anywhere on my mac. (She’s been thoroughly removed off icloud & deleted from the user list a LONG time ago now, my mac having been updated & reset several times since said transfer.

((As for the specific issue burning my CD, since I had already burned the files on the disk, I realize trying to mess with them afterwards can be touchy so that makes sense, but even the option to erase the disk entirely is not in my control, which I feel like... it should be? lol))

Trying my hardest to research if anyone has had a similar problem here & coming upppp empty. Don't think I’m that special possibly just showing my poor researching skills I do not know, but again again - thank you so much.

For real all my loves,

cheers!

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Answer 8

oatstraws Author

Level 1

4 points

May 22, 2024 8:27 PM in response to BDAqua

hi! my readout appears exactly the same up top all good -

all the same appleusers with _at the beginning and then heres the end portion

daemon

malia

nobody

root

malia@fractalfeel ~ %

hmmmmmmm I suppose I did rename things instead of factory resetting? I don’t truly remember :/

(vaguely remembering now tha the "~" at the end might just be part of my name I chose lol)

But Malia actually appears twice?? Once by themselves & then in front of my user listing.

In users & groups, I see only my name, listed as admin as well. It appears I’m the only user, but then clicking through to advanced settings shows a different story.

I see the USER name is actually: "malia" greyed out, unable to be changed & under it, "group: staff"

Also see an alias listed, not sure wha that’s about but I do use icloud alias so idk if that’s important.

advanced setting screenshot:

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Answer 9

oatstraws Author

Level 1

4 points

May 22, 2024 7:25 PM in response to BDAqua

c(* ◕ ‿ ◕)u♡ hi friend

SOsorry for my delay, especially when you were so prompt to lend a hand🥺 & such a helpful one at that!

Clear & concise & caring- SRSLY- can’t thanku enough BD, my actual guardian knight.

answeing ur troubleshoot q’s:

▶︎home folder has been renamed from outset.

Also renamed device itself, at least as far as it appears under "locations."

▶︎When I click + on my home folder, it brings up two options:

"Administrators," which is selectable & underneath,

"My name!" !the real me! :o however this option is greyed out. 🤔

▶︎Entering the txt into Terminal.app spits out something very strange to me,

at the top and bottom of userlist I see: "malia(olduser)@name*I gave device"...

The top instance is followed by the same command you gave me to enter,

& the bottom is followed by "~ % @"

???anyothis normal?

ugh 😩I’m scratching my head more than ever :/

Truly I should bE so lucky if i’m able to spare more of your grace. again, again again

thank you thank you thank you BDAqua I am your biggest fan & owe you a homecooked meal.

+~~~wishing upon yu all the base-2 binary boundless & beyond luck ๑♡๑

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Answer 10

etresoft

Level 8

47,378 points

May 22, 2024 8:50 PM in response to oatstraws

oatstraws wrote:

But Malia actually appears twice?? Once by themselves & then in front of my user listing.

No. That’s just the default prompt.

I see the USER name is actually: "malia" greyed out, unable to be changed & under it, "group: staff"

If you want some good news, attempting to change your short user name is an excellent way to corrupt your system. That will require you to erase the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. I suggest you do that on your own schedule, in a controlled manner, without losing any data. But totally your decision.

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Answer 11

oatstraws Author

Level 1

4 points

May 22, 2024 10:18 PM in response to oatstraws

Ok first of all it IS refurbished. However this isn’t pertinent information & shouldn’t have been inlcluded in my original ask. I bought this mac from a family member who originally purchased it refurbished. Now mod has included it in title, my bad.

Next, I realize the old user has not been "completely" removed, this is entire reason for my ask in the first place. I’ve somehow managed to become sole icloud on this mac, change the name of the user to my own, the home folder, as well as the device name - but the "account name" in advanced settings is still hers. This seems to in some instances lock me out of my own account?

This is confusing. I set it all up a while ago, & I truly do not remember how I managed to get here. All I want to know now, is the only path forward backing up any local files & doing a factory reset?

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Answer 12

oatstraws Author

Level 1

4 points

May 22, 2024 11:24 PM in response to MartinR

Thank you for the clarification - it’s confusing! There’s like 4 names no? Device name, full name, home folder name, & the internal account short name.

I suppose not being able to change the first account name shouldn’t bother me. As of now I don’t think it’s hindering me any longer it just had me internally panic because I found a few of their old icloud items as well stuffed somewhere deep in a random folder when it’s been only my icloud attached to this account for forever & the fact that if they were tech savvy enough they could remote access this desktop using their old password which appears to be still stored somewhere in Directory Utility. That this is still technically their account since it’s "501" Ooof the paranoia was going offfff.

Anyways I do appreciate your breakdown. I don’t really remember setting this mac up but I truly delusioned seeing the multilingual hello screen, but I guess I was just dumb & "took over," as you put it.

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