Delete my user account from iMac without wiping HD?

You don't have the legal right to give someone else apps that belong to you.

You need to follow Apple's instructions to prepare it for someone else.

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

Failure to do so means that the installed copy of macOS will still be tied to your apple account.

Apps downloaded from Apple's store will be tied to your Apple ID so although you could leave them on the Mac the new user probably won't be able to use them.

To reset your Mac for sale or transfer see here

Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings – Apple Support (UK)

There actually is a way to delete your account from the Mac without wiping everything.

It goes like this:

• Sign out of Find My

• Sign out of iCloud and don't keep copies of your stuff on the Mac when asked.

• Go to Users & Groups and create a new User Account with admin privileges - name it something generic like 'Mac User'

• Sign out of your regular Mac user account and sign in to the new user account you just created.

Do not sign in to iCloud or Find My when prompted in the new account.

• Go to Users & Groups and delete your old user account and its Home folder when prompted.

That's it.

But this method does not touch third party applications or any other data that may be located outside your home folder, including system caches and files in the System/Library folders so it is not a clean start for the computer.

It does release the Mac from iCloud and Find My services.

A very important factor here if you're going to give ownership of the computer to someone else is to not sign into iCloud or Find My again in the new account.

The 2012 is well obsolete. It may still work, but the internet world has passed it by. Not even adding a couple more RAM can make it productive again on the internet. As a standalone machine it may have purpose, but it really is time to retire it.

The problem is down to the age of your Mac and/or OS and the fact that Apple doesn't maintain installable copies of all old OS's. You could start by finding out which Mac you've got. Click the Apple Logo in the top LH corner and then "About this Mac". Just under the pic it will tell you the type of Mac and just underneath it will tell you the year it was built . With this info. and a bit of Googling you can find out the latest OS your Mac can run - like here

https://setapp.com/how-to/macos-compatibility-guide?srsltid=AfmBOoogA3XByFLIzCp7KnQoK89V-T-SYoz1Y93Nj80YW548yL9lwtp8

Once you've found this then some googling or back here you can find out if the OS is still available and signed and installable. So you might be able to reinstall the OS but if Sierra is the latest it can support then DI Johnson's earlier post implies it's going to be difficult, but you might be able to find a Sierra OS install with a bit of searching.

One option is that you could create a new account with admin privileges then use it to delete your old account and decline the option to save the old user data. This, in theory, deletes all your user data. You can then pass on the Mac and give the new owner the name and password of the new admin account so they can set the Mac up as they want. The only downside of this is that "in theory" is doing some heavy lifting here and there's a risk that some of your user data is still on the disc or recoverable from it and someone with specialist tools would almost certainly be able to get at some of it. I used this approach when I gave a family member my old Mac when I upgraded but I wouldn't do the same with a stranger. If you turned on Filevault then the new owner will need the keys.

Another option is to use it for something else. I've got a very old Macbook which I put Linux on and I use it to manage backups between my NAS's.

AliWonder wrote:

How do I delete my own account from an iMac? I want to give away or sell my old iMac; I've deleted all my personal files etc from it, but I need to delete my account, without completely wiping the hard drive, as there are some applications on there that whoever takes it may want.

You should check the license agreements for those apps. You may or may not have the right to pass them on.

I've found myself in 'Users', but there's no option to delete my account or log out.

Thanks for any advice!

You can only delete an administrator account if you're logged into a different administrator account.

From the Disk Utility screen you posted, simply go ahead and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled), select GUID partition scheme and then click Erase. That will wipe and reformat the startup drive.

However, reinstalling macOS Sierra or High Sierra is probably going to be problematic in itself as the web server for that High Sierra OS is broken - has been for some time, now. If Reinstall macOS offers something newer than Sierra, say Mojave, Catalina or even Ventura, then you may have a better go at reinstalling the OS.

If you wish to avoid any further frustration, I suggest you simply erase the drive, then either just give it away as-is or carry the old iMac to your local Apple Store, or Staples or Office Max and hand it over to be recycled. At best, that is a 2017 model iMac, at worst it's a 2009 iMac. Either way, it and every iMac in between is vintage or obsolete.

AliWonder wrote:

Hmmm.... This is puzzling; there is only one admin account for this computer! So if it's not possible to delete my own account, I assume the only option is to wipe the hard drive; how do I do this exactly?

Yup.

(the apps are mostly free things I've downloaded).

T\

It doesn't matter. Even if the price was $0, there is still a license agreement.

OK - just realized you're on Sierra, which makes it a bit harder. The only way to do this with absolute security is to erase your disc and reinstall the OS. BUT you're best off waiting for someone else to come along here who can explain the ins and outs of it better than me cos the last time I did it was too long ago to remember.

The post below describes it but I don't know if it's still valid or even if Sierra is downloadable today. If you're lucky Johh Galt will post here to help.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7969376?sortBy=oldest_first

Sorry for the wild goose chase and good luck.

AliWonder wrote:

Thanks - that's helpful. I found the Library folder, but there's a lot of stuff in there. What specifically should I delete to clear everything related to me off there? I can't recognise what might be needed to make the computer function?

What you find in the Library folder is part of the reason why the steps I posted as to cheat your way around the 'proper' preparation of the Mac for transfer are neither the best nor the preferred way to do things. There are too many miscellaneous files and folders that can be missed. It's best to follow Apple's guidance as was posted early on by our friend, @KiltedTim.

"I don't recognize what might be needed to make the computer function" is a perfectly clear reason to leave these files and folders alone. I don't recognize it, either.

I totally take your point about the age of the computer; I just thought it might be of some limited use to someone. There are a lot of very poor people in my neighbourhood who can't afford to buy computers!

Thanks

I completely understand the need to provide resources and assistance for the poor, but I feel we do no favors for someone when we pass them something they may not have the time or resources to maintain.

Though our motive may be noble, when technology becomes obsolete it becomes more difficult to maintain on a technical level and in a secure and inexpensive fashion, so the question becomes are we helping or hurting?

But we each do what we can, right? 🙂