Profiles missing after Lion install
I just finished installing lion on my imac and the login page only shows a guest account, which I can't access either. Where did my profile go? I can't access anything. Please help.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)
Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I just finished installing lion on my imac and the login page only shows a guest account, which I can't access either. Where did my profile go? I can't access anything. Please help.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)
Do some basic troubleshooting, PRAM reset (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379). Also, I assume you are running on a mac computer, i've heard of this happening for people running hackntoshes dues to Lion trying to verify the serial number of the computer through apple before installing the OS and if it can't verify then it doesn't display accounts properly. boot up to the recovery partition and run verify disk to make sure that it was ok. also, were you using file fault before upgrading, if thats the case...call apple care.
Thanks for the advice, but no luck. I did the PRAM reset and verified and repaired the disks and the permissions, but it's still stuck at the login screen. Below the apple logo is only the guest account which is requiring a password I don't have. My home profile is missing so I can't logon.
I also have the same issue
I am having the same problem. I can see my wife's profile and a guest profile but not my own. So far, I am not too impressed with this. Is something happening to Apple QA? Can I go back to Snow Lepord?
Same problem here. The only login offered is the Guest account, and none of the passwords I would have set it up with are accepted (and I haven't used the Guest account in years). Fortunately, I have a second internal hard disk which is a copy of the first, so I am still able to use that, but how can I get my user account back? Why wouldn't Lion at least offer an Admin login?
And... what is the rest of my Lion experience going to be like if they didn't even test this aspect of the OS adequately?!
Apple, I still love you, but this stinks.
Does someone from Apple follow these posts or are we in deep do do right now.
HELP!!!
I just finished installing Lion, and I see a Guest profile and one of the secondary user profiles as login options, but the primary admin level profile is not available.
For some reason, I am able to login to the secondary user profile without entering a password. From there, I am able to open up system preferences. It shows that my admin level primary profile is now labeled a "group."
When I try to click the lock to open up the ability to edit the profiles, I enter the name and password of the admin level account, but it rejects those credentials. So, I have no way of editing system preferences.
Using instructions provided by The Unofficial Apple Weblog back in 2008, I was able to boot up in Single-User Mode and use Unix commands to remove the file signifying that Apple Setup was complete.
Note that the final command they list ( shutdown /h now) does not work. Just type the word exit in the command line instead.
Upon reboot, I was able to step through the set-up assistant portion of the OS X Lion installation process.
I set-up a new admin user making sure to use a unique full name, username, and password (not the same as the profile that's missing and needs to be restored). After finishing the set-up process, I was able to login as an admin level user with the newly created profile.
Once you are back in the system as an admin, click on the System Preferences icon in the Dock. When the System Prefernces pane opens, select "Accounts" under the "System" section. Then create a new user profile, but this time input the exact full name, username, and password of the missing admin profile you want to restore. Be sure to assign it an admin level status. A message will pop up telling you that a directory with that username already exists. Click the option that states something like "use existing directory." This will attach the new profile you're creating to the orphaned user directory. Be patient. The pinwheel will spin for up to 5 minutes as the Mac creates the new profile and links it to the existing directory.
When it's done, you will see the new profile show up in the user list. You may logout and login with your restored profile.
I decided to keep the temporary admin profile I created as a backup login in case something ever goes awry with my primary profile. Perhaps there's a drawback to that decision, but it seemed like a good idea.
Solution featured at http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1191262
* Enter Rescue Mode by booting whilst pressing down Cmd + R
* Open Tools -> Terminal
* Enter 'resetpassword' which will allow you to reset password for the root account
* Change root password and reboot
* Login with the root account
* Enter System Settings -> Accounts
* Create your old account with exactly the same name, username and password
* It will complain that the account already exists, press 'use existing folder'
* Wait... If you have a lot of files on your account, it will take a long time. Mine took 15 min approx.
Did the trick for me!
THANKS. It worked!!!!
We just installed LION on our desktop Imac and it is now asking for a password. We never had a password prior and shouldn't have one now. Anyone know what to do????
Gotta follow Sebastian's instructions above.
Haven't tried it yet, but seems to be working elsewhere.
Obviously, there is definitely a problem within the Lion installing after an upgrade
Had this problem. I have the hard disk protected so that any removal of the hard disk (eg if the mac was stolen) would require a password. When I booted with cmd-r it asked me for the password. I wonder whether this was the problem during the install.
I saw this post on MacRumors also, and by following these steps, I was back to normal. I'll tell you, it was a heart-stopping moment when Lion finished and my user account had disappeared. And I had read a lot about Lion and pre-installation issues too. I don't recall ever seeng a warning about this little surprise.
Profiles missing after Lion install