SteveDC
Level 1
(114 points)
Q: What to do with extra user account formed during migration from PC
I'm a new Mac user (MacBook Pro). I seem to have an extra account and am not sure why. Here's what happened:
I setup my MacBook Pro and did not run Migration Assistant at that time. I later ran Migration Assistant to migrate PC files to the MacBook. A second account was created after the migration. All my PC content is in the second account. None in the original account. When I look at the Users & Groups in System Preferences, I see that both accounts are Admin accounts.
So, what now? Do I keep using the second account with my PC files, move the files to my original account, delete one of the accounts, etc. I understand new accounts can be made standard accounts, and that can be preferable from a security view, but I prefer to have just one Admin account for everything, unless there is a strong reason not to.
Also, if you could explain the issue with "short names", picking them, and then it being hard to change them I'd appreciate it.
Thank you.
Pondini
Level 8
(38,747 points)
SteveDC wrote:
. . .
I setup my MacBook Pro and did not run Migration Assistant at that time. I later ran Migration Assistant to migrate PC files to the MacBook. A second account was created after the migration. All my PC content is in the second account.
Yes, that's how Migration Assistant works. If you'd used Setup Assistant when your new Mac first started up, you'd only have the one account.
So, what now? Do I keep using the second account with my PC files, move the files to my original account, delete one of the accounts, etc. I understand new accounts can be made standard accounts, and that can be preferable from a security view, but I prefer to have just one Admin account for everything, unless there is a strong reason not to.
You can delete the account you don't want, or keep it. Keeping it might be useful if there's ever a problem with the other account that prevents you from logging-on to it.
Also, if you could explain the issue with "short names", picking them, and then it being hard to change them I'd appreciate it.
That is one of the few things that are hard to change. It can be done, but is not recommended by Apple. The problem appears to be the connection between the user account and the home folder that need to be the same. Some folks have reported permissions problems after doing it, too. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428 (note the Additional Information at the bottom).
Alternatively, you could start over and re-transfer, via one of the workarounds in the green box of Problems after using Migration Assistant, but it's probably not worth the hassle.
