Messed up account name with "root" user; can't find folders: how can I fit it?

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Level 1

12 points

Messed up account name with "root" user; can't find folders: how can I fit it?

Hi. I used these instructions, below, to change the account name and rename the home folder on my MacBookAir. Sadly, I did something wrong, because now when I log-in or restart I seem to be getting set-up or default mode. There is no HD on the desktop, no applications in the dock, and I can not find any of the files.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428

Can anyone suggest a way I can fix this and recover my administrator account or otherwise get back to the way it was before? I'm not opposed to reinstalling the system software and starting from scratch, if this is the best way to repair the problem. I'll appreciate any advice. Clearly, I'm not as sophisticated with the MAC OS as I thought. Thanks!

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Jun 10, 2012 12:58 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,386 points

Jun 10, 2012 2:03 PM in response to mcstace

If you have a Time Machine backup, restore it to the state it was before you mucked things up. Alternatively, if you have a bootable backup/clone of that previous state, restore it. If neither, restoring the OS won't fix the problem. All I can suggest is to create a new admin user account, log into it, delete the one you changed, saving its data, recreate it using the same username/password combo, log into it, mount the saved data, and hopefully you can recover everything. When finished, disable the root user account.

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