How do I change owner's name? Just bought macbook pro off my son and want to put my name on the computer instead of his. please help.

Changing your Mac’s computer name:

• Launch ‘System Preferences’
• Click the ‘Sharing’ icon
• Type in what you want your Mac’s new computer name to be
• Close ‘System Preferences’ – it’s that easy

This is how to change what you're looking for. Risk-free and super simple!

That's because his account is still present and you are logged into that. You could remove his and set up your own in Sys Prefs>Accounts. However, there may be some applications or items specific to his account you might want to keep. For the time being, I would suggest keeping his account. Just log in to the new one you create.

In addition, if his account has administrator privileges, you don't want to remove that until you set up your own with same. However, it may be safer to run as standard and keep an admin account around, a new one or his, for purposes of authenticating when required.

If it's a used computer, you should do nothing less than wipe the drive completelu and reinstall everything from scratch. You can have no idea what's been left behind that might compromise the security of your data. Meaning any sensitive data, like banking info, credit cards, you name it.

Read this Apple article for more. It applies to Snow Leopard, not just Leopard 10.5, as well. Do not use File Vault, noted therein, it's unreliable and can lead to massive problems.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3309

It can be done, but it may be risky.

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

Looks like I'll just have to make do with the new administrator account I''ve set up for myself and ignore his account.

Sounds prudent.

Walwal wrote:

Some of the links from the link you sent were no longer available but I did find an apple support page (can't find it again) that showed how to enable root user, except when I got to the final screen "enable root user" wasn't an option. That was supposed to lead me on to changing his name to mine without removing anything else - I think!

Looks like I'll just have to make do with the new administrator account I''ve set up for myself and ignore his account. Thanks for your input.

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I got to this same point but figured out that you need to select "Edit" from the top of the screen and not within the "Directory Utility" window. The edit drop down has the "Enable Root User" selection. Click on that and follow the rest of the directions

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

The original poster:

How do I change owner's name? Just bought macbook pro off my son and want to put my name on the computer instead of his. please help.

asked about changing the name in the menu bar. THe comments that followed suggested two main options:

1) Changing the actual computer name, which requires changing the home directory. These comments often referenced this page from Apple: Change your OS X account name and home directory name - Apple Support

2) Changing the "Sharing" name

If 2) is NOT what you are after, then just a shout-out that for Yosemite at least the comments provided re: 1) are incorrect. You don't have to change the computer name / home directory (which I would advise against for the reasons provided) in order to change the name appearing in the top menu bar and at logon. You just have to change "Full Name" (and NOTHING ELSE) as per the process described in Change your OS X account name and home directory name - Apple Support

As the documentation shows, changing Full Name does not have the risks associated with changing the account name / home directory.

I have just changed Full Name (in Yosemite) and it is a 5-second job. The name in the menu bar updated immediately. My login initially still showed the old name, but as soon as I restarted my computer it updated.

Danica43 wrote:

Changing your Mac’s computer name:

The OP want to change his own name where it appears in the menu bar - i.e. he really wants to change the name of the Home Folder, which is a risky thing to try. You are talking about the computer's name as it appears to other computers on the network. This does not appear in the menu bar.

I think this is the solution; however, I can't recall where I used to get the other name appear again to validate. Give it a try, and if proven the correct method, please pass this on to other discussion as I see many people facing similar challenge.

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/57278/changing-the-name-attached-to-my- macbook-pro

NOTE: mainly, you have to go into contact and change "My Card" to your own card. If you see the wrong card, you should delete it first, and if it is a useful card, just add it back in again.

Change it from the Sharing pane of System Preferences, and create a new administrator account in the Accounts pane.

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Thank you Danica!! That was super simple 🙂

Thanks Danica

Thanks so much!