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chown -R does not work in terminal what do I do to change home name?

I want to give away or sell my mac but my home directory name is one I use on my other accounts. I have deleted hard drive but my name is still in the guts of the computer HT1428 on how to change the account name did not work for me. I must be doing something wrong in Terminal. I have even tried sudo rm-r/home// but nothing happens. I have tried chmod but I can't understand the protocol for the commands. I don't want to learn Unix, I just want to do this one thing.

iPod touch, iOS 4.3

Posted on Jul 9, 2012 1:42 PM

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7 replies

Jul 9, 2012 1:46 PM in response to bookfever1

Do this:


Prepare Your Mac for Sale


Boot from the OS X Installer Disc One that came with the computer. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select the startup volume from the left side list then click on the Erase tab. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then click on the Options button. Select the one pass Zero Data option and click on the OK button. Then click on the Erase button.


Note: You can skip the Zero Data option if you are not concerned about removing sensitive personal data from the hard drive. If you choose to skip this part of the process then it is possible for others to recover data from the hard drive. The Zero Data procedure will prevent others from getting access to your personal information.


This process will take 30 minutes to several hours depending upon the size of the hard drive. After formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Now complete the OS X installation. At the completion of the installation do not restart the computer. Instead just shut it off. The next user will be presented with the Setup Assistant when they turn on the computer just as it would if new out of the box.


Be sure to include the installer discs for the OS X version you install per the above.

Jul 9, 2012 2:15 PM in response to Kappy

Okay, I put the installer disk in and select the language and then the icons appeared with my hard drive and installer disc. I went up to the tool bar and select disc utility but did not see any erase. I don't have to zero out my hard drive, which I did last night and it took over 6 hours. I will try to find this disc erase again. But you have to be very specific with me even though I've owned macs since 1984.

Jul 9, 2012 3:14 PM in response to bookfever1

I went back to my computer after 30 minutes and now it is creating a temporary file. I hit skip and it appears stuck. If it doesn't complete this "skipping" then I'll just start over. I've been at this for several hours now. Most of my computers were not salvageable but this one is fine. It just doesn't have the intel chip. Hmmm. Guess I should not have hit skip. I will try again. But I have to leave it on since I now have to leave my apartment.

chown -R does not work in terminal what do I do to change home name?

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