Unable to delete a user account

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Unable to delete a user account

I bought new MacBook Air about one year ago. That time I thought I wanted to start from the scratch and choose what to to transfer, without transferring everything from my old macbook. Later I changed my mind and transferred old account with settings and all to the new macbook. I use the 'old' account for everything and I would like to get rid of the 'new' account. However, I can't remove it. I've tried to remove it through System Prefereces --> Accounts, but nothing happens. When I try to remove, I asks the confirmation if I really want to remove, I answer Yes and then nothing happens.

I've tried to solve this problem even with Apple Support, but nothing works. The account is just stuck. The 'old' account has different name but same AppleID.

Any ideas what I could do?

MacBook Air (13-INCH, MID 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Feb 4, 2013 1:51 AM

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Answer 1

baltwo

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Feb 4, 2013 10:41 AM in response to annage

Ensure that the old account is an admin account, log into it, and try again.

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Answer 2

annage Author

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Feb 4, 2013 8:03 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks, but unfortunately this didn't help. My old account is admin and I've tried to remove the new one with it. Nothing happens.

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Answer 3

Feb 4, 2013 9:16 PM in response to annage

You can try manually removing the account. To do this, get the account's short name and then run the following command in the Terminal:

sudo dscl . delete /Users/USERNAME

When this is done, you should be able to remove the user's account directory from the /Users folder at the root of the hard drive.

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Answer 4

annage Author

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Feb 4, 2013 10:09 PM in response to Topher Kessler

Thanks,

This might lead to the actual problem. When I checked the short name of my new account, it was actually the username of my old account. If I now manually delete the new account using the short name (that is the same as username of old account), can something happen to my old account?

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Answer 5

Feb 4, 2013 11:27 PM in response to annage

Your account usernames should be unique. Open the Users & Groups system preferences and click the lock to unlock it. Then right-click your user account and show the Advanced information on it. In here check the account short name and the name of the home folder. These are the account names not to delete.

Check the same for the account you are trying to delete. Are they at all the same?

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Answer 6

annage Author

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Feb 5, 2013 1:05 AM in response to Topher Kessler

Thanks again Topher,

The account usernames are unique. Let me try to clarify with correct terms:

Old account (the one I want to keep), Name: XX, short name: YY

New account (the one I want to delete), Name: ZZ, short name: XX

If I now delete manually as follows: sudo dscl . delete /Users/XX

is the New account deleted or the Old account? Or can my mac even get confused?

In Finder, I can't see a home drive XX, only home drive YY.

Does this make sense?

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