I have asked this before ..

If the t..v.. folder you created in your /Users folder truly contains the same data as your "apple" folder, then you can simply create a new administrator account, and make the "account name" the same name as that folder. The t...v... folder just has to be all lower case with no spaces (if it's not, then stop here and don't do this). Then you could simply log out of your current account that uses the apple folder and into the new one you just created. You'll get an error message about the folder existing, but then you select to use it anyway. This also corrects permissions issues at the same time.

Again, listen to etresoft for now, though. If that doesn't pan out, you can just follow what I've posted.

Imp68 wrote:

That apple folder IS your shortname.

If you see all your expected data when you're logged into your account, then all you need to do is follow the instructions in the very first link I posted to change the name of the apple folder.

A user's home directory name and short user name are two different things. Normally they are the same, but they don't have to be. That User Tip you referenced is appropriate for someone who just wants to change their user name and home directory name, when nothing else is screwed up. In this case, things are all messed up so I wouldn't recommend following those instructions. According to what altv posted, the account name is the "surname but all lower case" whereas the home directory is "apple".

It may be that the actual short name is still not the same as the home directory, when all is said and done. We may still need to rename the home directory to match the short user name. Perhaps altv had a space in there or something and that is what caused problems.

@etresoft: Those instructions would make any differences in short user name and account name (which is highly unlikely anyway) completely irrelevant, since a new user is created using that method. It's already been established that "apple" is the home folder, which is all that method cares about.

@altv: In my previous post, I just want to emphasize "truly contains the same data". If you did end up following what I said there, keep in mind that a user's home folder also contains a hidden library.

I wanted to edit my last post, but it expired...so...

@altv: pay attention to etresoft's method, not mine, for now.

@etresoft: while that link I posted would resolve the issue, what you've posted is more accurate to undoing what likely happened in the first place. I misread a tiny detail when reading one of the follow up posts. My apologies, you are right.