Desktop frozen

There are several ways to accomplish your recovery.

I can thinks of these ideas.

1) target disk mode. Do you have another firewire mac?

2) rename the desktop folder.

Here is the location of your desktop folder.

/Users/your-short-name/Desktop

3) create a new admin account.

Here is how to create a new admin account.

Get the Mac to set up an additional administrative account. You can then change the password on your old account.

Start with your computer power off. Hold down command-s. Power on your computer.

Type in the following:

The first two commands will depend on your release of Mac OS X. Look at what is typed out in the console to determine the exact format.

# Type the follow two instructions to access the startup disk in read/write. Press return after each command.

# in case of partial success repeat this command until errors go away.

/sbin/fsck -fy

/sbin/mount -uw /

cd /var/db

pwd

#List all files. The l is a lower case L.

ls -a

#The move command acts as a rename command in this format.

mv -i .applesetupdone .applesetupdone.old

# reboot your mac

shutdown -r now

Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!!

Limnos adds detailed explainations:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8441597#8441597

The above the idea came from a post by JoseAranda at September 9, 2006 3:48 AM

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_reset_my_mac_os_x_admin_root_password.html

You will need to scroll down to see this post. Search for applesetupdone

This method is mentioned in an apple support page without giving an explanation.

Once you have a new administrative account, you can change the password of your old administrative account

blue apple > System Preferences > Accounts

System Preferences > Accounts, unlock the Lock, choose Login Options, there you can set which Account to automatically Login, or disable that & present a list of users. 🙂

I tried a few things.

blue apple > System Preferences... > Accounts

Here is were autologon takes place

!!! Notice Login Options at the bottom of account names !!!

An easier way to change permissions.

BatChmod.app

or get info click on file/folder command + i

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Be very careful with this.

You need to get into single use mode for steps one and two that are listed below.

This page will tell you how to get into single user mode.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1492

Basically, you hold down the command + s key then powering on your machine. The command key has a little apple symbol on the lower left. It is between the alt/option key and the space bar. On a PC keyboard, it will be the windows key, I think.

here is the rename the desktop. I tried it & it works.

be sure to include the -i option. It prevents folder overlays.

ichat is your short user name

sudo mv -i /Users/ichat/Desktop/ /Users/ichat/Desktop22

if spaces in name, you use "

ls is list l is lower case L

cd is change directory

ls -l is list long.

sudo mv -i "/Users/ichat/Desktop/" "/Users/ichat/Desktop22"

mac $ ls /Users
Deleted Users/                         me/
Shared/                                mysidekick/
SpotlightIndexedFolder on  >Users.txt  na copy/
a (Deleted)/                           na-old/
compile/                               seeker/
ftp/                                   standard/
ichat/                                 startup/
mac/                                   student/
macLimited/                            t2-org/
macPanels/                             web/
mac $ #Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
mac $ # press return to run the command.
mac $ #The sudo command will ask for your administration password. No characters will appear when typing your password. Press return when done typing. sudo stands for super user do.  It's just like root. Be careful.
mac $ sudo mv -i /Users/ichat/Desktop/ /Users/ichat/Desktop22

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:
mac $ # You may not get the password request. 
# no reponse means success.

When you open Terminal, you'll see 2 lines like this...

Last login: Sun Jun 9 10:33:12 on ttys000

QS2002-G5:~ bdaqua$

Your shortname is after the ~ and before the $

Here it is bdaqua

Boot up from installation disc. See if you can find internal drive. look around.

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the command:

in single user mode:

ls /Users

give you a list of all users. Your husbands will be one in the list.

look around with ls & cd

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Here is an overview of the terminal commands. Lets assume that your account has a short user name of mac.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
#What is my short user name? Type the whoami command.
mac $ whoami
mac
mac $
#How to list all of your disks.
# The ls command is for list
mac $ ls /Volumes/
Audio CD Macintosh-HD Spotless Tiger-ext
mac $
# Let's say your flash drive is named Spotless

# cd is change directory
mac $ cd /Volumes/Spotless
# pwd is print working directory
mac $ pwd
/Volumes/Spotless
mac $
# The ls command is for list # l is long # F is type of file where / is directory mac $ ls -lF
total 134704
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x 83 mac staff 2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files/
drwxrwxrwx 12 mac staff 408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards/
drwxr-xr-x 9 mac staff 306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009/
... trimmed ... What does all this mean?

drwxrwxrwx

d = directory
r = read
w = write
x = executeable program

drwxrwxrwx
| | |
| | all other users not in first two types
| |
| group
|
owner
Every Unix resource: files, folders, etc has an owner, group, other
a file has one owner.
a file has one group. A group contains a list of users.

To gain access to a file. You can be the owner, in the group, or not being the owner or in the group you ended up as other. Each of these categories has read, write, or execute permissions.

# l is long
# a is all to show hidden files & folders
mac $ ls -lFa
total 134736
drwxr-xr-x 41 mac staff 1496 Dec 22 17:11 .
drwxrwxrwt 8 root admin 272 Dec 24 13:55 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 15364 Dec 23 12:52 .DS_Store*
drwx------ 4 mac staff 136 Jan 22 2009 .Spotlight-V100
drwxrwxrwt 5 mac staff 170 Sep 14 16:36 .TemporaryItems
d-wx-wx-wx 4 mac staff 136 Dec 31 1969 .Trashes
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 64560 Mar 3 2009 A-picture-of-Youpi-key.png
drwxr-xr-x 83 mac staff 2822 Nov 7 14:52 Applescript files
drwxrwxrwx 12 mac staff 408 Dec 13 2008 Christmas Cards
drwxr-xr-x 9 mac staff 306 Dec 21 17:39 Christmas Cards 2009
... trimmed ...
# mv is move or rename
mv -i the-name the-new-name

# You can just rename the file back to what it was with mv command.
mv -i old-name new-name

Here is what these commands mean:
cd is change directory
pwd is a print working directory
ls is list
sudo is Super user do
mv is move or rename

For cryptic comments, you can always uses the manual command which is man. For example:
man mv

# Type the letter q to quit.
In case you have spaces in your filenames or directories, you need to escape them. See examples:

mac $ ls -l ~/"see it"
-rw-r--r-- 1 mac staff 3171 Oct 26 23:38 /Users/mac/see it
mac $
mac $ cd /Users/mac/Desktop/ttt\ html\ copy/

Do you know about tabing? Type in a few letters of a name then press the tab key. The computer will type out the rest of the name if it is unique.

Press the up arrow key to see the previous command(s).

To edit a command, use the left arror key to more left and the right arror key to move right. Use the delete key to delete the key to the left. Type a letter to insert.

history to see many previous commands.

mac $ history

2 man launchd.conf

3 history

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http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2692161&tstart=0

Robert

short ( login ) name:

blue apple > System Preferences... > Accounts

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Using your startup dvd to examine your internal drive:

Now, look for your startup drive. Double click on it as usual.