moochpooch
Level 1
(0 points)
Q: Changing home directory name to match account name on Yosemite
Is there a not too complicated/cumbersome way I can change my home directory name to match my account name?
Here's why. A friend helped me do a clean install of Yosemite on my Mac Mini. He put my user account back onto the computer but did not put the rest of my stuff back, so I used Migration Assistant to do a complete transfer from a backup I had on an external drive. When it came to my user account, Migration Assistant detected the user account my friend had already put back onto the Mini. I wasn't sure what to do, so I think I selected the option to include my backed-up user account in the migration onto the Mini, with the existing user account being retained but saved in the Deleted Users folder.
As a result, my home directory is now named "MyName 1" instead of just "MyName" (as it used to be before the clean install and migration); however, my account name in System Preferences-->Users and Groups is still just called "MyName". This is definitely not that big of a deal, but it just kind of bugs me on a personal level.
Would the third option described in this web article work on Yosemite to make the change I'm describing?
http://www.macworld.com/article/2107780/change-your-short-username-in-os-x-10-9- mavericks.html
If not--or if it's truly not recommended to attempt changing my home directory name--I will just try to live with it. But it would be nice to be able to make such a change.
Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10)
pedro d
Community Specialists
Hello there, moochpooch.
The following Knowledge Base article offers up the steps for how to change your home directory name on your Mac:
OS X: How to change your account name or home directory name - Apple Support
Changing the account name
Use the steps below to change your user account name. Before following these steps, you should back up your important data. OS X includes Time Machine, a feature that helps you back up and restore your important files to another drive or network volume.
OS X v10.7 and later
- Log out of the original account and into an Administrator account.
Note: This needs to be a different account than the one you are renaming. If necessary, create a new, second admin account, log into it to complete the following steps, and then remove the extra account when you are done.
- Navigate to the /Users folder in Finder.
- Rename the home folder for the old account, being sure to make note of both the old account name and the new account name.
- Type in the current account's administrator password when prompted.
- Open System Preferences, then click the Users & Groups icon.
- Click the lock in the preferences window and enter the administrator name and password you are logged in as.
- Right-click or control-click on the account you want to rename.
- Choose Advanced Options from the shortcut menu that appears.
- Change the Account name field to match the new name of the folder in /Users.
- Change the Home directory field to match the new name of the folder in /Users.
- Click OK, and close the System Preferences screen.
- Log out of the current administrator account, and into the original (renamed) account.
- Verify your old files and folders are visible and that the account is working normally.
Being that you already have a user as "MyName", you won't be able to proceed without renaming the initial "MyName" directory to something else first.
If you are sure you want to delete that user, you can refer to this article for clarification:
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.
