How do I find the hidden User Library folder in El Capitan?

Question

How do I find the hidden User Library folder in El Capitan?

Situation; a friend has given me a Macbook Pro to upgrade so he can use it with more modern software. The first time it came up it worked perfectly, using his login credentials. Went through the process to get the computer upgraded to El Capitan, which went perfectly, right up through the proper Shutdown sequence. Tried starting up again after letting the Macbook Pro sit for 2 weeks, and now I cannot login to the user account, and there is only 1 admin account on the computer. Happens to be the account that cannot be logged into.

I need to get into the users Home Folder/Library, and now that I cannot login, it isn't possible to use the Go... Finder Window utility. I need to reset the User's account, but Disk Utility is useless these days, although it does fix broken Finder problems. Cannot reset Admin Account Passwords any more either. Yes, I know, Security Risk. But.....

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on May 21, 2016 10:51 PM

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Answer 1

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,028 points

May 21, 2016 11:03 PM in response to John Cook (USA)

Finder>Go hold the option key

If you need to show it permanently

Open your Finder>Go> Home folder then command J to see view options

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Answer 2

Niel

Community+ 2026

Level 10

742,739 points

May 21, 2016 11:03 PM in response to John Cook (USA)

If you’re able to access the home folder in the Finder when started up from another system, open it, choose Go to Folder from the Go menu, and provide Library as the path.

If you’re using the Disk Utility to copy files off, do so for the entire home folder.

If you’re using the Terminal, navigate to the home folder and run ‘cd Library’ without the quotes.

(142454)

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Answer 3

May 21, 2016 11:12 PM in response to leroydouglas

Am booted from a USB stick and although I can see the User's Home folder, I cannot use the Command J on a different disk. Remember, this is a disk that I cannot log into because the credentials stopped working.

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Answer 4

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,028 points

May 21, 2016 11:21 PM in response to John Cook (USA)

John Cook (USA) wrote:

Am booted from a USB stick and although I can see the User's Home folder, I cannot use the Command J on a different disk. Remember, this is a disk that I cannot log into because the credentials stopped working.

Change or reset the password of an OS X user account - Apple Support

if after working through this kb article and no luck,

If you still can't log in with your password, contact Apple Support for help.

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Answer 5

May 21, 2016 11:20 PM in response to Niel

Permission Denied when attempting to CD Library from the Terminal.

I can see where command line might be better, if I could simply CD into the folder.

Again, I am booted from a USB Stick and doing all this from the 10.11 on the USB Stick.

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Answer 6

May 21, 2016 11:24 PM in response to leroydouglas

That might work, but there is literally nothing on the screen except the user account entry area and password entry. No Date/Time, No Apple, No Networking, etc...

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Answer 7

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,028 points

May 21, 2016 11:28 PM in response to John Cook (USA)

FileVault login

If you've enabled full disk encryption using FileVault, you're prompted to enter your user account name and password to unlock your startup disk.

Lock icon

If you set a firmware password on your Mac, you might see a lock icon at startup if you try to start your Mac from another volume like an external drive or OS X Recovery. Enter your firmware password to continue starting up.

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Answer 8

May 22, 2016 12:13 AM in response to leroydouglas

Neither of those security conditions apply to this error.

I do know the difference. I was AASP for a Higher Ed environment for over 25 years, and am also AMCT or equivalent since 1990.

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,726 points

May 22, 2016 4:36 AM in response to John Cook (USA)

What did you use for a path?

The internal hard drive will be mounted at /Volumes, so you'll need to start from there. For example,

/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/username/Library

This applies to both the Terminal or Go To Folder.

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Answer 10

May 23, 2016 9:29 AM in response to Barney-15E

Yes, I know enough command line to know the different drives are in "/Volumes/DriveName/. No, because of the security error, there was no way to fix this. Kept getting access Restricted errors.

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Answer 11

May 23, 2016 9:37 AM in response to John Cook (USA)

So, long story short. The user did have all of his stuff backed up so this was easier to fix. Formatted Level 1 wipe of the drive to completely clear all entries. Once formatted, clean fresh install of El Capitan using his iCloud Credentials made this easy to fix. He can restore his data later.

Thank you all for all the suggestions. I have been ACMT for more than 25 years, so have seen most of this before, but until this time, I could always get into the Users/Home Folder. El Capitan breaks all that capability. Because his data was backed up, the decision to format was easy.

John

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Answer 12

May 23, 2016 9:42 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks, but FileVault was not enabled, nor was there a System Lock. This was an OLD 10.5.8 system when I received it. Just put the latest update on it this morning, and it is running 10.11.5. All is good now.

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