Gooday,
Purchased 2nd hand iMac and deleted previous Administrator but now get a screen I cannot close which says when I click on it-: User Groups Preferences is removing the user account name -------- and saving The Home Directory to a disk Image.
Can someone please advise what I have done wrong and how do I get rid of this screen.
Cheers,
Thomas J.
iMac
It sounds like you have to wait for the task to complete. If the old user had a lot of data then it can take a long time to save to the disk image, especially if you are low on disk space. Once it competes you can delete the disk image if you no longer need that users data.
It seems like you may have chosen the wrong option, perhaps you should have agreed to delete the home folder data instead?
I suspect you will just need to wait, post back if it looks like the task has stalled, but patience is often the best way to handle issues like this.
Even though this is "after the fact," you might want to still follow these instruction for how to truly make the new Mac yours.
What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support
The problem with deleting the old user account is that you're attempting to delete the user with Administrator privileges. Someone needs to be the Admin and you'll need those old passcode, etc, to reassign them. Starting afresh is the best way.
Rysz, I think the OS forces you to have another admin before you can remove the last admin account.
I agree with your main point, removing all traces of the last user(s) can be tough. It's best to login to the store, purchase a suitable OS, then erase & start fresh with a new install. Otherwise there may be apps from the old user (which can prevent you updating from the store) or other associations to iTunes, iCloud or other services etc.
You may be able to use Internet recovery mode to download the OS that shipped with the Mac it may be a few versions old depending on your model.
Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery - Apple Support
About macOS Recovery - Apple Support
I'd contemplate making a bootable USB installer to make the erase & reinstall process smoother after downloading the OS installer…
Create a bootable installer for OS X - Apple Support
Or use the app from diskmakerx.com
Gooday,
Just been to check the iMac problem and after I shut it down and restart, the delinquent screen has disappeared,
Phew!, however the previous Administrator still slows on the start up screen, looks like I will have to contact him again to get his password to do the removal again the right way.
A sincere thank you to those who replied with great information.
Cheers,
Thomas J.
Have you rebooted?
You really need to consider erasing & reinstalling, simply removing the user account does very little to remove other system wide associations as previously mentioned.
Thanks Mate will do.
Cheers,
Thomas J.
Deleted Administrator but still removing it?
