macOS High Sierra (version 10.13.3 17D102) Renaming Admin Account Name

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Level 1

16 points

macOS High Sierra (version 10.13.3 17D102) Renaming Admin Account Name

Hi,

I have recently reinstalled macOS High Sierra (version 10.13.3 17D102) onto my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) creating a new administration user account.

I now wish to change the name of this administration account and am unsure on how to proceed.

I followed the instructions I found online accessing the Advanced Options in User's & Groups and tried the process on a spare 13" MacBook running the same macOS High Sierra. I found that rather changing the name it changed my access rights from Administration to Standard.

Is there anyway of changing a name safely of an Administration account in macOS High Sierra?

I am aware I could create another Administration account but I would rather not waste time setting this up with all my preferences / files / programmes etc again.

Many thanks in advance for your help - you guys always come through for me!

Stophen.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 10.3.3, macOS High Sierra Version 10.13.3

Posted on Mar 17, 2018 2:46 AM

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Answer 1

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tygb

Level 9

64,588 points

Mar 17, 2018 11:00 AM in response to Stophen

See this article Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder - Apple Support

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Answer 2

tygb

Level 9

64,588 points

Mar 17, 2018 11:00 AM in response to Stophen

If admin account name is changed and converted into standard account , enter in single user mode .

Choose Apple menu > Restart, or press the power button if your Mac is turned off.
Press Command-S as your Mac starts up.
The screen is black with standard white text. You can now run the UNIX commands that you want.
Execute this command .

mv /var/db/.AppleSetupDone /var/db/.OldAppleSetupDone

Then press enter key after that .

exit

Restart the Mac , then it will prompt language then create a new user account .

Note : in the first terminal command there is space after mv and also after AppleSetupDone

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Answer 3

Stophen Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 17, 2018 7:56 AM in response to tygb

Hi,

Thanks for the article. I have tried this approach before on my spare MacBook, the result being a change to Standard user and the loss of Administration rights.

Is there a better way of carrying out this task?

Cheers,

Stophen.

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