10-22-2010, 06:02 PM

Greetings,

I am a tech at a company with many windows boxes about 5 Macs.

I use my windows experience to troubleshoot Mac issues (just starting to learn and so far so good).

Anyways, I have a user who has problem saving files or opening files. The files take a lot longer then they should. Mainly the files are Adobe Illustrator. (located on the network)

If I or anyone else logs into the Mac those files open and save as they should.

The problematic user currently runs Snow Leopard (with all the updates) but used to run Leopard. One of my co-worker used time machine to backup the users files etc. I think something happened and something got corrupted.

I have googled and done quite a few things but nothing has worked yet.

The Macs are joined to a windows domain.

In the windows world to test my theory I would rename the users profile (same as the Home Folder) that is cached in the PC and when the user logs back in it would re-create the profile (home folder) with a new one from scratch. If my theory proves right I would then move only the files back into the profile folder (home folder).

Can this be done in a Mac as I would in windows? I did find how to rename the home folder but I do not know if it actually has the same purpose as what I would do in windows.

Thank you

10-22-2010, 06:06 PM

If it works fine with other user logons, delete the problematic user, create a new one and name it slightly different (just to be sure nothing is attached to the profile name). If you have a Time Machine backup of all essential data, then once the new user is up and running you can restore your apps, media, data, etc. from Time Machine.

10-22-2010, 07:31 PM

Thank you for the quick response.

The user is tied to a windows domain/active directory account so the user ID I can't really delete. But, renaming the Home Folder would be what I would like to do.

If I rename the Home Folder and then the user logs in will the process create a new Home Folder with fresh settings for the user? or will it use the renamed Home Folder?

10-22-2010, 08:40 PM

From Mac Help:

About the home folder

The home folder stores your personal information. A home folder is created for each user of your computer when his or her account is set up. The home folder isn’t actually named “Home”; its name is the same as the user’s short name as specified in the user account. If you are the only user of your computer, there is only one user account and one home folder.

To see your home folder, click the Finder icon in the Dock. Then in the sidebar on the left side of the window, click your home folder—the one with a house icon.

The folders inside your home folder are set up to make it easy to find various types of files on your computer:

Desktop: The files and folders that appear on your desktop.

Documents: Most files you save on your computer, such as text documents.

Downloads: Files you download from a local network, the web, or other source.

Library: Files used by the Mac OS and your applications, including your personal fonts and preferences.

Movies: Your digital movies.

Music: Your digital music files, including MP3 and AAC files used by iTunes.

Pictures: Your digital photos.

Public: Files you want to make available to other users on your network.

Sites: Webpages for hosting your personal websites.

You can’t change the name of a home folder. If you want to use a different short user name, you must create a new user account (this requires administrator privileges). You can then move items from your previous home folder to your new home folder if you wish.