03-24-2011, 04:29 PM

First, I beg for mercy. I'm a WINdoze guy thru and thru , and just starting to tackle the MAC world, (and by tackle I mean 'tiptoe in').

Migrated one of my users from a Macbook to a MacbookPro via the migration tool/Firewire cable. Cool tool but it appears some problems followed her to this machine. (No, we didn't know ahead of time, not fully anyway)

Here's the issue, "TOMMY" (who's listed in PLACES) no longer works here, but "HOLLY" does...and all of Tommys stuff has Hollys name on it EXCEPT "PLACES", (Like Libraries and her documents, all Hollys) which in my Windows world is the profile/or account. Haven't found a place to rename Tommy to Holly so... I imagine we have some work to do.. (No worries about Windows AD either... we fixed it there long ago)

Since the migration of data and software is complete, and all of Holly's data has her name on it.....

DO I:
Rename Tommy to Holly in PLACES, and where?? (note: I have a feeling no one knows the KEYCHAIN PW in case that creeps in)
OR:
Rename all the Holly stuff back to Tommy, then create the NEW Holly account and move it all over to the Holly account and eventually dump the Tommy account??
AND:
If yes, uhhhhh HOW? Is there a utility? Software? Pot luck? Drag n drop?

I'm open to all suggestions, BUT, it'll need to be dumbed down for this WINdoze guy if you don't mind....

Thanks gang

03-25-2011, 07:46 AM

When Holly logs in is /Users/holly an icon of a house or folder?

If house then drag Tommy out of places and drag Holly into places.

If holly icon is folder or absent and only tommy icon exist there you may need to work on creating new account and moving data. I typically move users locally with a separate local admin account using the cp -Rv command then correcting the permissions afterward to reflect the newly created user.

03-25-2011, 09:36 AM

Thanks for replying. Not sure where this is, but I'm trying...

Upon startup, we have Holly and Administrator (Holly is also an admin, I dont see a house here, I see a Gingerbread man, seriously... I know its just an icon, but I need to know if THIS is the spot you need me to look in).
Upon logging in....
Upon GO > COMPUTER, in the left column, under PLACES, we have TOMMY (as a HOUSE icon)(and SYSTEM PREFERENCES matches this) and below it , folders with Holly's name (Note: She may have created the 'Holly' folder, only because all the other folders seem to pertain to things she created for work)

Under SYS/PREFERENCES > SHARING > USERS I see HOLLY, STAFF, and EVERYONE. (Holly has R+W, others have Read)

Hope this helps...
MM

03-26-2011, 10:50 AM

/Users/holly = CUsers\holly (Win7). "/" references the root point of the HD no drive letters in OS X.

Sounds like the "Full Name" was renamed to Holly but the "shortname" is still tommy. This is what the giud is bound to. Can't change it.

Change "Full Name" Holly back to Tommy and create a Holly account. Reboot, login as Administrator and sudo cp -Rv from /Users/tommy/ to /Users/holly (check paths) then change the permissions of the holly directories eg Documents, Downloads, Library etc to have holly be the owner versus tommy.

If you don't change the permissions first before logging in the preferences files that are denied permission will be set to defaults when holly logs in. Not the end of the world, but if you want to preserve all settings you need to change permissions first.

03-29-2011, 10:44 AM

Just a little clarification on the line below please?

""and sudo cp -Rv""

Going to tackle this in the next 48 I think..

MM

03-29-2011, 03:04 PM

and = conjunction

sudo = substitute user do (basically run as administrator for the command line)

cp -Rv = copy including subdirectories with verbose output in the terminal

EG:

sudo cp -Rv /Users/tommy/Desktop /Users/holly/Desktop

Do that for each subfolder of tommy

You will be asked for an admin users password you are currently logged in as.

Then you'll need to change the owner post copy

sudo chown -R holly /Users/holly/

03-29-2011, 03:11 PM

UPDATE: IGNORE PREVIOUS:

Is this what I need??

Mac OS X: How to change user short name or home directory name

For Mac OS X 10.5 or later

Enable the root user. Log in as root.

Navigate to the /Users folder.

Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.

Use the Accounts pane in System Preferences to create a new user with the short name that you used in the previous step.

Click OK when "A folder in the Users folder already has the name 'short name'. Would you like to use that folder as the Home folder for this user account?" Note: This will correct the ownership of all files in the Home folder, and avoid permissions issues with the contents.

Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.

Log in as the newly created user. You should be able to access all of your original files (on the desktop, in Documents, and in the other folders of this Home).

After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Accounts pane of System Preferences.

Disable the root user.

03-29-2011, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by Mr Mayor

UPDATE: IGNORE PREVIOUS:

Is this what I need??

Mac OS X: How to change user short name or home directory name

For Mac OS X 10.5 or later

Enable the root user. Log in as root.

Navigate to the /Users folder.

Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.

Use the Accounts pane in System Preferences to create a new user with the short name that you used in the previous step.

Click OK when "A folder in the Users folder already has the name 'short name'. Would you like to use that folder as the Home folder for this user account?" Note: This will correct the ownership of all files in the Home folder, and avoid permissions issues with the contents.

Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.

Log in as the newly created user. You should be able to access all of your original files (on the desktop, in Documents, and in the other folders of this Home).

After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Accounts pane of System Preferences.

Disable the root user.

Woa STOP THERE

Dont log in as 'Root User" as this can do untold damage to the system and then a re-install will be needed.
I wont continue on what MacsWork is doing as i dont want to confuse you and i dont know Terminal enough to advise.

BUT DONT LOG IN AS ROOT IMO

Unless you are *totally* comfortable about rooting around in Root. It is dangerous in there and have seen threads all to many even from seasoned users of stuffing up there machine because they logged in as Root and put a comma or something somewhere it shouldnt be...

Just a word of warning is all

Cheers

03-29-2011, 08:18 PM

Good find,...

Give it a try.

Don't be afraid of root. It's just the same as Windows Administrator.

I've not tried that method before. I've done the manual copy a few times successfully and never bothered to google it.