Accounts v Users in OS X

[ben1010]

Hi,
I am new to Macs and hoping someone can help me with this question. I just purchased, and am very happy with, a used Powerbook running OS X Leopard. One thing is puzzling me so far. Right now there's one user account, which is an admin account, which I've renamed "User1". I can control this account (set the name, set the password), through System Preferences|Accounts. But it seems that "under the hood" as it were, the BSD (?) user is named something else, let's call it joeschmo. So when I go to Finder I find myself at Powerbook G4 --> Users --> joeschmo, which is where all my stuff gets stored. The reason I'm calling this the "BSD under the hood user" is that the terminal prompt begins $joeschmo, and I can see that all my stuff in stored in /Users/joeschmo.

So my question has two parts. First, for superficial reasons, I'd like to be able to change the name "joeschmo" to something else, ideally matching the user name in Accounts. Second, I want to understand what's going on and how OS X works. I'm familiar with WIndows and Linux and right now it seems to me I've got both a Windows-style logon name and a Linux-style user...

Thanks!

 

[Rottie]

Hi there,
Why don't you just create a new user account and assign it admin privileges, then delete the troublesome account?

 

[ben1010]

Thanks for the suggestion but I'd like to understand the difference between the two kinds of accounts before I change anything.

 

[6string]

Mac OS X 10.5: Working with user accounts and Accounts preferences

 

[ben1010]

Mac OS X 10.5: Working with user accounts and Accounts preferences

Thanks but I don't see anything relevant there.

Maybe someone can help me with a simpler question. On a typical OS X setup, does the account name that you see in "Accounts" (or when you go to click "Log Out ___") generally match the name you see in /Users? (i.e. the user name at the command prompt).

 

[McYukon]

Thanks but I don't see anything relevant there.

Maybe someone can help me with a simpler question. On a typical OS X setup, does the account name that you see in "Accounts" (or when you go to click "Log Out ___") generally match the name you see in /Users? (i.e. the user name at the command prompt).

Yes, its both the same (The short User Name), unless you change the short user name in the Users Pref Pane.
In which case the short name in the /users folder will be different than the one in the "Log Out" menu item.

And if you want to do a complete user name change, read through this article.
Changing the short username in Leopard | Mac OS X | Macworld

 

[ben1010]

Ah that's what I wanted to know. Thanks!

Yes, its both the same (The short User Name), unless you change the short user name in the Users Pref Pane.
In which case the short name in the /users folder will be different than the one in the "Log Out" menu item.

And if you want to do a complete user name change, read through this article.
Changing the short username in Leopard | Mac OS X | Macworld