2 users with same User ID, Big Problems

Question

I currently have User A from macbook 1 (old user I no longer use) and User B from macbook 2 and 3 (new user I've been using for ~4 years).
I had upgraded from macbook 1 to 2 to 3 and am currently running 10.9.5
I thought I had deleted User A through Finder a couple months ago. Since then I've been having mild annoying issues
- ppt crashes in slideshow
- quicktime player won't open
- installer doesn't work most of the time
- sometimes, my current user B will randomly switch to user A while my computer is on
- Some applications will randomly complain they can't open because they can't find User A's directory.
I ran dscacheutil -q user | grep -A 3 -B 2 -e uid:\ 5'[0-9][0-9]' and found
name: A
password: ************
uid: 501
gid: 20
dir: /Users/A
shell: /bin/bash
name: B
password: ************
uid: 501
gid: 20
dir: /Users/B
Running the command . -list /groups GroupMembership | grep user
returns nothing for user A and returns the following for user B:
_appserveradm            B
_appserverusr              B
_lpadmin                       B
admin                          root B
com.apple.sharepoint.group.1   B
I'm at my wit's end here. I tried using console to debug the reason behind why certain applications crash and the common theme seems to be "com.apple.launchd.peruser.501: (......................................) Could not setup Mach task special port 8: (os/kern) invalid argument"

Answer 1

agarcia59 wrote:
Hi Drew and Linc
Drew, I see what you were going for, but I only wanted 1 user. I tried doing both your methods and am unfortunately still having the same issue.
I found a old working backup on an computer of mine and am comparing the users on that computer and this one. After running dscacheutil -q user | grep -A 3 -B 2 -e uid:\ 5'[0-9][0-9]'
my current computer shows:
… (not relevant info)
I could move the working backup to my current computer, but It's over a year old (lots of new info on my current computer, it would be a huge pain to manually move everything over.
Does the appearance of macports and messagebus users in my current glitchy computer an issue? Why don't these users show up in my old functional computer?
Thanks for your help.
You tried both methods? So when you tried my method of erasing & reinstalling the OS it failed did it? You then restored this old broken OS back to the Mac? Be honest – you didn't erase & reinstall did you?
Stop messing around in Terminal, backup, erase, reinstall, migrate the users you need by hand. It is incredibly simple if you stop getting distracted by Terminal.
I don't see why you have to bring another computer with an old backup that you do not want to use into this issue! Stop 'thinking around' the issue at hand.
Linc's method should have resolved this unless the OS was in a complete mess (which seems likely considering your desire to fool around in Terminal).
The Macports user is from the software you installed, message bus is also likely to be from something else you installed (possibly via macports). Neither should effect the logged in user.
It's looking like you are intent on playing with the OS (or more specifically playing in Terminal until things work), I can't bear to watch.
Backup, erase the internal disk & move the users home folders to /Users in Finder (NO TERMINAL NEEDED) & re-add that user in Users & groups.
If you need help with that I will explain (again), but you can continue messing in Terminal with things you already broke & don't understand in your own time.