All users' home directories are missing

My Girlfriend, nntnroses (laura) logged into her computer today with an error message, "user's home direcotry cannot be found if it is located on a network drive, please recconnect". Her roomates home directory were also gone. Netinfo manager was still referencing the proper places and the only folders in each user's directory had "Library" and "Desktop" folders and their library folders only had data in relation to applications they had used, like "syndication" for safari RSS but all of the preferences, mail, caches and application support was gone.
No other files were damaged or missing. I know the UNIX command that deletes a user's home directory but the only thing performed on this computer is running the ONYX application http://macupdate.com/onyx .
That was a few days ago and was ran with the latest version. Aside from that, we did a software update to 10.4.7 last week and an update to J2SE 5.0 release 4 just a few days ago.

HI there, just want you to know I am in the same boat I think, I can get as far as a long in screen after running "/sbin/fsck -fy "
then "/sbin/mount -uw / "
then " sh /etc/rc"
that doesn't get me in, I have to do a halt, and then reboot holding down tne apple key and V for verbose mode. Then I do get through to a log in screen. However even though I know my home folder is there, it won't accept my username and password. I had two accounts, and its the same for both. And get this, the one password was BLANK ! SO something is corrupted somewhere.
If anyone else has ideas. I do note that I get some strange errors flying by the screeen just before boot. One of them says 'Bonjour Workaround Failed" I wonder if this has to do with the 10.4.7 update I updated to yesterday, and if APPLE is the root cause behind our woes ?!
Other error message netinfod local unable to bind to parent RPC timed out .... and another /etc/xinetd.d error ???
So what gives ??? Wish I still had my old commodore64 I had when I was 11 !! It out performed the new Intel macs as far as stability goes. I hope we both get an answer sometime this week ???

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LDAP Users & Home Directories

Hello, any help would be much appreciated on this one!
I have a Dual 2.3Ghz Xserve G5 running OSX Server 10.4.9 with a 700Gb Xserve RAID. All users home directories are stored on the RAID. I had 1361 users on the LDAP Open Directory system and all was running perfectly. I tried to add another 10 users, all added fine into Workgroup Manager, but I was then getting "User already Logged In" messages, when the users were not logged in. If I turn on "multiple logins" the user can login but the home directory is not created!! Is this a limitation of LDAP OD? A problem with the OS and the Finder not handling more than 1361 directories??? Any help would be excellent!!!!!!
Dual 2.3Ghz G5 Xserve & Xserve RAID Mac OS X (10.4.9) Latest updates installed!

Hi
Wow! I wonder what the load on the CPU would be?
I’ve read somewhere that OSX Server as an Open Directory Master can host up to 10,000 users and by implication – you would assume – the same amount of home folders.
What you’ve got ask yourself is whether the network can cope with that amount of users? If you have the budget you should really be looking to balance the load with more than one server, probably 3 at the least. One to run DNS and DHCP Services, another to run Open Directory and another to run simple file services such as AFP, Windows, Print etc. It would be a good idea in the environment you describe to think about a fallover (replica) server also.

How to configure Airport Extreme AFP disk sharing to host multiple users' home-directories (Lion, using autofs)

I have this working, but only by completely bypassing access control, using guest access with read+write permissions.
Do I need to buy Lion Server, to do this. All my past unix/linux experience says Lion Server should _not_ be necessary.
This seems like a simple & obvious setup objective, but it is proving to be harder than I would imagine.
Setup:
multiple users, sharing two mac mini's running OSX Lion
connected to an Airport Extreme (4th gen) with a USB disk shared (either via disk password, AEBS password, or using AEBS user's passwords).
After much experimentation and web research, I finally have managed to get the mini's to auto mount the Airport Extreme's AFP shared USB disk. Well almost... It only works if, on the Airport, I set the guest access permissions to read+write and select the "Secure Shared Disks" method to "With disk password" or "with Airport Extreme password". In other words, it only works if I essentially bypass/disable access control by using the guest authentication mechanism to the AFP shared disk.
On the Lion side of this, I am automounting the users directories via "autofs". The config files for this are
/etc/auto_master:
# Automounter master map
+auto_master            # Use directory service
/net                    -hosts          -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home                   auto_home       -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers        -fstab
/-                      -static
/-                      auto_afp
/etc/auto_afp:
# Automounter AFP master map
# https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3336384?start=0&tstart=0
/afp/users -fstype=afp afp://;AUTH=No%20User%[email protected]/Users/
Then, after rebooting and verifying read+write access to the /afp/users directories, I change each user's home directory: In System Preferences > System > Users & Groups, I right-click over the users to access the Advanced Options, changing the Home directory field to point at the AFP-mounted /afp/users/Users/* home directories.
I experimented with alternate UAM specifications, as well as both OSX and AESB users & passwords. Using guest access is the only thing that has worked.
Any pointers would be appreciated...

Based on lots more experimentation which confirms the information in a parallel discussion (cf. Automount share as non ROOT or SYSTEM user! https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3221944), I have concluded that the Lion 10.7.2 implementation of AutoFS mechanism is broken. I submitted a bug report via apple.com/feedback.
Work arounds..?
Earlier I wondered if installing Lion OSX Server was necessary. The more I contemplate this, the more I am convinced it _should_not_ be necessary. The client-server architecture is clear: my mac's are the file-server client's and the Airport Extreme is supposed to act as the file server. The only thing instaling Lion Server would do (besides enriching Apple.com) is enable me to configure one of the mac's as the file server. This would require it to be "always on" (thus enriching my electric utility as wel). Okay, an additional benefit would be configuring software RAID disks attached to the Lion server, but Time Machine has worked fine for me in the past, backing up to disks mounted on the Airport Extreme.
One solution is to create a disk partition for each user and instruct each user to connect / authenticate to the Airport Extreme AFP share at login. The multiplicity of partitions is necessary since the first user to mount the AFP share, takes ownership of it, blocking other users from accessing that disk partition. A user can "steal" ownership by reconnecting, but this will leave the other user's applications & open files dangling.
This disfunctional situation really *****. Before instaling Lion, I put a 64 GB SSD (solid state disk) in each of our mac's. I did this expecting to easily configure the /Users/* data on external networked storage. I'm having a dejavu "Bill Gates"-ware moment; problems like this were why I abandoned Windoz.
I will make a few more experiments using the depreciated /etc/fstab mechanism. Maybe that will bypass the broken-ness of AutoFS...? Alternately, I guess I could also try to run Kerberos authentication to bypass whatever is broken in AutoFS, but that would require a running a Kerberos daemon somewhere. Possibly I could configure a Kerberos service to run on both my mac's (without installing Apple's Lion Server)...?
Stay tuned...

How to check if home directories are disabled & what else could cause this problem?

We're having this issue with our server where some clients are having an extended authorization time to log onto our server, whether they attempt to do so via VPN or on our Network directly. This issue only seems to persist for some users and happens every time they attempt to log on. Log on can take up to 10 minutes, however, rarely ever fails.
I was told to check size of the home directories but the other IT here said he's pretty sure he disabled the home directory things. The only reason we have these servers is so that people can dump files on them for later use or to transfer between eachother for whichever project they may be working on. How do I check whether the home directories are enabled or not, and if they are, where can I determine their size? All I am seeing in the filesystem is the login for the Admin account and the other IT's account on the server.
What else could be causing this problem? It is not a machine-based problem as I can log into the server using their machine almost instantaneously. About half of our users are logged on instantly as well. We've been getting complaints about this for about a couple months now. It didn't seem to happen prior to February (though I can't say for sure because I started here at the end of January).
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What you need is the dba_policies
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Upon opening Mail this morning to check when I'd sent a draft I wrote yesterday, I noticed all my sent messages are missing.

Upon opening Mail this morning to check when I'd sent a draft I wrote yesterday, I noticed all my sent messages are missing. I had mail dating back ten years in there. When I go to Time Machine to restore, only today's Sent Mailbox is available. Time Machine has been backing up seamlessly for months, so there should not be a problem finding a backup. What's going on and how do I restore the Sent Mailbox?
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Laura

Unless your TM drive is messed up, the backups should be there. So relax a bit.
The mail is stored in your Home Library folder, not the hard drive Library folder. The Home Library folder is hidden in Lion. To get to it, select Go in the Finder and hold the option key down. Select Library in the submenu. A Finder window will open up in your Home Library.
From there, you will navigate to the Mail folder, then V2 folder. All main mailboxes for each account will be in their account folder. There is another folder called Mailboxes which will store all local folders.
If you select the V2 folder in the Finder window, then enter TM, you should be able to go back into time.
Before doing anything else, first open Disk Utility and verify that your hard drive is OK.
If it is, go into the hard drive and navigate to the Home Library/Mail/V2 folder. Open each mail account and click on the mailbox your messages were in, like the inbox. See if the messages folder contains messages.
I just want you to see if the mailboxes are in the account folders and that they contain data. If so, we will continue from there. There's no use in trying to restore if there are problems just yet. Let's verify this first, then we will proceed.

All my imovie events are missing after latest maverick and imovie 10 update

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HT5361 Been using mail forever and only with my gmail account. All of a sudden, all my inbox mails are missing except for anything after yest night. I log into gmail on safari and everything is there but not on my mac or iphone in mail

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Hello pootieq, iCloud is an awesome feature for backing up your phone info. Have you checked your iCloud settings to ensure the Backup option for contacts is enabled http://vz.to/1E1kigx? You can also check the iCloud page via browser to review your backed up phone content at www.apple.com/icloud.
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Windows and Mac User Home Directories

I would like to locate my user home directories in a seperate location than my system drive. Currently the home directories default to the Users sharpoint on my system hard drive. I have yet to find an option that allows me to redirect this. Thank you in advance for your help.

1. Create the folder that will store your home directories, wherever you want to put it.
2. Share the folder in Workgroup Manager.
3. Make sure you create a network mount record for the share (Network Mount tab in Workgroup Manager).
4. Select a user or users, click the Homes tab, and select the share point you just created.
David Walton

Problem changing the location of multiple users home directories...

I've just set up a new entry level model iMac for my Mum. Without getting into a discussion about the benefits or otherwise of doing so, I partitioned the hard disk into two with the first partition for the system and the second a scratch disk for files etc. I set up two users, one for my Mum and one for my younger brother. I then copied the users folder across to the scratch disk and in advanced options in the users list set each account's home folder to the relevant user on the scratch disk. This is the same set up as I have on my own system and with which I have no problems and which runs well and cleanly. I have only one account on my system. However on the iMac, the second user (my brother) is unable to write to the new home directory. Downloads don't work and preferences including right click for magic mouse, dock etc are forgotten instantly. It seems there's a permissions issue.
I've set the machine up this way in order to keep all their files separate from the system after their last Mac got very bogged down. I expected it to work in exactly the same way as my own. Does anyone know how to successfuly set up both user accounts in this way?
Any advice would be much appreciated...
Message was edited by: Jimmy Hat
Message was edited by: Jimmy Hat

Jimmy Hat wrote:
I've just set up a new entry level model iMac for my Mum. Without getting into a discussion about the benefits or otherwise of doing so,
still not advisable though IMO.
I partitioned the hard disk into two with the first partition for the system and the second a scratch disk for files etc. I set up two users, one for my Mum and one for my younger brother. I then copied the users folder across to the scratch disk and in advanced options in the users list set each account's home folder to the relevant user on the scratch disk. This is the same set up as I have on my own system and with which I have no problems and which runs well and cleanly. I have only one account on my system. However on the iMac, the second user (my brother) is unable to write to the new home directory. Downloads don't work and preferences including right click for magic mouse, dock etc are forgotten instantly. It seems there's a permissions issue.
how exactly did you copy the home directories? did you do it using drag and drop in finder from one account? then the copied home directories both are owned by that account and the permissions need to be changed. please clarify if that's what you did.
I've set the machine up this way in order to keep all their files separate from the system after their last Mac got very bogged down. I expected it to work in exactly the same way as my own. Does anyone know how to successfuly set up both user accounts in this way?
Any advice would be much appreciated...
Message was edited by: Jimmy Hat
Message was edited by: Jimmy Hat

Removing default folders in users home directories

My users have their home directories at /Users/<username>. I also created some directories there for users' websites and other things.
All users have only access by ftp (mail, webmail, web service, etc.), but it is never intended to use AFP or other things.
So my question is... can I safely delete the pre-set directories like Desktop, Documents, Library, Public, etc. ?
I was told that this is possible, but now have doubts as I closer looked at, for example, the Library folder. There are some .plist files and other stuff.
Before deleting them I want to get the statements of some experts

You can safely delete all of that stuff, and if they ever log in to the GUI again, Library, Desktop, and the necessary Library items will be recreated. Library and Desktop are the only ones the OS really cares about, and only then when a user is logged in to the GUI.

All users' home directories are missing

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