Complicated user directory/itunes question

Here's my problem: My iTunes doesn't work. But only in my user name.
Here's the story:
I somehow changed the root level directory for iTunes in my old iMac (only in my user name).
When I got my new G5 iMac, I did the firewire target disk mode to transport everything over. This worked well, but also transferred over the bad indexing.
My kids can all use iTunes without a problem.
I have contacted AppleCare, and they suggested I do an archive and install. I did, and the problem persists.
Now, here are the error messages I get:
"The folder "iTunes" cannot be found or created, and is required. The default location for this folder is inside the "Music" folder.
When I go to my finder, the icon for my "Music" folder, only shows an alias. When I double click on the alias, I get the following error message:
"The volume for "Music" cannot be found. Insert the disk or connect to the server volume and wait for it to appear on the desktop, then try again."
If I do a "get info" on the icon, it tells me that the original is:
/Volumes/External Storage/Boris1/Music
My user name is Boris1.
I think what happened is that I had an external HD connected to the old iMac, and that may have been where I stored my music. That external HD has since been put to other use, and I don't think the volume to which the error message is referring still exists.
What I'd like to know, is if I can somehow manually create a new volume for the Music?
Thanks,
Boris

You may want to first throw away that bad alias, then create a Music folder in your home folder. My music is stored on my new big drive rather than in my home Music iTunes folder.
Then launch iTunes. Where is your music now? Is it in an old iTunes folder, and is it accessible? If so after you launch iTunes, go to the iTunes->Preferences, click on the Advanced icon, and navigate to the location where your music is.
I must say I'm seeing a awful lot of bad advice whose source is Applecare. There was no reason to do an archive and install. For iTunes to operate it needs an iTunes folder. You didn't have one, just a bad alias, which made it impossible for iTunes to work. Give it a good folder and you'll be back in business.
Francine
Schwieder

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File permissions, inherit for shared user directory

im trying to create a public share where users can read each others files, but not write to them. thats no problem, but im also trying to create a public directory as well, where the users can create a folder inside another users directory.
for example
a new group is created called localnet(name is reflecting a workgroup tied to windows computers), two users (user1 and user2) are assigned part of this group, so that only the group 'localnet' can cross access each others shares inside the /public folder only.
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mkdir /usr/share/localnet/user1
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now to set the permissions, the users dir is chowned to themselves, and the public dir is chowned to root, all of which are attached to the localnet group
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/usr/share/localnet/user2 user2:localnet drwxr-x---- (chmod 750)
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all is fine, but when user1 creates a dir in public, say for example /public/pictures it now inherits a different set of permissions outside of the boundaries of this setup, it inherited (drwxr-wr-w user1:users ), this looks familiar, its the way linux adreses users files. So now user 2 tries to place pictures inside to say /public/pictures/roll1 but this user is denied permissions because user1 owns the dir. the permissions i need it to inherit is what i set in the parent, and that is (drwxrwx--- anyuser:localnet)
what im trying to figure out, is what command can i run to allow the sub directories of the /public to inherit its permissions i guess is what im trying to accomplish
EDIT: another though, should i be doing this inside the "home" directory instead? (/home/public) makes more sense to me, would it act any differently there?
Last edited by wolfdogg (2011-12-06 10:35:12)

i ran
chmod -R g+w,g-t,o+t /usr/share/localnet/public
the directory /usr/share/localnet/public/random_by_user1 now reads
drwxrwsr-t user1:localnet
(user2 was able to make a dir inside of this one)
although that worked, and user2 is now able to make a directory inside of a directory that user1 has made, its not inheriting like this. so even though the recursive set them correctly, the new ones are coming up liek this
drwxr-sr-x user1:localnet
(user2 was NOT able to make a dir inside of this one obviously)
without this elevated permission set.
so we have it right when i chmod the files, but how do i get them to inherit this natively? thats a sticky right? how to i make the 'rws' in group sticky, but no delete permission for a non owner? i think thats the question that shoudl have been stated int eh beginning of the post now that im figuring this out.
Edit: (i just realized something, my poor choice for an example might lead you to believe that the users personal directories are inside the /public, they are actually not, so in my examples such as the one above where i reference a new test directory like this " /usr/share/localnet/public/user1" let me rephrase that so as not to confuse " /usr/share/localnet/public/random_by_user1"
the user directories are actually outside of the public eg.. /usr/share/localnet/someuser, where the public shares are inside /usr/share/localnet/public. im sure i made that clear, but at this point, confusion might lead to chaos. lol.
also, i dont want everyone else to have permission, only owner and group, so no need to o+t correct? remember, its only public for the group, not for everyone.
Last edited by wolfdogg (2011-12-06 11:55:02)

Help! i broke my user directory

mac mini mid 2011 running latest mavericks.
i have an ssd boot disk inside. my user directory is on a 1tb external usb disk. today, i moved my office around and disconnected everything. when i connected everything again—probably to different usb ports—my user files wouldn't load. i can see the external disk, and all the data is still there, but it's not mounting as the user file. i've tried directing a new user to that directory, no luck.
i've tried redirecting the old user to that directory, no luck.
i've tried booting into recovery mode and fixing user permissions through the reset password tool—nothing happens. 'done' stays grayed out forever. when i click on something else, the reset p/w tool goes away.
i've tried the terminal entries at this discussion: Reset Home Folder permissions and ACLs Error—i got the number 4 after the first entry. the 2d entry didn't take any time at all and just gave me a $ prompt after hitting enter.
any help or thoughts? i'm afraid i'm going to have to rebuild a user directory on a new drive. i'd really like to avoid that.
thanks, in advance, for any advice or suggestions.

Thank you for responding.
What do you mean by…
i've tried directing a new user to that directory, no luck.
By this I mean I created a new user, gave it admin privileges, and directed it's home directory (in advanced options) to the external drive. When I tried to boot into that user, it didn't work.
The first step in the linked instructions you posted was intended to be done inside the account in question - how did you do that if the account is not working?
My guess is that you applied that to the admin account?
I don't think the user permissions repair (step 2) works when the user home folder is on another disk.
Sometimes it boots up under the user name, but it's not using the user files it should be using—apparent by various user settings not being set the way they should be in the user files. The last time I did this, I ran the first step. But I understand how it might not work if I'm not really in the user directory.
Please explain how are you setting the user account to be on the external disk. Are you using the advanced user setting, symlinks or something else?
I am using the advanced user setting—right click on the user from the user window in settings.
Is the external disk mounting as read & write?
Yes.
Use 'File > Get info…' on the disk in Finder & check that the 'ignore ownership' option is off.
I just tried to log in, and it didn't let me. So I logged in as under my other administrator account. With that, I have R/W privileges. But the 'ignore ownership' option was checked. When I unchecked it, it changed my privileges to Read only. Although 'system' and 'wheel' have R/W privileges.
One other note. The name of the drive is—uncreatively—1tb. But in the info window, I've noticed that the name has been 1tb 1, then 1tb 2, and now, it's 1tb 3. that's got to contribute to not being able to login—if the drive name is changing?
I unchecked the 'ignore ownership' box and tried rebooting. The user wouldn't mount and it wouldn't let me login. I changed the address from 1tb 2 to 1tb 3 in the advanced user options and tried to login, still no love.

Move Users Directory

I'm currently running out of hard disk space and would like to keep the existing internal hard drive intact for software. I've purchased an external drive that I plan to have on when the computer powers on. I called Apple support and they didn't have any solutions to move my Users directory to another volume. They told me it wasn't possible. Their solution to my problem was to just add an external drive and just randomly move data to it whenever my main hard disk gets full. This is messy and a very windows-like solution and will make migrating to a new mac painful. Not very happy I paid for Applecare and found better support from Google, but I digress. I came here for real support.
I've found a number of guides, but none were up to date on this topic and were for 10.5 or earlier. I'm currently running 10.6. I know the main steps but wanted to verify the proper flags for ditto.
1. Setup and format new disk, mount it to /Volumes/newdisk
2. copy data (this is where I get a little confused due to different guides.
ditto -V /Users/username /Volumes/newdisk/Users/username
3. In the system preferences, visit accounts, control + click the username and edit the home directory field with /Volumes/newdisk/Users/username
4. logout / login
Does this sound like a sane solution?
According to the ditto manpage the --rsrcFork has been depreciated to --rsrc and is the default behavior, grabbing all meta-data. The -V flag just verboses everything.
Thanks for your help!

What you plan should work, though as Kappy says CCC would be an easier way to do the copy. However, the reason that Apple support recommended against this is that it makes things needlessly complicated. If you have problems down the line and need assistance, it's almost a guarantee that the first thing you'll hear when you describe your setup is "Oh, try moving your user folder back to the boot drive and see if the problem goes away."
Instead, make a plan as to what data you want to store on the external drive and just move that data there. For example, video, audio and photo files are typically large and can be moved to the external drive without moving the entire user folder. This keeps things simple and allows you to potentially move that hard drive to another computer without compromising the integrity of your iMac, among other potential advantages.

Is it sufficient to just backup users directory in time machine?

I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
I am not concerned about the system files as I can restore them if need be.
Thanks

doobias123 wrote:
I am backing up my macbook to my Buffalo Linkstation Live. Is it ok if I just backup the users directory to save all the images,movies,files etc? It is a bout 40 gig.
I use garageband, iweb and all the ilife programs and assume all these items including my itunes music/backups is in this directory?
The data for those apps is probably there (unless you've moved it), but the apps aren't.
I am not concerned about the system files as I can restore them if need be.
Please reconsider. Strongly consider letting Time Machine back up your entire system. You're only saving a few GBs (10 - 20) by omitting your System and Applications folders, and only on the first backup, because very little changes there, but here's what you'll have to do when (not if) your internal HD fails, or something else awful happens to your Mac:
Install OSX from your Leopard or Snow Leopard Install disc.
Go through the set-up procedure: setup your Internet connection(s), server names, etc.
Download and install the "combo" update, to get back to your current version of OSX.
If you upgraded iLife since purchasing your Mac, find and restore your iLife apps.
Find all the discs for 3rd-party apps and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Find the websites for all downloaded 3rd-party apps, download and install them. Re-enter any purchase keys.
Restore whatever data you saved.
Wonder what you missed, and find out the hard way . . . for months or longer.
In most cases, this is a no-brainer.

Hyperion User Directory and Native Directory

Hi,
I am new to Hyperion and had a query related to User directory and Shared Services Native Directory.
Can a same native directory, for e.g., oracle database used by Shared services for provisioning be also used by Hyperion applications/products as user directory for user authentication?
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The term 'Hyperion User Directory' is not used in any standard documentation -- and here is where some folks would ask you is this an 'interview question'.
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The Relational Repository is used regardless of your use of Native Directory or an external directory provider such as LDAP or MS Active Directory.
You can house the Shared Services Relational Repository along with other databases on a single database server.
Please clarify what you are asking if John or my responses still have not answered your query.
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Moving Users Directory to Raid 1

Hi all,
I'm going to install a Raid 1 system with two WD1500KS.
I'd like to put the full existing Users directory onto this Raid 1.
One question about Raid 1 system, is there a Master and a Slave ? What appear on the screen , a disk called Raid 1 and the system manage the distribution or we can see the two drives composing Raid 1 ?
There was discussions about how to move Users directory to another Volume :
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3225806#3225806
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3231609&tstart=0
After reading again and again these posts, where Ned, Steve and The Hatter have proposed solutions for this move, I'm lost and thinking as Ned's solution has not yet been deployed, and Steve's one seems easy but could be problematic with some applications according to Ned, I'm still uncertain about what should I do ?
Could you please tell me if Steve's solution :
"For this example, assume that you have a drive called disk2, accessible at /Volumes/disk2. This is more steps than required, but it is a safe way to accomplish the task.
1) Back up your users directory.
2) Create a new users directory on the target disk:
sudo mkdir /Volumes/disk2/Users
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sudo chown root:admin /Volumes/disk2/Users
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sudo cp -Rp /Users/ /Volumes/disk2/Users/
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* note: make sure you add the trailing backslash!
5) Rename the existing Users directory to be extra paranoid:
sudo mv /Users /UsersBackup
6) Create a symbolic link pointing to the new Users directory:
sudo ln -siv /Volumes/disk2/Users/ /Users
It wouldn't hurt to restart at this point.
Once you are satisfied that everything is present on the new drive, you can delete the extra paranoid backup we made in step 5:
sudo rm -rf /UsersBackup
Enjoy "
is problematic for Users directory or only as The Hatter mentionned for Applications directory :
"Trying to use a symbolic link to relocate /Applications, and especially Apple programs is where there was usually trouble."
Thanks,
Peloche,
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB; iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.8) X1900XT

Done,
Used Ned's and Steve's methods:
1 - Create "Users" directory onto Raid 1 system
2 - Copy all from Volume/Raptor/Users directory to Volume/Raid1/Users/
3 - Activate Root User with Netinfo Manager
4 - Modify all users "Home address" into Net info Manager and save
5 - Reboot, log into my account and "You are unable to log in to the user account" message, even with administrator account.
6 - Reboot onto old OSX partition, wonder what could be the reason ? IMHO it could be only my mistake (Peloche's method), may be typing error within the "Home address", change Raid name from "Raid1" to "Raid 1"
7 - Reboot onto Raptor, log to my account and OK it works
8 - Use "sudo mv /Users /UsersBackup"
9 - Reboot OK
10 - Copy all my "Documents" from "UsersBackup" to another partition
11 - Reboot OK
12 - Use "sudo rm -rf /UsersBackup"
13 - Reboot OK
14 - Thanks to Ned and Steve
Peloche,
MacPro 2.66, 6GB, 1.7TB; Mini G4, 1.45, 1GB;iPod 60 GB; 30" & 20" ACD; Apple IIC Mac OS X (10.4.8) X1900XT

I need an Email I can contact for itunes questions that are for apple.

I need an Email I can contact for itunes questions that are for apple. Please post one I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

iTunes is a free program consequently any support is via these user forums or the on-line documentation. Apple do not provide free technical support except for purchased products. They don't provide email support for iTunes.
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The library exists regardless of which user is logged in.
The only way around that is to create different user accounts on the computer.
There is no way to have 20 unique iTunes users access a shared iTunes under a single login on the computer.

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Thanks.

Hi Andrew,
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Brand new MBP and the user directory is corrupt?

hi, i just installd my new MBP and did a sync of my G5 settings (all except bookmarks) added a few things to my desktop and when i rebooted the desktop was cleared and the home directory was missing "Movies" "Music" "Pictures" in the left most column. all that is left is "Applications" and my user home symbol.
i tried to create a new user and when i did so was given a message that the "home" folder could not be located. weird.
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thx
Message was edited by: Frank Jacob

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I have one home computer and our household has 2 iphones. I am signed up on itunes and now my husband would like to have an account with itunes as well. Can there be two accounts for 2 users for itunes on one home computer? How do I add another account ?

I have one home computer and our household has 2 iphones. I am signed up on itunes and now my husband would like to have an account with itunes as well. Can there be two accounts for 2 users for itunes on one home computer? How do I add another account ?

Have a read here...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18409815?ac_cid=ha
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