Computer's Short Name

I want to change my computer's "shortname" (the name that appears at the top of the finder) but I dont know how. Can anyone tell me?

Welcome to macbook forum.
If you have a lot of data in your macbook, "DON'T DO THAT".
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304725
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh552.html
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106824
If you accidently already changed that , here is link to refer back:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854
Good Luck

Similar Messages

Why not change the Macintosh HD to a shorter name.

I have a friend that picked up a Mac mini with OS X 10.5.8 and one for the first things
I noticed was the previous owner had changed the name of the single drive from Macintosh HD
to a shorter name
I recall reading somewhere that it is not a good idea to change the name of the primary
hard drive from Macintosh HD and I cannot remember why.
Can someone point me to a document that describes why the primary hard drive should not be renamed?

{Usually the problem occurs when a user changes the Short Name of the
computer where it affects how it is then seen in a network, and does this
improperly so the computer can't be networked until this issue is fixed.}
• Mac OS X: How to change user short name or home directory name:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1428
• Mac OS X (10.4) Help: What's my computer's name and address?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh632.html
• How do I change the Owner's Name on my Mac?
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/howto_change_owners_name_applemac.html
And if you change the Short Name (account user, etc) then KeyChain
access and other items may well be a real problem to weed out & fix.
Note the comments, after the basic info in this thread:
• Changing Names - Root - Mac Gems - MacWorld:
http://www.macworld.com/article/41481/2004/12/changeshortname.html
Or, if a user changes the name of their User Account, improperly, then the
account won't match the password and other issues will result; unless it
is fixed or the problem of changing the name incorrectly in the first place
is avoided; since there is a proper way to change the short name of the
computer (not that on the icon of the hard disk drive, btw) and a correct
way, a process, to change the user account name.
It is not advised to change the User name on an account or that of the
Computer's name where it is seen on a network. That aside, the name
change of the computer's Hard Disk Drive, at the icon on the desktop,
can be avoided by using Dock preferences to Hide the HDD so it will
not appear on the desktop at all. (Kids in schools change the HDD icon's
name frequently, when it is available and the computer not set up to
work under the Parental Controls or lower user account privilege access.)
+You can change the name of the Hard Disk Drive and that won't make+
+much difference; except in those cases where you have an Alias of the+
+original name, since it would no longer activate access to the Mac HD.+
I got over the urge to change the HDD name some time ago. However
if you partition the original hard disk drive so you have two icons on the
Desktop, you could have fair reason to change the names if you like.
(Just remember, if you make a clone, or do any complete computer drive
backup to some external device, the name change could affect the result.)
If you have an Intel-based Mac running Windows, you may have a different
matter in re-naming the hard disk drive; since Windows may require another
avenue into the means to rename that drive. And then, that may be a problem.
*You can change the Mac HD to any name.* In previous Mac OS (pre-x) versions
it was also common for users to change the hard drive icon to some other one,
and if they'd named the computer (a monster name, for example) a new image
for the icon could easily be applied through a copy-paste. In fact, that may still
be something one may be able to do, through a different agency in OS X.
And, when installing an all-new OS X, you can also change the name of the Mac HD
in Disk Utility, since the name is blank after choosing a partition scheme & reformat.
The real issue revolve around changing the computer's short name, and changing
the user's account name(s) since this is where problems begin that are harder to fix.
If the rules are followed in regard to these two, going into the situation, problems
are more readily avoided. I just don't change those things, since I'm too busy.
Good luck & happy computing!
{ edited 2x }

Cannot change short name of computer in Workgroup Manager

When a computer is bound to Open Directory on the client side I cannot change the short name of the computer. If the computer is added through Workgroup Manager I do not have this problem. When I try to change the name it reverts back to the old name and sometimes adds a .local at the end of it, but the new name I choose is displayed on the left side. When I log out and log back in the name on the left side reverts back to the old name.
Could it be the way I am naming the computers? I am using dept-username.location as a way to name all computers. Why does this problem only occur on computers that have been bound through the LDAPv3 service on the workstation?

I can't comment for sure on this one; but my educated guess may be that you're causing problems with your DNS (or DHCP) by specifying an extra dot in the name - Although I can't say for certain as my OD doesn't run my DNS.
Try using dept-username-location.domain.local instead of dept-username.location.domain.local.
Have you checked the console output to see if any errors are being returned?
-Kogen

Computer short name counted twice in System Profiler

My Macbook Pro's Short Name is somehow being counted twice when I look in System Profiler. It shows (2) next to the name of my computer.
Any idea how to fix this?

So, to rephrase my question:
Why is my user account being counted twice in System Profiler, like this: myusername (2)?
I I just went into my system profiler. I did:
Blue Apple > about this Mac > more info
this brought up the system profiler. I do not see a short user name here. I do see the computer name.
Could we have more info on where you see the short user name and what is our around it?
Robert

Can I Change Home Name and Short Name This Way (Safely)?

Tried this question a couple weeks ago and got 0 replies in the Admin/Accounts section, so I'm revising and trying here. Please help!
Let me see if I can make this simple.
Small office environment; 2 Mac (G4's); Airport network. I am admin on both computers. My employee is admin on his computer as well, but not on mine. Each of us has data we use on our own computer but we can access data from the other computer when necessary. We use the same password to login (just for simplicity). My user name is "Joe Smith" and my assistant's is "Bob Lee Brown." His short name is "blb".
My assistant is moving out of town and I'm hiring someone else. I'd like to set up a new user with that person's name ("Jane Jones"). I'd like the entire "Bob Lee Brown" and "blb" off the computer, and have that replaced by "Jane Jones" and "jj" (for a short name) everywhere, for the new assistant. I want to make sure we're still 100% networked when I get done, and that I can still admin both accounts but my new assistant can't admin my computer. In other words, I'd like a clone of what I have now, only with the names changed everywhere.
So - here's the question (in multi-part format):
Should I create a new Admin account on the assistnat's computer, log in as that one and delete the existing one, saving the user prefernces from the deleted user?
In this event, could i take the deleted user file that's saved and import back in all the user preferences - particularly for Word and Entourage?
If this is the right way to go, what would I have to do on my computer to complete the network process? Any keychain issues I'd have to deal with (what and how?)?
Or, should I use ChangeShortName v1.2 (which I've read about in other posts)? Is that safe?
Or should I just tell my new assistant that she's stuck with a he's name and leave well enough alone?
Thanks - been on Macs since 1984, but never had to do this one before and I'm a little concerned I might mess something up without some step-by-step instructions!

I have used ChangeShortName once and it worked fine; a real timesaver. However, I would backup the /Users folder (or the whole drive) and repair permissions first to be on the safe side.
bd

How can I change the "short name" of my account?

I want to change the short name of my account because when my dad bought this computer for me he set up the account with his name as the short name and it has been bothering me ever since.
When I go to system preferences and then accounts my account is listed and when I click on it under password I am able to change my name, but not my short name because it is greyed out and cannot be clicked. Is there any way to change the short name on my account? I can't even delete my account and make a new one because the account delete button is greyed out when I click on my account.
Also, I went to my home folder and changed that from my dad's name to my name. This has reset every program on my computer to default settings! For example when I open my Safari browser a message pops up saying a keychain cannot be found to store Safari and asks me if I want to restore default settings.
So pretty much I've tried to change the short name on my administrative account, I reset everything to default settings and my short name is still my father's name. Can anyone help me out here?

Try this.
Or you could just create a new account and delete the old one.

How to change the "short name (account name?)" and home directory name?

Hi,
I recently purchased a new iMac and migrated account info from my MacBook Pro. I happened to use random account name during migration without knowing it will not be easy to change the short name (account name?) and home directory name. As a result, I am now having extremely confusing short name and home directory name on my new iMac.
I did online search to find out how to change the two names, but I could only found somethig like "enabiling root user and....." I have no idea what it was talking about and I don't want to take risk altering such advance set up manually.
Please advice how I can change the short name and home directory name safely without much PC knowledge.
Thank you very much in advance.

There are a few ways of doing this. The easiest method is logging into the first account and copying everything to an external drive (or flash drive or whatever), which changes the permissions so that others can see the files.
Then, login with the new account and copy the files over. Once they are copied, the correct permissions will be applied again (so other people on your computer can't access them).
If you can't do this method for one reason or other, you can do some terminal commands to change the ownership of the files. Login to the new account. If it is an admin account, open terminal and type the following command:
sudo chown -R -v yourusername:admin /Users/originalaccountnamehere
That should change the ownership of the files from your old account to the new one. At that point, you can simply drag the files into place.

Changing 'short name' in Admin account?

I'm using a computer at work that was previously used and administered by a former employee who has since left the company. I need everything to maintain exactly the same settings since I need to work on this computer in the same fashion as the former user. I was provided with the old password and I've changed the account (the only one on the machine) to now have my user ID and password etc. but the 'short name' is still this other person's name. I don't see any way to change this short of creating a new admin account and then deleting the old one, but then I loose all the settings, prefs etc. from the existing account which I really can't do since I need all of those settings to get my work done on this machine.
Is there any work-around that I can use to modify the short name in the existing admin account, or alternately is there a way to duplicate an entire account with it's settings intact so that I can rename it with my own user name, short name and password?
Thanks a lot for any help you can provide!
Sherill
Dual 1.8 Ghz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi, 3Sherill3. This may help:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16620

Changing administrator user name or short name in accounts, OS upgrade

I just inherited an older MacBook Pro. (15-inch, 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo, OSX 10.4.11).
I was able to change most account info, however former user's short name still appears as the short name in adm account and in the home page sidebar. How can I change this? (I understand there is a third party utility -- Change Short Name -- that claims to easily do this, but I'm reluctant to use any third party app if there is a Apple-endorsed way to accomplish the task.)
Do I need to set up a new administrator account on the computer in order to delete his info?
Also, eventually, I need to delete a lot of programs and files from computer. Bloated. My first thought is to simply do a clean reinstall since there's really nothing on the computer that I need. (However the original install discs were lost in a move, and I'll need to contact Apple for replacement.) I've read post advising against this approach because of the number of updates needed and due to uncited problems. Has anyone experienced any problems with this approach on this model -- before I purchase old install discs.
Is better option to purchase Snow Leopard. I have it installed on Mac Pro at work. I like it and have not experienced any problems. Anyone experience problems with SL on this model of MBP.
Thanks in advance for the help.

[Adding a new user account to your computer|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh168.html] You just need to make sure that the new account is set to be an administrator account. Then you log into the new account and remove the old account from there. There shouldn't be any implications to doing this but it is always a good idea to make sure you have a fully bootable (cloned) backup before doing modifications.
As mentioned before, ideally you should just wipe wipe the drive and start afresh. This ensures any corrupt files, or hidden files, are removed. However, you will need the installer disc to do this. Since you no longer have the Tiger one it might be worth just going for Snow Leopard. However, one advantage to getting replacement original discs from Apple is they contain special software for diagnosing problems on your specific model computer that isn't in a retail set of discs.
Cloning And Backup Tools
A bootable clone is an exact copy of your drive which is capable of booting your computer. Making a copy of your computer which is capable of actually starting the computer requires special copying procedures. Some people just back up data files but if you have problems you have to reinstall all your operating system and all your applications. With a bootable clone you just start up from the backup drive and clone back everything.
To copy files from one hard drive to another hard drive you can use:
[CarbonCopy Cloner|http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html] (donationware)
[SuperDuper|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html] (shareware)
[IBackup|http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html] (free)
The Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X. [Kappy's directions|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8799711#8799711]
[Tri-Backup (commercial)|http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html] (payware)
[Silverkeeper|http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper> (free) - version 2 has some issues (references: [1|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d12jan2009],
[2|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d13jan2009]) and it is recommended Tiger users stick with 1.1.4.
[Kappy's Backup Software Recommendations|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9065665#906 5665]
[Overview of Mac OS X Backup Programs|http://8help.osu.edu/1247.html]

Migration and User Acct Short Name

It took only 4 hours via an ethernet cable (probably at optimum speed) for Migration Assistant to nicely transfer my "entire universe" over from an old PowerMac G5.
Unfortunately, I had my User Account Short Name starting with "G5" so my new blazingly fast intel iMac now has the unchangeable short name as the same "G5..." Needless to say, it gets confusing on the network.
I remember a long time ago doing the long procedure in changing the short name. Explained here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428
And it was quite a messy, problem-prone procedure. I would hate to do it again, despite what they describe as better executions and error-free processes in the latest OS.
Question:
What would be the best strategy to straighten things up?
Is there some halfway trick in changing the short name during the MA procedure that I missed?
Or should I first change the user name in the old G5 (OS 10.5.8), heck with any messed up permissions, then hope that MA and OS 10.6.2 will clean it up during another 4-hour transfer?
Or something else I'm missing? Any other tricks?
TIA

FWIW, I use exactly the same user account name on all the Macs in my household. There is no confusion about which Mac's contents I'm accessing because each has a unique computer name.
This also simplifies access to my other user accounts from whatever Mac I'm in front of because each Mac recognizes me as the same user with the same access privileges to that account's contents.
Basically, the user name says who I am & the computer name says who it is.

How to change the Admin's short name?

I just got my Powerbook G4 back from repair and when they loaded on OSX they made the short name just "a." Not that it is a very big deal but I get frusterated when in the finder it says "a's computer" I really wish I could change my short name for the admin but I'm not sure if i can without reinstalling OSX.

Michael Conniff's link will show how difficult it is to change your short name. Here is a further discussion and an AppleScript to help:
http://homepage.mac.com/frakes/MOSXPT/content/shortusername.html
However, when the system refers to "a's computer" that is not the short name. It is the Computer Name, to be used if you are on a local network. This can easily be changed in System Preferences > Sharing.

Automatic Login Trouble and Short Name Trouble

Hello everyone,
I just got a fresh install of Leopard going on my Macbook (wiped the hard drive during installation instead of just upgrading the OS), but I'm running into a brick wall (two of them, actually).
First off, for some reason, my Macbook refuses to automatically login. I know this is a good thing in terms of security, but I would really like it to login automatically to save time.
I also made an error in spelling for my computer's home short name, so it is now sitting here with a capitalization problem. I tried to to change the name through Advanced Options in the Accounts section of the System Preferences, but for some reason, the capitalization won't change. I know that's a pretty minor problem, but I'd still like to fix it.
Any help that could be sent my way would be deeply appreciated.
Thank you,
Arcturus

If the short name is a problem, reinstall. Changing this name is a nightmare, usually.
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16620
This will help if you want to try it, but it might fail, or screw things up.
Trashing "com.apple.loginwindow.plist", you may cure the login problem. It's in your User/Library/Preference folder.
Did you Migrate anything? If yes, re-migrate from your backup (You have one, right?).

Change Short Name

My friend gave me his old jaguar box, along with a ton of good applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark XPress, GoLive, etc.). I changed all the names and such except for the short name. Now, I want to know:
1. Is it possible to change the short name?
2. Would it result in any of my applications not working, since all of them show his name under "Licensed to"?
3. Would it be better to just set up another account with my name and everything?

1. Yes. Download the utility ChangeShortName from www.versiontracker.com or www.macupdate.com. Use it to make changes to your shortname.
2. Not if you use the above utility.
3. Yes, but it's a lot easier to just change the shortname.
You can also change your long name and password using the Accounts preference pane. You can also change the Computer Name using the Sharing preference pane.
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Restoring original short name

My user short name is z1. Somehow a second name was created (z1(2)). This has become the main user and the original now shows as a shared destination. What file do I restore to return to having just one user - z1?
Also, can time machine go forward or only back?

There is still only one user account called mb (admin). There is also a1 (sharing only) and test, which I only use for testing. In sharing, it was listed as z1 (computer name) which has changed to z1 (2). In the sidebar, where it lists "devices", "shared" and "places", z1 is now under "shared". I tried to include a screen shot but I can't. My connected G4, (computer name 'a1'), which was under "shared" has been replaced by the original z1. When I open the shared device it now shows the z1 desktop/dock but has all the 'a1' drives shown - no a1 desktop . Kind of a "Brundlefly" - it's genes are all mixed. The G4 is not backed up in time machine. Hope this clear.
What I meant by forward was - if i return to yesterday's state and don't like it, can I return to today's state? This only happened a few days ago. Just need to regress the "computer name" if I knew where it's kept.

Short name help

The short name on my computer accidently got renamed and now all the permissions changed, I can't access certain fonts, my computer doesn't show up on the network, and my mail is all changed. All of the information is there and I can see that my old short name has a folder under the users folder but I can't switch the name back because it says it is already in use. HELP!

Hi
See if this helps:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854
Steve

Computer's Short Name

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