Did you change your home folder name and now your computer is all wierd?

Hello. I did the same thing and I called apple help and they just couldn't help me on this subject. I was messing around with the computer and I found a proper solution where you don't have to re-install the software. Here are the steps:
Step one: login (if your not already logged in) into the account. It should still be there as the original name.
Step two: Open your Finder or HD and select the Users folder.
Step three: You should see your original account name as well as any one else's account name if you have other people sharing the computer. In addition to this you will also see the name you attempted to use as a replacement for your old Home Folder name, note that this is a new unexpected user.
Have it in column mode for the easiest experience.
In the new folder you created (this is the user on the list that you named your original folder) You will find all your old settings. Don't do anything yet! take and highlight all of the content in that folder by holding shift and clicking or your preferred way. Drag ALL the content to your original home folder, which should only have library and Documents. (if it has more than it's okay) it will tell you that there are already folders with that name and will ask permission to replace them. Say yes.
Step four: log out or restart your computer.
Step five: log in, and or wait till it's restarted Your desktop and dock should be restored to the way you originally had it. Don't change the name on it again. if you want to change the name, you'll need to create a new user.
Step six: Thank me and leave me complements or questions.

I think it is rather surprising that the Mac OS allows you to change the name of the home folder and doesn't seem to put up a warning or anything.
I did change the short name used on my home folder about three weeks ago. I used ChangeShortName Utility v1.2 which I got from here:
http://www.macosxpowertools.com
All indications are that using this utility has been 100% successful.
I did create a new temporary account with administration privileges and I ran the utility from that account. This meant I wasn't changing the short name on the account I was actually using.
It is very important to read the "read me" with ChangeShortName so that you are 100% sure of what you are doing when you use it.
Also, of course, back up first

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HT2470 I need to change the home folder name. I just bought this mac today and my cousin put his name in because he had to back up his phone while we were still at the store so he could get a new phone and now my brand new imac says his name in the home f

I need to change the home folder name. I just bought this mac today and my cousin put his name in because he had to back up his phone while we were still at the store so he could get a new phone and now my brand new imac says his name in the home folder. This is very frustrating. I would not have let him put his name in there if I didn't think you could change it. Someone please help!

Delete his user account and create your own, using your name.

I traded for a mac; how can I change the home folder name?

Well I traded a PC for my first iMac and well...... I love it.
1. I'm running into a little problem though; I can't seem to change the home folder name to my name. Although I know it doesn't affect any of the operation of the system or my settings, it psychologically upsets me.
2. Also, is there a way to assign my Apple ID to the computer or does that not matter either?
3. I also see a little lag when trying to connect to the web, but once I do get on it seems pretty beefy, any suggestable reasons?
4. And the final question, did I make the right decision? I traded a Sony Vaio S series tablet (laptop/PC) with an Intel core i5 @ 2.30ghz for an iMac with an Intel Duo Core processor @ 3.06ghz. I've heard the numbers don't really matter but some clarification would help.

Trying to address some of your questions:
You state you are running Mountain Lion? Was that the original OS on the Mac? That is very important because:
a) if it was, the seller/trader needed to transfer the Mountain Lion license to you or it will stay with his Apple ID;
b) if he purchased ML, he is required to uninstall it before selling the machine because the license is not transferable, which means - again - that it is tied to his Apple ID (along with the machine ID).
Both/either can present some problems for you since ML is now tied to someone else's Apple ID. If you manage to "introduce" your Apple ID, it will no longer match the records MAS (Mac App Store) has, so updates or other purchases may present problems.
I would suggest that you either call Apple or book an appointment at the nearest Genius Bar and ask them how to proceed - that way you may be able to set up your own Apple ID on the machine as well as get ML registered as yours (although, as explained above, they may require you to purchase it for yourself).
Whether or not you made the right decision - well, I've never owned a Windows machine, so I can't answer your question since I have nothing to compare it with. Obviously, I use Macs...... you should be able to run your own test: just do what you normally do and see if it appears to take about the same time, is faster, or is slower.

I recently did an update to my iphone 4s and now i have lost all my custom ringtones and some music I had loaded. What have I done wrong ? I did a backup and restore.

I recently did an update to my iphone 4s and now I have lost all my custom ringtones as well as some music I had loaded. I did a restore and backup but nothing changes. What have I done wrong?

Hello Chance1985,
Sorry for your wait. Okay so let's try re-connecting with iTunes on your computer and syncing your device. This may give you all your stuff back. Sync in Music tab.
^Connor

I did an IOS update on my iphone and now I have lost all email,notes,textx and apps. I tried to restore but to no avail. Help

I did an IOS software update on my iphone and now I have lost all email, notes, texts and apps from the iphone. I tried to do a restore but to no avail. Help

Put the device in DFU mode (Google it) and restore.

I am totally new to the whole mac thing and have just bought my first iMac, second hand, 27" late 2009 model, I have been trying to change everything from the previous users names to mine when I got stuck trying to change the home folder name...

I tried everything to change it but nothing would work, I seen a tutorial online on how to do it using terminal, suso, I didn't really know what I was doing but I gave it a go, entered the existing name and then entered my name, I then confirmed with password, everything seemed fine, I restarted my computer and when I booted up I had lost everything, all the apps had gone, mail, files, everything?! This mac had the full adobe 6 suite on and I'm really gutted, I had also transfer loads of things over from my pc, which are no longer there!! Is there any way to get this back? Like on a pc, running the pc from a week ago? Any help would be much appreciated as I don't really know what I'm doing, thanks

It appears that you really screwed things up. If the machine had CS 6 on it, the seller should have provided the discs and registration info. Since that machine shipped with Snow Leopard, you should start from scratch. Boot with disc one, launch Disk Utility from the Utilities menu, select the HD, erase and reformat it, then select zero out data from the security options. Once the HD is wiped clean, quit Disk Utility, and select install the operating system. Once installed and it reboots, personalize the machine to suit your needs. Once up an running, see these:
Switching from Windows to Mac OS X,
Basic Tutorials on using a Mac,
Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts,
Anatomy of a Mac,
MacTips,
Switching to Mac Superguide, and
Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition.
Additionally, *Texas Mac Man* recommends:
Quick Assist,
Welcome to the Switch To A Mac Guides,
Take Control E-books, and
A guide for switching to a Mac.

How can i change my mac's home folder name and my mac's name?

I just got my macbook yesterday, and i was in a rush in setting it up coz i was in the office, I accidentally put my whole name. I just want my nickname in my home folder and to be my mac's name. How can I do that? Do i need to create another admin account? Can I remove the old one in case? Thank you!

MacBook Pro
Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard
http://www.apple.com/support/snowleopard
User short name home directory

How do I change the home folder name.

I migrated my info from a Mac Pro to an iMac and now my home folder says my name and then Mac Pro. How do I change this? I tried right clicking but that does nothing, I went into the accounts tab in system preferences and that does nothing. Need help because it's annoying.

click here for information. heed the warnings, though !
JGG

Inappropriate websites and now my computer has all these pop ups and ads.

Younger cousin was on "xxx" websites and I need help stopping pop ups and ads from computer. Any solutions?
It is on google chrome and my safari. Please help me figure out how to get this off my MacBook Air
<Edited by Host>

You may have installed the "DownLite" trojan, perhaps under a different name. Remove it as follows.
Malware is constantly changing to get around the defenses against it. The instructions in this comment are valid as of now, as far as I know. They won't necessarily be valid in the future. Anyone finding this comment a few days or more after it was posted should look for more recent discussions or start a new one.
Back up all data.
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it:
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.vsearch.agent.plist
Right-click or control-click the line and select
          Services ▹ Reveal in Finder (or just Reveal)
from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item named "VSearch" selected. Drag the selected item to the Trash. You may be prompted for your administrator login password.
Repeat with each of these lines:
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vsearch.daemon.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vsearch.helper.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/Jack.plist
Restart the computer and empty the Trash. Then delete the following items in the same way:
/Library/Application Support/VSearch
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Jack
/System/Library/Frameworks/VSearch.framework
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ConduitNPAPIPlugin.plugin
Some of these items may be absent, in which case you'll get a message that the file can't be found. Skip that item and go on to the next one.
From the Safari menu bar, select
          Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Extensions
Uninstall any extensions you don't know you need, including any that have the word "Spigot" or "Conduit" in the description. If in doubt, uninstall all extensions. Do the equivalent for the Firefox and Chrome browsers, if you use either of those.
This trojan is distributed on illegal websites that traffic in pirated movies. If you, or anyone else who uses the computer, visit such sites and follow prompts to install software, you can expect much worse to happen in the future.
You may be wondering why you didn't get a warning from Gatekeeper about installing software from an unknown developer, as you should have. The reason is that the DownLite developer has a codesigning certificate issued by Apple, which causes Gatekeeper to give the installer a pass. Apple could revoke the certificate, but as of this writing, has not done so, even though it's aware of the problem. This failure of oversight is inexcusable and has compromised both Gatekeeper and the Developer ID program. You can't rely on Gatekeeper alone to protect you from harmful software.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select
          Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

How to change users home directory home folder name?

Is there a way in Mountain Lion to simply change the name of the home directory home folder name without it throwing off anything else for that particular user?
I read the article about 'Enabling and using the "root" user', but it specifically says for 'Lion' and not 'Mountain Lion'
When I get to step 8 there is no clear place to enter an adminstator account name and password so I can't go any further.
I also did a quick test with a newly created user and after setting some preferences and customizing the desktop, I changed the home directory name and I pretty much lost all my preferences after logging back in. It's as if changing the home directory name in any way shape or form literally wipes out the previous user and you have to start anew.
I don't want to risk changing the home directory name and end up losing essentially my whole user setup, but I really want a different name for my home directory and I don't want anything else to change. Is this possible?
Thanks

Hi Blastic,
I'm trying to do the same thing. I did follow Apple's instructions and while they are easy to follow.....I was unable to rename the folder as described (clicking on it or pressing enter). I did enable root user, I did log out and re-log in as root user.....and I got stopped. I simply could not rename the folder as per Apple's instructions and ther is NOTHING on the internet about it......save for your beacon of light! Thanks for the post. I'm using 13 inch MacBookPro Mid 2010 2.4 GHz, Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB ram, OS 10.8

Changed home folder name, how do I get my desktop back?

I changed the home folder name and when I logged off and then back on to the computer, my desktop was completely different. I was told by apple care that it had to be corrected through the command lines. I would greatly appreciate someone's help with this issue!
iMac Mac OS X (10.4.10)

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

Account and home folder names don't match

i'm the only user on my mac, and the account is set to my full name. somehow, i made the home folder a different name. is there any way to change the home folder name so that it matches what i have as the account name?

home folder name is set to your short login name (not long login name) by default. If that's what it is now I would recommend against changing it. if you REALLY want to change it you can but it's known to cause some issues.
see this link for details.
http://www.macworld.com/article/132693/2008/03/changeshortusername.html

How do I change the 'tempuser' folder name?

Trying to set up an old (2006) Macbook for my daughter to replace her (even older) old one. I have an account with her name, but the documents and photos are stoored under a folder called "tempuser" which I think might confuse her. Can I rename that folder to 'Amina' or 'Mom' or 'Mine' or something? How? It won't allow a straight renaming of the folder.

I'm not sure how those steps worked for you. Perhaps those used MacBooks had older operating systems. The current 10.7+ will not allow you to change the Home Folder name. You can move the contents of the old folder to a new folder using Terminal. However, doing this will cause you to lose every personal setting, email accounts, browser history and on and on. In fact, when booting up into the old username you are presented with all of the welcome stuff you get when you do a fresh install. All of the files and applications and preferences are still on your disk, they are just no longer associated with your user.

Change My Home Directory Name to Match My Short Name

Somewhere in the process of Migration and Setup Assistant accross 3 computers, I need to change my home folder name to match my shortname. It is getting a little confusing to have two short "names."
My home folder is - admin
My short name is - bobbyv
I would like tho change my home folder to bobbyv
The admin account as you can guess is root, i have two other accounts, one that is admin and one that is not. I know about the advanced options in the accounts preference pane, but I do not want to change in without knowing what I'm doing because I do not want to have an empty and clean new home folder, my data is important.
Thanks everyone.

Changing the short name is possible, but it is rather involved. Search for "change short name" on this site. It's easiest to create a new account and then transfer your data to that account.

I was trying to change my home folder nickname to a different name I then restarted my computer and now all my stuff are gone. What can I do to get them back

I was trying to rename my home folder I then restart my computer and now all my stuff are gone. Can anyone help?

Choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu, provide /Users/ as the path, and move the files to your current home folder. Alternatively, open the Accounts or Users & Groups pane of System Preferences, unlock it, control-click your account, choose Advanced Options, and change the path to the home folder.
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Did you change your home folder name and now your computer is all wierd?

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