Home Folder Disappeared – not renamed, FileVault issue?

When I log on to my MacBook I receive a message to say that it can't find my home folder - it's just not there in the Users folder.
I have not renamed my home folder - it's just not there anymore.
There is an Alias with the same name as my username (the icon looks like the .mac world icon), the original item that this points to cannot be found. The alias is owned by 'system' and I cannot take ownership, rename or delete it.
The other user of the system's home folder is fine, as is the 'Shared' folder.
There is another folder in Users called MyUserName 1 - this only contains Library/preferences/By Host.
I use FileVault and the last time my home folder was there it did a space clean up when I shut down.
I was not doing anything the last time I used the system that could have led to accidentally deleting the folder (just checked some mails).
Any help gratefully received - I do take backups, but had just uploaded some photos the day before that are not backed up anywhere - I would really like not to loose those!
I'm thinking that as FileVault keeps the contents of my hme folder in a separate virtual disk, the link to this has been lost, hence the Alias... but I have no idea how to resolve this.

Sorted it... just about.
Found the FileVault file via another admin account and opened and copied it with the disk utility... just putting everything back together...

Similar Messages

Restoring previous home folder after turning off FileVault

HI Folks,
I turned FileVault on a long time ago and because of its size didn't turn it off before upgrading to Leopard. After the upgrade, it became obvious that FileVault had to go--it was occupying essentially the whole hard drive and spotlight didn't work. I searched out some instructions on how to work around FV to make space and found this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1974?viewlocale=en_US.
I followed the instructions to the letter except when I got the part where it says "Copy files from the disk image to your new account," I ran into trouble. Thinking it wasn't that big a deal, telling myself I could solve the issue later, I proceeded to nuke enough files in my original user account to give FV the room it needed to turn off. This included (stupid me) my LIbrary folder. When enough space was created, FV turned off and spotlight now works fine.
I won the battle but lost the war... That's because in Leopard, unlike Tiger (for which the instructions were written), you can't simply "Highlight all items in the sparse disk image and drag them into your new account's home folder." Not allowed.
I have everything safely stored on my handy external drive but other than transferring folder by folder, is there any other way to restore my home folder? Is there some super-secret workaround or is this the cautionary tale to all you other folks out there (like we need to hear it again): don't get impatient and pay attention to which operating system the instructions were written for. Tiger's troubleshooting articles are not interchangeable with Leopard's.
Hope I am saving someone else some grief by airing my tale of woe.
Best wishes,
T

Hi VK
Following the instructions in the link, I made a sparse disk image on an external drive and selected all items in my Home and copied them (by dragging) to the mounted sparse disk image.
Thanks,
t

"Fire-vault protected home folder did not open and needs to be repaired."

I recently updated my macbook to leopard and after my laptop downloaded system updates, it had to restart but when I came to the login section and tried to login, I get this message:
"Fire-vault protected home folder did not open and needs to be repaired. Click OK to repair the folder and continue logging in. Click Cancel login to log in as a different user."
I don't have a different user so I clicked OK, but then I get this message:
"You are unable to log in to the user account "Kyle" at this time. Logging in to the account failed because an error occured."
So now I can't login and I'm a college student and need important files on my computer. Someone please help! I have class tomorrow!

Sorry, I re-read your question and realize from the title you had file vault on upgraded and now it won't let you into the home folder. This is a known issue and I hope Apple produce a fix. I encountered this problem but fortunately I took a bootable image backup to a firewire drive. I booted off that as root and then opened the sparese image which is the home folder. This gave warnings but let me copy important documents to safety and also export address book and safari book marks.
If you do not have a backup I am very sorry to say you may have lost those files. It is worth backing up important college work, even if it is just to CD. I hope Apple come up with a fix for this because many of us hit this problem. Part of the reason for owning a Mac is you do not expect to have these issues. It made me feel like I had just installed XP!

Lion Server - Home Folder Sync Not Working - HELP

I have a lion server set up on a mac mini.
I have set up an OD to manage network accounts through the server app. My workflow for setting up users is:
1.     using the server app add a new user
2.     I have a home folders users directory set up under file sharing and set to be available for home directories - so I select this share as the home folder for the user
3.     I user the WGM app to then set up mobiility through the preferences tab to create always and to sync the home and preferences
4.     I check that the home folder is set correctly under the user account in WGM
When I log in to the client machine (regardless of whether or not I have first logged in on the server or not) the client presents an error saying that it can not log in and can not access the server at that time. The client stays on the user login screen.
If I then change the users home folder on the server to local I can then log in on the client machine and create the account. If I elect not to create the home folder on the client machine the rainbow ball of death occurs and the machine hangs. So I instead log in and select to create the local home folder.
I then log out of the user and change the user setting on the server to point the home folder to the correct share instead of on the local setting.
I then log back on to the client machine and can log in without any problems. HOwever, I get an error message if I try to sync saying that the home folder is not accessible. This is despite the fact that the home folder, and the server et al, can be mounted in finder and I can copy and paste documents etc to and from the server. I have full and expected access to the server and the associated storage.
For some reason home sync continues to say that the home folder can not be found (in fact that the server can not be found) whenever I try to sync.
This is driving me bananas. I have tried so many permutations that I have lost count of the things that I have tried.
Is this a permission issue?
I have the OD bound to the client machine and have no problems seeing the users and being able to access the OD from the client machine.
Does any one have any thoughts at the issues I should be looking at or which logs may be helpful in trying to understand what is going on?

Jonathon.
The dscl command just leads to a "Data source (LAPDv3.server.tnichapman.private) is not valid" statement.
I logged on using my local client admin account.
I had a search through console.
The only error associated with slapconfig was:
2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp -r /Library/Preferences/com.apple.passwordserver.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/, "r"
2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000 Error: Command failed with exit code 256: /bin/cp -r /Library/Preferences/com.apple.passwordserver.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/
The rest were statements like this:
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:19 +0000   popen: /usr/bin/tar czpf /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/shadowbackup.tar.gz /var/db/shadow, "r"
I couldn't find any references to ApplePasswordServer and there didn't look to be anything unusualy about the opendirectoryd entries below
4/17/12 6:40:16.106 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: Enter archive password:
4/17/12 6:40:17.244 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: bdb_monitor_db_open: monitoring disabled; configure monitor database to enable
4/17/12 6:40:17.285 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: bdb_monitor_db_open: monitoring disabled; configure monitor database to enable
4/17/12 6:40:18.368 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: cp: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.passwordserver.plist: No such file or directory
4/17/12 6:40:18.577 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: tar: Removing leading '/' from member names
4/17/12 6:40:19.173 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: tar: Removing leading '/' from member names
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:16 +0000 command: /usr/sbin/sso_util info -r /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 -p
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:16 +0000 1 Backing up LDAP database
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:16 +0000 Stopping LDAP server (slapd)
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:17 +0000   popen: /usr/sbin/slapcat -l /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/backup.ldif, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:17 +0000   popen: /usr/sbin/slapcat -b cn=authdata -l /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/authdata.ldif, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:17 +0000 Starting LDAP server (slapd)
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:17 +0000 Waiting for slapd to start
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:17 +0000 ...
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp /var/db/openldap/openldap-data/DB_CONFIG /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/DB_CONFIG, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp /var/db/openldap/authdata//DB_CONFIG /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/authdata_DB_CONFIG, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp -r /etc/openldap /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp -r /Library/Preferences/com.apple.passwordserver.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000 Error: Command failed with exit code 256: /bin/cp -r /Library/Preferences/com.apple.passwordserver.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /usr/sbin/mkpassdb -list > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/sasl-plugin-list, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/hostname > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/hostname, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /usr/sbin/sso_util info -pr /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/local_odkrb5realm, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000 2 Backing up Kerberos database
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /usr/bin/tar czpf /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/krb5backup.tar.gz /var/db/krb5kdc/kdc.conf /var/db/krb5kdc/acl_file.* /var/db/krb5kdc/m_key.* /etc/krb5.keytab , "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000 3 Backing up configuration files
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/config/KerberosKDC.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/KerberosKDC.plist, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.PasswordService.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/LaunchDaemons/, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openldap.slapd.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/LaunchDaemons/, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp /Library/Preferences/com.apple.openldap.plist /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /usr/bin/sw_vers > /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/version.txt, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:18 +0000   popen: /bin/cp -r /var/db/dslocal /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:19 +0000   popen: /usr/bin/tar czpf /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX/shadowbackup.tar.gz /var/db/shadow, "r"
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:19 +0000 Backed Up Keychain
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:19 +0000 4 Backing up CA certificates
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:19 +0000 5 Creating archive
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:19 +0000 command: /usr/bin/hdiutil create -ov -plist -puppetstrings -layout UNIVERSAL CD -fs HFS+ -volname ldap_bk -srcfolder /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX -format SPARSE /var/backups/ServerBackup_OpenDirectoryMaster
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:26 +0000 Removed directory at path /tmp/slapconfig_backup_stage71031lThmRX.
4/17/12 6:40:26.410 AM com.apple.opendirectorybackup: 2012-04-17 03:40:26 +0000 Removed file at path /var/run/slapconfig.lock.

"The home folder could not be created because the network name cannot be found" error in AD users and computers

Our home folders are stored on a non-windows NAS device and with Windows XP and 2003 we've always got the above error when creating or modifying users home folders, even when the shares were al ready created and being used.
However this was never really a big issue as the error that popped up was really for information and finshed with a "we've modified the user properties anyway, please create the share manually" type message.
Unfortunately now we are moving to windows 7 and 2008R2, this last part of the the message is missing and it won't accept the correct value.
This issue may be in the way that the NAS device shares the folder, as only the username that matches the folder name can access the share. This behaviour can't be modified.
Is there a way to get Windows 7/2008R2 AD users and computers to behave the same way that Windows XP/2003 does , i.e. don't try and create the share just set the value in the user properties ?
The AD is still at 2003 level and we can still use Windows XP/2003 clients to make the changes but this is a bit of a limitation.

The KB article is almost what we have apart from theitalic underlined
part
Consider the following scenario:
You use a domain administrator account to log on to a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
You use the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in to connect to a domain controller.
You open the Properties dialog box of a user account.
The user account has sole access to a shared folder path that cannot be accessed by the administrator account.
You set the Remote Desktop Services Home Folderattribute to the shared folder path.
NoteThis attribute is located on the
Remote Desktop Services Profiletab.
You click Apply or OK.
In this scenario, you receive the following error message:
The home folder could not be created because: The network name cannot be found.
Note If you click Apply or OK again, no error message is returned. However, the setting is not saved.
I think the important bit is
The user account has sole access to a shared folder path that cannot be accessed by the administrator account.
We manually create the shares on our NAS and then just want to enter the path in the profile tab, I suppose the question is how to we stop it trying to create the shares ?

Home folder do not appear in the finder menu - How can I get it back?

Keywords:
Mac OS X 10.4.11
FileVault: On
System: Restarted
Home folder: still somewhere in the hard drive but not yet in my account
Initial bad manipulation: home folder > get info > ownership & permissions > you can > No Access
<and> Owner > No Acces
Hello all,
Here is my problem:
Basically, I do not have the home folder in my account when I log in.
Hopefully I remember well what have led to this consequence.
To begin, in the finder menu for the home folder I opened the get info pop-up. Then, under "Ownership & Permissions" I have replaced "Read & Write" by "No Access" both in "you can" and under "Details - Owner".
Per consequence, I couldn't read a document in this folder. Hence, I've tried to to go backward and change the "No Access" to "Read & Write" but it couldn't work.
Then, I restarted the session - but because I had filevault turned on - it screwed.
Then, when I logged in back I got this message:
"The home folder for user "XX" is not located in the usual place or cannot be accessed.
The home or users folder may have been moved or deleted. If the home folder is located or the network, he server may be unavailable temporarily. If you continue to have problems, see your administrator."
Do anyone have already encountered a similar problem?
Thanks a lot,
/

HFG,
One more thing, from this other admin account (good one) I went in terminal and >I observed that the folder that I'm having trouble with does not have the "d" letter.
Basically, it's written:
"-rwxr-xr-x 1 bobip bouba 23701154564 Nov 12 15:31 lol.sparseimage"
What you think? Souldn't be coded as "d_rwx...
Remember what I wrote earlier:
A FileVault account instead puts all of its data into an encrypted disk image - in fact an encrypted sparseimage. If FileVault is enabled, the home folder for that account no longer directly contains the Documents, Pictures, and other data subfolders - all that the home folder really contains is a single file named username.sparseimage. When you log in to the FileVault account and give your password, this disk image mounts and you can access your files.
That "lol.sparseimage" does contain all your data, but it is a file and not a folder, which is why its permissions start with a "-" and not a "d". It is a "disk image file," very similar to the .dmg files that you download from the internet. When a disk image file is opened it will mount a "virtual" disk volume, which behaves very much like a real external disk volume.
Let's call the shortname of your FileVault account "fv" as Robert did. So as I wrote earlier, when you are logged out, your file structure is going to look like:
HD>Users>fv>fv.sparseimage
When you log in, the name of the lol folder is changed to .fv, with the lol.sparseimage file still inside. The leading period hides it from finder. But more importantly, a "virtual disk" named "fv" mounts and opens, which contains all your stuff. The "fv" disk icon is hidden from Finder and doesn't show on the desktop, but it is there.
The mounted disk volume "fv" has access permissions just as a file or folder does, and looking back at what you did, *I think you changed the permissions on that mounted volume*, and not on the sparseimage file that holds it - you would not have seen the sparseimage file from Finder. If you did this then the permissions for both the HD>Users>fv folder and also for the sparseimage file were probably OK all along. I'm not sure what you've now done to them, which is why I advised backing up before doing anything.
So to sum up - there are three different entities that need to have the proper permission structure for the FileVault account to work properly:
1. The folder "fv" in /Users (assuming you are logged out. If logged in it would be .fv)
2. The *sparseimage file* "fv.sparseimage", which is inside that fv folder.
3. The *disk volume* 'fv" that mounts when the fv sparseimage file is opened and the correct FileVault password is given.
I tried creating a test filevault account to check these permissions, and you could try to reproduce what I found. My suggestion in trying to fix things is to do it from Finder, not from Terminal.
I would
1) Log out of the FileVault account,
2) From the other admin account, [enable the root user (Tiger)|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528?viewlocale=en_US], and then log in as root.
Then from the root account:
1) Do a Get Info on the folder /Users> fv. Set the owner to fv, with Read only access, set Group to fv with "No Acess" and set Others to "No Access.' Do not click Apply to enclosed items.
2) Do a Get Info on the file fv.sparseimage. Set the owner to fv, with Read and Write access, set Group to fv with No Access, and set Others to "No Access.' Do not click Apply to enclosed items.
3. Double-click the fv.sparseimage file (and cross your fingers!). When asked for a password, give the password from the FileVault account, not your current root password. Look on the Desktop for a new "fv" disk icon.
(Your stuff is in there - if you have ANY type of backup storage, even a thumb drive, you could double-click the fv disk icon and copy the most valuable files somewhere else)
Do a Get Info on the fv disk icon, and set the owner to "unknown" with Read and Write Access, the Group to "unknown" with No Access, and Others to No Access. Most importantly, *check the box for "Ignore ownership on this volume"*. Do not click Apply to enclosed items.
So again, the three Get Infos (as seen from the root account) on my fv folder, my fv.sparseimage file, and my fv mounted volumes look like this:
!http://i34.tinypic.com/krf4h.jpg!
The important permissions are those under "Details". Ignore the part that says "*You have*: No Access." ( You are root, and you actually do have access)
If all seems well, then right-click >eject the mounted fv disk icon on the desktop, log out of root, and try logging back into your Filevault account.

File vault: home folder is not located in the usual place...

All of a sudden I get this error when logging into a filevault protected account.
*The home folder for "XXXX" is not located in the usual place or cannot be accessed*
The message goes on to warn me that the folder could have been moved or deleted or is on an unavailable network volume.
I see that the sparsebundle is right where it should be. I tried searching this board, but I can't find anything threads discussing this error. So, none of the data is accessible. If it was a sparseimage I could just mount it under another user and get the data out, but I have no idea what to do to salvage a sparsebundle. Heck, I didn't even know they existed until 30 min ago.

I have had no luck in fixing this. I've tried mounting the sparsebundle from the finder, disk utility, and the terminal and get an "Operation not supported on socket" error.
opening the terminal while logged in to this account brings up a message along the lines of
no home directory in /Users/AccountName
Logging in with home = /
So I thought it may be a permissions problem and reset them to be read write for user group and others, but still can't login or mount the sparsebundle from another account.

Home folder: can't "rename" in finder per step 3 in Apple's HT1428

Ran Setup Assistant on a new MacBook Air and transferred everything (settings and all) over from my old computer (disabled) using its Time Capsule backup during Setup Assistant's original (and only) run.
Problem is: the home folder on the new computer retains the old computer's name. I read in quick "Help" (from Finder's top menu line) that "You can’t change the name of a home folder. If you want to use a different name, you must create a new user (this requires administrator privileges)."
But Apple publishes HT1428: "OS X: How to change your account name or home directory name," so I try it.   OS X 10.7 and later directions say:
     [create new admin account, log out of old, log in under new, and]
     2. Navigate to the /Users folder in Finder.
     3. Rename the home folder for the old account, being sure to make note of both the old account name and the new account name.
After logging in as new admin, when I highlight the old account's home folder name, it will not "box itself out" so I can change its name. "Get Info-ing" the folder (file) shows the Name & Extension grayed out and unchangeable.
So I'm stalled out at the very beginning. Any ideas?
Thinking . . . HT1428 gives a different procedure for home folder name change in OS X 10.6, using terminal to "mv" a new name into place. The old computer was 10.6.8 and everything about it came over during setup. Could it need the OS X 10.6 instructions?
And am I playing with fire?

I don't see anything different about yours from mine. I have no problem renaming another account home folder.
All the reasons I can guess at for it not being available you seem to have verified.
Copy and paste in this command in Terminal. Make sure there is a space after what you paste, then drag in the old home folder. It will list the ACLs and any Finder flags on the folder.
ls -dleO
You should only see this after the line listing the folder info:
0: group:everyone deny delete
In the first line of the output, you should see a - between "staff" and the file size number.
There isn't any difference between the move command and doing it with the Finder, except the safety of not typing anything wrong. I imagine the Finder calls mv when it renames, but I don't know for sure.

After Archive and Install, my Home folder is not quite right....

I did an A&I last week and am slowly getting it back to the way it was (minus the problems) but am wondering if my Home Folder has all it should- it seems like it should have more in it so I am just double checking. In my Home Folder I have these items: Desktop, Documents, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public and Sites. No Users folder.....And my Pictures folder just has a folder, it doesn't list my libraries nor does it have my Reunion Pictures folder in it (my genealogy software- it was stored there before and after the A&I) but it's not there now. I see that if I do a Finder search, typing in Reunion Pictures it directs me to my HD--->Users--->Home Folder--->Pictures and it comes up and I see them BUT I don't see it listed in the Pictures folder nor my other 5 libraries. So something is wrong and I need to get this set up right. Can anyone please help me straighten out this mess? I really, really appreciate the help and guidance, Judy

A short addendum: If I right-click on the Pictures folder, to highlight Show Contents, it's all listed there but I don't think I should have to do that. Plus, my Users folder isn't in my Home Folder (in the Finder, my "little house" is there and if I highlight I get just that short list of things but no Users Folder- should it be there? Or is it supposed to reside on the HD? Sorry, I am rambling. j

HT4528 iPhone 4: wallpaper turned black or negative. Resetting by holding power and home buttons does not resolve the issue.

iPhone 4: wallpaper turned black or negative image. Resetting by holding the power and home buttons does not resolve issue. Advice please!

Try restoring your iPhone.
iTunes: Backing up, updating, and restoring your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch software
If you are unable to restore > Unable to update or restore

Installing lion makes home folder disappear

After trying to install my downloaded Lion from a pen drive of the OS.7 (to avoid the heavy download) on my partner's MacBook (which I also use), my partner's home folder was bared (no entry sign on folders) from Lion. She then signed up and bought Lion, did the download and install, yet afterwards her home folder was still not available since at startup only my, and, the guest account appear. Everytime I have reverted her MacBook by reverting to the last backup on TimeMachine capsule.Tried to install again and the same happended. What am i doing wrong?

Think I fixed the publickey authentication failure on the client by changing the clients ntp setting to local server.
When triggering a sync on the client, FileSyncAgent shows up in server System Log.
Time to login is now down to less than 30s for a 3 GB home folder, if no changes are synced - that's quite acceptable.
I verified that server side file tracking can be turn on with the terminal command:
sudo serveradmin settings info:enableFileSyncAgent = yes
To turn off (and reduce entries in system.log file) replace '= yes' by '= no'. Query status with command:
sudo serveradmin settings info:enableFileSyncAgent
Special thanks go to Linc Davis for directing me to Slow Sync | Krypted

The 'Library' folder that supposed to show up in my "home" folder is not showing up.

If you click on your mac HD icon and go into the 'users' folder. Ther eis an icon with a house. This is what I think is called the 'home' folder. Usually, there is a folder in the 'Home' folder called 'Library' and I cant seem to locate it. Where did it go?

It's hidden. To unhide it open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt paste the folloing command line:
chflags nohidden ~/Library
Press RETURN.

Home folder does not appear when trying to restore it from a backup

Hello Macintosh community, I hope you can shed some light on this very strange behavior I am experiencing when trying to recover a User's home directory from a Backup archive.
Recently, my MacBook internal hard disk stopped working (hardware failure of the disk itself, it does not spin any more). I had been making regular backups of the entire internal disk to an external hard disk.
I went to an Apple reseller and had them put in a new internal hard drive, and also purchased MacOS 10.5, which was installed on this internal drive.
I then installed Backup 3 onto this 10.5 system, and mounted the external drive with the backup to restore the contents of my home directory.
However, when opening the Backup application and trying to restore, it shows the entire contents of the hard disk to be restored, EXCEPT my home directory. Home directories of other users are visible, just not mine. So, Backup is effectively not able to restore my home directory.
In an attempt to restore other information, I decided to try to restore the entire contents of the backup to another location, and then manually retrieve any other files I needed from that restored backup.
During that restore, I thought I'd open a terminal window, and take a look at the /Volumes directory. In this directory, I noticed a volume named after the Backup Plan I was restoring from. This volume was not visible in the Finder, just in the /Volumes directory visible in Terminal.
Curious, I opened the Users folder of that backup volume, and to my surprise I found my home directory with its contents! So, from Terminal, I did a recursive copy from the 'missing' (in the Backup application) home directory to my internal disk, and lo and behold, it contained the data from my home directory!
So, I am thinking that my home directory exists in the backup, but that the Backup application is somehow not showing it.
The directory structure I copied using Terminal only contains the contents of my home directory the way it was when I created my initial full backup, and thus it does not contain any subsequent modifications, stored in the 1.5 years worth of incremental backups I created later. I guess I could manually go through all incremental backups, extract the home directories from each of them, and manually combine them into a single one, representing the final home directory before my disk failed, but that is the Backup application's job.
My question to the forum:
- Have any of you experienced a similar problem, and if so, were you able to recover the 'hidden' directory from the backup files, and how?
- Maybe the Backup development team at Apple can provide some suggestions for how to retrieve my home directory from the backup files I have.
Obviously, it's important for me to get my files back. I did make backups on a regular basis, so I thought I did the right thing. It's especially frustrating, since I'm pretty sure the backup files contain the home directory, but I just can't get at it!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
JK
Software versions of system before crash:
- System version: 10.4 Tiger (up to date with the latest updates)
- Backup version 3 (kept up to date with the latest updates)
Software versions of system after crash:
- System version: 10.5 Leopard (up to date with the latest updates)
- Backup version 3 (version as of the day of this posting)

The original install had 3 regular users, and I'm also seeing the "Shared" user when looking at the volume via Terminal. On my new disk, I created a user (with admin rights) with the same name as one of the users on the back up. When I log in as this user and then start Backup again, the home directory of that user is visible in Backup. However, the home directory I want is still hidden.
On a side note: I'm wondering whether these full or incremental backups are somehow similar to .dmg files, since they seem to appear in the /Volumes list while Backup is restoring from a backup file.
What I am doing right now, is to have Backup do a complete restore. But as soon as I started Backup, I opened a terminal window,did a cd (change directory) to the backup file (which appears as a volume). Then I copied the contents I of the home directory I want (via cp -R <home-directory-name> <destination>) to another hard disk.
Interestingly enough, I noticed that Backup, while it was doing the restore, opened a dialog indicating that it could not close the backup file because it was in use by me having a Terminal window open in one of its directories. As soon as I closed the terminal window, and allowed Backup to re-try, it successfully continued, opening the next backup file in succession.
As soon as it continued, I cd-ed into the home directory of that next backup file, and copied the contents of the home directory from it. So, I'm doing this for the home directory in question for all backup files. I assume that this gets me as many copies (versions) of the home directory as there are backup files.
The next thing I need to to after all backup files have been processed, is to manually try to consolidate all the extracted home directory versions into a single one. Yes, this sounds insane, and it is, but until I know of another way to solve this problem, it's the only thing I can do
What a fantastic way to spend a weekend!

FileVault did not open home folder-- Can't login

Okay, so just today I upgraded to Leopard, after the CD finished downlaoding, I logged into my account, and the Updater wanted me to update to 10.5.1, so I did. Updater asked me to restart, and after clicking the restart button, FileVault (I have it enabled) asked me if I wanted to recover disk space (it does this all the time) I skipped the process, and my computer restarted. It brought me to the login screen, and I clicked on my account, entered my password, and then a window pops up, telling me:
"Your FileVault-protected home folder did not open and needs to be repaired.
Click OK to repair the folder and continue logging in.
Click Cancel Login to log in as a different user."
I chose okay, then waited a few hours to see if anything would happen. It didn't. This account is the only adminastrator account on this computer...
Anyone know what to do??

Understand that what has happened is that your FileVaulted volume, which is simply a large, glorified encrypted sparsefile, has become corrupt and requires repair. The problem is getting access to it and performing the repair. Please understand that the following fix worked for me and may not work for you.
First, chances are you have only one user on your computer. Even if you have two, we should start fresh with a new admin user. The following steps will reset your Mac to think that is has just received a brand new setup of OSX:
1. Reboot
2. Hold apple + s down after you hear the chime.
3. When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line):
* mount -uw /
* rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
* shutdown -h now
Now, booting up your computer, enjoy the pretty light show, take a large breath, hold it for 10 seconds, then let it go. Grab a cup of coffee or a loved one and cuddle during this inspiring intro. Now, back to business. Setup your account as you would in any other circumstance. Just make sure you dont name your username the same as the one you used on this computer before. Make sure your password is longer than 8 characters as well (or so I have heard).
Now that you are inside your computer, you see that you still do not have access to your data. Lets take out the crowbar and proceed with the following steps:
4. Go to Macintosh HD/Users/ and locate the folder named the PREVIOUS administrator's account name which you cannot access. Click on the folder and go to FILE | GET INFO and under Sharing and Permissions ADD yourself as a user with Read & Write privileges.
5. Go inside this folder and perform the same command on the Username.sparseimage file as in step 4. Note the path of this file (i.e. /Users/UserName/UserName.sparseimage)
6. Go to Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities/Terminal
7. Type: sudo hdiutil attach /Users/username/username.sparseimage -nomount
8. A bunch of funky things will happen, but it eventually should list a number of volumes, one with an HFS attached to it, note if it says disk1s1 or disk2s2 or whatever.
9. Type: sudo fsck_hfs -f /dev/rdisk2s2 (rdisk2s2 being where the HFS was from step 8, adding an "r" at the front)
If fsck_hfs bails because of too many errors, just repeat until it says the FS is fine. That irks the bejeezus out of me as well, but has always worked for me so far.
10. Type: sudo fsck_hfs -frd /dev/rdiskXsY
This will rebuild the catalog file, which was my problem.
Now, finally, go back to that path where you found your sparsimage file, double-click it, enter your password and you just may be able to read the data! Success!!!
If you are smart, like I am at this very second, back up the data immediately to DVD. Once you have your backups, reinstall everything and just drop your data back in. Make it clean!
Remember, FileVault is a bitchen feature! But if you are ignorant enough, like I was, not to back up your data, whose fault is that? Cheers!

Time machine will not back up home folder

I have been using time machine and an external HD to back up my Macbook Pro for about two years, and yesterday I needed to recover an older version of a file in my Documents folder. I went into TM to find that it hasn't backed up my home folder in over a year. I have read other threads with similar problems and tried those fixes. Specifically:
1) There is nothing on the exclusion list in TM options
2) I have reset TM (by deleting the plist file in the library and restarting) several times, with no success
3) I created a test account and verified that its home folder is being backed up normally
4) I reformatted the TM external hard drive
5) My home folder is not called "home"
All other folders are being backed up normally as far as I can tell. Any ideas for how to fix this would be much appreciated.

Also, I am not using FileVault.

Home Folder Disappeared – not renamed, FileVault issue?

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