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

Question

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,
/

Answer 1

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.