Login Name and Home Folder names don't match

Many months ago I embarked on a mission to clean up a drive which I ported over to another computer and in the process tried to rename the user name but I can't get the home folder to reflect the user's new name.
On launch the computer has the proper user name but the home folder retained the old user name.
Is there a way to correct this?
I am stumped.

Neil
I just wanted to let you know that I will not attempt your procedure yet until my wife has finished her thesis.
I have no reason to believe it will not work but should I make any mistake along the way I would rather have it happen later.
Once I run the procedure I will be back to mark your advice as a solution and answer to my question. So for now I will leave it marked as helpful.
Thanks, I appreciate the quick response and look forward to finally having my wife's iBook consistent in terms of user name, in the meantime the machine is working great!

Similar Messages

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

User account name and home directory name do not match

A month ago I bought the latest iMac and used Migration assistant to migrate all of my data on over.
Everything went well... Except that my new iMac would not let me use my old user name. I had to create somethign else.
So my user (admin) account name is not the same as my Home directory name. (I only have 1 user account and 1 user Home directory... they both are named differently).
This has not caused problems, but I want to iron this out. I tried using System Preferences/Users and groups to change my user account name to match the name of my home directory name (which has my old user name)... but when I did that it said "Name not available".
Long time Mac user but I'm not comfortable doing anything deeper without some input & advice.
Thanks in advance!

I enable the Root user as outlined in the Apple Way instructions...logged out and loged in as the rooot user... but I really don't want to change the name of my user directory... That's the name I want to keep as a User.
Even logged in as a Root User...
I tried to change my current User Name to match by directory name, but it said Name is Not Available
I also tried to create a new User name that matches my directory name...same results Name is Not Available
Is there a sudo entry that will change the User to match my Directory name (which I want to keep and use)?
Thank in advance!

Change account username and home folder issue

Hello guys,
Apple store re-installed Yosemite v10.10 on my MBA early 2014 (128gb, 4gb)
I wanted to change the account username and the home folder name after installation however I think I did it the wrong way to start with
Step1
I went into System Preference > User Groups, unlocked padlock, ctrl+click on the admin account > advanced options and replaced account name and home folder name with new name (e.g. my computer). Both match.
Relocked padlock, quit system preferences. Rebooted.
Step2
Then I realised that what I did, so I have did it all again after reading Change your OS X account name and home directory name - Apple Support
Could you please tell me whether step1 and step2 might have corrupted the operating system (e.g. legacy preferences, etc, etc)? How can I check that?
Thank you for your support.

Eric, thank you.
Actually Keychain access app has been malfuncitoning since Yosemite was installed and username and home folders were renamed.
Sintomps
the following services and apps keeps asking to use "Login" keychain
- Messages
- Calendar Agent
- Safari
- ScopedBookmarkAgent
- accountds
- com.apple.helper
I always lock keychain. Keychain is sync with admin account password. Keychain verified and repaired. No problems found
I have followed this tutorial with no good result
OS X Mavericks v10.9.1: Repeated prompts to unlock "Local Items" keychain PS: the alpha numeric folder in ~/Library/Keychains/ starts with letter b not letter A as suggested in the tutorial
Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X
OS X: Keychain Access asks for keychain "login" after changing login password
What are you thoughts? Thank you for your support.

Changed shortname and home directory name and don't know how to set it back

so i changed my short name and home directory name because i bought the macbook used and i was trying to rename it to my name.
Like all the others now the desktops back to default without any of my files/music, i know its still here its in the old account folder how do i just reverse this so i can have my desktop and everything back.
heres what it is like:
my users folder there is a home icon called "Josh" which is my name, then there is a folder icon called "nick" which is the old name and it contains all my files etc. then a shared folder icon.
what do i do?
p.s. i tried the method of adding "_new" onto the home icon called Josh and it said i couldn't change it because its part of Mac OS X or something...

if you bought a used computer the first thing you should do is reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS. anything else is less than prudent. it will also let you name your computer and your user as you like.

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.

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

Can not login after changing account short name and home directory

Hi,
I did sth rather stupid while trying a get timemachine working on my iMac 10.5.5.
I changed the short name, login shell and home directory of my account. (didn't listen to the waning that I may not be able to login if I change those information Now I can not log into my account anymore. I tried to use fileVault master password to change the password of my account, but it didn't help. Can anyone tell me how do I fix this problem?
Thanks a lot!

xyz2008 wrote:
No, I still can not log in as that user.
I did as you advised, but it gave the following message:
"attache failed, no such file or directory"
then I suspect you may be entering the command incorrectly. another possibility is this. I noticed you said in one of the previous posts that if you cd into the main user home directory you only see user.sparseimage. It actually should be user.sparsebundle. Or have you upgraded to leopard from tiger with filevault turned on? then it could have remained sparseimage rather than sparsebundle.
run the following in terminal
sudo ls -la /users/username
and post the results.
does it list sparsebundle or sparseimage?
Another thing, when I typed in the command, it didn't take the admin (root) password, but the password of the account I was logged in got me through.
that's what it has to be. it takes the password of the user (it jhas to be an admin user) which is currently logged in.
I am wondering if I can recover the problem user's files from the sparseimage file, then copied all the files to a new user.
Message was edited by: V.K.

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.

Changing the name of home folder

When I set up my machine, I set up the name of my home folder without knowing some of the ramifications of using it. I reviewed the steps in http://www.macworld.com/article/132693/2008/03/changeshortusername.html which seemed reasonably straight forward.
I created another user called limited, and logged out of my administrators account, and into the newly created "limited" account.
All of the steps, up to step 10, went smoothly - modified the short name, and Home directory to the desired new name.
Step 10 required changing the folder name using the following sudo command syntax:
sudo mv /Users/oldusername /Users/newusername
I received the following error after I entered the password:
"limited is not in the sudoers file."
The only thing I could think of was that the account I created, "limited", was not set up with admin rights - so I went in and selected the "Allow user to administer this computer" checkbox for this account. However, a warning saying the change won't take affect until I logout and back in. I'm reluctant to do this, in case something happens where the Mac requires shutting down before all steps have been completed. I'm thinking of changing the short name and home directory settings (in the Account Preferences) back so they agree with the home folder name, and then redo the process once I know the "sudo" command will work. *Does this seem like a reasonable precaution?* I want to avoid having half the job done in case something happens and the Mac has to be restarted.
At this point, I don't know if my assumption is correct about the failure to execute the sudo command. Will adding the Admin rights to the account "limited" insert "limited" into the sudoers file? If not, what do I need to do to resolve that problem.
I've included the steps below:
============================================
1. If Automatic Login is enabled (in Accounts preferences) for the account you’re modifying, disable it. Similarly, if File Vault is enabled (in Security preferences), disable it. You can re-enable these features, if desired, after completing the procedure.
2. Log in as a different user than the one you want to modify; make sure the account you want to modify is not logged in.
3. Open the Accounts pane of System Preferences.
4. If the lock icon in the lower-left of the Accounts window is “locked,” click on it and provide an administrative username and password; this allows you to make changes.
5. In the list of accounts on the left, right-click (or Control-click) on the name of the account you want to modify; choose Advanced Options from the resulting menu.
6. In the Advanced Options screen, delete your current short username in the Short Name field, and then type in your desired new short username.
7. In the Home Directory field, change /Users/oldusername to /Users/newusername, where oldusername is your original short username and newusername is your new short username. Make note of the original and new paths.
8. Click on OK and close System Preferences.
9. Open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities).
10. Type the following command, all on one line, and then press Return; when prompted, provide the password of the admin account you’re currently using, and then press Return again:
sudo mv /Users/oldusername /Users/newusername
(These are the original and new Home Directory paths from Step 7; oldusername is your original short username and newusername is your new short username.) This step renames your home folder in the Finder.
11. Restart your Mac.

NibblesNBits wrote:
When I set up my machine, I set up the name of my home folder without knowing some of the ramifications of using it. I reviewed the steps in http://www.macworld.com/article/132693/2008/03/changeshortusername.html which seemed reasonably straight forward.
I created another user called limited, and logged out of my administrators account, and into the newly created "limited" account.
All of the steps, up to step 10, went smoothly - modified the short name, and Home directory to the desired new name.
Step 10 required changing the folder name using the following sudo command syntax:
sudo mv /Users/oldusername /Users/newusername
I received the following error after I entered the password:
"limited is not in the sudoers file."
The only thing I could think of was that the account I created, "limited", was not set up with admin rights - so I went in and selected the "Allow user to administer this computer" checkbox for this account. However, a warning saying the change won't take affect until I logout and back in. I'm reluctant to do this, in case something happens where the Mac requires shutting down before all steps have been completed.
nothing will happen. just log out/in and rerun the command. an account has to be admin to use sudo.
Message was edited by: V.K.

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.

Home folder name change, cannot see enable the root user option

Hi I am using Mac OS X (10.6.8)..got it from others.. I would like to change the home (small home symbol in finder) folder name. Went through many discussion in apple support. My problem is, I am unable to enable the root user. I went through the following steps: Apple menu -System Preferences- Accounts- authenticated as an administrator account- Login Options- Join- Open Directory Utility- Directory Utility window- administrator account name and password, then clicked OK. After this I can not see option with name Enable root user ( I can see only Active directory, BSD flat file and NIS, LDAPv3, Local). If I click active directory then the edit section will be activated. If I click edit, its showing active directory domain). I can not understand this.
Can anybody help me out please..
Thank you in advance

Here are the instructions from Apple on changing user short name or home directory name. I've used this on a couple of used MacBooks I've bought on eBay. And remember to go into System Preferences>Sharing and change the Computer Name in there.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428

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

Changed name of "home" folder, then lost all user settings

recently bought my computer second hand from a friend. i right clicked on the home folder and changed it's name to mine, restarted, and now i no longer have access to my iphoto directory and my itunes library. i've tried changing the home folder back to what i believe it was before and restarting the computer...but i've had no luck getting my settings back. unfortunately, i think i may have forgotten the original home folder name. can someone help me recover it?

Not recommended!
This may help:
Apparent 'Loss' of Home Folder:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107854

Login Name and Home Folder names don't match

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