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.

Similar Messages

Change user's short name?

Hi and thank you in advance for any assistance you may give.
I am administering a group of computers for an office of about 20 architects. There is an XServe running 10.5.8 server. One user, when her server account was set up years ago had her name misspelled (Katie instead of Katy) on her server account. This has caused a few problems.
In an attempt to resolve them I went into the Workgroup Manager, changed her account's name and added a short name which included the correct spelling. The services she accesses are file sharing and calendar, she is running 10.7.4 on an iMac.
iCal, unfortunately, when I set her account to use the new short name, does not work and gives a 403 error. Setting the account to the previous short name works fine.
I do not seem to be able to delete the old incorrect short name from her profile on the server. Is there a way to do this, and will this allow the new short name to work in iCal? Will it cause other issues?
Any replies much appreciated.

Hi baobhanjex!
Here is a direct link that usually works, to the utility ChangeShortName by Dan Frakes.
Read all of the instructions carefully, and proceed cautiously, as an improper change can result in unwanted results.
Such as;
Return to Default Desktop, Apparent "Loss" of Home Directory
Mac OS X 10.3 Help: My home folder and desktop are different than before
Also, here is a KB Article on How to change user short name or home directory name.
ali b

User's short name greyed and can't be changed

Hi all I hope I'm in the right area for this post. Here's my problem:
When I create a user I can give them a short name or accept the default, then I save the user. However, if I go back to that user to change the short name It is greyed out and cannot be changed although I can add additional short names that can be modified. Note that I am logged in and authenticated with the Directory admin's password. It was a problem in 10.5.4 and now 10.5.5 as well.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you

Hi
Firstly you don't have a problem. Its normal behaviour.
When you first create a User and key in the User's name the first short name gets created at the same time. Prior to clicking Save you can alter it then and only then. As you've already seen you can add further short names as well as editing them. To change the primary short name you delete the user account and create it again exept this time alter the primary short name to suit your needs.
Tony

Best Practice: changing a user's short name?

I administer the OS X Servers and user accounts at my school, where typically a few teachers will come back from the summer having gotten married and changed their names.
We use a standard for usernames of first letter of first name and last name, where Ann Smith is 'asmith' - when she goes and gets married and wants to be 'ajones' at the beginning of this year, what is the best way to go about this change?
Users have network homes, and IMAP email is on a separate server. Here is what I was thinking:
For the user's files, make a new user with their new username, 'ditto' the contents of the old username's home folder to the new username, and chown/chmod the new folder's contents to match the correct permissions.
For the user's mail, use SirAdmin to add ACL's to the old username's mail folders to be able to read them as the new username, have the new username set up their mail and copy the contents of the old username's mail to their new IMAP folder(s).
Does this make sense or is this far too complicated?
Do I just tell these users to log in using their old name and burn their essentials to a DVD and just worry about helping them with their emails?
Any and all suggestions would be appreciated -- thanks
BC

Hi Blair
These look like good methods to me and should work. You could consider creating a second short name - something suitable like their first name instead? Enable Mobile Account (PHD) for the affected users and log in using that short name. Their account should now be created locally as well.
If you have only a handful you could use a spare machine to do it with yourself? More on this later.
If you these users have IMAP accounts you could enable POP for them as well. As you/they log in to download from the server their current home folder their mail should be downloaded also.
What you have after that is effectively a back up of their home folders and mail kept locally on a client machine or a designated machine you decided to use. Delete their account, create the new long and short names, create the additional short name (exactly as it was before), log in with those details and upload the locally stored information back to the server. There should be no need to worry about permissions etc.
What you could do is send an email to the affected users outlining the steps they need to take to achieve what you want. Minimal effort with maximum gain.
When you are happy kill the mobile account option as well as deleting the additional short name. Send another mail advising they use the first short name for logging in. There'll be a little tidying up to do in deleting the locally created home folders but you can do this at your leisure using VNC.
I would have in place one of the other methods as well - just in case.
Tony

Right or Wrong? help: user account short name has Capital First Letter

Hello
I have the same issue as a post in the Mountain Lion discussion group. It doesn't seem to be getting an answer. So I thought I would post it here, being that I do have Snow Leopard.
The Mountain Lion post is here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/21665861#21665861
Here is MY question::
Can anyone answer this? I have this same thing. I've had this Mac since 2010, too, I think, at least two years. I don't remember being asked to use lowercase, nor actually typing in the Capital letter. I stumbled upon the realization when I was using my Macbook and my user name whille different does use all lowercase. The Macbook is newer.
I've been running this Mac with the first letter Capital for the short name with no problems that I know of. I do have Time Machine backups that I don't really want to lose access to.
What are the benefits and pitfalls of using the method etresoft explains to change it to all lowercase?? Should I do it just to do it and be in line with Apple's guidelines or should I leave well enough alone?? Which way will cause me MORE problems? Running with the Capital letter or going through the process of changing it to lowercase??
What kind of problems will I run into if I change it or don't change it???
Where "oldshortname" is your old user name and "newshortname" is the user name you want to change it to. Keep in mind that both oldshortname and newshortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters or numbers.
And, Padgreen has an excellent point -- how do we do this change process if our Old Shortname is Shortname?? How can we type "shortname" for the "oldshortname" if our shortname is not all lowercase??
etresoft -- are you around??
Or someone else? Thanks!!
(the only thing I can even think of as a problem is when I copy files/folders over to my Macbook - it sometimes makes "nobody" the owner of the file/folder and I find out when I try to edit or move the file. I can usually just change the owner and everything is fine. I don't know if this is related or not.)

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1428 states:
Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.

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]

If I reinstall Snow Leopard to replace "user" with my own short name in accounts, will I wipe out all upgrades, mail settings, etc. that I have already set?

After buying a second-hand laptop running Snow Leopard, I made mistake of upgrading software, creating mail accounts, Safari preferences, etc., before noticing that the account name was "user". I want to replace this Admin account with my own short name, but can't seem to do it without completely reinstalling Snow Leopard. If I do this, will I lose everything I have done already? Thanks in advance,
DRJ

Kurt,
I have a question about that link....it said to change the name of the folder in the way you would change any folder....
There is where i am having the problem....I just got a mac and i am having windows withdraw...b/c i don't know how to do jack.......
When i have my finder window open and look under places i see the house icon with the (i assume) user's short name.....this will not let me rename this......Is there a reason why???
Thanks..
Daniel

Changing concurrent program,executable short names

hi,
i created one report and registered in apps, with some executable short name and concurrent program short name.
now i want to create a new program with the same short names, and no need of the first report.
how can i do it?
can anybody plz give any clue.
with regards
kiran

You can not have two concurrent programs with the same short name but you probably already know that from trying it. Since you need a new program with the same short name and you don't need the old program, simply rename the program and description of your existing program. You will have to change the executable to point to the code of your new program.

Migration Assistant and User Names

I'm about to take delivery of a new Mac Pro to replace the G5. I intend to just migrate my user data and install all apps from scratch so they're all Intel where possible. However, from memory, when you get a new machine and switch it on for the first time, you have to set up a user before you're asked if you want to transfer data. If I use the user name I'm used to from the previous machine, it won't migrate a user with that same name. I know I can set up a dummy user, migrate my data then delete the dummy but is there another way?

I need help, and I'm definitely panicking. I need clear concise answers to things. I'm willing to try things on my own, but I don't want to keep getting deeper and deeper and it be spring, and I still haven't fully loaded my brand new i5 imac, and not be dong fun stuff. Between the flicker, migration assistant woes, and duplicate email issues, I'm 75% to being at 'wit's end' and taking the whole **** thing back.
I did not migrate when first using set-up asst, and registered same user name on new i5 as I have on macbook (or close enough, I thought caps were diffferent in one place, but apparently not). So... later, when I went to migrate, it asked for different user name. I 1) picked a slightly diff name, and 2) migrated every thing (apps, network, etc). approx 35 gigs & 90 minutes. I go to look, nothing's there, obviously, and I have exactly my old macbook on a new user name. I don't want this.
a) how do I get everything I need/want from old macbook (iphoto/movies, docs, etc) to my ORIGINAL user acct on new i5?
a2) WHAT, exactly, of the 4 clickable buttons (user, apps, network, ?,) when I'm migrating, do I need to actually move?
b) a friend said I can move these files/whatever to a shared folder from the addl user account to the original, then delete old one (or keep it as back up). Is this true?
b2) I moved one pic this way, and it works I had to ("authenticate"), but let's say I move the "picture" folder (which includes 4,000 pics) this way, will there be any problems? in other words, will the iphoto or pictures folder that migrated to the user name I did not want, 'merge,' or 'replace' (or something else?) the handful of iPhotos and files I already have on my original/proper user name? are there any issues w/ doing this? keep in mind, when the old iPhoto6 migrated from macbook to username I had to create on new 'puter, it was upgraded, after promp, to iPhoto9, which is fine; just want to make sure that will be fine, moving this way (as well as iMovie, everything else.). And I guess, I need to keep 'authenticating.'
c) also, one of the 4 buttons when migrating is "user accounts." that's different than the 'user' folder? Please tell me which 4 buttons I need to have clicked when I migrate from a 4-yr old macbook w/ ilife06, to a brand new quadcore i5. and again, please explain what 'applications' are again. I used to know, but my head is so wrapped around all this BS now....
d) can I just migrate again, but the proper stuff, TO my orginal user account on the new i5, or no?
e) If I eventually get all my stuff - whichever way - to the one and original user, can I simply delete the other user from this 'puter?
Thanks for the help. Mac sellers REALLY should tell customers this, about doing it upon setting up. Or apple should simply rewrite the program to include just being able to do what you do at set up, anytime.

Changing the short name at migration?

Rather than upgrading from Tiger to Leopard, I backed everything up on an external drive in order to do a clean install. When I to migrate I want to change the short name, or somehow bring what was under a previous account into a new one with a different name. Is this possible? Is it a matter of dragging and dropping folder rather than migration? (or would that mean not migrating applications?)
I can provide more details if needed.

No, you cannot change an account name via Migration Assistant. If you want to change the short name do so after migrating. Instructions are here:
How to change user short name or home directory name
Or, download the freeware utility ChangeShortName - VersionTracker or MacUpdate - and use it to change the shortname.
I suggest the latter.
If you create a new user account with the name you prefer and want to get your old account information into the new account then see this article:
How to recover a home folder (directory) .

How to change users short name in 10.7 Server version? Command line possible?

I just migrated from Snow Leo 10.6 Server to Lion 10.7 server. All seems ok except for one user (me!). It seems my short name is different. It was Goerge Smith but now it is just George.   And All users can login and get mail etc, but not me.
I try to reset password using Updated Workgroup utiliity and new Server App, but the app refuses to allow rest of password or chnage of short user name.
All other users seem ok and their names, atributes, passwords can be easily reset.   So both Open Directoty and NDS ( all the normal cast of troublemakes) do not seem to be at issue.
Clearly something odd or unexpected happened in migration of Open Directory users and attributes.
How can I change my User Shortname Back to the correct one? Or Any ideas why my Password is locked, and cannot be reset?
I have rebooted sveral times, all other functions seem normal and working? Mystified!!   Help?

Someone in the Lion Server Forum might know?
Regards,
Colin R.

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.

Running Win7 and ITunes 10.6 - loaded all my old CD's in one user acct. I want to share these with all other users on the machine without reloading the CD's and without having to make copies of their disk images, if possible. Also, want them on my WinXP

Running ITunes 10.6, on a Win7 Home Premium SP1. Just loaded about thirty of my favorite CD's on my user account.
I would like to be able to make all of them available to my other family members in their accounts on my machine, without needing to reload them all and without having to store their disk images multiple times. Can this be done, and if so, how?
And can I copy the contents of a folder across to my wife's WinXP SP3 machine, and have them made available to each of us in our login accts on that machine?
(There are three of us, plus an admin and a backup admin account, on each.)
I will be really grateful if someone can help me do this for my family members, as we have shared the music on these CD's over the years, and I would like to make them available on the desktop for each of us.
Also, I'd like to be able to load them, or a subset of them, to my wife and son's IPods. Any Tips, Traps or Tweaks for that process, as well?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Not sure about the OS level for the IPods. I am doing this for my wife and son, using an account here created for my son, which he shares with me for support purposes. But I do know they both have IPods, and our PC's and their OS's were described above.

You can move the iTunes folder to a separate drive on your pc an then configure each account to use this drive / folder as iTunes library ... The problem is, that iTunes by default stores everything in your personal music folder which is separate for each user account in windows (and by default is on "C" drive).
I create a separate partition on every pc/laptop (and map a drive name) where I store music, videos and other mass data. This will also keep the "C" drive small, which is backed up from time to time and so my backup is also small.

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

Yosemite install has messed up my home folder after fixing user short name.

I just installed Yosemite 10.10.2 onto a new Mac Pro, replacing 10.9.5. After the installation completed, I allow my iCloud settings the set things up for Mail and my other general account settings. The only issue is that when I changed my short name from timjones to tjones, auto correct changed it to tones (as it has done in this post 2 times). Once I recognized this, I used the normal method for modifying a user account by logging in under another admin account, using ditto to copy the '/Users/tones' folder to '/Users/tjones', selecting the Tim Jones account in Users and Groups and using the Advanced Options to reset the short name to tjones. I then reassigned the home folder to /Users/tjones.
All seemed to go well and when I logged back in as tjones. However, I could no longer set up my preferences for apps nor could I access my mail. I then clicked on the 'tjones' home folder in Finder and was greeted with a dialog that said 'Preparing to duplicate items to "Users"'. It then spun for around 2 minutes and prompted me for my password. I entered it and the dialog changed to 'Duplicating 0 items to "Users"' and it's now been spinning for around 15 minutes.
What is this and am I back at square one and reinstalling (I have good backups...)?

The "Duplication" finished finally and my home folder has now disappeared from the /Users folder in Finder. If I check in a Terminal, there are now 2 folders - 'tjones' which is set to tjones:wheel and 'tjones copy' which is set to tjones:admin. As mentioned, neither is visible in Finder.

Migration and User Acct Short Name

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