Migration assistant, messed up users window, bug?!

Hi.
One of our Intel Core Duo iMacs (OS 10.4.11) just broke down (vertical colored lines and grey areas now comprise half of the screen). I just wanted to quickly transfer one important user account to a PowerPC mac running OS 10.4.11 using target disk mode and the Migration assistant. For some reason the window supposedly displaying the different user accounts is really messed up:
This is a reproducible problem. There should be several users displayed. Using the mouse, the blue horizontal line can be moved up but not further down. Effectively, I can not select the one account because I can not see it, and I can not just transfer all accounts because there is not enough disk space on the target computer.
I wonder whether anybody here could provide me with some help to troubleshoot this problem.
Thanks in advance,
Jens

Hello, is this using MA on both ends via networking, or with the Intel iMac in Target Mode & just MA running on the PPC Mac?
I don't have an Intel 10.4 Mac to test, but here's MA on PPC with other PPC in Target mode...

Similar Messages

Migration Assistant created admin user w/ Macintosh HD volume on desktop

Hi,
Summary:
MBP 17" (running Leopard) logic board died
Retrieved hard drive from MBP and put in USB 2.0 caddy
Bought Mac Mini 2.5 intel core i5 w/ latest Mountain Lion
Used for a couple of days as main Administrator user, set up a VPN etc, every working fine.
Made a back up using Time Machine on a USB connected My Passport Edge for Mac
Used Migration Assistant to transfer user account from MBP HD (with Leopard) - this was the main adminstrator (not root superuser) of the MBP
When prompted, renamed the Leopard user account to MacBook so no conflict with new Mountain Lion administrator user
Transferred everything but applications and download folder of the main (administrator) user on the MBP.
All appeared successful.
Restarted Mac Mini and logged into the User account created by Migration Assistant---all files there etc so far so good.
Then I noticed that this migrated user still had Admintrator rights and appears to have reset some of the global settings effecting the original ML admin user (the one I eventually want to carry on using)
First inkly of this was that the VPN server I set up was no longer recognised by Safari in any accounts on the machine.
Logged into original ML administrator user and changed the migrated MBP user to a 'standard' user with no rights to do change settings on the computer.
[still can't get Safari to recognise the VPN proxy server]
Decided I'd better make a back-up to the Time Machine on the My Passport, but had to follow these instructions http://pondini.org/TM/A4.html for a 'Full Reset of Time Machine'. Which did the job.
Then I logged back into the migrated MBP user account to look around. There on the desktop is a volume called 'Macintosh HD' (the same as the main computer default name that is used my Mountain Lion.
When I do a get info on this volume it tells me the following:
Kind: Volume
Created: Friday, 19 October 2012 (which is an odd date)
Modified: Today ...
Version 10.8.2
Formal: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Capacity: 499.25GB
Available: 361.32GB
Used .....(127.93 GB on disk)
          Sharing and Permissions
               You can only read
               system Read & Write
               wheel Read only
               everyone Read only
Can I delete this volume off the desktop or will that mean I lose all the files and folders for this user? Why is there a 137GB volume on the desktop?
Also, as it's called Macintosh HD (the same as Mountain Lion's Computer name) isn't this likely to be causing some clashes?
I will eventually be deleting this migrated user, once I have all the emails, notes, etc off Entourage's Main Identity imported into Outlook 10. In the meantime this volume on the desktop is worrying me.
My question is: what should I do about this double Macintosh HD volume on the migrated MBP user account?
Thanks for your help.
Cheers,
Tracy

There are settings in Finder's Preferences to show Hard Disks on the desktop. So, that is likely normal. Deleting it would be bad.

HT4889 Migration assistant is showing user folder sizes much larger than in finder

I am migrating my system from a HD to a 256 GB SSD on a mac Pro.
The move is all internal from Bay 1 to Bay 4.
I did a fresh install of Mountain Lion on the SSD.
I now have about 199 Gb free on the SSD.
When I went to use the Migration assistant to move users it shows the user folders to be >300 GB, even though they read as being less than 30 GB when I look at then in the finder.
I already store my iTunes, videos etc in separate folders outside the user folders.
What is going on?
How to I address this?

Probably Time Machine local snapshots. Even if your TM disk isn't connected, local snapshots are created.

Migration Assistant fails - calculates user size as a large negative number

I have a recurring problem that has prevented me from successfully using Migration Assistant to move my user account from my old computer to my new computer (since 3 computers ago, but definitely still a problem with my freshly updated Tiger machine).
The problem that I have seems to be that something about my user account makes the size in "Step 1 of 4: Pick Users To Transfer To This Machine" say that my user's size is "-53673944.7 GB"
At the bottom of the same screen it says "Space Remaining: 53673968.3 GB" and "Selected Items: -53673925.1" -- so it clearly is making some kind of horrible math error and then propagating it through all it's calculations.
Everything on "Step 2 of 4..." seems to be normal, and in fact the MA worked fine to move everything but my user account over.
When I arrive at "Step 4 of 4..." the "Migrate" button is always greyed out if I have my user account selected in step 1, which doesn't actually make sense, since right on the page it says I have over 51 petabytes free and will benefit by gaining some additional space after migrating. (Perhaps there is some last minute sanity check that does not simply involve subtraction and a test for greater-than-zero).
I'd really like to be able to migrate... what could I possible have in my home directory that would cause this? I certainly have some symbolic links scattered around, but those should really not be followed... has anyone seen any behaviour like this before? Does anyone at Apple care that there is obviously a serious bug with the Migration Assistant (although clearly only in some special situation)?
Aluminum Powerbook 15" Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Surprisingly, it let me run Disk Utility from the original factory MBP install DVD!
I was able to click "Repair Disk" and it displayed lines of info in the window. One of the lines it outputted was in red and said,
"Exceeded recommended limit of 100 nested folders".
I found this site -- http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=28421 -- then ran this in Terminal -- *sudo find / -mindepth 100* -- and it outputted page after page of lines for my flight simulator, FlightGear.app.
Here's one example line that Terminal found...
/Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Con tents/Resources/data/Aircraft/
FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resource s/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/
FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resource s/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/
FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resource s/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/
FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resource s/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/
FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resource s/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/
FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resource s/data/Aircraft/FlightGear.app/Contents/Frameworks/osgIntrospection.framework/
Versions/A/Headers/CustomAttribute
I will trash FlightGear.app, then attempt the migration again, then post back here whether I was successful or not.
Hopefully, you won't be hearing from me for an hour or so!
<Edited by Host>

Migration Assistant created multiple users. After receiving my new MacBook Pro and seeing that Migration Assistant would take 40 hrs to transfer my data from my PC, I decided to do it incrementally - now my info is under 3 different users. Ideas?

First time Mac User. Just got my MacBook Pro 2 days ago. Uppon setup, I founf that Migration Assistant would take more than 40 hours to transfer my data from my PC. Thinking that I was taking a smart approach, I decided to break the transfer into smaller parts performing them when the PC was not needed. What I've ended up doing was migrating my data into 3 diferent user's on the Mac. So now I have an extensive iTunes library and contacts under one user, all of "my documents" under another user, and all of my pictures under a 3rd user. Anyone know how to get all my data over to one user and then get rid of the other user names?

Erase the drive, reinstall Mountain Lion, migrate using Setup Assistant.
Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.
To restore wait until the installation is completed and the computer restarts. You should restart to the Setup Assistant where you'll be given an opportunity to restore directly from your Time Machine backup. Be patient since the restore will take so long. If your backup drive can run on FireWire instead of USB then use FireWire instead. It will cut that time down substantially.

Migration Assistant Messed Up File Permissions

Hi all-
I just bought a shiny new MacBook Pro. Hooray!
I used Migration Assistant to transfer everything from my old (2011) MacBook Pro. The transfer seemed to go fine- until I discovered that I am no longer able to save changes to ANY of my existing files (documents, desktop, downloads, etc.). I apparently don't have 'permission.' I tried Disk Utility to fix any damaged permissions but no luck.
Note: all my applications work fine, as do all my iCloud settings.
Anyone else have this problem? If so, how did you mange to fix it?
THANKS TO ALL!

You may need to rebuild permissions on your user account. To do this,boot to your Recovery partition (holding down the Command and R keys while booting) and open Terminal from the Utilities menu. In Terminal, type: ‘resetpassword’ (without the ’s), hit return, and select the admin user. You are not going to reset your password. Click on the icon for your Macs hard drive at the top. From the drop down below it select the user account which is having issues. At the bottom of the window, you'll see an area labeled Restore Home Directory Permissions and ACLs. Click the reset button there. The process takes a few minutes. When complete, restart.
Repair User Permissions

Migration Assistant created new user account & can't delete it

Hi - I'm a new Mac user (MacBook Pro). I seem to have an extra account and am not sure why. Here's what happened:
I setup my MacBook Pro and did not run Migration Assistant at that time. I later ran Migration Assistant to migrate PC files to the MacBook. A second account was created after the migration. All my PC content is in the second account. None in the original account. When I look at the Users & Groups in System Preferences, I see that both accounts are Admin accounts.
I do not want the original account that was created for me on the MacBook Pro before I trasnferred any of my PC files over. I just want to keep the account that was created to house all my PC files when they were migrated over. However I cannot migrate that original account - the " - " is just greyed out.
Please can someone advise how I delete it. I do not want two admin user acconts - just the onen with all my PC files in.
I realise I should have done the PC transfer at start up using "set up assistant" but for whatever reasons I chose to delay it by a day or so and hence used Windows Migration Assistant.
Please tell me how I can delete the surplus user account created for me originally when I used the Mac for the first time.
Thanks in advance for all feedback and advice. This is my first Mac after 20 years of Windows, so big step for me and still learning! So easy to understand instructions please would be bonus
thanks all

Unfortunately I see that no one has been able to help me with this . . . so instead of addressing the question above. can someone please tell me how to reset my Mac to "factory settings", ie how it was the day I bought it and before I switched it on for the first time. Delete everything on there now. That way I will do set up properly and transfer data from my PC first of all instead of revisiting it.
Please can someone tell me how to do this
Many thanks

Migration assistant and 2nd user account

Yesterday I set up my new Mac Mini and used Migration Assistant to transfer files from my PC to my new Mac.
I can't now access the files as a 2nd user, as I am being prompted for a password. I can't remember setting a password for a 2nd user account. If I did it would be the same as my Administrators account.
Any suggestions on how I can access the 2nd user account?
I presume I will later on be able to transfer files from 2nd user account to my Mac account and then delete the 2nd user account.
I am a new Mac user.

From the main account on your Mac, the one you are now signed into, open a Finder window and go to the Users folder and right click on that second user account. Select Get Info from the list that comes up. When that opens scroll down to the bottom and click the small Lock icon and type in your Admin password. Once the lock icon is open click on the Plus ( + ) sign and add your current username, the one you are now logged into to the list for Sharing & Permissions and then give it both Read & Write access. Then on the icon with the little gear and downward facing triangle click that and select Apply to Enclosed items. That will propagate those permission down to all folders and files in that second user account.
you should then be able to access all the folders in that second user account and copy those files over to your main account. Once you have done that you can go into User & Groups in System Preferences and delete, remove, that second account.

Migration assistant added second user did not merge data: iTunes

I set up my new mac at the store then came home and connected my OLD iMac to the new via Firewire. I used Migration Assistant, and the migration took about 90 minutes. When it was done I had two parallel usernames; my old username with the old desktop look and stuff and the new computer's username I set up with the clerk at the Mac Store. Now I have two separate users on my computer, complete with two separate iTunes. When I look in the finder under Macintosh HD/Users, I see an icon for the new user (the little house) and a folder labeled with the old username but it has a red "negative" circle over it (like a push icon on an iPhone, but with a minus sign in the middle), plus a Shared folder.
The weird thing is that all the documents and stuff merged, but I have to go to the old user to use iTunes. My old computer did also have 2 users (why? I have no idea) and it brought the iTunes library I did not use in, but not the massive library I do use in. I teach a fitness class and have about 100 unique playlists and ALOT of music on that thing - but the wrong library was brought in. Now I have to switch back to the old user to use iTunes and that just seems silly. I have tried 'add to library" to try to bring the stuff over but it can't see into the other user I guess.
Any suggestions? It is so frustrating that my whole library is there but I can't access it on the new user after spending all that money.
Thanks!

Read here on why a second user was added and how to remedy.
http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/SetupAsst.html
Regards,
Captfred

Migration Assistant, now two user accounts

Hi, I've just purchased a Macbook Pro. I've just completed the migration assistant and its transferred all my files, photos and itunes to my macbook but under a different user account to the one my computer was set up with. Any ideas how I can merge the two (transfer the info over) and delete the second one?
Many thanks, Louise

A = First user account created on the new machine (Admin)
B = User account migrated over (account status unknown)
1: Log into A and make sure B is a Admin user in System Preferences > Accounts
2: While in A, transfer files via the Users/Shared folder
Programs usually are installed into the Applications folder for all accounts to use, but some have particular settings saved into each user account.
Best thing is to just use the program again and make new settings which get saved in User B.
Once you have everything up on A, then delete B from the System Preferences > Accounts.
Optional: for more security,
it's best to create a new Admim user while logged into A, lets call it C, and then logging into C and changing A to Standard user from Admin, then using A all the time like normal.
It's a little more work involved using the computer when your accessing the Applicaitons folder (rarely), and having to manually check for updates, but your computer is much more secure as A is now a Standard User with little "powers" so in case something bad happens it can't do much to your computer (unless you give it your Admin password of course.)
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

When migrating from a pc to macbook pro migration assistant caused multiple user accounts how do I get the data all in to one account now that it is migrated ?

I am switching over to apple from a PC platform and I have tried to use migration assistant to transfer the stuff on my PC to my macbook pro. When i tried the first time the two went to sleep due the long time required to transfer 13 GB of data and the transfer failed. I tried to transfer again only opting for some of the data but when I did it created a second user account . I tried again and now I have transferred most of the data but I have it in three user accounts. Not what I wanted to do. Is there an easy fix for this or do Ineed to start from scratch ?

Open the Users folder on the internal drive, drag all of the other home folders to the desktop, and then move the files inside to the desired locations.
(91949)

HT2518 migration assistant (transfer files from windows PC to Mac)

Hello,
I found instructions on transferring my Windows file to MAC but when I search for Migration Assistant in the Launch Pad, I do not see this reference. Can you help?

Look in the Applications / Utilities folder.

Transferring Itunes Files from user created by migration assistant to another user

Hello,
I was wondering how to transfer the entire itunes library from the user file created by migration assistant to my current user file on my mac. I have noticed on the file folder created by migration assistant that the itunes play counts and ratings are all the same as my old pc, but now I want to bring all of that to my new user account on this mac. I really need to learn how to do this ASAP! Help would be greatly appreciated!
also - the old user files cant be accessed by my current account (there is a red icon on the lower right of all the files)

You have three choices:
1. Keep both accounts. Enable fast user switching. Use the original account only for administrative tasks, and demote the new account to "Standard User" status in the Users & Groups preference pane. This is the best choice from the standpoint of security.
2. Delete the new account. Create a temporary one with a different name and allow it to administer the computer. Log into the temporary account and run Migration Assistant again, this time selecting only the user you want to transfer. If it has the same name as an existing user, you'll have the option to overwrite that user. Confirm. Log out of the temporary account and delete it.
3. Erase the startup volume in Recovery mode and start over. Do the transfer the right way, in Setup Assistant, not Migration Assistant. You will have to download about 5 GB of data and it may take several hours.

Migration Assistant -- Not Finding Users?

Had to re-install 10.4.7 from install disks on my mam's 1.83 GHz dual-core iMac (Erase and Install). Carbon Copy Cloned the original start-up disk to an external FireWire drive.
After installation, Mig. Asst. gave me the option to "Transfer from Another Volume on this Mac". Chose the relevant volume. Now it has been looking for the Users on the cloned volume for 30 mins, with the spinning bar-circle whizzing round and round...
is there any way to transfer users and settings manually?
TIA

It's working now, after deselecting the 'Spare' volume in the MigAsst. (Don't know what it was supposed to do, anyway, or why it's made a difference).
Seriously, what a hateful, dispiriting experience this has been. Just because I wanted to upgrade to Snow Leopard. Apparently MacOS will let you partition your entire HD as a Master Boot Record without warning you that you can install Tiger on it, but you won't be able to update it to Leopard or S/L... so you have to buy an external HD, clone your Tiger HD, erase and install Tiger (GUID partitioned this time), restore from the clone using Migration assistant...
...And this is supposed to 'Just Work'?

Problem with Migration assistant permissions on User Home

I bought a shiny new mac air, and wanted to transfer my user account "bruce" from the old computer to the new one. I created an account "rachel" on the new computer, plugged both computers into hub and ran migration assistant. When I attempted to log on to "bruce" on the new computer, everything was wacky. I discovered that the program did not set the correct owner. /user/bruce was owned by Rachel. After I changed the owner (sudo chown bruce bruce) life was good. Hope apple can fix this so others dont waste as much time as I did trying to debug this.
Bruce

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear. It's all there (mostly painlessly, which makes me nervous )
Both sites are currently up and running -- I haven't started putting "this page has moved" on the MobileMe pages yet.
I think I should wait for a few days, so folks following recent links won't see that.
Once I do, I'll leave it up that way until Apple pulls the plug.

Migration assistant, messed up users window, bug?!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for