Missing User Account

So today I was a little to quick to type in my password to my normal admin user account and I was forced to enter my master password in order to unlock the now locked user account. I opted out of entering my master password by cancelling out of the action, hoping that I would be able to just re-enter my password to my normal admin user account, albeit slower. Instead, I was greeted with a user name promtp and a password prompt. I then typed the normal user account name and the password but it didn't work. I backed out, restarted and then the screen came back to the login. This time, instead of the user name/password prompt, it had a user icon that said "Other..." I click on it and it comes back to the user name/password prompt.
So, I booted from the OS disc, reset the 'root' password and logged in as root. Under the root account, I was able to check the home directory of my normal admin user account, which was still there, but under the preferences / accounts settings the normal user account I always used was missing!!!
***? Anyone know what I did? I'm going to just do a system restore, which will clear the problem I'm sure.

See the other threads on the same topic.
The cure for me was to insert the Snow Leopard installation disk. Don't reinstall - but use the menu tool "change password" to set a password for the "root" user. You can then log in at the "Other" prompt using root + your new password.
Once inside, you can recreate all your old accounts. If you use the same names as before, the Mac will offer you the chance to associate the username with all the existing data for that account name.
I was able to restore everything with no loss of info, and no OS reinstallation.

Similar Messages

Missing user accounts in system preference pane 10.6.1?

(I hope this isn't posted under another topic already..)
After reading a post on another site about missing user data in Snow Leopard (http://bit.ly/3wf3v7), I decided to do a little digging on my own machine to see if I'm experiencing any of the same issues..
First of all I'm not readily experiencing any particular bugs since upgrading from 10.5.8 to 10.6.1, but I did notice the following:
-my usual admin user account (me) did not show any other user accounts on the machine in the system preference pane.
-I have fast user switching on, and when I select it the account name at the upper right corner of the screen, it shows all of the accounts that the sys pref pane does not.
-a quick look at my finder reveals on the root level that all of my user accounts are intact as well.
-I switched to another admin account on the machine, and it loaded up fine– upon opening the sys pref on the other admin account, I was able to see all of the other active accounts on the machine in the accounts pane.
-note: the guest account is deactivated, and I've not logged into a guest account since upgrading to 10.6.1.
So my question is: why doesn't my primary user account (obviously an admin account) see the other active accounts in my sys pref accounts pane, but my other admin accounts do? Not a huge deal, but at some point I'll need to make account changes from my user account in regards to the other user accounts and I'll need that functionality at that point.
-note: I've lost no data to my knowledge and I have a TM backup drive active.
Any thoughts from my fellow Mac Geniuses?

Creating an account named abc did not bring back my previous accounts. I had installed Snow Leopard on my iMac several months ago. My hard drive was damaged by SnowLeopard family pack install disk that I was using to update my daughter's Macbook on Friday. When I opened my Mac in target disk mode, there was no system folder on the hard drive. I started to install 10.5.8 so I could use my iMac-didn't get it finished before going to work. Bought a new Snow Leopard install disk on the way home, cancelled the uncompleted install of 10.5.8, and the iMac booted up like a new machine.
All my files are there, but the only user available is the one created while booting up. Migration assistant doesn't see the user accounts on the iMac hard drive.

Missing user account after upgrading to leopard

I upgraded to leopard last night from tiger. I now notice that my girlfriend's account is missing when I am at the select user screen.
I can see that there is a directory with her name on it under users. Also I noticed that there is now a group created with her name which all other accounts are now members of.
Can I just copy the contents of her folder, make a new account and then just replace it back?
There are a lot of photos in her account so I want to proceed with great caution.
I will definitely be investigating some backup options after this experience.

mmijatov wrote:
Can I just copy the contents of her folder, make a new account and then just replace it back?
Yes, you can copy the contents of her folder (i.e. Documents, Music, Pictures... not sure what you mean by "replace it back"?
See this user tip:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6185507
-mj

User account disappeared after an OS 10.4.11 update crash!

I think the power went out during a mac update. When I started the computer again, I saw a very old desktop and all my files are missing! Everything has reverted to an older user account? The name of my user account was apple#1, but now it just says apple and does not contain any of my files created in the last year. Maybe since I upgraded to Tiger, not sure.
Is there a way to find my missing user account or my old files! I tried some of the data recovery programs but they are very difficult to use and dont show file names.
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Dan

Dan
I responded to your other message suggesting you open a new Topic, not realising you already had one
And then I went away for a few days, so sorry if you felt ignored
Did you try the commands I suggested in the other Topic?

User accounts disappeared from Mac Server

My company uses a Mac Server OS X v10.7.5 which we store all our files on and staff connect to it using a mapped drive (B:). This afternoon we stopped being able to connect, we rebooted the server like we normally do, however, when it came back online all of the user accounts have disappeared leaving only our admin account!
All of our files and folders are still there, it's just the user accounts used for accessing these folders that seem to have disappeared.
Coincidently, the + sign under the Users section is greyed out in server.app so I'm having to use Workgroup Manager to add new users. I've tried doing this for myself and given my user account access to the folders that I need however, when I try to map the B: it doesn't recognise my server credentials any more.
Basically, at the moment, no one can access any files or folders so I'm really hoping that someone has an answer on how to either restore the missing user accounts (if that's possible) or how to set up the user accounts so that we can access the files again.
Thanks in advance for any help.

From what I found out it was to do with corrupted Open Directory file, if you've previously archived the Open Directory (through Server Admin) you can restore a previous version or, as we had to do, copied all the server files to an external hard drive and restore from Time Machine, we did it for a point a week ago when it was working and all the user profiles came back.
If you don't already know how to do that, restart the server but hold down the cmd and R (command key and R key) at the same time until it gives you a screen with a list of restore options, select Restore from Time Machine Backup and select a date from a few days ago or whenever you knew it was working fine, depending on the size of the files on your server it can take a couple of hours to do this. Then copy the files from the hard drive back on to the server so youy have the latest versions again.
After it had done this all the user profiles were restored with passwords and groups etc..., if you do remove and restore the files then you may need to re-do any file access permissions but other than that it should be back to how it was before.
Hope this helps and I've explained the process ok.

Password Reset and vanishing user account

Here's the situation.
My friend did not know the password to her iMac, so using the install DVD that came with my iBook I booted her machine and did the password reset as per article 106156. However I not only changed the password to her user account, but also to the root account. (I did not actually see the article until afterward which says not to touch root). After both user and root passwords were successfully changed, I rebooted only to find that the user account was missing from the log in menu! Also unfortunate is that I don't have any other boot/repairs disks aside from my system install disk.
I can't quite figure out why that might happen and how to resolve it. The install disk had 10.3 and her machine had 10.2, but I don't think that is the issue.
How do I get the missing user account to reappear?
If worse comes to worse I might try booting the iMac up in target disk mode and try to retrieve the user data if its possible to do so.

Andrew,
This link might help explain what is possible with SAP Portal in terms of allowing the user to reset their password from the logon screen.
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/45/7e6313d8780dece10000000a11466f/frameset.htm
As for allowing a user to unlock their account from the logon page, there is no such functionality that I know of. This would need to be developed. We are doing something similar. In our case, we are developing a module that allows user to retreive their user ID if they forget it. This also is not functionality that SAP provides. The user can specify their email address, and it emails them their user ID. This is being developed in Web Dynpro for Java utilizing the UME APIs.
- Andrew Castillo

On one user account: finder blinks and icons missing

I have 2 user accounts on our iMac G5. One account works fine and the other is messed up (Finder blinks repeatedly at startup, and many icons are missing)... Disk Utility found a couple things to repair, but no improvement.
Aside from deleting and recreating the account, any other steps? What else should I look for or be aware of?

Just make sure that whatever you put on the account is not corrupted, check to make sure it works on your main account before transferring.

I run a mac air on a single user account but multiple people using it, which is ok for the situation. All have their accounts in the apple mail app. what is missing for me is a separate password to access the mail account. otherwise anyone can see anyones

I run a mac air on a single user account but multiple people using it, which is ok for the situation. All have their accounts in the apple mail app. what is missing for me is a separate password to access the mail account. otherwise anyone can see anyones
Any clue, how i can add a mail account to apple mail app, but with separate password / pin to open it.
Years ago there was a program called mail switcher which added this functionality, but thats gone.
cheers
Tom

They would have to be logged in as separate users in order not to see your account in Mail. Whatever accounts put in Mail under your account will show up. All mail accounts usually have there own user and password. The only thing you can do is to remove the password from Keychain and take the account offline so you don't keep getting prompts for passwords each time it checks for mail.
Not a great solution.
Best way is to give the other user their own user account with their own mail and enable fast user swithcing to log between the different users if all access the computer frequently.

I'm unable to grant full access to 2nd user account. What am I missing

While our MacBook Pro is out for repairs, I need a way to process my wife's emails and other business. So I'm trying to set up a 2nd user account for my wife on our iMac (running 10.7.5 Lion). Unfortunately, every step I've tried has failed to grant permission for her account to access the iMac desktop or launch applications other than Safari.
Here's what I've tried:
1. I created an account with my wife's name and password under Users & Groups in System Preferences.
2. In her Users & Groups account, I granted her Adminstrator privileges.
3. In the Sharing folder in System Preferences, I selected all the folders except those labeled "remote" and "xgrid" (whatever that is). I granted Read & Write privileges for each one. These included two Desktop folders, and I added the folder for Applications.
4. I made sure File Sharing was turned on, along with Printer Sharing, Web Sharing, Screen Sharing, Internet Sharing, etc.
5. Under Sharing Options, I noted a checkmark in the box labeled "Share files and folders using AFP", although the "number of users connected" was 0. I left that alone.
6. Because several sharing choices were listed as "blocked by firewall," I turned the Firewall setting off.
Despite all this, when I log in as my wife, I cannot launch any major applications except Safari, whether from the Dock or Applications folder. In fact, most of the apps in the folder are grayed out. And when I try to access the Desktop, Other Files, and various other folders, I receive a message that her account "does not have permission to see the contents." Why not? What have I overlooked?
This is becoming an urgent problem, because there's business that must be conducted. I have had similar problems with the iMac from the start, when it refused to accept me as the rightful owner of files that were transferred from our older Mac Pro dwesktop. Yikes!
Any help on this will be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Message was edited by: David Henderson7

Hey thomashfrompa,
Thanks for the question. I understand that you are experiencing issues with iTunes for Windows. The following article outlines the error message you are receiving and a potential resolution:
iTunes 11.1.4 for Windows: Unable to install or open
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5376
Some Windows customers may experience installation issues while trying to install or open iTunes 11.1.4.
Symptoms may include:
"The program can't start because MSVCR80.dll is missing from your computer"
"iTunes was not installed correctly. Please reinstall iTunes. Error 7 (Windows Error 126)”
"Runtime Error: R6034 - An application has made an attempt to load the C runtime library incorrectly"
"Entry point not found: videoTracks@QTMovie@@QBE?AV?$Vector@V?$RefPtr@VQTTrack@@@***@@$0A@VCrashOnOverf low@@***@@XZ could not be located in the dynamic link library C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support\WebKit.dll”
Resolution
Follow these steps to resolve the issue:
Check for .dll files
1. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes and C:\Program Files\iTunes and look for .dll files.
2. If you find QTMovie.DLL, or any other .dll files, move them to the desktop.
3. Reboot your computer.
Note: Depending on your operating system, you may only have one of the listed paths.
Uninstall and reinstall iTunes
1. Uninstall iTunes and all of its related components.
2. Reboot your computer. If you can't uninstall a piece of Apple software, try using the Microsoft Program Install and Uninstall Utility.
3. Re-download and reinstall iTunes 11.1.4.
Thanks,
Matt M.

Missing User Field in Disable Individual Accounts section

We are running on Vibe 3.4.0 build 2835. We have a couple of issues here that has to do with managing users in Vibe. We use LDAP to populate our user accounts in Vibe. Being in a university, our users come and go a lot. They get disabled and re-enabled in eDirectory. When a user gets disabled in eDirectory, they get disabled in Vibe too. When the user comes back and is re-enabled in eDirectory, their account in Vibe does not automatically get re-enabled. I have to go into "User Accounts" in the "Administration Console", select the "Disable/Delete Accounts" tab, locate the disabled user and check the box beside the disabled user, scroll all the way down the list and hit the "Enable Selected Accounts" button. We ask the enabled user to try and login to Vibe and they get a "login failed" error message, even when I do a search of the user in Vibe and their account shows up. This is problem 1. So, next thing I do is to delete the user so I can re-synchronize the user back into Vibe through LDAP sync. The Vibe 3.4 Administration Guide (page 177, Deleting Individual Accounts, item 6) indicates that there is supposed to be a User Field where I can type in the name of the user and I would be able to select the user from the drop-down list that is supposed to appear. I do not see this "User Field" where I can type in the user's name. This is problem 2. So, I end up having to go to the "Select From All Accounts" section, go from page to page until I find the user to delete. Deleting a user in Vibe takes such a long time for us because we have thousands of users and it takes very long to go from one page to the next to get to a user who's first name is towards the end of the alphabet. If the "User Field" existed as the guide indicated, then it would not be such a big deal to delete a user. Even better, if the account were re-enabled in Vibe and the user is able to use it. Or even much better if the user's account in eDirectory were enabled and the account in Vibe were automatically enabled when an LDAP sync is executed. Would appreciate any information in getting this process of re-enabling users in Vibe working better for us, and help in getting the missing User Field to show up. By the way, I've tried this on Chrome, IE, and FireFox and everything I've described here works the same way on the different browsers, including the missing field.
Thanks,
Ronnie

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User account missing

I am trying to get my network sharing working. I have created user accounts through the preferences section. Upon restarting the computer, the user accounts with sharing that i have created are missing from the user list.
In File Sharing, I can still see the user names I have created.
I am trying to share my itunes file but I seem to be getting some user setup problems.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Ben

Please post a screenshot that shows what you mean. Be careful not to include any private information.
Start a reply to this message. Click the camera icon in the toolbar of the editing window and select the image file to upload it. You can also include text in the reply.

Some how I missed the set up assistant on my mac mini now I can't set up user accounts as I don't have a password ...help

some how I missed the set up assistant on my mac mini now I can't set up user accounts as I don't have a password ...help

Hmmm, did it come with an Install Disc? What OSX version is it?
I wonder if this old method still works...
Reset OS X Password Without an OS X CD...
http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/22/reset-os-x-password-without-an-os-x-cd/
It'll boot like a newly setup Mac, if it works.

User account missing files and preferences?? Not from renaming home folder

Hi all,
After some strange behaviour in Apple Color, upon rebooting, my user account has returned to default. I had many items on the desktop and various subfolders in the documents folder. All pictures. Music. All are now gone. Desktop and dock have been reset to default.
The user folder still exists but everything I had in there is gone.
Another user may have been created called "root" containing only
/Library
/Documents/Color Documents...etc
I am aware of the problem with changing the short name or renaming the home folder (after sifting through this forum) and it is definitely not this problem.
Maybe its somehow related but I definitely did not rename any of these things myself. And there is no duplicated user account with all my files in it.
Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Nate
ps. Is it possible to restore the system to an earlier time like in Windows?
I've read somewhere that a Previous System folder exists and it might be possible with Disk Utility but I can't find this folder anywhere.
Message was edited by: stoney23

Hi there,
Thanks for the reply. I've managed to restore most of my important stuff using a file recovery software so I'm at peace with the loss of only a few files now. I'll just have to start rebuilding my dock and preferences again now which is not the end of the world.
After a bit of thinking about it I'm 95% sure this is what happened.
Color tried to save an image file with the same name as the folder I had made storing all my Color project saves. The folder was called Post. I'm not quite sure how its possible but it managed to overwrite the folder with the new image file. Now there is a Color image file (with no extension) there called Post and no folder.
Then I tried to save the Color project and of course it told me the project directory was missing and it will create a new one. I'm guessing this is when Color bulldozed through my user account to create the folder Color Documents where it DIDN'T save the file anyway
Leaving me with a default user account deleting everything that was 'added' to the account previously.
It also created another user account called 'root' in which there is also only a Color Library/preferences and documents folder
Is that normal that things like that can just happen?
I guess from here I will just try and finish my project and afterwards do a re-install of the OS just to be sure - checking the Archive and Install option this time
Unless you have any other ideas from what I've told you.
Thanks again for replying
Nate

User account missing after upgrade to Yosemite?

I have a mid-2010 iMac which up until recently I had two user accounts on for general use and one for music (Garageband, Logic and audio files etc). After upgrading to Yosemite, this separate user has vanished. I'm left with my original admin account, and a guest login. If I search for any of the files using spotlight, they do show up, but if I try to open them I get the message "you do not have permission to open this document". Also I had folders on the desktop of the music account which contained files, these folders show up in a search but are listed as empty? The files themselves are 'blank white sheet' icons as if they have no application.
I would assume this is a lost cause if not for the fact that my hard drive (more than half of which was taken up by the 'music' user) still reads as pretty much full up. So have I wiped all this forever?
Thanks in advance,
Dave

retina MacBookPro mid2012. Clean install of OS X Yosemite 10.10
I'm randomly missing an account at login screen after reboot.
Sometimes I can fix it with booting into my initial account 'Kevin' (userid 501) and then changing to different login 'Christina' (userid 502).
But if I log out from my account, the second account is missing. Same if I do a reboot.. This have me in stitches as I ofcause has the need for privacy from each account.
Both accounts are set up as admins, guest is deactivated.
rMBP 16gb sep2012.
userid 501:
home directory: /Users/Kevin
userid 502:
home directory: /Users/Christina
apart from that... I have loads of problems with Bluetooth, and hand-off only working 1 way (5s with 8.1) where only iOS -> OS X works, not vice-versa.

Old user accounts missing after repair

I just had the "random shutdown disorder" fixed on my MacBook at my local Apple Store. When the MacBook came back, and I powered it up, I had to go through the whole "new computer start up" stuff again. When I was done, I was surprised to see a desktop that was NOT the desktop that I expected. The desktop was empty, and the dock was not my old dock.
The Applications folder quickly confirmed that all of my old software was there. And then a look at the MacBook/users folder showed that all of my old accounts were still there (along with the stuff that I had had on my desktop, documents, etc.).
How do I get my OLD main user account back to being the default? I will assume that once that has happened, the other accounts will also be available (since none of them appear now in the account list).
Thanks.
Gary
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2GHz Intel; 1.25 GB 667 MHz DDR2
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I cannot list any accounts -- none appear other than the new one I created. They only exist in the "Users" folder.
The Users folder contains the account home folders, not the accounts themselves; to create the accounts, open the Accounts pane of System Preferences and create new ones in the same order they were originally created.
That said, I've never figured out HOW the computer decides what to call the "admin" account -- it has been called "admin" on one of my computers, "Home" on another (actually, the computer in question before this repair), and now "grbrower".
If an account is a member of the admin group, it will have administrator access to the machine regardless of what its shortname is; you can view the membership of this group in the NetInfo Manager, which is in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. It is possible for no administrator accounts to be present on the machine; this can happen if you change the shortname of the only administrator account on the machine through the NetInfo Manager without updating the admin group's membership.
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Missing User Account

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