No user account name on backup drive to boot from

My internal hard drive crapped out, and in using disc utility off the install disc it could not be repaired and reads "un-repairable disc" or something to that matter. But I have a second internal hard drive I've been using to back-up my main drive. So I tried to launch off that instead, but to my surprise it has no user account name so I can't log or use any password and all the blanks to log in are unusable...
Any suggestions? How can I create a user account and boot off the other drive?

How did you Backup? What APP did you use?
On the main Drive...
Unfortunately DU can't fix all that much, your best bet is DiskWarrior, you need the CD though.
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
But others that may work…
Drive Genius 2…
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php
TechTool Pro 4…
http://www.micromat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=83
So I tried to launch off that instead, but to my surprise it has no user account name so I can't log or use any password and all the blanks to log in are unusable...
Is there an OS on there? You mean it boots to the Login Window but nothing works?
If so...
Reset OS X Password Without an OS X CD...
http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/22/reset-os-x-password-without-an-os-x-cd/
Once you've done that the computer reboots and it's like the first time you used the machine. Your old accounts are all safe. From there you just change all other account passwords in the account preferences!
applesetupdone...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6059333&#6059333
http://www.askdavetaylor.com/howdo_i_reset_my_mac_os_x_admin_rootpassword.html

Similar Messages

Losing User Accounts on many machines. Cannot boot from Disk. Help!

As many of you know there is a bug going around where the OS “forgets” what user accounts are on the machine. The only user at login is “Other”. This has happened on 10.6.5 and 10.6.6. In the past I have been able to fix this issue by booting from the Snow Leopard disk, change the root password, login using root and re-add the user accounts back under system pref’s. The issue I’m currently having is that two Mac Pros will not boot from disk, external HD, or into single user mode. None of the key commands work at boot up.
The computers do not chime at boot and the apple logo shows up very quickly. I’ve tried resetting PRAM and the logic board. I now have two BRICKED machines and cannot afford to have any more go down.
Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

gregfl wrote:
The issue I’m currently having is that two Mac Pros will not boot from disk, external HD, or into single user mode. None of the key commands work at boot up.
I just had a very similar problem this morning on my iMac. Plain white screen on boot-up. No Apple logo. No booting from my SuperDuper clone, no booting from the DVD, no booting into Startup Manager by holding down the option key, no booting even into Apple Hardware Test. I was getting ready to take it in for service.
What finally fixed it was resetting PRAM three times. Hold down command, option, P, and R, and keep them down until you hear the third startup chime. That's what finally breathed life back into my iMac.

How do I migrate from a former user account on an external drive after a clean install?

This question has been partially answered before but not to my satisfaction and, from what I've found, not for Mountain Lion.
My MBPr was running fine for a week after I transfered my User account to an external drive. After some reorganization I decided to move the acount to a different external drive. I blundered and, for whatever reason, was unable to log in to any account on my MBPr. Not even my backup account - which suprised me. (I tried repairing disks, permissions, etc...) I tried to resolve it on the phone with Apple to no avail. Finally, I gave up. I booted into recovery and did a reinstall. After 12 hours I came back to find that it wasn't a clean reinstall. And I still couldn't log in to anything.
I then did an erase and reinstall. After another 12 hours I now have a clean install of Mountain Lion on my MBPr. I have an external drive with my former working user directory (Home:Users/mrmoose) on it. (BTW, It is LARGER than my internal SSD drive, it is not bootable, AND I have no backup of it in Time Machine format.)
My current user account is Macintosh HD:Users/bullwinkle
1) Is there a way to "reclaim" my user account on the external drive - possibly without even copying or migrating?
2) Can I copy the contents of bullwinkle (excluding some of my folders under Documents so it fits) to Macintosh HD Users/bullwinkle? Including the Library folder? I have audio plugins, etc...
I'd still like my User directory on an external drive. But I will settle for keeping it on the internal drive. I just want my info back.
Why, oh, why does Migration Assistant require your data to be in TIME MACHINE format only - why can one not migrate from a full copy on an external drive? Why can't it look at the darn thing and say, "Hey, that's a copy of an OSX User directory. I can migrate data from that."?
I would greatly appreciate a detailed response. THANK YOU. Lama Out.

~/Library is probably the one you don't want to move back because it may bring the issues back along with it.
All your own data you can drag & drop. You can drag the contents of any folder Movies, Music, Pictures, Documents (or as much as you want).
Rather than try to replace the Library you can take ~/Library/Application Support, Mail, Safari and any other folders you need.
To access your hidden ~/Library folder go to your Finder "Go" menu hold the option key to choose "Library".
Then you can drag it to the Sidebar for easy access.

Changed user account name and moved to OSX Yosemite. Apps still work, but cannot download new apps or updates.

I recently moved to a new MacBook Air with a physically larger hard drive. I had a coworker move over all of my software and data, and everything seems to be playing nicely. All of the current apps I have in place like Photoshop and Illustrator are working just fine.
Unfortunately when I try to download other apps in Creative Cloud it just shows Download Error. I tried reinstalling Creative Cloud, which did nothing.
I should note that when I moved to the larger machine I changed user account names. Whenever I try to use FileSync, it says it is looking for a folder in the old user account folder. This occurs even after trying to change where that folder is in the Preferences.
Additionally I have updated from Mavericks to Yosemite. I do not know what effect that had.
Any insight how to restore my ability to get downloads and updates? Or perhaps how to fix my FileSync?

I think I have it resolved by uninstalling everything and running the cleaner per these instructions: Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6

After installing new operating system software, my user account name has been changed and i don't know the password.

i need help!
I just installed Mac OS Maverick in my laptop, but when i checked the Users&Groups There are only 2 User name 1 is "Apple(admin) and 2 is Guest, my user account name has been changed even the password. how can i retrieve my old user account name and password or how can i changed it?

Here's an updated set of instructions you can try:
Make sure you are signed into iMessage and FaceTime with your current ID. If they are signed into the old ID, go to Settings>Messages>Send & Receive and Settings>FaceTime, tap the ID, sign out, then sign back in with your current ID.
Then temporarily recreate the old ID by going to https://appleid.apple.com, click Manage my Apple ID and sign in with your current iCloud ID. Click edit next to the primary email account, change it back to your old email address and save the change. (You should not have to verify the old email account so it doesn’t matter if you no longer have access to it.) Now go to Settings>iCloud, turn off Find My iDevice and enter your current password when prompted (even though it prompts you for the password for your old ID). Then save any photo stream photos that you wish to keep to your camera roll (unless using iCloud Photo Library). When finished go to Settings>iCloud, tap Sign Out (or Delete Account if you are not running iOS 8) and choose Delete from My iDevice when prompted (your iCloud data will still be in iCloud). Next, go back to https://appleid.apple.com and change your primary email address back to the way it was. Now you can go to Settings>iCloud and sign back in with your current iCloud ID and password (your data will download back to your device).

New User Account has No Hard Drive Space

I also have a different problem and started a thread here. It was that thread that lead me to start this new one.
One of the people helping me there suggested I make a new user account and see if that solved my problem. I made two new user accounts, one a 'standard' and the other an 'administrator.' In both cases the new user accounts have no hard drive space, and no download or document folder in the dock.
Logging out of either of those accounts and back as myself (administrator) I have 410 gb of free hard drive space.
Any thoughts on what could be happening or how to resolve? My hard drive recently disappeared so I took it in to a Mac Genius and under AppleCare the hard drive was replaced. I did a full restore from Time Machine and have repaired permissions countless times since then and also run DiskWarrior. Repair Permissions returns a message that Apple has posted can be ignored; no other issues. DiskWarrior found two errors related to directory structure and repaired/replaced them. Other than my original problem and this new one regarding the new user accounts having no hard drive space my system runs fine.
I am running Mac OS X 10.5.5.

Sorry I wasn't clear in the first post. On my way into work today I started thinking it may be time to start over as well. You mentioned archive and install - would a clean install be better (I know it will be longer)?
Also, just for clarification - when I did a Full Restore from Time Machine was that the same as say restoring from a program like SuperDuper (that clones the hard drive)?
My thinking on this is if I do clean install, I should not restore from Time Machine if the structure carries over. That could be what is causing these problems. Instead I should back up my iPhoto and iTunes libraries via the built in back-up (to an external hard drive or DVDs), back up any documents, etc. and then really start over. Do a clean install, then reload 3rd party software from the original disks and restore the iPhoto and iTunes libraries, etc.

User Accounts on an external drive - is this possible

I am planning to purchase a Mac Mini (with a 60 gig drive) for our household. There will be multiple user accounts set up, and I would like to have the user accounts on an external 500 gig LaCie drive (to allow for separate, potentially large iTunes and iPhoto libraries).
Is it possible to have the user accounts on an external drive, perhaps with shortcuts on the startup volume, if necessary? I will have my administrator account on the startup volume. My hope is that as people log in or use account switching, the Mini would look to the LaCie drive for the user's documents, media, etc. The intent is to perserve as much space on the startup disk as possible.

Log in from each account and then copy that account's home folder to the external drive. Once all of the home folders have been copied, open the NetInfo Manager in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and change the home property for each of the accounts you created on the system to point to the external drive; this will look like /Volumes/volumename/Users/username/. After all of the home folders have been moved, create a new administrator account in the Accounts pane of System Preferences for troubleshooting purposes, and then verify that everything works properly from each of the other accounts. Don't delete or alter any accounts which you didn't create or don't recognize.
(18462)

I have a lion server set up to host storage for time machine backups. Is there a limit to how many different computers can back up to the single server to back up. I am only backing up the users folders . The backup drive is an external Drobo with 6 TB.

I have a lion server set up to host storage for time machine backups. Is there a limit to how many different computers can back up to the single server to back up. I am only backing up the users folders . The backup drive is an external Drobo with 6 TB. Right now it seems to back up my users all day long. I set their time machine interval to every 5 hours but it still runs all day long and is very slow. Server is on a new Mac Server mini.

AFAIK, there is no user limit.. it is simply a question of the network load. AFP is a fairly clean protocol.. but TM is not.. it does a lot of testing of the backup.. infact your setting of 5hour gap could well make it worse.
I would sort out the clients that are doing 100GB backups to a different backup location.. no matter how fast your network.. 100GB takes time to backup.. and over wireless forever.. it will never end.
I guess some of these clients are on wireless?? I would separate the TM of wireless to those that are wired. No more than 4 or 5 wireless clients to a target device. Otherwise you are saturating your network with backup data. And use 5ghz.. so close by.. it is much faster than 2.4ghz and you will get much better transfer rates.

Whitespace in User Account Name causes issues with various functions

I've run into a few issues with users who have whitespace in their account names (for example, a user account name that was: "Joe Smith"). Generally, I think this is a result of windows interpreting the last name as a parameter when it tries to
run a certain function. One place where this occurs and is easily replicated is in the "Troubleshoot Program Compatibility Wizard" which gives an error about permissions, another place this occurs is in the dx9 web installer which gives an error
message concerning advpack.dll
In both of these cases I've been able to 'fix' the issue by relocating the TEMP and TMP environment variables to a folder like C:\TEMP, however I still have some issues with other installers and programs such as the 3rd party Cordova build program and the
android sdk which both get stumped by spaces in the user account name. From my understanding there is no way to change a user account name (not just the name which displays but the name which Windows reads) without deleting the account and copying often several
gigabytes of files and settings over to a completely new account. Is this correct? Is there a way to remove the whitespace from an account name without these hackish workarounds? Is there anyway to report this as a bug to Microsoft in the hopes that they either
remove support for usernames with whitespaces or come up with some way to make their internal features like the Compatibility Wizard operate correctly in these (fairly common) install environments? It's an incredibly pesky bug to identify....

1. Spaces are allowed but not recommended. I would avoid using space(s) in account names.
2. I do not understand what you have prevented from changing user name.
3. For problems with 3rd pty programs ask support/forum of respective software vendors.
4. If you feel like addressing Microsoft, use
http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ln=en-us
Regards
Milos

How do you move a user account to a different drive?

I recently bought a Mac Pro and installed a second hard drive. The plan is to have the boot drive contain the Opperating system and priogram files and have all user accounts and documents on the second drive.
How do I move my user account (which is currently on the boot drive) to my secondary drive?

This used to be done using NetInfo Manager, but that's not part of Leopard. I assume you're running Leopard since you've just bought the Mac Pro.
In Leopard, location of home directory is controlled by System Preferences -> Accounts. Select the user in the list and control-click to bring up "Advanced Options..."
Choose the directory on your second drive which corresponds to the one in "Users" that you copied. Don't change any of the other things.
By the way, it's always a good idea to have an extra admin account with home directory on the boot drive. That way, if something goes wrong with your second drive, you can still log in. As the admin, you can correct problems with your "primary" or "main" account.

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!

Editing User Account Names

How do I edit a user account name, e.g. from "John Smith1" to simply "John Smith"? Can the short name be likewised edited? Does having a "John Smith" in the Deleted Users Folder affect this?
Mike

1) Changing the account name can be done from the System Preferences > Accounts prefpane.
2) Changing the shortname is not a trivial task and is generally discouraged, but there are utilities such as ChangeShortName that will do it.
3) No.

User Account Name

How do I change the user account name in adobe digita edition?

This is tied to your Adobe ID and cannot be changed arbitrarily. If you change your Adobe ID, it will change there.
Mylenium

Why is a new user account created every time I upload files from my old PC. Can't you just use the same user account all the time?

I'm a new Mac user and am finding my way slowly around it. One question: why is a new user account created every time I upload files from my old PC?

Because you're using the Migration Assistant, and it can't migrate data to an existing user account. Transfer everything at once or use a different method.
(111200)

TS3297 why I can't make a purchase on other itunes store I always get a message that "this account name can only make a purchase from the Qatari store" when I tried to change the store since the product is not available or only available in USA or Philipp

why I can't make a purchase on other itunes store I always get a message that "this account name can only make a purchase from the Qatari store" when I tried to change the store since the product is not available or only available in USA or Philippines

just call them...i bought my PB when it came out...but I had an issue recently and called them up and they helped me out....
Sorry can't help you with any of the other problems...mine are working fine...

No user account name on backup drive to boot from

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for