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.

Similar Messages

I am having problems with migration assistant (windows pc to Mac 2011) When I get to the 'Quit other applications' box and click continue, nothing happens. There are no other apps running - any ideas, please?

I am having probems with migration assistant. Trying to transfer data from a windows laptop to iMac 2011. It was working fine when I did the set-up yesterday, but it was going to take hours to transfer some videos so I quit the process with the intention of doing it again at a later stage. However today I find that everytime I get to the 'Quit other applications' box on the Mac and click 'continue', nothing happens. Have checked mission control and confirmed no other apps running. Tried several times with the same result every time. Migration Assistant running on my laptop with the 'Waiting for mac to connect' box displayed. Mac is connected to wi-fi OK as able to use Safari and access internet. Any ideas, please?

Thanks for your suggestions. Have managed to get Migration Assistant working but now have a new problem, i.e. where does it save the transferred files?!! Searched a few forums and it seems it saves it under your old username, or suchlike. Anyway I tried logging on as a new user using my old user name but there were only a handful of files there, couldn't locate the majority of stuff from my old laptop. Anyway I don't intend to go through any more hoops with MA - will just save the important stuff to an external drive and transfer it that way. Not impressed with MA at all. I thought it was supposed to be a user-friendly tool to simplify the transfer from pc to Mac - not my experience, I'm afraid!

Multiple problems with Migration Assistant

I have just wasted more than 4 hours trying to transfer all my information from my G5 iMac to my new 13-inch aluminium MacBook using an ethernet cable and the 'Migration Assistant'.
Perhaps someone here can enlighten me as to why this has been such an unmitigated disaster and where I went wrong.
I followed the instructions exactly as to how to proceed - this is what happened ...
The Migration Assistant showed that the items I selected to transfer were as follows -
Documents 5.9GB
Music 20.8GB
Pictures 34.1GB
All Other Files 5.5GB
Total 66.3GB
The transfer commenced at 1748. By 2053 the Migration Status in the dialog box stated -
'Transferring files to support applications' - the progress bar showed that this was more than 95% completed and the message below the progress bar stated 'Less than a minute remaining'. Both the 'Go Back' and 'Continue' buttons in the dialog box were greyed out.
After a further hour with no progress I terminated the Migration Assistant application. My MacBook showed that the transfer had been completed 'with some errors' - I cannot recall the exact error message but it referred to 'Charcoal' and fonts.
When I commenced the transfer I had only used 15.7GB of my MacBook hard drive. Apart from doing a custom reinstall of the OS I had also installed Office 2008:mac. After the transfer I ran Disk Utility which showed that I have now used 85.2GB of my MacBook hard drive.
HOWEVER, when I opened iPhoto - it is completely empty. Similarly, iTunes has no music in it either.
How can this be??? Of course, there are no documents in the Documents folder either.
Can someone please tell me whether I should simply do yet another Erase and Install (and waste another day of my time) or whether there is some way I can locate my missing data?
Needless to say, I never had these problems when I could connect one Mac to another using a Firewire cable and transfer my data via Firewire.
I'm sorry if I have made some very basic mistake here, however, I thought that if I followed the instructions as to how I could transfer information 'from another Mac' it would 'just work'. How wrong I was!
Tricia

Thank you for the suggestion Doug. A few extra hours of digging today resolved my problem.
I remembered that, when I initially started to transfer the data the Migration Assistant threw up a warning to the effect that the user name I was transferring from the iMac already existed on the Mac Book (am I the only one who uses the same long name and short name on two machines???). Naturally, the MacBook has to have the user's name set up before the Setup Assistant or the Migration Assistant can be used to transfer files and folders from another Mac. I recall that the only option that allowed me to proceed with the transfer was to change both the long and short names on the iMac (the machine from which I was transferring the information).
This prompted me to check Macintosh HD/Users.... I was surprised to see that, apart from the account I had set up on the MacBook there was a second user (with the new short name from my iMac). This User had folders for Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Music and Pictures (all of which had the little red circle with the minus sign in the lower right hand corner of the folder).
So, I logged out as my normal user name and then logged in using the user name from the iMac and ...voila ... my iTunes music folder, my iPhoto library, my documents and all the applications on the iMac had been transferred to the MacBook under my iMac user name.
Because I don't want to have two user accounts on my MacBook I copied the iTunes music folder and the iPhoto library to the Shared folder - making sure that I first used Get Info to check the Sharing and Permissions for the folders which I changed to allow my 'normal' name Read & Write privileges. After they were copied into the Shared folder I logged out of my 'iMac name' and logged back in as my normal name. I then copied the iTunes music folder and iPhoto library from the Shared folder to my Home/Music and Home/Pictures folder.
I know it was a very 'clunky' way of getting what I wanted but it all works!! I'm now busily deleting the apps that were copied across from the iMac because, obviously, my iMac is a PPC G5 and my MacBook is an Intel. It occurred to me that I'm better off either re-installing from disk or downloading directly to my MacBook so that the apps are for Intel machines not the PPC.
Cheers
Tricia

Problems with Migration Assistant ..... G3 iMac to G4 iBook

I've run into problems in using the Migration Assistant and a FireWire cable to transfer the data files I had accumulated on an old G3 iMac (running on OS 10.3.9) to a new G4 iBook (running on OS 10.4.6). The cable connection and following the steps of the Assistant went just fine. I instructed the Assistant to transfer the data files but not the applications. However, when the process was all done (according to the Assistant):
(a) there were no instructions for finishing up and disconnecting the FireWire cable, so after looking around and finding nothing, I just disconnected the cable and immediately lost the orange iMac hard drive icon from the desktop of the iBook (and, from what I can tell, all of the data files that I thought had been transferred); and
(b) I then discovered that none of the data files that I thought had been transferred to the iBook are there, but all of the applications are there .... i.e., the exact opposite of the instructions I had entered. What now remains in the hard drive of the iBook are an empty Desktop Folder (labeled that it had been transferred from the iMac) and a new System Folder (similarly labeled) containing all of the applications that had been on the iMac.
Thinking that I must have made an error of some sort, I went back and re-ran the entire procedure again. However, I got exactly the same result.
So now, how do I get rid of all the applications that came over from the iMac? Can I just drag that one folder to the Trash? Or have they all been installed and now I need to uninstall them? And if so, how do I do this?
And how do I get the data files over from the iMac to the iBook?
My heartfelt thanks to anyone who can help me undo this mess!
bob
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Open the Users folder on your hard disk and see if there are any folders inside that folder with red circles; if so, that is where your data files may be. Log out and then in from the account you migrated; if you're not sure what username and password to use, open the Accounts pane of System Preferences and check or change the settings there. Once done, move the files you want to transfer to the /Users/Shared/ folder and from there to your normal account's home folder when logged in to that account. Once you've moved over everything you want, you can delete the migrated account. The applications that were migrated can be deleted.
(12872)

PC to Mac mail problems with Migration Assistant?

Hello, I recently bought a mac mini, my first after 20 years using a PC. Trying to transfer 10 years worth of email and data across using the migration assistant but only a handful of my emails have arrived; none from any of my folders or archives.
None of my notes have moved across either; has anyone encountered a similar problem / know how to fix this?
Thanks

Open the Users folder on your hard disk and see if there are any folders inside that folder with red circles; if so, that is where your data files may be. Log out and then in from the account you migrated; if you're not sure what username and password to use, open the Accounts pane of System Preferences and check or change the settings there. Once done, move the files you want to transfer to the /Users/Shared/ folder and from there to your normal account's home folder when logged in to that account. Once you've moved over everything you want, you can delete the migrated account. The applications that were migrated can be deleted.
(12872)

Problems with migration assistant

Hi, I used Migration Assistant to move my account on an iMac G5 to a new Intel iMac. I ran the assistant from a user with the same name as the user I was transferring. Of course the assistant told me I had to rename the imported account, which I did. Once migrated, I created a new admin account, deleted the original admin and renamed (also the shortname via a procedure found on the Apple site) the new imported account.
I also own a powerbook on the same network, also with a user with the same name/short name and previously I never had problems in transferring files between this and the iMac G5. Now, after the migration, I cannot copy any file between the users, although I can GET the files from one users to another.
Any clue?

If your old machine is an iBook, the Migration Assistant likely won't always work. Many have had issues migrating from PowerPC to Intel with the Assistant. Instead, this user tip is recommended:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435350&tstart=0

Problems with Migration Assistant in Leopard-

Hi - I did see someone else with a similar problem, but thought I'd be able to avoid these snafus by migrating between two PPCs. Alas!
I tried to transfer all my files, programs and settings between my used eMac and a second hand iMac G5 I had thought to upgrade to. Migration Assistant seemed to insist that I create a second account in order to proceed with the migration. At first, I thought I'd lost a lot of my programs, but now I see that they are actually there and working in the second account. On the other thread, I read that people with this problem should restore their new or newer machine to its factory settings, then do the migration over. That way, we can avoid setting up two identities for the same person. In my case, the seller of the iMac is sending me an install disc of Leopard. Can I use this to get back to the factory settings, more or less? And how would I do it?
I do know how to do an install-in-place, having done a couple of them. But clearly more is required here. I don't mind messing around with my machines to a degree, but I'm not a techie, really, and I'm also quite cautious generally. My whole life is on the eMac, so my priority is keeping it in good shape while transferring info to the iMac.
What I'd ultimately want to end up with - assuming I decide to upgrade to the iMac - is one administrator account, not two, with access to all my old files, settings and programs and also the newer programs the seller provided. Can I use the Leopard install disc to get there?
Oh - two more things. I cannot open iTunes on the working (second) account on the iMac. Also, none of my mail messages transferred over. Is there a way to get them to transfer?
Thanks very much, and sorry for all the questions!
Mary

I HATE migration assistant! Just spent three hours trying to move stuff from my eMac, and I am now listed as the only user - but I have the same problems I had the first time around, only, this time, it might be worse. None of my files were moved into the current "music", "movies", "documents" folders. In order to find them, I have to dig into the hard drive, find my saved data, and then go to users and documents. Not all of my programs transferred, either, and one or two of them acted odd when they did. The most serious thing is that my novel is again missing on the iMac, and I again had to re-license Scrivener. Only this time it's really gone, all but three chapters. Grrr!
It's a good thing I am a cautious person and had no intention of passing the eMac on unless/until I could really use the iMac. Well, if I can't get my most important files over seamlessly, and if the machine can't access them without a lot of clicking and dragging, the iMac is no use to me.
I know I have a lot of info on the eMac - altogether, close to 8 years of stuff. But there has got to be a way to get it over to the iMac without losing data, programs, passwords, etc. I just don't understand this!
What I did - did an erase and install of Leopard a second time, because, if you don't use setup assistant to migrate, you seem to be stuck with two identities. Then followed the steps and opened the window and turned on a fan behind my computers - and waited, and waited, and waited, waking the iMac up occasionally when it went to sleep. Reinstalling Leopard took less than an hour, but this file transfer took nearly three. And it's a total mess, again. I'm really, really fed up, and am at the point of just sticking with the eMac and lending the iMac to the library. This just shouldn't be so hard!
(And this sort of thing is why I don't like Leopard. ))

Problems with Migration Assistant seeing external harddrive

Hello all and thanks in advance for any advice!
We've recently had a macbook pro hard drive die and had to send it off to have the data recovered (no time machine backup). I've installed the new harddrive and set up the operating system and so we now have a functioning mac - but I'm having trouble migrating data from the recovery hard drive.
The company have sent us the data on an external USB 3.0 disk - browsing through it the majority of data seems fine, but when I connect to Migration Assistant it can't find it. I select "transfer from mac, pc, TM backup or other startup disk", click continue and then I just get the spinning icon and "looking for source"
I'm guessing that it's not formatted as a startup disk which Migration Assistant would need to be able to 'see' it?
Or is it because I'm connecting with USB and not thunderbolt? (in the apple 'instructions' it says to connect with thunderbolt)
Assuming it's the first problem - is there a way of re-formatting it to get the assistant to see it?
Could I create a TM backup from the machine as is and then add data into it? Although the two are on different OS so maybe this wouldn't work?
Please help!!
Thanks
Sophie

Thanks - Just tried that and it did find something to repair.
But still not recognised in Migration Assistant.
I've done a TM backup on another external disk and the assistant sees that - but that's no good because it only contains what's already on the computer!
TBH it's just a couple of applications I want to migrate over, because it will be easier than trying to get the codes again - is there another way??
Thanks

Problem with Migration Assistant

I just bought a new 17" MBP and am trying to transfer my settings and files from my old 15" MPB. I initially went through the migrations from the start up but it hung up. Now I have rebooted and I am trying again using Migration Assistant and it is still hung up where it says "Transferring files to support applications". It just says "Less than a minute remaining" but has hung there. Any ideas? Thanks a lot.

Yes, just wait it out. There is another thread that suggests changing some of the settings, but if you wait it out, it eventually works for most people. I had the same problem, left it sitting there, and the next morning it had finished up and had continued on.
If for some reason it remains stuck overnight (for example), do a fresh re-install of your OS X from the disc, erasing all your current files and then start again.
Set up your MBP without doing the migration assistant when prompted. Download all software updates. Reboot. THEN go to the applications folder, in the utilities file find Migration Assistant, and run it from there.

HT4889 Problems with migration assistant from 2010 MBP to Retina Display MBP using ethernet

I am trying to use migration assistant from my 2010 MBP to my Retina Display MBP using ethernet (with thunderbolt adapter) however it can not find the computer. It only finds it over wifi. I have updated all my software on monutain lion. Can anyone help?

I know I am not answering your question but I would try to use FW800.
I imagine the 2010 MBP does not have TB or it whould be better a TB direct connection.
Last try: have you managed to use migration assistant "both ways" ? I mean you can manage to use it from each of the 2 connected Macs.

Problems with migration assistant between macbook running leopard and macbook pro on lion

Hi,
I've just got a macbook pro running lion and am having difficulties transferring through a network from a macbook (running latest version of leopard) onto it.
It just keeps telling me to update migration assistant on my macbook, which I've tried doing but it already says it's completely up to date.
I've tried checking that filesharing/firewall etc. is enabled on both.
Does this mean I have to get a firewire cable? What do I need to do?
Thank you for any suggestions.

Turn off your Leopard machine, leave your Lion machine on. Connect your firewire cable between both computers. Start up the Leopard computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears. The hard disk of the Leopard computer should become available to the Lion computer and will likely appear on desktop.

Have Home folders Eric and Eric 1 due to problems with Migration Assistant

I have duplicate Home folders for my user accounts after trying several times to copy user data from my old MacBook to my new MacBook Pro. I have deleted the folders labeled "from old Mac" and the non-active Eric folder that were the duplicates from failed migrations. Essentially, I have the short name user Eric but Home folder named Eric 1. The short name is, of course correct, but Mac OS always appends numbers to duplicate folders when creating them and in this case you can't change the folder name to reflect the user name.
There are a number of KB articles detailing how to rename or add new User accounts, but I don't need to do that; I just want my Home folders to not have the appended 1s in their names. Is this fixable without erasing the drive and reinstalling / migrating all over again?
Thanks!

Hi,
Assuming you have everything backed up, I think you could try the following steps to change your home folder name from *Eric 1* to Eric:
Proceed with the first three steps advised by the [KB article|http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1428] mentioned earlier:
For Mac OS X 10.5 or later
1. [Enable the root user|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1528].
2. Log in as root.
3. Navigate to the /Users folder.
If the inactive Eric folder has not yet been deleted, either delete it now, or rename it to something like Eric.old.
Rename the *Eric 1* folder to Eric.
Still logged in as root, go to System Preferences>Accounts, control-click on the Eric account, and click Advanced Options. On the next screen, change the Home Directory field from */Users/Eric 1* to /Users/Eric, and then click OK.
Then restart, and try to log in normally as Eric. If all goes well, disable the root account.

Pb with migration assistant

Hello,
I try to install a new Macbook Pro with Migration Assistant.
I connect the Ethernet cable between macbook pro Lion (Source) and macbook pro Lion (Target) and i start.
When i arrived on the screen Transfer Information to this Mac, i select "From another Mac" and i launch Migration assistant in the source.
The target view the source but source can't view target.
I have always "looking for another computer" and nothing.
Thanks for your help.

Hi,
Sorry for my mistake with Pb, I'm frenchman and it's the first time I write a post..And sorry if my english is not correct... If you understand me...it's perfect
So, in the Pondini's Setup New Mac,(thank you very munch for that) he wrote :
Usually, the best way is to use Setup Assistant, when you first start up your new Mac. It will set the new Mac up just like the old one: all configuration, settings, users and data, and all applications (except newer versions already installed).
I make that, but nothing.
So I select "Do not transfer the know", and when I created the user, I do not choose the same as the source, otherwise there are a problem with migration assistant. and after, I used Migration Assistant to install all applications, configurations...But I think it isn't normal.
Today, i will try to install a new Mac with Time Machine.
Thanks for your help

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.

Backup will not restore with migration assistant.

This is long and complicated but here goes. Had a 10.5 machine PPC that was backing up to a time capsule. IMac blew out PS so was toast. Took it home and took another iMac 10.5 machine that had a bad HD. Put new HD into that machine and installed 10.6 and then ran migration assistandt from the old iMac HD drive from the unit with the bad PS. The restored iMac with the new HD was a perfect close of the older iMac and everything was perfect. Took to customer site and they were happy. Time machine started backing up again to the same time capsule as before. It created a new backup image on the time capsule with the EXACT SAME NAME as the older iMac had. I did not know that until a year later when the new hard drive in the rebuilt iMac failed. I took a newer iMac of the Intel variety with 10.7 on it to the customer site. I told migration assistant to restore from the time capsule users and data file. I di not want it to restgore programs since I knew the ones on the newer iMac where newer versions and probably not compatible. Restore seemed to go just fine. Users were all there and desktop looked the same as the older iMac with the dead hard drive. I had to install a printer driver but all appeared okay. Customer called the day later and said all files for pages and numbers and address book appeared a year old at the newest. See where this is going.
I went to the site and started looking at the backup files on the time capsule drive. Taht is when I noticed that two exact backup named files existed. So I started drilling down through them ( Not using time machine casues it only had 1 day history on it ) and looked at the dates of the files. Sure enough, one of the backup images had files that had all ended a year ago when the original iMac blew out the PS and the other backup file with an identical name had files much more current in the current month and year. Simple I said to myself. I just happended to pick the older file to restore from. So I renamed the older file so I could not get them confused. Double checked that the one with the current files was named correctly. Went to migration assistant again and ran it again. Completed just fine but sill no file less than a year old. NOw I am really puzzled so I tried a test of one simple file to see if I was wrong in my assumptions. The address book file was one of the files that was a year old. I went to the time caplsule and drilled down to the exact file that address book makes. I had already thrown the corresponding file away on the new machine so I copied the file from the exact same location on the time capslue back up to the same location on the new machine. I then fired up address book on the new machine and the address book worked perfectly with the new and updated and current records.
So now I am sure that the drive image that I have been playing with on the time capsule has the up to date backups. But migtration assistant will not move them to the new machine. It will take a very long time to move every pages and numbers files scattered around in various folders to do this manually. What is wrong with migration assistant that it will not work correctly.

I am not asking if there is anything on the card. I'm not worried about the backup or recovering all of my information. I'm asking if setting up the replacement phone as NEW will change anything at all when I use the OLD sim card.

Problem with Migration assistant permissions on User Home

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