User Account deleted, but Home folder still visible

Deleted a user account within the System Preferences > Accounts and restarted the computer, but the "deleted" account is still visible under Finder > Users.
It failed to delete the account when I tried to 1st option of saving to .DMG - so I chose the 3rd option i.e.: to remove the Home folder. this seemed to work OK as the User Account is no longer presented as available to Login.
Don't understand why?
Thanks

Apple offers the option saving the user file as a disk image or delete the account, but keep the files in the account, or get rid of it entirely. The first two options make it possible to recreate the user account. You must move the file out of the User directory to rename (remove (deleted)) from the name. Place the folder back into the User directory and create another login using the same name as the file and the system will ask you if you want to use the above mentioned folder as the home folder. Click yes and the user is back as if it never left.
Why would I want to bother? You might find that there was something left in the user folder that you want to retrieve. Another reason, I consider even more significant is if I am having problems with a user account and it is isolated to that account, I will use this method to hopefully clear up any corruption within the account.

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Mobile account working but home folder is named incorrectly ('99')?

Hi,
Both server and clients running 10.4.5 with a mixture of local and network accounts. All works fine. Wanting to migrate all users to mobile accounts (which we have achieved successfully in many other places). It works (i.e. log in first time, say 'yes' to creating the account, syncing options are set as in WGM) but the home dir that is created is called '99' (which isn't the user name!) Does anyone know why this is?
Thanks very much..
Rob

I believe that the 99 refers to a network login where
the network user has no network home folder on the
network (or server). The 99 is a generic username
for this situation on the machine that is being
logged into, but each account needs a home somewhere.
That sounds strange, but I have it deliberately on
some lab machines. Let me explain. I have users
with Mobile Accounts on laptops. To prevent them
from logging in to a lab machine, I have set up
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network home (I don't need Gigs worth of video on my
server). Therefore, when a lab account logs in, it
has no network home and is forced to create a local
home on the lab machine. That works great-I don't
fill my server with unedited video. Workgroup
Manager covers the apps and privileges on the lab
machine. To prevent a Mobile Account user from
logging in to the lab machine and filling that up
with their home directory, I have a workgroup that
the lab account belongs to, but not the Mobile
Account user. In that workgroup, I have limited who
can login (only lab accounts). And finally, I have
limited the access to the lab machines by entering
in the lab machine's ethernet address in the
computer (don't remember its name right this
second-it is the 2 squares to the right of the
workgroups in WGM) list so that a lab account can't
log in to a laptop and a Mobile Account can't log
into the lab machine.
After all of that explanation of what I have done,
you probably have some part of that set on your
Workgroup Manager like mine. I would think most
likely the no home directory setting in the user's
account.
Hope that sheds some light for you.
Wayne
Wayne, with your lab accounts - do they auto-create with '99' or their proper short name? Additionally, does another folder '99' get created at the root level of the hard drive as mine still do?
I have tried everything that I can think of but regardless, mobile account creation does not want to work as seamlessly and effortlessly as it does with 10.3.9. All I want is to continue to have managed user accounts on my (10.4.x) server, no network home, mobile accounts created on each (10.4.x) Mac in the lab. That isn't happening. I'm at the point of giving up and fogetting about an OS upgrade for 2 labs.

How to delete the home folder of a deleted account?

After I set up a new account, I transferred everything from my old macbook pro to my new iMac (so it has a moutain lion system. I'm sure you know it. Just want to make it clear ) through migration assistance from time machine. Then I realized that an extra account (my old one) plus many unnecessary data had been transferred to my new iMac. Therefore, I decided to delete this old account.
HOWEVER, when I deleted the account, I failed to delete the home folder--I chose to delete it securely; but after it started backing up, I simply cancel the backup (which is a HUGE mistake) Then I found the account was deleted but its home folder stayed-- it occupied over 150GB of my new iMac.
Could anyone tell me how I can delete the home folder securely?
in addition, since I only want to transfer iphoto pictures, iTune music and some important documents to my new account, should I simply copy thme to an external drive and transfer them to my new account?
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In system preferences, create a new account again, using the short name of the "deleted" account. You may be prompted to re-use the old home folder. Log out and log in to test it worked. Then log in as your new admin, and do the delete process again. Don't choose to securely delete this time - just a regular delete.
When you have time to spare, go to Disk Utility, and use the Erase tab to securely erase free space on the drive. This will accomplish the same thing that your originally tried to do. Use the fastest method - anything more secure is a waste of time. You may need to run it overnight - it can take several hours.
Matt

Cannot delete the Folder on the desktop after Mavericks update. when I try to delete it, it is asking for logon password, When I give the logon password, it plays a sound of moving to Trash, but the folder still remains on the desktop

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Enabled FileVault - 24hrs later it's still "Deleting old Home folder"

So last night I enabled FileVault and told it to securely erase the home folder. Now, I know it was big. I had probably around 90GB in my home folder. Had about that much available on the drive, too. It has been sitting on 'Deleting old Home Folder' since I got up this morning. I started the process about 24 hours ago. Could it really be taking this long, or has it hung? I have backups of everything, so it's not a big deal if I have to cancel it and rebuild my home folder. I just want to know how long I should wait before I throw in the towel.

If you have a 90 GB home folder, it'll take forever. (And also be INCREDIBLY unreliable-do you really need every single file encrypted with U.S. Department of Defense level security?)
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FileVault: How long does "Deleting old Home folder" take?

Hello, guys. I'm comparing FileVault and PGP WDE. I enabled FileVault on my MBP about 16 hours ago with about 30GB in my user folder, and it's been ""Deleting old Home folder" for at least 10 hours now.
I've not been able to find any accounts of how long this is supposed to take. Has anyone actually waited 16+ hours and had the thing complete?
I understand the pros and cons of using FileVault, but am wondering if the thing is supposed to work.

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Mobile Users - Sync Files Outside Home Folder?

Hi folks,
Regarding mobile user accounts...
On our server, we have a shared folder as follows:
/Volumes/Server HD/Business/
I want to configure my Mobile User account to sync this folder, but I cannot because it does not reside in my Home folder.
Presumably I could just move the folder to within my Home folder and then recreate the share point from there. But then, a second user would not be able to sync this folder on their Mobile User account.
Is there a workaround to allow syncing outside the Home folder? I tried using a symlink but this didn't work...
Thanks!!

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hope this helps.
Marlon

Change account username and home folder issue

Hello guys,
Apple store re-installed Yosemite v10.10 on my MBA early 2014 (128gb, 4gb)
I wanted to change the account username and the home folder name after installation however I think I did it the wrong way to start with
Step1
I went into System Preference > User Groups, unlocked padlock, ctrl+click on the admin account > advanced options and replaced account name and home folder name with new name (e.g. my computer). Both match.
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Step2
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Eric, thank you.
Actually Keychain access app has been malfuncitoning since Yosemite was installed and username and home folders were renamed.
Sintomps
the following services and apps keeps asking to use "Login" keychain
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User account delete?

I am cleaning out my iMac (gift to daughter) and I have initiated a user account delete (the secure option I think it's called). It has been trucking along for several hours now so I am wondering how long this could take.
Of course, I never thought of trashing all of my pictures and music beofre starting this so I guess this is what is taking so much time.
I don't think attempting to stop would be a good idea.
Opinions and suggestions as always are welcomed.
Cheers!

JiPi1212 wrote:
I am cleaning out my iMac (gift to daughter) and I have initiated a user account delete (the secure option I think it's called). It has been trucking along for several hours now so I am wondering how long this could take.
Depends on the size of the account. Could take many hours, as OSX is writing zeros over every byte.
I don't think attempting to stop would be a good idea.
Probably correct; I've never dared to try it.

Home folder not visible in users folder

My home folder appears to have gone missing from the Users folder in finder. See screenshot - I can see the test account I created and the shared folder but not my home folder.
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Anyone got any ideas?

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Reinstalling lion server but keeping users/groups including their home folder, mail, etc

I need to reinstall my lion server due to some changes in the DNS. I have a time machine backup of the server.
Is there an easy way to transfer/migrate only user data (home folder, mail, calendar, address book).. I do not need to recover the whole server as some services need to be reconfigured.
Can I use the installtion program as there is an option to migrate from other serves? If so, can I select what to migrate?
Thanks

Migration can be handled by the installer or run post-installation by launching /Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant.app. You'll get three checkboxes: User accounts, applications and "other data." You can exclude certain users from migration, but you can't otherwise alter the list of files brought in from your backup.
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Deleting user account and their /home directory

hi,
I'm a parent volunteer helping to admin a mac lab at my son's K-5 public school. The lab is running o/s 10.5 server on a mini with about 30 imacs as clients.
I noticed that when I delete a user in workgroup admin, the user's home directory is not deleted at the same time. Is there a way to force the home directory of a user to be deleted at the same time a user is deleted. Its extremely tedious to have to delete the home directories manually.
This question was previously posted under Open Directory forum, but I've not received any replies so I thought I would try here. Thanks in advance for your assistance.
William

william_sf wrote:
when I delete a user in workgroup admin
Workgroup Manager only deletes the user record in Open Directory. There is no known preference that I know of that will delete their data (the home folder) at the same time.
Welcome to the world of the SysAdmin.

User Account deleted, but Home folder still visible

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