Renaming my home directory trashed my Mac?

I have a Mac OS X iBook G4 ver. 10.3.9. Recently, I don't know what came over me, but I wanted to change my "name" on my computer. So, what I did was open Finder, click on my name (beside the house icon) and clicked File-Get Info. I then simply changed my name in the box that showed up under "Name & Extension". I did not realize what havoc this would cause on my computer (I did not get any "Are you sure?" warning message or anything). Even though I had changed my name, I had NOT created another account. All my old files were then put under my old name, and I eventually found these files. However, all of my programs reset themselves. I lost my emails, all my personal settings, everything. It was as if I was opening the programs up again for the first time. This was still the case even after I had switched my name back to the original name.

Question: What did I do? Why was it so easily done? How can I get my original settings back without having to reset them all manually?

Dave's Answer:

Ouch. I never really thought about the implications of renaming your home directory in the Mac world, but since Mac OS X is running atop Unix (FreeBSD, to be specific) this is a very bad thing.

The biggest problem is that when you next reboot your system, it'll complain that you no longer have a home directory (since it's probably looking for something like /Home/taylor but you've ingeniously renamed it /Home/dave) and might either refuse to let you log in or drop you in a generic directory like / or /tmp.

To fix this, you need to restore the name of the existing directory, not move files into a new directory, and then you'll have the magic set of preference and configuration files you seek, all in your Library/Preferences folder within your home directory.

(Actually, Mac applications aren't that well behaved as a group, so some actually use subdirectories in your Documents folder (like Microsoft apps, which use "Microsoft User Data" within "Documents") or elsewhere to store preferences and configuration options too.

If renaming your old home directory doesn't fix it, then dig around and see if you can identify where the preference files have gone, because they're what controls whether an app thinks you've used it and tweaked it or not.

In terms of why was it so easy to do, well, that's why I think it's a good idea to run on a day-to-day basis as a regular, not admin user. By being an administrative user, you get greater powers and as the proverb goes, absolute power corrupts. Only this time it was your hard disk that was corrupted...

In the future, when you want to rename your account or, more sensibly, create a new account, your best bet is really to use the Accounts tool, accessible from Apple --> System Preferences --> Accounts:

Notice the "+" on the lower left there? Click on that and you can add new accounts to your heart's content. Also notice that Linda's account on this system is listed as "standard", that is, not an administrative account. It's safer.

Good luck to you!

Categorized: Mac OS X Help (Article 5912, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: mac os x, user accounts
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Comments

For info on how to change the short user name (which is the greyed out box in the screen cap and the name used for the home folder) check out the excruciating process described by Apple:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106824

...or this donationware app:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/23494

Posted by: Michael Henley at February 7, 2006 8:50 PM

In the article: "Renaming my home directory trashed my Mac?"

I did the same foolish thing the individual did. I renamed "mycomputer" to "Main" After rebooting, I got just a plain desktop and only the bare fundamentals on the dock. The "mycomputer" icon is still there but when I click all my files are all gone. When I go to the main directory called "Cube" and open the users folder, I can find the "mycomputer" iconr and a short cut icon titled "Main" When I click "Main", all my missing files are there including the original preferences folder. I tried to take this preferences folder and copy the contents to the "mycomputer" preference folder but all that creates upon reboot is another "mycomputer" folder called "mycomputer 1"

You mentioned to "restore the name of the existing directory"
but I am totally lost on this....I cannot rename it because it is still the same name (mycomputer) that it was originally before I created this huge problem.

How can I get everything to return to what it was....unbelievable

TIA

Michael

Posted by: Michael Savinon at April 2, 2006 12:43 PM

I had all my music loaded on a PC and backed up on an external drive. The computer crashed and as fate would have, the external drive crashed. All my music is loaded on an iPod with 30gb drive, but the iTunes software will not let me copy it onto the library in my new computer. Suggestions?

Posted by: GBB at January 29, 2007 7:49 PM

I did the same stupid thing!

In my case, I MOVED the little house out of the sidebar, and it went "poof" now all my personal settings are gone!!!

I know they are still on the computer- but I can't find them!!!
My photoshop preferces are gone etc.

I don't know how to move all my files back.

help!

Posted by: Alicia at January 30, 2007 2:33 PM

Hello, I managed to mess up my Home folder rename and then some- Changed folder name, THEN accidentally logged out- Now I cannot boot OSX- It goes directly to terminal BSD. Is there a way to add a new user in BSD? I tried to archive and install but my system disc is shot. I have tried a bunch of ideas but nothing seems to work. Is there a string command to create a new user (which I believe is tyhe easiest way toi fix it?)

Posted by: William at February 21, 2007 8:12 AM

Thanks for your advice, I had the same problem after changing my Admin account name. I originally had it as my full name and wanted to change it to a nickname, but once I restarte all of my preferences were gone and I couldnt find my picture files unless I re-imported them into Iphoto. I changed it all back and everything is back to normal, thanks a lot!

Posted by: New MacUser at September 24, 2007 11:49 PM

OMG.
i did the exact same thing.
and im always so scared to turn my computer off.
how do i get it back to its old settings.
i don't really understand the above information
please explain>>
??

Posted by: rachael at February 6, 2008 12:26 AM

Hi all and esp. Dave -

I have a similar problem to all the folks above... but my computer (powerbook G4-OS 10.4) is partitioned into 3. The OS and applications and some home directory files are on one partition and everything else is on the other 2. Suddenly the computer did not want to boot up anymore... so I installed OS only on another partition. STUPIDLY I gave myself the same name and short name.

NOW on the original partition, I cannot 'see' my original home directory files (I want one folder in documents, my Mail folders and my addressbook - that's it.)

I have repeatedly tried to install the OS (archive and install) onto the original partition and this does not work.

What to do?

Are the files there?

Should I buy a data recovery program?

Pay $600-plus for a data recovery place to do data recovery for me?

I am freaking out.

Posted by: Jane Regan at April 14, 2008 9:17 AM

I did the same thing! How do you restore the username? It says that the file already exists when I try to rename it. All of my music is there. I tried to just import everything into the new user but it is copying everything instead of moving it so I run out of room!
iphoto won't even import the pictures! They are now magically all jpegs and it says that they aren't in a recognizable format!

Help!
Please!
Do I need to take it to the apple store? Can I fix this?

Posted by: Kerstin at June 8, 2008 2:31 PM

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1876

Check out this link. It worked for me...

Posted by: Joe at October 13, 2008 11:20 PM

Having done exactly the same thing, I was following the instructions on the recommended Apple article TS1876. However, I am now unable to rename the new home directory as it "is required by Max OS X". Trying to rename the old home directory to the required name (that of the new home directory) also obviously can't be done until the first rename has occurred. I'm tempted to use terminal and sudo the name change, but am hesitant to do this given the apple inference that all should be possible without resorting to this. Has anyone else has run into this?
Thanks.

Posted by: Mike Bradburn at December 30, 2009 3:36 PM

Hi! I just bought an used mac book from a friend and the home directory has his name. I really would like to change that, but, even after reading all the posts above, simply couldn't find my way. When I select the Local and "Get It's Info", the text field is disabled, and I cant't edit it. If I try selecting the directory and pressing enter, it allows me to edit it, but when I press enter again to save the new name it tells me that I can't change the name of the home directory because it is used by Mac OS. Is there any other way for me to fix this?

Posted by: Ricardo at October 18, 2010 7:57 AM

Here is a very useful trick, but one you should use with caution. You can log in to your MAC using the the GUI login, with a user name of root.

You need to click Other at the bottom of the login window. Then, instead of being prompted for a password only, you will be prompted for a user name and a password. You need to know the root (adminstrator) password.

You will get a nice Mac desktop, but you will be user root. This gives you permissions over everything. Like I said, it can be dangerous.

-Eric

Posted by: Eric at December 11, 2011 11:37 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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