I got the 10.8.3 update last night, i have a hidden account with the .account so i have to go to the other option to login. With the update i will put my info in and it won't accept it. I have a ton of files and notes on that computer and need access to it. When i go on the other account, it will recognize the account as an admin when i unlock the lock from system preferences. Is there any fix i can do so i can have access to it.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
10.8.3 Hidden Account
- Thread starter need.help
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Have you tried just un-hiding the account?
Also if all you need is access to the account and you don't really want to bother fixing it then just do this.
1) Open terminal
2) type this but replace <account> with whatever the hidden account name is
3) now you should see the account in finder
4) if you still are denied access to the files inside the account folder type this
^ That should give whatever account you're using full access to the old hidden (now visible) account.
Also if all you need is access to the account and you don't really want to bother fixing it then just do this.
1) Open terminal
2) type this but replace <account> with whatever the hidden account name is
Code:
mv /Users/.<account> /Users/<account>4) if you still are denied access to the files inside the account folder type this
Code:
chmod -R 755 /Users/<account>/Did you deliberately create this account? I'm not sure that having a user account with a hidden name is a good idea. It may cause all sorts of trouble. It's also not really secure -- just Security through obscurity
There are many ways to ensure that your user account is secure -- requiring passwords to log in and when waking or leaving the screensaver; FileVault; as well as limiting physical access.
It's a documented process to hide a user account on Macs, and there's a number of reasons it makes sense in certain situations. Unfortunately, it seems that going from 10.6.x to 10.7.x or 10.7.x to 10.8.x causes that account to fail to work.
Documented where? It's not one of the methods that Apple suggests here.
Hiding a user account may be a legitimate strategy, but not by the method employed here.
I can't pretend to know what methodology the OP used to create the account, but I do know the ones I've set up using Apple's process do not survive OS upgrades.
sorry for late response. I dont need it necessarily for security purposes, I just need it to be hidden from the login menu and the system prefrences pane. I had it for a good 8 months i'd say until the most recent update.
i cant even see the file in finder. I go to the accounts pane but nothing shows up for the desired account
If there is no hidden Folder with that name in the /Users Folder it's gone I guess.
But, what you could do is to use an App to see where your files are, or which Folders have higher content (As in MB-GB) than expected.
One such App is GrandPerspective, just see if you can find stuff, but I think you're out of luck, sadly.
Edit: Make sure hidden files are shown in the Finder to see if the account is there in the Home Folder.
Edit Again: What happens if you enter the following commands in Terminal?
cd /Users/.account
Enter
ls -n
Enter
Last edited:
Okay so i have this that appears
drwxr-xr-x 4 503 20 136 Jan 5 16:07 Applications
drwx------+ 20 503 20 680 Apr 8 23:34 Desktop
drwx------+ 137 503 20 4658 Apr 4 18:00 Documents
drwx------+ 146 503 20 4964 Apr 4 16:15 Downloads
drwx------@ 47 503 20 1598 Mar 6 14:55 Library
drwx------+ 9 503 20 306 Dec 18 19:50 Movies
drwx------+ 6 503 20 204 Dec 13 14:05 Music
drwx------+ 9 503 20 306 Dec 16 20:23 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x+ 5 503 20 170 Oct 19 16:25 Public
This seems promising right?
I am in a different time zone, bit late reply.
Yes, seems like it is still there, I would suggest you to make a new User Account (Admin) or enable root User and make the account visible by removing the dot before the account name, then copy all Data over.
You might run into permissions problems later on since that User name has an identifier different than the new User.
For instance, normally if there is 1 User it has 501 as identifier, every new User adds 1 to the number, so second User is 502, 3rd User is 503.
The easiest way to move things over is to copy it, if you copy Data it will get the new permissions while if you move it it will have to old Users permissions.
How would one remove the dot before the account name. I have my account
.example but i also have example account so if i was to remove the dot it would match another account, how to i deal with this as well
You can't have the same name, the whole situation could have been avoided by not having a invisible account, for what, if you really need security there are FAR better ways than this, for instance by switching on FileVault2 and a strong password, nobody can get your Data this way.
You could even use a firmware password so that people even can use the Laptop.Mac.
You need to make a new Account, move the Data over to the new one as I told in my last post, turn on full disk encryption (FileVault2) and use a strong password.
If you go this way your data is safe.