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OS X 10.9.3 Bug Hides '/Users' Folder for Some Users [Updated]

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Apple yesterday released OS X 10.9.3 with support for 4K displays, contact and calendar syncing improvements, and more. Many (but not all) users are, however, experiencing a bug in the update that hides the /Users folder.

The /Users folder is a top-level folder that contains the home folder and personal files for each user on a Mac. It's not clear why only some OS X users lose access to the /Users folder, but the inability to browse this folder could be problematic for some Mac owners affected by the glitch.

A range of solutions for the bug have been suggested with varying degrees of complexity, with perhaps the simplest noted by Kirk McElhearn and Chris Breen of Macworld:
Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities), enter "sudo chflags nohidden /Users", and press the Return key. You'll be prompted for your user password. Enter it, press Return again, and the Users folder will be visible as it once was.
Click to expand...
This solution is not, however, a permanent one, as the issue will reappear if the machine is restarted and the fix will need to be applied again.

Breen goes on to outline a more permanent solution that involves creating an AppleScript for running the Terminal command and saving it as an application to run at login.

users-folder-main.png
Another recommendation comes from The Loop's Dave Mark, who suggests creating an alias for the folder that will remain accessible even with the folder itself hidden.
For a more permanent solution, [after manually navigating to the hidden folder] control-click on the /Users folder and select Make Alias from the contextual menu that appears. Though the /Users folder will become hidden again when you close your Finder window, the alias will stick around.
Click to expand...
For many users, the bug will not have a significant impact on their Mac usage, as they can still access their own home folders through shortcuts in the Finder sidebar. Consequently, some users who are not inconvenienced by the bug may prefer to simply wait for Apple to address it in a future update.

Update 10:30 AM PT: As noted by MacObserver, the issue may be caused by a combination of iTunes 11.2 and Find My Mac rather than OS X 10.9.3. The site tested each update released yesterday and found the /Users and /Users/Shared folders only disappeared after iTunes 11.2 was installed on a Mac with Find My Mac enabled.

Article Link: OS X 10.9.3 Bug Hides '/Users' Folder for Some Users [Updated]
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/05/16/os-x-10-9-3-bug-user-folder/
Tankmaze

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
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Thats why I always do any software update after a week released, but if its troublesome maybe they can reinstall the OS to 10.9.2
 
Futurix

Futurix

macrumors 6502a
Nov 22, 2011
591
684
Strasbourg, France
Have the issue :eek:
Nothing else is affected though - the folder is still accessible, and Go to Folder is not affected.

Do you think that's intentional?
 
D

danielsutton

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2011
388
161
Michaelgtrusa said:
Glad to hear it's a bug, but when will it be fixed?
Click to expand...

Apple hides the Library directory from Finder by default. A thought that crossed my mind is that Apple now wants to add /Users to its list of hidden directories. I hope this is not the case, however.
 
A

Akuratyde

macrumors regular
Feb 7, 2011
249
1
I have the issue as well. Terminal fix worked great. I can't imagine why this would be intentional, what benefit would one gain?
 
guzhogi

guzhogi

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
3,733
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Wherever my feet take me…
Just had a scary thought: what if the bug is the other way around? What if Apple intentionally wanted to hide the Users folder, but the bug doesn't do it on all computers? Maybe Apple wanted to do something like it did with the Library folder in a user's home directory?

Please tell me I missed something that explicitly stated that I'm wrong.
 
firedept

firedept

macrumors 603
Jul 8, 2011
6,277
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Somewhere!
Easy fix, but not sure why Apple believes it has to hide folders. Some of us need to search through those folders from time to time to config things, especially the Library folder. Guess they are worried about inexperienced people getting into the files, so better to hide.
 
JilzVT

JilzVT

macrumors member
Apr 20, 2010
72
255
Has there been any official confirmation that it is a bug and not intentional?
 
C

critter13

macrumors 6502
Aug 23, 2010
374
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sidebar

Unhide it and move it to the sidebar "favorites", it will stay there. My folder disappeared but I have had it in the sidebar and it still works fine there. strange bug though.
 
I

iVoid

macrumors 65816
Jan 9, 2007
1,145
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Didn't even notice until this article. :)


I have invisible files shown normally, so it's not a big deal.
 
guzhogi

guzhogi

macrumors 68040
Aug 31, 2003
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Wherever my feet take me…
danielsutton said:
Apple hides the Library directory from Finder by default. A thought that crossed my mind is that Apple now wants to add /Users to its list of hidden directories. I hope this is not the case, however.
Click to expand...

firedept said:
Easy fix, but not sure why Apple believes it has to hide folders. Some of us need to search through those folders from time to time to config things. Guess they are worried about inexperienced people getting into the files, so better to hide.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that the general person might not have a need to go through these folders. Many might think, "Oh, what's this folder? I don't need this!" and trash it. Not everyone is as tech-savvy as MacRumors readers.
 
R

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,348
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They just want everyone in their household to spend more money to have their own Macs. Much like they do iPads. Apple doesn't want multi-user accounts.
 
Parasprite

Parasprite

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2013
1,698
144
Well I may have a slight lead on this. I've never seen this before (showed up during installation).

attachment.php


Also, I don't remember the /Users/ folder allowing "Everyone" Read & Write privileges.

attachment.php


Anybody else seeing this?
 

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Nunyabinez

Nunyabinez

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2010
1,758
2,230
Provo, UT
One suggestion is that people were deleting the folder and borking their machine, so Apple was hiding it to prevent that. However, I find that highly unlikely. I think it is some strange glitch. There are many reasons to have that folder visible.

However, I am always baffled at how Macs are configured out of the box. I always spend the first few minutes on a new machine putting an alias of the documents folder, apps folder, downloads folder and utilities folder on the dock so that I can get to stuff quickly. And I always show my HD on the desktop. The standard setup makes me feel like they don't want me to get to anything.

One thing I have noticed is how much variety there is among Mac users in how they access various things. I always think my way is the only way and then I get on someone else's Mac and things are all different, but it works for them.
 
kagharaht

kagharaht

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2007
1,444
974
Finder preference and you can add it from there also. No need for terminal to do that.
 
Rafagon

Rafagon

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2011
761
838
Miami, FL
I went with the Make Alias option. Works for me.

I have another issue, but it's not that disturbing: Software Update keeps telling me "Restart required", even though I have restarted several times since the update.
 

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addicted44

macrumors 6502a
Jun 6, 2005
533
168
alexandr said:
Pretty. first they hide the library folder, now this.
Click to expand...

I can understand hiding the Library folder. A naive user could lose a lot of important data/settings by deleting what look like junk files.

But hiding the Users folder makes absolutely no sense. How are you supposed to navigate to another User's dropbox, or their public folder?
 
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