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ajsatx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2011
7
0
Sorry if this has been posted a million times but I've checked apple.com and multiple forums.
The name in my sidebar is "alexanderpatterson", and I want to change it to AJ Patterson.



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How do I do this?
 

Hansr

macrumors 6502a
Apr 1, 2007
897
1
This is your shortname user folder. Basically don't mess around with it unless you understand what it actually is.

Googling things like change + short + name + mac will give you the methods but my suggestions is that if you have to ask you shouldn't mess around with it.
 

ajsatx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2011
7
0



Enter an administrator account name and password, then click OK.

This is the problem I'm having. Where do I enter the admin name? I use a blank password FYI

thank you for helping me
 

ajsatx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2011
7
0
Didn't mean to have the Dr. Dre album get in the way but you can still see I'm stuck on step number 8. :mad:
 

ajsatx

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2011
7
0
It says to "enable root user" in the edit menu, but all I see is disable root user. wtfff
 

iPhone1

macrumors 65816
Apr 2, 2010
1,152
423
Changing the short name

Though there are other methods by which an advanced user may change the short name and related information, the easier and safer workaround is to create a new user with the desired name, then copy the old user's Home directory contents into that of the new user.

Before following these steps, you may wish to back up your important data.

For Mac OS X 10.5 or later

Enable the root user.
Log in as root.
Navigate to the /Users folder.
Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.
Use the Accounts pane in System Preferences to create a new user with the short name that you used in the previous step.
Click OK when "A folder in the Users folder already has the name 'short name'. Would you like to use that folder as the Home folder for this user account?" Note: This will correct the ownership of all files in the Home folder, and avoid permissions issues with the contents.
Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
Log in as the newly created user. You should be able to access all of your original files (on the desktop, in Documents, and in the other folders of this Home).
After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Accounts pane of System Preferences.
Disable the root user.
 

Hansr

macrumors 6502a
Apr 1, 2007
897
1
NO STOP RIGHT NOW. I'm not kidding your just digging a hole for yourself if you can't understand the step by step instructions.
 

Hansr

macrumors 6502a
Apr 1, 2007
897
1
Changing the short name

Though there are other methods by which an advanced user may change the short name and related information, the easier and safer workaround is to create a new user with the desired name, then copy the old user's Home directory contents into that of the new user.

Before following these steps, you may wish to back up your important data.

For Mac OS X 10.5 or later

Enable the root user.
Log in as root.
Navigate to the /Users folder.
Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.
Use the Accounts pane in System Preferences to create a new user with the short name that you used in the previous step.
Click OK when "A folder in the Users folder already has the name 'short name'. Would you like to use that folder as the Home folder for this user account?" Note: This will correct the ownership of all files in the Home folder, and avoid permissions issues with the contents.
Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
Log in as the newly created user. You should be able to access all of your original files (on the desktop, in Documents, and in the other folders of this Home).
After verifying that your data is as expected, you can delete the original user account via the Accounts pane of System Preferences.
Disable the root user.

This method will not account for permissions being applied correctly across the whole disk.
 
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