Changed the name of Home folder

[drewpace]

ok, i'm super confused. Today, without thinking, i changed the name of the home folder. by that i mean the one in the left column w/ a little house next to it from xxxx to yyyy. Then i ripped some dvds onto my desktop, added a couple widgets, etc. Nothing happened different until i unplugged my computer and brought into another room. when i plugged it back in, everything was at it's default setttings. It was at this point i remember reading something on these forums that said not to change the name of that folder.

I proceeded to change everything back to normal, added a few of the widgets i had before, changed the system prefs' back to what they were. then i thought i'd just restart and hope it's all good. i restarted and the home folder's name was changed back to xxxx, but everything i did today is gone! when i search in spotlight i can't even find the movies i ripped. i'm so confused.

did i create another user name or something? how do i get it back to normal? i feel like an idiot. thanks for the help in advance

Also, instead the little pictures in the finder in the left column next to music, movies, and pictures there are folder icons

 

[Makosuke]

I believe this is what happened:

You changed your home folder's name from xxxx to yyyy. That was, as you have learned, BAD.

Then, you proceeded to do stuff before restarting.

Then, when you restarted, it created a new, empty folder called xxxx, which would NOT have had any of your old settings, and I'm guessing also none of the stuff you did right after changing the title. I think.

This is where I get a little lost as to what you did; I am guessing you fixed all the settings so it LOOKED the same as your previous xxxx, but all the files you saved are still in the OLD xxxx, which is now called yyyy.

That being the case, you need to find yyyy (which should be in the Users folder at the top level of the drive; spotlight won't find anything because you don't have permissions to look in another user's folder), and copy what you need back to xxxx.

It could have also ended up that all the stuff got saved in a new, "blank" xxxx, and you're still logging into the yyyy home folder; that being the case, everything you did before would still be in xxxx... unless you replaced the "new" xxxx that got created right after you changed the names with the "old" xxxx (temporarily renamed yyyy)--if that's what you did, anything you did between changing the name and fixing it will be gone permanently.

The Finder really shouldn't let you do that without warning, but unfortunately it does. Here's Apple's extensive document on what you can do to properly change it or fix it:

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

 

[Makosuke]

Also, instead the little pictures in the finder in the left column next to music, movies, and pictures there are folder icons

Forgot to mention--this probably means that the links you're seeing are pointing to the OTHER home folder--that is, the icons in the Finder's left bar are still pointing to yyyy even though you're booted from xxxx. They don't have the proper icons because those only show up for the folder you're logged into. This would also explain why you can't find the stuff you did yesterday.

 

[pianoman]

the only way i know to remedy this problem is to reinstall OS X. even people at Apple have told me if the name of that folder is changed (which, they add, should never be done) and it's restored via some super magic computer thing they do, some deep-rooted computer settings could still be messed up.

look on the bright side, reinstalling OS X isn't that much of a hassle. and when you reinstall, you'll get to call the home folder whatever you want.

 

[drewpace]

omg, i messed up bad. i should have just reinstalled. do i need the disc to reinstall? i dont think i have it with me. i just deleted all my music and movies on accident. aaaaaaaaaah

 

[drewpace]

what i did was copy everything from yyyy to xxxx and then put everything from yyyy into the trash can and emptied it, thinking that it was all back in xxxx....evidently it was not. when i reinstall will all my apps still on my computer? i really dont want all that to disappear. is there a page/guide on this site that tells me how to reinstall. i'm so pissed off right now. maybe depressed. it's hard to tell

 

[erikpmort]

i can't believe there isn't a simpler way to fix this simple renaming thing. this is a real problem that should be addressed.

 

[pianoman]

i can't believe there isn't a simpler way to fix this simple renaming thing. this is a real problem that should be addressed.

it would have (might have) been easier if he didn't delete everything from the "yyyy" folder after creating "xxxx".

 

[jonnylink]

the only way i know to remedy this problem is to reinstall OS X. even people at Apple have told me if the name of that folder is changed (which, they add, should never be done) and it's restored via some super magic computer thing they do, some deep-rooted computer settings could still be messed up.

I don't believe this is true. If you change it back you should be okay. However, you probably have two user folders now and that is messing things up. At this point things have probably gotten messed up enough that reinstalling wouldn't be a bad idea, but if you had just deleted the user folder that was created (the one with the original folder name) and renamed the other folder (the one that you renamed in the first place), you would have been fine.

You can't change those user folder names without playing around with a bunch of stuff— in particular netinfo manager.

As for your deleted files. If you didn't back the files up you could try a forensic tool, but if you've used the hard drive at all since deleting you probably won't have much luck.

 

[pianoman]

I don't believe this is true. If you change it back you should be okay.

i'm curious if you've ever been in this situation. try changing the name of your home folder, log out, (don't delete anything), and then log back in. see what happens. then change it back, log out, (don't delete anything), and then log back in.

given my own personal experience and what i've heard from Apple employees (not Apple Store employees - Apple employees), i'd say the only way to really fix this issue is to reinstall OS X.

 

[blodwyn]

given my own personal experience and what i've heard from Apple employees (not Apple Store employees - Apple employees), i'd say the only way to really fix this issue is to reinstall OS X.

Wouldn't it be easier to create a new account, copy everything from the other account(s) into it, then delete the original account(s)?

 

[pianoman]

Wouldn't it be easier to create a new account, copy everything from the other account(s) into it, then delete the original account(s)?

i'm not sure that fixes the problems that might occur at the system/root level.

to clarify: i'm not advocating one procedure over another. if doing something fixes this problem for you, great. the only way i know of that really fixes the issues created when a home folder's name is changed (which - mind you - affects more than just the name of the folder, it affects things going on with your system in the background) is to reinstall the OS.