Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Changing a "Home" Folder Name in "Places" OSX

G

ghuczek

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 21, 2009
5
0
Sorry if this is totally a beginner's topic. I just moved over to OSX and the iMac this year.

In Finder, under Places, I have a folder with a name. The folder has a "Home" icon beside it (picture of a house). (I bought a MacBook from my son. After moving everything over to an iMac using Time Machine, the folder has the name he chose to use on it).

I am trying to change the name of that folder in Places. Whenever I try to change it, I get an error message saying that the name can not be changed because it is required by OSX. I have no problems changing any other file or folder names, just this one. Any suggestions?
 
That home folder is that particular person's home folder. The only way to change it is to change the name of the user in the Accounts system preference pane.
 
I think?

That Folder name can not be changed without re-installing OS X. It will hose the OS and nothing will work.
During the install of OS X it will also display a message saying it can not be changed and why.
 
Actually, even when changing the username, the home folder will keep the original name that you gave that user. You can always create a new user account and move the files over to the new user.
 
LeeTom said:
That home folder is that particular person's home folder. The only way to change it is to change the name of the user in the Accounts system preference pane.
Click to expand...

I deleted that user account, but it still requires the folder name. Inside that folder, there are also other folders like "Sites" that I can not delete. This is on a new iMac, with files imported, and it still needs this.

I get this message:

"Sites" can't be modified or deleted because it is required by Mac OS X
 
LeeTom said:
Actually, even when changing the username, the home folder will keep the original name that you gave that user. You can always create a new user account and move the files over to the new user.
Click to expand...

Yes. This is what I did, but it STILL keeps the original name of that folder in Places and it will not let me change it.
 
ghuczek said:
Perfect! That worked and did exactly what I wanted to do. Thank you!
Click to expand...

Except ... I tried to restore files from Time Machine, and now I don't have sufficient privileges, so I have to go back a step and try to rename this folder to restore, then rename it back to revert again to what I want the folder to be called.
 
hahahaha. i know exactly what you mean. i had this problem as well. however, i was able to change my "short name" as it is called following these instructions. be careful though, as Apple says this is a very dangerous procedure. It took me two tries to get. The first time, I failed and had to reinstall leopard not fun im a noob. However, following the instructions carefully allowed me to change the name. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428?viewlocale=en_US
 
Finder Places Name

Due to my account becoming ridiculously slow for some reason I had to create another account and give it admin rights. Initially this was just to carry out some urgent tasks, but as my account was continually playing up with nothing as the obvious cause, I had to transfer everything to the new account. Despite going into Accounts and renaming this new account to a more acceptable permanent name, it continues to display the temporary name which is very annoying and is just how Microsoft's Windows behaves, trying to control your computer!! I would have thought with administrator rights one could change the name it displays. Why is this not possible?

On a separate issue with all this, I had to copy the folders in the old account to the root so I didn't have the access problems I initially had with the new account, BUT, some folders, even though they are not system ones and are ones I have created, for example Music and Tennis, I am unable to save files to them and have to create a second folder of these types!!! Again, very annoying! Why is the case?? Again this is like Microsoft's stupid tactics! I went over to Macs as I thought they were more professional.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back