Changing short user name

[rma]

I was setting a Powerbook with 10.3.2 up for someone else, and it turned out they didn't like the first short name they picked (they didn't realize it would show up on their desktop). So then they wanted to change it. OK, I should have read farther in the Help, but instead I just went to the Finder View of the Users folder and just changed the short name on the Users folder (from bbb to Ann). It instantly made a new folder called Ann, but bbb was still the home. Now I have a somewhat trashed system, where a lot of the settings I set went away (Safari bookmarks, things I put on the dock), but there don't seem to be two users, so I can't just go back to the bbb one. Is there a way to copy settings to a new user, so I can set up an new one, or any way to fix the hash I have made of it?
(I did get the Safri bookmarks back, but I'd still like to fix the system...)
Thanks...

 

[mklos]

You need to make another account and let them administer this computer BEFORE you do the following below or this will not work.

If you log in as "root" then you can delete her account and make a new one.

You'll probably need to enable the root user. To do so go to:

yourharddrive/applications/utilities/NetInfo Manager

Then go to security and enable root user. It will ask you for a password to authenticate and then it should ask for you for a root password. DO NOT FORGET YOUR ROOT PASSWORD!!!

Then log out. At the log in screen you should see something called "Other User". Click on that and type in root for the username and the password you provided for the root user in the password box. It will then log in as root. Then just go into System Preferences/Accounts and delete her account and make a new one there. Be sure to make the new one there BEFORE logging out.

 

[7on]

Apple's way

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

 

[mklos]

Apple's way is basically the same thing That I told you!

 

[7on]

Blast!

 

[rma]

Wow. Thanks for all the info.
Two questions -- will moving the contents of the current home folder retain settings like the dock items?
And, when I changed the short name in the first place, it lost things like the Safari bookmarks. When I move the contents ot the current user name to the new one, will it keep the settings I have now, or the settings I first set up before I changed the user name (the wrong way) the first time?

 

[chv400]

When i moved to a bigger boot drive i copied the Library folder that was in my home folder to my new user on the new hard drive. In order to do this i had to make a folder to hide the unwanted library in and then i copied my old libray to my new user. This preserved most of my settings but i had to do a similar thing to bring my itunes settings to the new drive. and i never did get iphoto to work like this.