Resolved Changing the username

[CodeBreaker]

Hi,

I have a MacBook 5,1 running Lion which was gifted to me in 2009. They had already set up the user account for me, but accidentally misspelt my name. I have been using it like that till now. So is there a way to change it without losing my settings/preferences/keychain items/iPhoto Library/emails?

I have enabled File Vault and it is the only account on my system. And I am talking about the user name (not the computer name), i.e. the name of my home directory and the output of "whoami".

There are also some files in my home directory that have read/write permissions for only this account/user.

 

[GGJstudios]

Mac OS X 10.7 Help
If you can’t change the name of an account

You can’t change the account name for a user account after the account has been created. If you need to change the account name, you must delete the account and create a new user account with a new account name.

 

[CodeBreaker]

I had come across another article from Apple (lost the link). It said it's possible by:

1-log-in as root
2-change the name of the home directory to desired username
3-Apparently some dialog shows up asking you to modify permissions
4-create new user in system preferences (it asks if you want to use the existing directory as the home directory)

Has anyone tried it? The problem is there are many passwords in my keychain and priceless photos in my iPhoto library which I cannot afford to lose. Plus, some of the discs for the software on my Mac are not with me at the moment.

So I wanted a failsafe method

You can’t change the account name for a user account after the account has been created. If you need to change the account name, you must delete the account and create a new user account with a new account name.

Can I restore all my old items to the new account?

 

[GGJstudios]

I had come across another article from Apple (lost the link). It said it's possible by:

That doesn't apply to Lion:

Mac OS X v10.6 and earlier: How to change user account name or home directory name

Did you read the first link I posted?

Important: If you delete a user account, all the files and settings in the user’s home folder are deleted unless you specify to save them.

 

[CodeBreaker]

That doesn't apply to Lion:

Mac OS X v10.6 and earlier: How to change user account name or home directory name

Did you read the first link I posted?

Yea that's the article I was talking about.

Regarding your previous link, if I save the home directory, can I just copy the existing files (almost everything) to the new user directory without losing passwords/photos/mail and software registration? I also have FileVault enabled. Will it affect anything?

 

[GGJstudios]

Yea that's the article I was talking about.

Regarding your previous link, if I save the home directory, can I just copy the existing files (almost everything) to the new user directory without losing passwords/photos/mail and software registration? I also have FileVault enabled. Will it affect anything?

I haven't tried FileVault, so I'm not sure how that would affect things. Without it, yes, you should be able to copy everything to the new user with no problems.

 

[CodeBreaker]

I haven't tried FileVault, so I'm not sure how that would affect things. Without it, yes, you should be able to copy everything to the new user with no problems.

Thanks a lot. I waited 2 years for this

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks a lot. I waited 2 years for this

As always, backups are critical. I'd do a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup before you do anything, just in case.

 

[CodeBreaker]

As always, backups are critical. I'd do a Carbon Copy Cloner bootable backup before you do anything, just in case.

Yea, of course, I'll be backing up first