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

Changing User Name under Advanced Options = LOCKOUT

M

macbookpro2009

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 14, 2009
4
0
I wanted to change my user name that was initially set up for me.
When I went ahead and clicked on the user name and with command button activated the ADVANCED OPTIONS, I went ahead and changed the user name.

Of course there was a warning there that said, 'warning you may not be able to recover your files if you do this'.

You of course ignore this, because I have in all this time of mac ownership never heard of a crash and burn of your data by the simple act of changing your user name. WRRROONNNG!

What started as a simple attempt to change the user name resulted in my being locked out of my own computer! HELLO! Anybody home? WHY APPLE? WHY???? YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD COMPUTER. WHY MUST YOU BE SO BIZARRE? I ONLY WANTED TO CHANGE THE USER NAME. WHY MUST YOU TORMENT ME LIKE THIS??? WHY APPLE? WWHHHHHYYYY??

Dude. is there any way I can recover my files.
WTF MAN! WTF is wrong with Apple? Changing your user name will lock you out of your own computer????? DUDE. :eek:
 
J

J the Ninja

macrumors 68000
Jul 14, 2008
1,824
0
Ignore the thread posted above, it only applies to Tiger and earlier. The support article is a good read for you though. That's what you should have done. A slightly less-perferable method would have been to log in as root and do the change from there. Let me guess, you changed the name of the account you were logged into? Yeah, don't do that.

Anyway, to get all your stuff back:

You will need to enable the root account. If you do not have another admin account you can get into, you will need to boot off the OS X DVD and use the Reset Password utility on the "System Administrator" account (that's what it is called). Reboot as normal.

When you get the system back up, log in as the "System Administrator", aka Root, the OS's own god-like account. From there, look in the Users folder for your home folder. Rename it to what you want your new account to be called. Now, go into System Preferences, and create a new admin account. In the shortname field, put the same thing you called the home folder. Log out of the root account, and log in on your new admin account. Everything should be in order as it was before this mess started, except your name is what you changed it to.

In the future, remember that OS X is *nix. *nix OS's usually go bad when they let the user do something they shouldn't. OS X is quite good at keeping you from having to worry about this. But the deeper your dig, the less it will coddle you. Pay attention when it warns you about something. Especially if it is something you have to type your admin password to do.
 
M

macbookpro2009

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 14, 2009
4
0
Thank you for this J Ninja.

So, when it asks to type in the master password and it has changed, what do you do??

I cant access it. The master password seems to have changed when I changed the Admin name.

i.e. I still cant get into the account.

Line One: "You are unable to log into the Firevault user account"
Line Two: "Logging into the account failed because an error occurred"
 
Aaaaaaavery

Aaaaaaavery

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2017
1
0
I did the same thing... and i can't figure out how to get myself back to "admin" status to make ANY changes to my computer. It's sort of a horrible flaw in Apple computers...


macbookpro2009 said:
I wanted to change my user name that was initially set up for me.
When I went ahead and clicked on the user name and with command button activated the ADVANCED OPTIONS, I went ahead and changed the user name.

Of course there was a warning there that said, 'warning you may not be able to recover your files if you do this'.

You of course ignore this, because I have in all this time of mac ownership never heard of a crash and burn of your data by the simple act of changing your user name. WRRROONNNG!

What started as a simple attempt to change the user name resulted in my being locked out of my own computer! HELLO! Anybody home? WHY APPLE? WHY???? YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD COMPUTER. WHY MUST YOU BE SO BIZARRE? I ONLY WANTED TO CHANGE THE USER NAME. WHY MUST YOU TORMENT ME LIKE THIS??? WHY APPLE? WWHHHHHYYYY??

Dude. is there any way I can recover my files.
WTF MAN! WTF is wrong with Apple? Changing your user name will lock you out of your own computer????? DUDE. :eek:
Click to expand...
 
M

Mikael H

macrumors 6502a
Sep 3, 2014
864
538
Aaaaaaavery said:
I did the same thing... and i can't figure out how to get myself back to "admin" status to make ANY changes to my computer. It's sort of a horrible flaw in Apple computers...
Click to expand...
It's not a flaw in Apple computers, but in users attempting administrative operations without taking the necessary precautions.
Apple has done more than probably any other company to give *nix a highly polished and user-friendly shell, but the fact remains that among the power user features a *nix provides, is the ability to shoot yourself in the foot, just like a good operating system should.
With great power comes great responsibility. The best way to avoid holes in one's feet is to read up on planned changes before attempting them. The second-best way to deal with holes in one's feet is being able to patch them up after they've been made. That's where regular backups come into the picture.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hobowankenobi
vkd

vkd

macrumors 6502a
Sep 10, 2012
969
345
Unix. There, I said it. I am still alive, no lightning bolt came out of the blue and struck me yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mikael H
W

wilson25

macrumors newbie
Aug 22, 2019
1
0
J the Ninja said:
Ignore the thread posted above, it only applies to Tiger and earlier. The support article is a good read for you though. That's what you should have done. A slightly less-perferable method would have been to log in as root and do the change from there. Let me guess, you changed the name of the account you were logged into? Yeah, don't do that.

Anyway, to get all your stuff back:

You will need to enable the root account. If you do not have another admin account you can get into, you will need to boot off the OS X DVD and use the Reset Password utility on the "System Administrator" account (that's what it is called). Reboot as normal.

When you get the system back up, log in as the "System Administrator", aka Root, the OS's own god-like account. From there, look in the Users folder for your home folder. Rename it to what you want your new account to be called. Now, go into System Preferences, and create a new admin account. In the shortname field, put the same thing you called the home folder. Log out of the root account, and log in on your new admin account. Everything should be in order as it was before this mess started, except your name is what you changed it to.

In the future, remember that OS X is *nix. *nix OS's usually go bad when they let the user do something they shouldn't. OS X is quite good at keeping you from having to worry about this. But the deeper your dig, the less it will coddle you. Pay attention when it warns you about something. Especially if it is something you have to type your admin password to do.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1566537262][/doublepost]I just bought a 2013 MacBook and do not have anything to lose in terms of files. I have signed into my iCloud but that is it. Is there a hard reset I can perform myself and just start over completely like you can on an iphone? I was stupid an ignored the warning.
 
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