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Changing Username in Leopard

O

omarjk

macrumors regular
Original poster
Hi this should have been quite straightforward to me but I have been having problems.

Can one change the name of the main 'User' in the Macintosh HD/Users/'insert your username' folder. I can alter the name of the main administrator and the username in 'Accounts', but would I need to reinstall Leopard in order to alter the aforementioned folder name?

The error message that I receive is '"x' cannot be modified or deleted as it is required by Mac OS X".

Thanks.
 
You would have to create a new account with a new user name (if I understand your question correctly) and afterward, remove the old account. You can accomplish all that from System Preferences, Accounts. Click on the small lock at the bottom of the dialog and give your Admin password to make any changes to accounts.

Regards.
 
Thanks chacsg.

Will that result in programs such as Office 2004 having to be reinstalled or will the programs still be present?

If there is a chance they will not be can I then check before deleting the original account that they will continue to function?

You see, it is all a matter of whether or not it is too much hassle to go ahead.
 
omarjk said:
Hi this should have been quite straightforward to me but I have been having problems.

Can one change the name of the main 'User' in the Macintosh HD/Users/'insert your username' folder. I can alter the name of the main administrator and the username in 'Accounts', but would I need to reinstall Leopard in order to alter the aforementioned folder name?

The error message that I receive is '"x' cannot be modified or deleted as it is required by Mac OS X".

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Indeed, you can, and you dont rly have to create a new account, creating a new account isnt rly changing anything (thats what apple reccomends though). Ive been able to do that with no problems on tiger with an app called "ChangeShortName". If its available for leopard, then go for it. But be aware, the first couple of days it will be anoying because some programs which have set directories will "remember" the old username, and will create new folders/directories so you have to change them. Best of luck
 
Thanks for your input s0wl.

Edesignuk and richthomas: assuming that you are au fait with the procedure in the article which you helpfully linked, I have followed it up to the stage that involves Terminal without encountering any problems- after all it is not the most complicated set of instructions- however, after I enter:

sudo mv /Users/myoldusername /Users/mynewusername

I am warned about the dangers of playing with sudo codes etc but at enter password the keyboard responds to nothing save 'enter' at which point I get 'incorrect password entered', as obviously nothing has been entered.

Nobody appears to have had this issue from the article comments. Do you have any suggestions?
 
It's not an ideal solution but if I reset my password so that one is not set I can bypass the keyboard-bar-'Enter'-key-freeze in Terminal at the password stage. Although it still loads up with none of the original preferences I am sure with some at times tedious work I could go about correcting the files.

The puzzling issue is that the same problem occurred on both a MacBook Air and a MacBook.

Thanks for your help.
 
Found this on a search, I do not mind my short username but I hate my MacBook Pro name. Its my first and last name in all CAPS and I see it when I view "About this Mac" and I see it when my MBP does its Time Machine backup. I hate the all CAPS and wondered if there was a way to change that to upper/lower case without reinstalling my whole damn OS, lol.
 
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