Deleted private folder

[Jingris21]

Hey guys I'm an idiot and deleted my private folder. It's still in the trash, and it's also in my applications folder if that makes a difference. I turned off my mac and now I can't boot it back up. I can boot into single user mode and tried entering some codes in there but I keep getting errors. I could really use some help here.

I have a new Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard, and I have the install disk but I can't get the computer to start up with it.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[calderone]

Your only option short of reinstalling would require another Mac or another startup disk (Firewire or USB).

1. Put the Mac in Target disk mode (or boot from another startup volume)
2. If using target disk mode, connect it to another Mac
3. When it the HD mounts
4. Get Info and enable "Ignore ownership on this volume"
5. You would then be able to move the private folder back in its place. I would do this in terminal to avoid having to reset permissions.

There is no way, that I know of, to restore that folder without booting to another startup volume. The reason is that the password hashes are stored in /private, meaning you cannot authenticate to put it back in place.

You can do this from an Install DVD as well, you would have to do it from Terminal. You *may* have to change modify the permissions and ownership.