ok, I tried to change my administrator short name. I changed to folder first and then went to the netinfo manager to change the other things. First under users, I changed all the old_username stuff to new_username. That all worked. Then, I went to change the old_username in the different groups to the new_username. When I tried to do that, it told me that I didn't have permission to that. So I figured the heck with it and went back to users to change that back to my original username. Now it also tells me that I don't have permission enough to do that. So basically the short name that is an admin is not a user in the usernames. If I try to add him or change it so it is a username it says no permission. If I try to add the new name to the Admin it says no permission. Any Ideas?
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HELP! Tried to change Admin's short name! GONE WRONG!
- Thread starter debo
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debo said:
Boot from the CD and enable the root user. Boot from the hd, login as root, make your changes, and then disable root.
The problem is that when you changed your short user name, you were no longer a member of the admin group. The default configuration of MacOS X allows only two user classes to execute commands with elevated permissions: root, and any member of the admin group.
By changing your short username first without adding it to the list of admin users, you effectively turned your account into a non-privileged one.
By changing your short username first without adding it to the list of admin users, you effectively turned your account into a non-privileged one.
MacNut said:
this sort of "complications" has kept UNIX as one of the best and most secure multi-user OSes for decades.
short names are login names with accounts. they aren't just "names" to be changed as you feel like it - different names mean different accounts, with each account having unique priviledges. sure, you own the computer so as far as you are concerned, all the accounts you make should just correspond to you - but as far as OS X is concerned, granting different accounts the same access priviledge is no different than granting some remote hacker the priviledge. short names shouldn't be chosen lightly...
Apple didn't make it complicated, UNIX did. This is one of the penalties for UNIX security and stability. You may or may not ba able to fix your situation. Enable ROOT and try to fix the NetInfo DBase.
The RIGHT way to do this is to create a New Admin user with the new name you want. reboot into this new user and transfer the user folder to the new user. THEN delete the original user.
The RIGHT way to do this is to create a New Admin user with the new name you want. reboot into this new user and transfer the user folder to the new user. THEN delete the original user.
I successfully changed my shortname. If you had searched Apple's KB it would have given you a step-by-step process. Basically you do a chown on all the files that you created in the old account. I forget the flags though.