How to delete user account on MacOS High Sierra

[mrochester]

Hi all

I've just got my new Mac and after updating the OS on it I used migration assistant to move my content across from my time machine backup. This process recreated my 'old' user account from my previous Mac.

I now want to use this migration user account and delete the one I had to initially set up to be able to update the new Mac to High Sierra. However, when I go to the 'users and groups' menu in 'settings' and unlock the options with my admin password, the '-' button is greyed out when I select the user account I want to delete.

Does anyone know how I delete this user? My migrated account is an administrator account.

Many thanks.

M.

 

[Weaselboy]

http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrationProblems.html

This page describes the problem and has a convoluted fix. The problem is you created an account, then afterward imported an account with the same UID501 as the article describes.

The easiest fix IMO is to command-r boot to recovery then erase the drive and reinstall clean, then import during the setup assistant when it reboots to the clean install. That will fix this.

 

[KALLT]

Is the other account perhaps still logged in?

 

[mrochester]

http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrationProblems.html

This page describes the problem and has a convoluted fix. The problem is you created an account, then afterward imported an account with the same UID501 as the article describes.

The easiest fix IMO is to command-r boot to recovery then erase the drive and reinstall clean, then import during the setup assistant when it reboots to the clean install. That will fix this.

I would have thought Apple would have thought of this when users are transferring over using migration assistant!

Will command+r reinstall the OS that the device came with (Sierra) or the latest version (High Sierra). I need High Sierra to be able to use migration assistant as my backup drive is a High Sierra backup.

 

[Weaselboy]

I would have thought Apple would have thought of this when users are transferring over using migration assistant!

I agree, or at least pop up a warning telling you stop or something. I probably see people like yourself on here once a month who are in the exact same pickle because of this.

Will command+r reinstall the OS that the device came with (Sierra) or the latest version (High Sierra). I need High Sierra to be able to use migration assistant as my backup drive is a High Sierra backup.

command-r will get you the same OS version you are running now, so if it is in HS, you will get HS.

 

[John1221]

I agree, or at least pop up a warning telling you stop or something. I probably see people like yourself on here once a month who are in the exact same pickle because of this.



command-r will get you the same OS version you are running now, so if it is in HS, you will get HS.

[doublepost=1514329636][/doublepost]

Hi all

I've just got my new Mac and after updating the OS on it I used migration assistant to move my content across from my time machine backup. This process recreated my 'old' user account from my previous Mac.

I now want to use this migration user account and delete the one I had to initially set up to be able to update the new Mac to High Sierra. However, when I go to the 'users and groups' menu in 'settings' and unlock the options with my admin password, the '-' button is greyed out when I select the user account I want to delete.

Does anyone know how I delete this user? My migrated account is an administrator account.

Many thanks.

M.

I logged out of iCloud and created a dummy account and set it to admin privileges. A reboot is required to login to the new account and delete the original account. I was than able to run migration assistant and it no longer had a conflict of 2 user account with the same name. After migration delete the dummy account.

 

[Bart Kela]

[doublepost=1514329636][/doublepost]

I logged out of iCloud and created a dummy account and set it to admin privileges. A reboot is required to login to the new account and delete the original account. I was than able to run migration assistant and it no longer had a conflict of 2 user account with the same name. After migration delete the dummy account.

I set up two admin accounts on my Macs.

My primary/normal account would be /Users/bart and I always create a /Users/bart2 admin account as soon as I set up a new system.

That allows me to log in and perform surgery on my normal account, delete it, migrate it, whatever.

Of course, I do not log into iCloud with the bart2 account, it's just a local account with all the cloud services declined.