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

How to Erase and Install Mac OS X?

philipxz

philipxz

macrumors regular
Original poster
If I perform a clean install will my Mac take me back to the Setup Assistant again when I first boot up my Mac? I want to do this because I want to change my short name and my full name (the part where it asks you where you live, phone number, and everything else)...

If there is another possible way to change my short name and my full name or go back to the Setup Assistant please tell me otherwise because I really don't want to do a clean install of Mac OS X as it will takes really long.

:apple: MacBook Aluminum Unibody 2.0 GHz :apple:
 
A clean install would do the trick, and it takes only an hour.

The other thing is, you could just create another user, but copying everything from your old user to the new one might be some hassle with read and write privileges across two users.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I'm going to make a new user and see how that works out.
 
spinnerlys said:
Thank you for the link Blue.
I could have used that knowledge some months ago with a friend's machine.
Click to expand...

Okay, in future I will answer each question at least three months before it's asked. Sound good?


No, your FireWire devices will not work with the newly-released Mac Tablet.
 
Oh yeah one more thing, how come my MacBook keeps disconnecting to my wireless router when I move to a different place like probably 4 feet away from where I was and also when I log off and turn off my Macbook? I always have to do the network diagnostics and enter my WEP key when I turn it on or log in back on my MacBook...
 
The new user thing didn't exactly work out how I wanted it too...

I'll just have to Erase & Install Mac OS X.

OK. So I'm planning to Erase & Install Mac OS X. If I do it I know I have to also insert the Application DVD after to install the applications, but my MacBook came with the iLife '09 DVD can I just use that instead of the Application DVD?

Ooh... I'm also scared though because the Mac OS X DVD might be corrupt and who knows what will happen. Any chances of that happening?
 
What did you want to happen that didn't?

The installer verifies the DVD prior to installation.

You can manually deselect iLife during the install process, yes. When you do so, the second install disk is not required.
 
I don't know I might just have OCD and I am really bothered with my short name being "philip" which I want it to be "Philip" but I really can't change even with the new account.

And I regretted entering the stuff from the Setup Assistant when I first turned on my MacBook...

I guess I'm just going to have erase and install my Macintosh HD.
 
Actually, your short name should be philip. Trust me. If you ever use Terminal you will see why very, very quickly. I was in the same position at one point, but I learned the error of that outlook as soon as I got into command-line stuff.

However, since HFS+ is not a case-sensitive filesystem, "philip" and "Philip" are the same thing, which is why you're having trouble. If you do want to change the capitalization, first rename the home folder to something different, then change it back to Philip.
 
Thanks for the fast reply!

I know it should be that way because when I was setting my MacBook up it automatically put "philip" when I click on the input box. I was OK with it but now in Finder it just doesn't look right and just bothered by it. =/

Ah, whatever maybe I can live with that knowing what you said but I still want to remove my address and email that I entered during the setup.
 
As far as I know, that is information is used for only two purposes. The first is to send registration to Apple (which it has already done), and the other is to populate your address book. You can remove your own address book card if you want to, but I really don't know why you would.
 
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
Back