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Cold_Beaver

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 25, 2019
165
175
So the wife and I have 2 MacBooks now and she wants to use her own log in. Will she lose are her school info and files or will they stay on the desktop. She has a folder with everything in it.

What are her options?
 

robbieduncan

Moderator emeritus
Jul 24, 2002
25,611
893
Harrogate
A new user will have a brand-new home folder with no contents (well there will be a Desktop folder, Documents folder etc but they will be empty). You can copy or move her documents from the original user to the new user and change ownership. I would expect an Admin user can do this from the Finder or you can do if from the Terminal
 

Cold_Beaver

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 25, 2019
165
175
Ok thanks. I just realized I should be able to load her folder to google drive, restore the Mac, have her create her on log in then just download from google?
 

Red Menace

macrumors 6502a
May 29, 2011
583
230
Colorado, USA
You can also place the desired items into the Drop Box located in the new user's Public folder, which has settings (Access Control List) to give her permissions to access the files. The Public folder in each user account and the common Shared folder are the usual ways to share stuff.
 
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Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,164
13,209
First get some kind of external drive large enough to "hold all her stuff". It could be a hard drive or a USB flash drive.

Then, make copies of all "her stuff" onto that drive.

Then create a NEW account with the username and password she wants.

Now, LOG INTO her new account.

Next, connect the backup drive (see special note below), and copy things from it to where she wants them in her new account.

NOTE (and this is important):
Before she copies anything, you must first take action to prevent "permissions problems".
Do this:
a. click ONE TIME on the external drive icon to select it
b. type "command-i" (eye) to bring up the "get info" box
c. at the bottom of the get info box, she should click the lock and enter her new password
d. next, put a checkmark into "ignore ownership on this volume"
e. finally, close the get info box.
She should now be able to copy the files from the "old account" into her new one, and all the files will "come under the ownership" of her NEW account.
 
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