I recently got a G4 iMac that came with panther and a set admin account. So I tried changing the short name and computer name by using an app called change short name. After using this the computer name remained the same so I created a new account and used netinfo to try and change the computer name. The result after a logout caused me to lose privileges as an admin. The account is now a standard account and I cannot authenticate anything, as it does not accept the user name and password. The computer came with Panther and no Panther disk, although the first version of Mac OS X I have. Is there any way to make the standard account an Admin without the disk?
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Problem with Accounts in 10.3.9
- Thread starter kunze50
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After using "Change Short Username" all you needed to do was to go into "System Preferences" --> "Sharing" and change the computer name there.
Be careful with the following tips. Make sure you type things exactly as they are, including spaces and upper/lowercase.
You might try going back to your last backup of the NetInfo database using the following tip (hopefully the machine has done a backup recently which occurs in the early hours of the day):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2600
Use the steps in section "II", "Restoring from backup" after following the first steps in section "I".
If after a reboot if you still have trouble, you might also want to try making sure your user is a member of the group "admin" using the following tip:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121786
Otherwise you'll have to use the steps in section "III". "Restoring from defaults".
Good luck!
Be careful with the following tips. Make sure you type things exactly as they are, including spaces and upper/lowercase.
You might try going back to your last backup of the NetInfo database using the following tip (hopefully the machine has done a backup recently which occurs in the early hours of the day):
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2600
Use the steps in section "II", "Restoring from backup" after following the first steps in section "I".
If after a reboot if you still have trouble, you might also want to try making sure your user is a member of the group "admin" using the following tip:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121786
Otherwise you'll have to use the steps in section "III". "Restoring from defaults".
Good luck!
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ok, thanks for the help, I tried everything twice. nothing has fixed this. I also tried to restore to defaults as instructed in, III. I get to the line... AppleSetupDone and it asks a question to rewrite. I'v tried nothing and the command, "yes".
Ahh.. the AppleSetupDone file just lets the system know that the first run after a system install has been completed so you should be able to skip that.
If it still isn't working, then your netinfo database is probably in a bad way, and the backup is old, may not exist or doesn't contain information on the current user layout.
You really need a set of install disks from at least 10.3.9.
Or, lastly try these tips:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8681433#8681433
There probably is a way to resurrect this OS, but it's pretty hard via remote control.
Again, good luck!
Last edited by a moderator: