Setup MacBook, then Migration Assistant - Help?

[blue horeshoe]

Hi, I setup my wife’s M1 MacBook Air, and had it up and running with only her as user. The next day I realized perhaps I should move over data from her other, older MacBook. The older MacBook had multiple users, including of course her.

Now the M1 shows her and the other user. And I had to setup her from scratch in terms of her Apple ID, Touch ID, etc, which I had previously done when setting up the M1 originally (prior to using migration assistant).

I realize now I should have just used migration assistant from the beginning.

When I’m on the startup screen now it shows multiple users, including my wife. And everything seems to work fine.

My question— in light of an initial setup with only a primary user, and then my use of migration assistant, do I need to restore the M1 and start from scratch and use migration assistant from the beginning? Is there a “phantom user” taking up storage space (meaning when the “user” from when I setup the M1 originally)?

Or can I simply let it be, as it is now?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Hi, I setup my wife’s M1 MacBook Air, and had it up and running with only her as user. The next day I realized perhaps I should move over data from her other, older MacBook. The older MacBook had multiple users, including of course her.

Now the M1 shows her and the other user. And I had to setup her from scratch in terms of her Apple ID, Touch ID, etc, which I had previously done when setting up the M1 originally (prior to using migration assistant).

I realize now I should have just used migration assistant from the beginning.

When I’m on the startup screen now it shows multiple users, including my wife. And everything seems to work fine.

My question— in light of an initial setup with only a primary user, and then my use of migration assistant, do I need to restore the M1 and start from scratch and use migration assistant from the beginning? Is there a “phantom user” taking up storage space (meaning when the “user” from when I setup the M1 originally)?

Or can I simply let it be, as it is now?

Unless you feel comfortable with wiping the M1 and starting over, I would leave it be. If you feel comfortable doing that, follow Apple's instructions. Make sure that she signs out of iMessage, FaceTime, and Apple ID on the Mac, phone and iPad if she has one, before reinstalling. Otherwise, she will end up with duplicate computer names under text forwarding on her phone.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.

support.apple.com

 

[Weaselboy]

My question— in light of an initial setup with only a primary user, and then my use of migration assistant, do I need to restore the M1 and start from scratch and use migration assistant from the beginning?

It depends... when you setup a new Mac and make an account, that account is assigned UserID 501. Right click the username in Users & Groups to see the UserID.

Make a second and account and that will be UserID 502 and so on.

The problem comes in when you make an account like you did, then use Migration Assistant to import another account. If that imported account was UserID 501 on the old Mac, and you import it with MA, it can cause all sorts of odd permissions problems.

So check the User ID of both accounts and tell us if they are the same or different. If they are different, you should be fine.