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Would be curious to know is PRAM zapping followed by a simple chflags from the startup disk would permanently change the visibility of Users and Shared. I didn't think of trying this before applying the given fix, and now I've run out test machines...

I'm curious about this too although chflags won't solve the permissions issue. I have a couple machines I can test at home tonight.
This fix did resolve it on a 2012 MBP and Air.
 
Was just coming hear to spread the good news. It does indeed work.

I'm too dumb to know why this should 'stick' from the recovery partition and not when sudo-ing from startup volume.

I'm also too dumb to know if the chmod 755 is a *necessary* part of the fix, when the two folders were previously defaulting to 777.

But... IT WORKS!!

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cd /Volumes/MikesVolumeName

It works for me as well!

Thanks for the help with the Terminal syntax
 
I'm curious about this too although chflags won't solve the permissions issue.
No, but presumably the folders are at the mercy of 'get info' once they're visible?

Visibility/permissions have survived Trial By Disk Utility, run from both startup and recovery partitions.

For your first test – you've got all weekend :) – try a PRAM reset followed by the originally suggested sudo chflags nohidden, and see if that survives a restart...
 
Here's another data point (I think).

I had previously reported in the main thread that my /Users folder was visible after the update, and also after repairing permissions (which did not touch the /Users folder). I see both user accounts and the Shared folder. This machine was installed fresh (via USB stick) on 10.9.2, and then updated via the Combo updater to 10.9.3.

I also just downloaded the 10.9.3 full installer from the MAS, and made a USB stick from that. I installed 10.9.3 fresh on a wiped external SSD, mostly to verify the USB stick and the installed build number (13D65). On that 10.9.3 fresh install, the /Users folder is visible, same as on my main internal drive.

Output of ls -lO /
Code:
drwxrwxr-x+ 73 root  admin  -         2482 May 15 11:47 Applications
drwxr-xr-x+ 64 root  wheel  -         2176 Apr 20 13:26 Library
drwxr-xr-x@  2 root  wheel  hidden      68 Aug 24  2013 Network
drwxr-xr-x+  4 root  wheel  -          136 Apr 17 12:58 System
drwxr-xr-x   6 root  admin  -          204 Apr 20 09:06 Users
drwxrwxrwt@  3 root  admin  hidden     102 May 16 07:55 Volumes
drwxr-xr-x@ 39 root  wheel  hidden    1326 May 15 14:20 bin
drwxrwxr-t@  2 root  admin  hidden      68 Aug 24  2013 cores
dr-xr-xr-x   3 root  wheel  hidden    4260 May 16 07:51 dev
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel  hidden      11 Apr 17 12:53 etc -> private/etc
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel  hidden       1 May 16 07:51 home
-rwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel  hidden 8393936 Apr 17 23:03 mach_kernel
dr-xr-xr-x   2 root  wheel  hidden       1 May 16 07:51 net
drwxr-xr-x@  6 root  wheel  hidden     204 Apr 17 13:02 private
drwxr-xr-x@ 62 root  wheel  hidden    2108 May 15 14:20 sbin
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel  hidden      11 Apr 17 12:53 tmp -> private/tmp
drwxr-xr-x@ 12 root  wheel  hidden     408 Apr 22 13:03 usr
lrwxr-xr-x@  1 root  wheel  hidden      11 Apr 17 12:53 var -> private/var
 
No, but presumably the folders are at the mercy of 'get info' once they're visible?

Visibility/permissions have survived Trial By Disk Utility, run from both startup and recovery partitions.

For your first test – you've got all weekend :) – try a PRAM reset followed by the originally suggested sudo chflags nohidden, and see if that survives a restart...

Well on this computer here that I'd done the PRAM fix, etc., /Users went invisible again. Didn't restart or anything, just went invisible.
Correlation found: turning on "Find My Mac" in iCloud preferences makes /Users disappear.
 
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If I am the only user on this MBP, what do I need to see the Users folder for? I don't recall ever accessing it to begin with and didn't know it was missing until I read this thread.
 
Well on this computer here that I'd done the PRAM fix, etc., /Users went invisible again. Didn't restart or anything, just went invisible.

are you saying you followed the instructions, repaired permissions and ran the text in terminal FROM the recovery partition? which would mean you THEN reboot...and it's STILL invisible?

be sure to follow the instructions exactly...
 
Well on this computer here that I'd done the PRAM fix, etc., /Users went invisible again. Didn't restart or anything, just went invisible.
By 'PRAM fix, etc' you mean the whole 'official' process?

Because if so, mine did the same thing. When into the other users' accounts to fix the nixed iCloud settings and on the last one I noticed it was 'user-less'. Went back to my account and it was the same.

As you say, no restart, nothing.

So we've gone from a situation where the simple 'chflags fix' fails 100% of the time on restart, to one where the 'chmod/chflags from recovery partition' fix fails after a while for no apparent reason.

This is making me sad.

:(
 
Solved!!!

After various attempts, the best solution is:

Launch Terminal

chmod 755 Users
chmod 755 Users/Shared
chflags nohidden Users
chflags nohidden Users/Shared
exit


Exit Terminal program and reboot.

Regards,

Jorge
 
Right.

Have reapplied the fix while booted from the Recovery Partition.

So far Users and Shared have remained visible and with the correct permissions through three restarts and numerous switches of user.

Let's see how long it lasts this time...
 
chmod 755 Users
chmod 755 Users/Shared

I don't experience the problem and checked the rights on the two folders: while 755 for /Users seems ok, my /Users/Shared has 777.

5 lacks the write flag, so the whole purpose of 'Shared' is gone if 'Group' and 'Other' can't write to it. Am I missing something?

PS: verified with Tiger PPC and Lion Intel, Users is 755, Shared is 777.
FYI owner/group ist root/admin for /Users and root/wheel for /Users/Shared
 
I don't experience the problem and checked the rights on the two folders: while 755 for /Users seems ok, my /Users/Shared has 777.

5 lacks the write flag, so the whole purpose of 'Shared' is gone if 'Group' and 'Other' can't write to it. Am I missing something?
No, I think you're right...

Permissions differ on “Users/Shared”; should be drwxrwxrwt ; they are drwxr-xr-x .
ACL found but not expected on “Users/Shared”


I lock down the root of Shared anyway to prevent the children from filling it us with random, unattributable rubbish!
 
Quote:
Start your computer with Alt + CMD + P + R in order to do a PRAM reset
Then start your computer with CMD + R for recovery partition boot
Launch Disk Utility and repair permissions. Quit Disk Utility and open Terminal (Utilities -> Terminal) and type :

cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD (or the name of your partition)
chmod 755 Users
chmod 755 Users/Shared
chflags nohidden Users
chflags nohidden Users/Shared

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6224031?start=15&tstart=0

It works!

The PRAM reset only works for me with Firmware Password not set.
 
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are you saying you followed the instructions, repaired permissions and ran the text in terminal FROM the recovery partition? which would mean you THEN reboot...and it's STILL invisible?

be sure to follow the instructions exactly...

Yes it was all set, but Find my Mac was off. I turned on Find my Mac and /Users vanished. That is the trigger.
 
Yes it was all set, but Find my Mac was off. I turned on Find my Mac and /Users vanished. That is the trigger.

Interesting. Maybe this is the variable and why some of use got /Users hidden and others did not. I have FMM on and my /Users got hidden with the update.
 
Yes it was all set, but Find my Mac was off. I turned on Find my Mac and /Users vanished. That is the trigger.
Ah! As I said, I was playing with iCloud when I noticed it had gone again.

Have just turned Find My Mac from on to off and witnessed Users disappear instantly.

Toggling between on/off, in either direction, is enough to make Users 'reconsider it's options' and turn invisible?
 
I think the fix noted in post 43 only works as long as you don't turn on "Find My Mac".

It worked for me, then I checked after the fix and Find My Mac was turned off again. I activated it again, and the problem returned. Clearly this is something that Apple needs to address. I think everyone should bombard Apple with bug reports and demand to fast fix. JMHO :mad:
 
The PRAM reset only works for me with Firmware Password not set.

i always have to turn off firmware password in order to reset pram...isn't that the way it HAS to work? (i did as u did, then, after all of it, turned firmware password back on...)

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...and so...is FIRMWARE PASSWORD the problem?? i re-enabled it. then, i just rebooted out of curiosity...and my Users folder is gone again.

anyone else??? frustrating. am gonna turn FW password OFF, and see what happens...

EDIT: and rebooting, and Users folder missing. SO...am assuming i need to run thru the entire fix again, and NOT enable firmware password?? am going to try that (beats doing my REAL work today, sigh...)
 
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