2

So I guess I misinterpreted what was said on Apple's help pages.

When I started my new Mac for the first time, it asked to set up my iCloud account and it did that fine except my root user name was my iCloud name "crystaltwix" which I did not want. I read this support page and it said to rename the root user account like I would any folder.

I'm not much of a unix/linux guy obviously or this wouldn't have happened, so I basically did

mv crystaltwix crystal
killall Finder

in hopes to change the root user to my shortened name. So after doing this, I restarted my machine, and then it asked me to set up my machine like I was a new user all over again.

I was wondering what I actually did, and how (if at all), I can get my original account back.

The commands did not work for me, and I noticed that when I try searching this Mac for something, I can see old documents that were on that user account. So it's like, it hid my folders from me and reset some of my settings or something. I'd like to get my original folders back if possible, or start new (which I'd rather now do since that means I'd have to reinstall my programs again).

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    So in your command crytaltwix was actually /Users/crystaltwix? You can try moving it back, of course and see if that fixes the problem temporarily. (Or restore to a Time Machine backup — you have backups right?) Then, rename your user like it's supposed to be through System Preferences » Accounts.
    – slhck
    Commented Jan 12, 2013 at 9:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

Did you see this answer at Ask Different? It recommends:

  1. Creating a temporary administrator account from the Users & Groups preference pane
  2. Deleting the old account and selecting Don't change home folder
  3. Renaming /Users/oldaccount (deleted)/ to /Users/oldaccount/
  4. Creating a new account named oldaccount
Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .