Changing User Names

6 Dec 2009 10:38:55

Trevor Hewson

When importing user account data to a new iMac using Migration Assistant, is one offered the opportunity to change the account name?

I ask because when we last did this (in the days of Panther), I was forced to change my user account name because of a clash, and I would really like to take this opportunity to change it back again. So do I need to engineer a clash of names again in order to be offered the chance to change the name?

Note that I am talking about the apparently unchangeable name that appears alongside the house icon in the finder - not the one on the login screen which is changeable at any time.

Trevor

P.S. I have had plenty of time to think about this changeover - when Applestore UK says that new iMacs are normally shipped within 3-5 business days, I do think they might mention that they are shipped from China! Actual delivery time is two weeks and counting. . .

Re: Changing User Names

4 Feb 2010 01:12:57

Andrew Banks

Yes, it would appear that you can see web link form Apple on instructions on how to do it, You will need to be an admin user on the system to enable the root login. A special unix account that exists by default and is disabled also by default. The root account is the highest account on any unix based system. Apple MAC OS X is unix based under the hood. Ensure you choose a strong password for root, if you are connected to the internet, only use the root account for a very short time, then disable the root account after renaming the user account. Never login as the root account for general use.

It is not an easy task, but is possible. Any questions please ask

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428?viewlocale=en_US

Regards Andy Banks

Re: Changing User Names

4 Feb 2010 09:09:23

Mick Burrell

Trevor,Looking at the date of your original post I expect we are way too late to help you now but Andrew's post has brought you to the top of the list and of course I've just noticed it!

The normal procedure is to switch on your new Mac and as part of the set up process it offers to migrate information from an old machine. If you accept this offer it will import the user data with the same username as on the old Mac. If however you setup your new machine without connecting it to your old one and you use the same (incorrect) username as you have on the old one, when you subsequently use Migration Assistant to transfer data it will detect that the username on your old machine is the same as the one already in use on the new and ask you for a new name for the transferred user. This is your chance to change it back to whatever you wish.

Andrew is quite right that you should treat logging in as Root with caution but this method avoids it completely.

Re: Changing User Names

4 Feb 2010 14:22:33

Trevor Hewson

Thanks Andrew and Mick. In the end I decided that I had rather got used to being called 'Trevor Original' so migrated my data without a change of name. I hadn't realised though that the new iMac has a physically different Firewire socket so I couldn't link the machines together. I have subsequently bought an adapter to overcome this but, in the meantime, migrated the user data from a Time Machine backup which worked fine.

The new iMac is great, by the way!

Trevor