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Groups > comp.sys.mac.system > #62179

Re: Mismatch names in Lion

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On 2014-07-12, Lyndon <lyndon@someisp.com> wrote:
> In article <c2do7qF84bbU1@mid.individual.net>,
>  Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
>
>> On 2014-07-12, Lyndon <lyndon@someisp.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > I have noticed that my user name does not match my home folder.
>> 
>> That's all you're going to tell us? 
>
> User name does not match account name and home directory. Home directory 
> and account name match.

It's quite normal for the long form ("full name") and the short form
("account name") not to match. The short user name must not contain
spaces, for instance, and is typically all lowercase with no special
characters that might pose a problem in the file system, while the full
name may contain spaces and other special characters. For instance, if
your name is Harry Potter, you might have a long user name of "Harry
Potter", with a short user name of "harry", and a home directory at
/Users/harry.

If all you want is to change the full name, then simply change it in the
System Preferences > Users & Groups > Full Name text field.

>> Can you tell us how you managed to get your user name and home folder
>> not to match to begin with? 
>
> I have not idea how this occurred. The system has been upgraded several 
> times from Leopard>SnowLeopard>Lion.

Upgrading a system won't change your account name. 

I'm still curious how you ended up with an account name other than the
one you set when you initially set up the account. Or did someone else
perhaps set up the account initially? Or did you set the name, and then
forget what you specified when you set it up?

Anyway...

>> Can you tell us how exactly they don't match (are they completely
>> different, slightly different, how different are they)?
>
> Lyndon is my user name. The account name is completely different.

Again, that's not necessarily abnormal, since you get to specify the
account name when you create the account, and while the system does
suggest a name that is based on the full name, you are allowed to put
whatever you want there.

>> > How do you ....
>> > get the names to match?
>> > get a compete encryption in filevault?
>> 
>> I am assuming you are running a recent version of Mac OS X since you
>> didn't tell us that. 
>
> The version was in the post title!

Ah, sorry. Missed that. My bad. My Usenet client doesn't keep the
subject visible at all times, which means if I miss something in it, I'm
not as likely to see it while replying. Not that I'm trying to make
excuses. I'll try to get better at this in the future! : )

>> You should be able to go into System Preferences >
>> Users & Groups, unlock the panel if needed, then right-click your name
>> in the left side of the panel, and choose Advanced Options from the
>> resulting pop-up menu. The resulting sheet will show you the Account
>> Name (your short user name) and the Home Directory (the location of your
>> user home folder). You can edit these as desired. Note, however, that
>> changing the Home Directory path won't actually make any file system
>> changes. It's up to you to create, move, or rename your actual home
>> folder in the file system as an extra step.
>
> So, I have found the advanced options. You are saying that I can just 
> change the account name and the home directory name without problems
> even though there are warnings that I may not be able to login if I 
> change settings?

No, that's not what I am saying at all. You should definitely heed those
warnings. 

Apple's support site gives detailed instructions showing how you should
do what you want to do:

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428>

I've used this procedure several times over the years to change short
user names and home directories, with good results. 

> I appreciate your rapid response!

Welcome!

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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Thread

Mismatch names in Lion Lyndon <lyndon@someisp.com> - 2014-07-12 16:59 -0400
  Re: Mismatch names in Lion Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-07-12 21:39 +0000
    Re: Mismatch names in Lion Lyndon <lyndon@someisp.com> - 2014-07-12 17:57 -0400
      Re: Mismatch names in Lion Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-07-12 22:17 +0000
        Re: Mismatch names in Lion Lyndon <lyndon@someisp.com> - 2014-07-13 11:27 -0400
          Re: Mismatch names in Lion Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-07-13 15:29 +0000
      Re: Mismatch names in Lion Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-07-13 07:47 +0000

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