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Admin and User

M

mskatrine

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 12, 2023
5
1
Hello, a Mac newbie here. Please forgive the newbie-ness of the question, it's probably completely inane, but it’s bugging me enough to ask and probably make a laughing fool of myself. I’ll take the risk ;-)

So far, I'm really enjoying my Macbook, but am confused by the subject of admin and user. I can't remember what and why I did whatever I did when I set the machine up from new.

My conundrum is this: I am the only one using this MB, and am listed as the Admin. I see that in the sidebar in finder, I have a home icon under a different name, with a few folders in it. But in Users and Groups, my home name doesn't show up.

Why would I need this home folder? And why do I have it? Why isn't it listed under Users and Groups? I can't for the life of me remember what I did when I set up Ventura. Can I just delete it?

Many thanks for any pointers or explanations anyone is able to offer.
 
First off, "administrator" is a category of user.
Another category is a "regular" (i.e., NON-admistrative) user.
The administrator has "higher powers" than does the regular user.
When you first set up the Mac, it creates an administrative account and makes YOU the administrator.

BE AWARE that there is the "long name" that YOU create for yourself as administrator, and there is a shorter "machine name" (for lack of the correct term) that the OS creates for itself (which identifies you with that account). These names may be slightly different, but they are "of the same account".

I don't use the sidebar much, myself.
If you go to the users & groups preference/setting panel, do you see any OTHER users there?
It should show you all users on the Mac.

You should be able to see the "home" icon -- that's YOU, the account you're logged into.

Who else is there besides YOU ...?
 
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Fishrrman said:
First off, "administrator" is a category of user.
Another category is a "regular" (i.e., NON-admistrative) user.
The administrator has "higher powers" than does the regular user.
When you first set up the Mac, it creates an administrative account and makes YOU the administrator.

BE AWARE that there is the "long name" that YOU create for yourself as administrator, and there is a shorter "machine name" (for lack of the correct term) that the OS creates for itself (which identifies you with that account). These names may be slightly different, but they are "of the same account".

I don't use the sidebar much, myself.
If you go to the users & groups preference/setting panel, do you see any OTHER users there?
It should show you all users on the Mac.

You should be able to see the "home" icon -- that's YOU, the account you're logged into.

Who else is there besides YOU ...?
Click to expand...
Thank you for the cohesive reply! Much appreciated. Users and Groups - there is my long name, and underneath that, the word Admin - then a long line. Next up are the words Guest User, and underneath that, there is the word Off. And that’s all there is. My ‘short name’ that is, my home user account, with the little house icon next to it in the Finder sidebar, is not there. It only shows me, the admin, and Guest User, which is set to off.

I’ll attach 3 screenshots - 1/ users and groups, 2/ the finder’s sidebar, 3/ my ‘short name’ next to the house icon and the contents of the house icon. In the 3rd screenshot, all 3 black stripes are where my short name is listed.

I hope these screenshots help a little.
 

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Last edited:
I've never bothered with "Guest User" - don't need it.

When you look at the finder sidebar, BE AWARE that if there are items on it you don't need or want, you should be able to just "grab them" with the pointer. Then "pull them out of" the sidebar (to the left is a good direction), let them go... and... POOF! they'll disappear in a cloud of dust.

This doesn't "destroy" them, just takes them out of the sidebar.
You could put one or more "back" later if you wish.
 
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Thank you! I did that and yes it whooshed off somewhere... so just to make sure it was gone I did a spotlight search for it and the folder is still lurking around, as you say. It’s probably just a silly thing but I’m really puzzled about what to do with and why I need that house icon with folders in it. Do I have to use it or can I just ignore it? The system seems intent on hanging on to it, so it must be there for a reason.
 
The "house icon" is a shortcut into your home folder.
Click it and you will see all the important sub-folders inside, such as
- downloads
- documents
- music
- movies
- pictures

Which is where most of "your stuff" ends up.
 
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Fishrrman said:
The "house icon" is a shortcut into your home folder.
Click it and you will see all the important sub-folders inside, such as
- downloads
- documents
- music
- movies
- pictures

Which is where most of "your stuff" ends up.
Click to expand...
Ok - thank you very much for your patience and time, you’ve been very helpful. I’ll use the machine to see how things work out with this home folder, over time I’ll grasp the nuances of it all. Again, many thanks!
 
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