Anybody else lose all computer settings?

[franko v]

I just got my 13" (4/128) MacBook Air yesterday, and I decided to use Migration Assistant instead of Setup Assistant - because I didn't want all of my applications to be put on the new Air.

Well, Migration Assistant screwed everything up. I ended having to reinstall iWork (it wouldn't recognize it), had to reset defaults, had to pull off a few files directly from Time Machine, etc.

Well I've got almost everything back to normal - except my Safari bookmarks!

Prior to all of this, I thought I could restore to factory settings using the little Apple stick - but even that was a hassle. It would only reinstall my OS, but it wouldn't erase and install the drive. I could get into Disk Utility, but the "Erase" button was "grayed" out...

Frustrated... if I could just get the Safari bookmarks somehow OR if someone could properly show me how to restore to factory settings (main issue is not being able to Erase and Install)... I would be very grateful...

 

[spinnerlys]

Does that mean, you couldn't do a Clean Install of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard?

Btw, Safari stores the bookmarks in Macintosh HD / Users / YOU / Library / Safari
(Safari > File > Import Bookmarks).

The frell up might have happen due to wrong permissions, as Migration Assistants can sometimes not properly transfer them, thus Setup Assistant (you can deselect Applications) is often the better choice, as it directly transfers your old user instead of copying content from your old user to your new user.

 

[franko v]

Thanks spinnerlys -

It was exactly the process as you wrote:

Go to Safari > File > Import Bookmarks.

Then find the path through the Time Machine Backups, preferably a few days earlier...

Then presto! There you go!

Now I can thoroughly enjoy my Air!

 

[Jimcharlesky]

Need font help

My daughter messed with her keyboard on her Mac and now when she tries to login her font is messed up...for example the K key shows an icon of an apple. Does anyone know the key sequence to get the keyboard settings back to normal?

 

[spinnerlys]

My daughter messed with her keyboard on her Mac and now when she tries to login her font is messed up...for example the K key shows an icon of an apple. Does anyone know the key sequence to get the keyboard settings back to normal?

Does the mouse still work? If so, go to System Preferences > Language & Text / International > Input Sources and see, what keyboard layout is selected. If there is also a little country flag inside your menu bar, you can click on that and change back.

 

[Jimcharlesky]

Font issues

Thanks spinner the problem is that this is at the login screen so we can't get normal font to login in with

 

[spinnerlys]

Thanks spinner the problem is that this is at the login screen so we can't get normal font to login in with

You could reset the password via Restore DVD: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1274
Then you can login without password and try to change the settings/layout and even have a look at System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Keyboard & Text Input > Select the previous/next input source to learn the keyboard shortcut, if the keyboard layout is your problem.

If you don't have a Restore DVD: http://gigaom.com/apple/reset-os-x-password-without-an-os-x-cd/

 

[Jimcharlesky]

Font issues

Sounds like the best option thanks for your help!

 

[gwsat]

I just got my 13" (4/128) MacBook Air yesterday, and I decided to use Migration Assistant instead of Setup Assistant - because I didn't want all of my applications to be put on the new Air.

Well, Migration Assistant screwed everything up. I ended having to reinstall iWork (it wouldn't recognize it), had to reset defaults, had to pull off a few files directly from Time Machine, etc.

Well I've got almost everything back to normal - except my Safari bookmarks!

Prior to all of this, I thought I could restore to factory settings using the little Apple stick - but even that was a hassle. It would only reinstall my OS, but it wouldn't erase and install the drive. I could get into Disk Utility, but the "Erase" button was "grayed" out...

Frustrated... if I could just get the Safari bookmarks somehow OR if someone could properly show me how to restore to factory settings (main issue is not being able to Erase and Install)... I would be very grateful...

I used Migration Assistant to restore my MBP's backup to the new MBA. It worked fine except for the failure of some of my documents on the MBP to be transferred to the MBA. I later just put them in my Dropbox folder and that took care of that. Otherwise, finishing my setup on the MBA was easy except for some problems with my VMware Fusion virtual machine. The Fusion problem, though, was a VMware settings issue, which really had nothing to do with the operation of the Migration Assistant.

 

[franko v]

Migration Assistant won't migrate to newly named user account

Okay - I figured out what happened above.

When I set up the User Account for my new Air, I used a slightly different name than the one I had for my MacBook.

So when I go to migrate, it sets up the old user account as a separate account, like it's a separate family member.

How can I get it to transfer the settings and files from my old user account name INTO my newly named user account?