Help with User Accounts

[Michelle.D]

Hi everyone. I'm new to Macs, so please bear with me and my silly question.

I'm not sure it's needed for this problem, but here are the general specs of the computer I'm on:

Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
867 MHz Processor
1.12 GB SDRAM
OS Version Tiger 10.4.11

I renamed the user account name on the left sidebar of the Finder window, and when I restarted all my stuff had been moved and a new generic user account with the original name was there instead.

I think it was because the user account name I renamed was the one with the house icon to the left of it, so it's like the computer owner's account or something.

We bought this Mac used, so the user account didn't match the person that owns it now, that's why I was bothering to rename it in the first place, by the way.

Would I be able to just copy all the folders and files from the user account directory that I used to use, and then paste it (and overwrite the generic files) into the new generic user account directory that was created when I (stupidly) renamed the account from the Finder sidebar?

Anyone have any suggestions, or know if this would work, or would I screw things up even more?

Thanks so much for any help! Sorry again for being such a newbie.
Michelle

 

[thankins]

Hi everyone. I'm new to Macs, so please bear with me and my silly question.

I'm not sure it's needed for this problem, but here are the general specs of the computer I'm on:

Power Mac G4 (Quicksilver)
867 MHz Processor
1.12 GB SDRAM
OS Version Tiger 10.4.11

I renamed the user account name on the left sidebar of the Finder window, and when I restarted all my stuff had been moved and a new generic user account with the original name was there instead.

I think it was because the user account name I renamed was the one with the house icon to the left of it, so it's like the computer owner's account or something.

We bought this Mac used, so the user account didn't match the person that owns it now, that's why I was bothering to rename it in the first place, by the way.

Would I be able to just copy all the folders and files from the user account directory that I used to use, and then paste it (and overwrite the generic files) into the new generic user account directory that was created when I (stupidly) renamed the account from the Finder sidebar?

Anyone have any suggestions, or know if this would work, or would I screw things up even more?

Thanks so much for any help! Sorry again for being such a newbie.
Michelle

Welcome to Mac!

You can't easily rename the user home folder with some hacks - what I would do is just copy the files you want to an external drive (USB, hard drive) and then go into System Preferences - Users

From there create a new user with the name you want and then copy the files to that users home directory after you sign in with that account. Then go into the User Account settings page again delete the bad account you have.

 

[Michelle.D]

Welcome to Mac!

You can't easily rename the user home folder with some hacks - what I would do is just copy the files you want to an external drive (USB, hard drive) and then go into System Preferences - Users

From there create a new user with the name you want and then copy the files to that users home directory after you sign in with that account. Then go into the User Account settings page again delete the bad account you have.

Okay. Thanks SO much for the help! You're a lifesaver! lol So, I can't just copy the files from like, the old documents folder, into the new user documents folder? I have to put them on an external hdd or USB? Just curious about that.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[derbothaus]

Okay. Thanks SO much for the help! You're a lifesaver! lol So, I can't just copy the files from like, the old documents folder, into the new user documents folder? I have to put them on an external hdd or USB? Just curious about that.

Thanks again for all the help!

Yes. Only mess with your accounts in the Accounts pane of System Preferences.
You may have some ownership/ permissions issues after copy but nothing too dramatic.