[jimcpherson]

I'm trying to change the shortname of my account. its the admin account, and I can change my user name and password, but the shortname option remains greyed out. The shortname is what appears as the name of the home directory and since this computer is now on a local network I want to change the shortname to something more specific than what it currently is.

[Xeo]

Mac OS X: How to Change User Short Name


From: ••• How do you change the name of an existing admin account?

[jimcpherson]

Thanks.

Though after reading apple's instructions I think I'll just leave the shortname alone.

[Xeo]

I didn't read too far into those instructions. They seem way more than actually necessary. I would do the following:

1. Open Netinfo Manager.
2. Authenticate.
3. Navigate to /users/<username>
4. Change the "name" property from <username> to <newusername>
5. Close Netinfo Manager selecting the "Save" option.

That should be all there is to it. Your short username will still be attached to your userid so all the permissions should be the same. I don't see the need to create an entirely new user.