[wolfgang]

New to OSx....


I notice that OSX has account 'short names' for each user...

Does anyone know how to change those short names? Everything else about the account is changable as far as i can see....

I am guessing that the best way is by creating a new account and deleting the old...but if it was the first account created on the machine, does that make it impossible to change?

thanks...

[gorickey]

It's possible to change the short name; however, is very messy and involves some pretty involved stuff. I would suggest re-creating a new user and going from there...

On a side note, does anybody know if you delete a user account in OS X, and re-create a new user with the exact same user name and short name, is that okay? I know Unix is pretty picky about that kind of stuff and maybe some of the "old" account stuff would interfere with the "new" account...

Thanks.

[Brass]

Originally posted by gorickey:
and involves some pretty involved stuff

like... yeah!

On a side note, does anybody know if you delete a user account in OS X, and re-create a new user with the exact same user name and short name, is that okay? I know Unix is pretty picky about that kind of stuff and maybe some of the "old" account stuff would interfere with the "new" account...

Thanks.

Haven't actually tried it, but should be no problem. If the account is deleted correctly, then the home directory will be removed from the default place, and the user's entry will be removed from the database (NetInfo, or whatever you're configured to use). I can't think of anywhere else it would be stored.

Of course you'll need a third account with which to do the deletion and creation.

NB: The new account will most likely NOT have the same UID (ie, user number) as the old user, even if they have the same name. This means that if there are any residual files that were owned by the old user, they will NOT automatically get the ownership of the new user.

[gorickey]

Originally posted by Brass:
Haven't actually tried it, but should be no problem. If the account is deleted correctly, then the home directory will be removed from the default place, and the user's entry will be removed from the database (NetInfo, or whatever you're configured to use). I can't think of anywhere else it would be stored.

Of course you'll need a third account with which to do the deletion and creation.

NB: The new account will most likely NOT have the same UID (ie, user number) as the old user, even if they have the same name. This means that if there are any residual files that were owned by the old user, they will NOT automatically get the ownership of the new user.

Cool, thanks for the explanation...I had a feeling it was along those lines...makes sense!

[piracy]

Mac OS X: How to Change User Short Name

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106824