Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

mcsjgs · Dec 16, 2004, 03:58 PM

Something has gone bad with my User system preference. It shows current users, but will not allow the creation of new users by clicking on the "+" button.

I did a search of this forum, and I checked the Netinfo database. There are no users with name or realname having a NULL value, so that is not the problem. Any ideas?

Big Mac · Dec 17, 2004, 03:27 AM

Really easy suggestion: Are you sure you're logged in as an admin when trying to create the new user?

mcsjgs · Dec 17, 2004, 03:00 PM

Yes, that's not the problem. The real problem is that the netinfo database was munged and is oficially FUBAR. Time to either re-install Panther or wait for Tiger. What a pain.

Big Mac · Dec 17, 2004, 05:24 PM

Was it screwed around with to get "munged" or did something else happen? I'm pretty sure you can create a new NetInfo database without reinstalling the OS.

mcsjgs · Dec 17, 2004, 10:04 PM

I cannot tell a lie. I munged it by deleting "nobody" and "unknown" in both users and groups. I was able to recreate the users from the command line (by using a command from a Unix whiz). But I cannot recreate the groups. Apparently, you need both the users and groups to be able to create a new user.

chris v · Dec 17, 2004, 10:59 PM

You could probably straighten this out by running an archive and install. Just make sure you're backed up, first.

Actually, make sure you're backed up before you go deleting stuff pell mell the next time, and then you can just restore from the backup when your evil machinations turn sour.

Angus_D · Dec 18, 2004, 06:07 AM

Originally posted by mcsjgs:
I cannot tell a lie. I munged it by deleting "nobody" and "unknown" in both users and groups. I was able to recreate the users from the command line (by using a command from a Unix whiz). But I cannot recreate the groups. Apparently, you need both the users and groups to be able to create a new user.

Why can't you recreate the groups?

Angus_D · Dec 18, 2004, 06:22 AM

Originally posted by chris v:
Actually, make sure you're backed up before you go deleting stuff pell mell the next time, and then you can just restore from the backup when your evil machinations turn sour.

Actually, don't delete random **** that you don't understand at all.

mcsjgs · Dec 18, 2004, 02:56 PM

Actually, Angus_D is the saviour that let me re-create the two users. And, yes, it was extremely stupid to go mucking about in Netinfo without knowing what I was doing.

The reason I cannot re-create the two groups is simple, Angus_D: I haven't the slightest idea what the Unix command to do so is. If I was a monkey at the keyboard (not far from the actual fact for me in Unix), I could not have created that command you gave me in a million years.

The lesson, children, is don't mess with Netinfo unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Angus_D · Dec 18, 2004, 04:37 PM

echo "nobody:*:-2:" | sudo niload group .
echo "unknown:*:99:" | sudo niload group .
echo "unknown:*:99:99::0:0:Unknown User:/var/empty:/usr/bin/false" | sudo niload passwd .

mcsjgs · Dec 18, 2004, 06:08 PM

Once again, thank you very much, Angus_D. I have a second hard disk that is pristine and the netinfo database has never been touched. I am comparing users and groups, one by one to see what the difference is because something is still mucked up even after adding back "unknown" and "nobody" in users and groups.

As this is rather painstaking, it may be a day or two before I can let you know the results. Angus_D, I really appreciate it.

mcsjgs · Dec 19, 2004, 03:32 AM

Just a quick question for Angus_D or anyone else out there. Does a user "games" make any sense? I don't use my Mac for any games.

How about "tomcat"?

Neither of these in my stock hard disk with 10.3.7

Angus_D · Dec 19, 2004, 09:47 AM

They were probably added by a fink package.

tuqqer · Dec 19, 2004, 01:10 PM

I just had this same problem occur this week. My second drive in my G5 would not start up. It'd get about 90% through the blue bar, and then stop there. I finally did a new Install and Archive, but once it was done, I was only able to get in as the Admin. It would not recognize my User acccount, even though I could see it there in the hard drive. I ran permissions, Onyx, but nothing. When I tried clicking on the + sign in the add User window, nothing would respond.

After messing around with it for days, I finally got smart: erased the entire drive, and ran Carbon Copy Cloner. All's working now.

mcsjgs · Dec 19, 2004, 02:44 PM

Originally posted by Angus_D:
They were probably added by a fink package.

That would make sense as I did run fink for a while on the affected hard disk.

Angus_D · Dec 19, 2004, 08:22 PM

Originally posted by mcsjgs:
That would make sense as I did run fink for a while on the affected hard disk.

You must have OK'd it to do this, though. No offence, but you should be more careful with what you're doing and pay more attention to what your computer is telling you, especially when you're messing with the UNIX layer.

mcsjgs · Dec 20, 2004, 03:14 PM

Originally posted by Angus_D:
You must have OK'd it to do this, though. No offence, but you should be more careful with what you're doing and pay more attention to what your computer is telling you, especially when you're messing with the UNIX layer.

Actually, I did not OK this, except for the normal administrator's OK to install a new software package. I much prefer drag and drop installations, but in many installations that is not the case. If the installation is not in package format, you don't even know what will be installed (Vise crapolla). I should have checked this earlier though, you are absolutely right about that.

mcsjgs · Dec 20, 2004, 11:11 PM

Thanks for all your help, Angus_D. I finally biit the bullet and re-installed 10.3 after zeroing the hard disk. A bit of work, but a better end result, I think.