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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > I made a huge mistake and I don't know how to recover from it!

I made a huge mistake and I don't know how to recover from it!
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urban
Forum Regular
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Status: Offline
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Jan 15, 2005, 04:40 PM
 
let's say my name is TomHank. I was bored so i changed the name TomHank to Home and now I've lost all my files and preferences, itunes, ical, mail, safari bookmarks are all gone. I logged out and in again To TomHank, but now I'm treated as a new account user as everything's back to default settings.. I haven't gained back my preferences. when I go to users, I see all my files and stuff are under "Home", the name to which I changed from TomHank. I am even confused by myself by what I just said but I hope somebody understands what Im saying and sheds some light on how to restore my files and settings from Home back to TomHank..
Powerbook 12" 1GHZ, 1.25GB of RAM
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Thinine
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jul 2002
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Jan 15, 2005, 04:43 PM
 
Just drag them into your newly created user folder. Put them in the same spot they were before.
     
Millennium
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Nov 1999
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Jan 15, 2005, 04:46 PM
 
Every user has an ID number besides the name. That number is what's really used behind the scenes to track ownership and permissions. I bring this up because you didn't change your user ID (name or number), which means you still own everything in both files. That makes this a lot easier.

Here's what I would do:

1) Rename "TomHank" to "TomHank.new" or whatever else you want, as long as it's different.
2) Rename "Old" to "TomHank"
3) Log out and back in.

There are ways to change the name of your home folder while keeping the preferences. Truth be told, your home folder can actually be set to any folder on the system (though there's not much point in using a Home folder that you don't have access rights to). However, that can be dealt with another time. For now, let's get you back up and running.
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urban  (op)
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Toronto, Ontario
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Jan 15, 2005, 04:57 PM
 
thanx guys for the quick replies and now everything's back to normal.
I wasn't expecting to lose my preferences just by changing the user name folder.
Powerbook 12" 1GHZ, 1.25GB of RAM
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