Rename Mac Home folder without effecting other users

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Level 1

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Rename Mac Home folder without effecting other users

Hi there

I am fairly new to Macs and have recently set up a small youthclub studio with 3 imacs and a macpro all running Lion. Unfortunately on the initial set up screen I registered each of the Macs in my name, not realising that would then become the overall name of the Mac and its Home folder.

I have been able to change the account name to Administrator and set up 2 other logins on each mac but the name of the Home folder for this Administrator login has not changed from my name.

Eventually I will be setting up a network and Ideally I wanted the MAcs to be name 'Studio1' 'Studio2', 'Studio 3' etc instead of all with my name!

I can change the name of the home folder for the lower level user accounts on each mac, but just not the initial one that was setup.

Is there anyway I can change this name without having to reinstall everything? I have googled this quite a bit, but am now a bit lost.

Any help much appreciated.

Many thanks

Nick

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 26, 2012 11:17 AM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 26, 2012 12:42 PM in response to Smoulders

AFAIK, System Preferences->Sharing->Computer Name controls that.

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Answer 2

Smoulders Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 27, 2012 2:15 AM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the reply Baltwo.

Thats great to hear. I was worried it could not be done with out causing more harm than good. So its as simple as that? I havnt got access to the Mac till tomorrow so will give it a try then.

Many thanks

Nick

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Answer 3

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jan 27, 2012 11:01 AM in response to Smoulders

Should be that simple. Report back when you give it a go.

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Answer 4

Smoulders Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 30, 2012 1:26 PM in response to baltwo

Hi Again.

Just got back from the studio where I was able to try renaming through the Sharing section of system preferences. It did indeed rename the computer which is great for networking, however the root Home folder for each top level account on each Imac is stll Nick Holder.

Is there anyway to change the Home folder name for each computer. If I have to do a complete Re-install on each of them then that is what I will have to do, but it will take days and I am really hoping to avoid it.

Many thanks again.

Smoulders

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Answer 5

red_menace

Level 6

17,030 points

Jan 30, 2012 2:15 PM in response to Smoulders

See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1428

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,572 points

Jan 30, 2012 4:03 PM in response to Smoulders

Just create a new user that everyone will use and keep your user as the administrator. I'm not sure why you think you need to change it.

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Answer 7

Smoulders Author

Level 1

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Jan 30, 2012 4:32 PM in response to Barney-15E

@ red menace...nice one. That link sounds like just the job. I will give it a go.

@ Barney...I already have user accounts setup for other users e.g. 'Over 14's', 'Under 14's' and I have an Administrator account aswell. The problem is that when you go to the Users section with all the Home folders, the top level Home folder for the Administrator is named 'My full name' despite the user account and the Mac itself being named differently. This is no good in a community cente environment where the computers should not be labelled with my name.

Cheers

Nick

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Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,572 points

Jan 30, 2012 5:51 PM in response to Smoulders

If you've already got another Admin account, then delete the one with your name. There is nothing special about the first account. Well, except for getting uid 501, but there's nothing special about that.

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