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Change User Home Folder Name on Mac OS

This guide is about the How to Change a User Home Folder Name in Mac OS. I will try my best so that you understand this guide very well. I hope you all like this guide How to Change a User Home Folder Name in Mac OS.

Some advanced Mac users may want to change the name of their home directory folder. This is a rather unusual scenario, typically only necessary for very specific reasons, whether a new user account has been added to the Mac, accounts are merged, the user changes name, and adding a new user account is not possible for some reason. Mac users

Don’t try to change a user’s home folder unless you have compelling reasons to do so and you know exactly what and why you are doing it. This is not an easy action to take, as countless things can go very wrong. This only applies to advanced Mac users.

Warning: Back up with Mac Time Machine or your chosen backup method before doing so. If something goes wrong, the user account may not be available, including all files, and there may be other potential issues. Do not skip backing up your Mac and user data before performing these steps.

How to change user home directory names in Mac OS

The method we show here changes the name of the users home folder on Mac OS and Mac OS X, including versions of Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, and Mountain Lion.

  1. Back up your Mac before doing anything else, don’t skip this
  2. Log in to another administrator user account, it must be different from the account folder you want to change
  3. In the Mac OS Finder, navigate to / Users / and rename the folder of the user account you want to change just like any other file / folder. Verification on request
  4. Rename the user's home folder on the Mac

  5. From the Apple menu, choose “System Preferences” and then “Users & Groups.”
  6. Click the lock icon and authenticate to access the changes for users
  7. Right-click the user account whose home folder you want to change, and then click Advanced.
  8. Click Advanced to change the user's home directory on the Mac

  9. Find the “Home Directory” option and edit the path to match the renamed folder in step 3, make sure the directory name and the correct directory path match, otherwise the user account will not work at all
  10. Change the user's home directory folder path on the Mac

  11. Click “OK,” then restart your Mac for the changes to take effect
  12. Log in to the user account whose user’s home folder was changed to make sure everything is available and working as expected, including customizations, settings, preferences, applications, file permissions, data permissions, photos, media, applications, permissions, and other relevant items

It’s important to make sure everything in the modified user directory is available and working as intended, don’t skip checking your data, files, and settings, as things can go wrong and lead to problems down the road.

Note that this can have unusual side effects, including losing a user account with various customizations and settings, or sometimes even an inability to access certain files or data. For example, you may permanently lose all Dock and Finder settings when you log out, until you either fix the permissions on the user’s library folder with a chown or as you choose. In addition, users may lose access to some files or folders if they point to a directory that no longer exists due to a name change. This is just a small sample of the many things that can go sideways, and it should continue to highlight why this really only matters to advanced Mac users and not a casual business.

Note that in this example, we only change the name of the user folder, and do not move the location of the user’s home directory, which is sometimes done to move user files to another hard drive or volume. However, the task is similar.

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FAQ: How to Change a User Home Folder Name in Mac OS

In this guide, I told you about the How to Change a User Home Folder Name in Mac OS.

In this guide, I discuss about the How to Change a User Home Folder Name in Mac OS, which is very helpful.

Apple Devices only.

mac OS or iOS

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James Hogan
James Hogan
James Hogan is a senior staff writer at Bollyinside, where he has been covering various topics, including laptops, gaming gear, keyboards, storage, and more. During that period, they evaluated hundreds of laptops and thousands of accessories and built a collection of entirely too many mechanical keyboards for their own use.
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