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Questions tagged [user-account]

User accounts facilitate different agents and settings on a computer. User accounts have a login name and a password, along with a home directory on the filesystem.

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Is it 'OK' to use the root user as a normal user?

I have enabled the root user on my Mac so I can log into it and run Finder etc. Being the lazy person that I am, just transferred everything from my home directory to /var/root. I'm not too sure of doing this, so I may move everything back. Is it…
智障的人
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How do I set a custom avatar for my account profile in Mountain Lion?

I just got Mountain Lion. On previous versions of OS X, I could choose a photo from the filesystem as my account avatar. This doesn't seem possible under the Users & Groups section of System Preferences. Any ideas on how to do this?
stantonk
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When I open Terminal, I get an "I have no name!" prompt

Suddenly, this morning, I open a Terminal window and I get this: I have no name!@macbook:~$ whoami 502 ** I am not a number! I am a human being! ** What gives? Anyone know what I need to do to get my name back? I suppose there are two problems…
ipd
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Way to logout a user from the command line in OS X 10.9

I want to logout my Mac OS X from the command line. My OS X version is 10.9. I tried command pkill -KILL -u uid, but this command didn't work out. Is there a command that can be used to log out a user from the system using command line only, not…
prateeak ojha
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Log out other user w/o first switching to that user

My wife use separate accounts and quick user switching on a MBP running 10.6. Sometimes I want to log her out to free up some RAM, but I'd like to avoid logging in as her, logging out, then logging back in as me. I have seen a terminal solution...…
Richard Herron
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Understanding the 'staff' user group

It's known that all users are members of the 'staff' group. If you setup a standard user and create any file, a list of that file in the terminal with 'ls -la' shows the user group to be 'staff'. Using the dscacheutil command, we can see information…
TheDarkKnight
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Change Appstore user from MacBook?

I bought a used MacBook Pro, and I need to update some software. When I click the 'update all' button to proceed, it asks for the App Store password of the old user's account: How do I remove the old user's account so that I can update my…
Steve
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Dropbox asking for permissions to wrong folder after changing account name

I just got a new macbook and is now installing apps to it. After setting up Dropbox and everything else, I decided that I wanted to change the account name (which was previously "mac") to my name. Everything worked fine, until I tried to open…
huong
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What steps are needed to create a new user from the command line?

What commands (or script) can create a fully functional user account on Mountain Lion, running only from the command line via terminal or ssh. It looks like an existing pair of answers might work, but I wondered if there were a short script or tool…
bmike
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How to delete MacPorts user after using the Migration Assistant

My 2012 MacBook Air (11", i7 2GHz 8GB RAM) crashed and I had to erase the SSD and re-install macOS High Sierra with the Internet Recovery Mode tools. Once I had the working OS, I used the Migration Assistant to rebuild my system from a Time Machine…
MmmHmm
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How to add a user from the command line in macOS?

In Terminal, I used, useradd liao2, as I would also do in Linux, but it failed: useradd liao2 -bash useradd: command not found I also tried using sudo: sudo useradd liao2 Password: sudo: useradd: command not found How can a user be added from…
aircraft
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What point is there in using an everyday non-admin account on OS X?

This piece of advice is old but is coming back into fashion. I have seen it a lot recently, on a number of Mac websites or forums. "Your ‘everyday’ user account should not be an admin account. It should be a standard account created for this…
user186048
23
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2 answers

Disable Shift Cmd Q for logout

I would like to disable Shift+Command+Q keyboard shortcut for Log Out. I am using Karabiner at the moment, but I only managed to disable it completely using the following xml: Disable COMMAND…
Rainer
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Can I start an application as another user without actually switching users?

Is there a way to start an application as another user so that the started application would use the other user's preferences/history/resources et al? For example: I've logged in as Alice and I'd like to start Firefox as Bob, so therefore Firefox…
Jari Keinänen
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How to disable account on OS X Mavericks

I have an account on my OS X Mavericks system that I want to disable so it cannot be used for login. I would not like to delete the account permanently but rather disable it temporarily. I believe that this was possible in Lion – but maybe my memory…
mgd
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