That was an excellent tutorial. I found this after extensive attempts on my own. This is one of those non-intuitive solutions that I wouldn't have thought of: changing the device name in "sharing". Thanks, Gary.
Everyone of your videos is an unequaled treasure of information that is presented so well ! I've learned so much from your channel and the amount of time I saved by just watching your videos is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all.
I am in awe of Gary's abilities, yet the one area I would never touch is that of making any changes to the home folder. When I purchased my current MacBook Air in mid-2012, an employee at Apple completed the initial setup and did not take some extra time to answer questions that I had. I am grateful for the fact that my MBA has served me well (and I do expect to buy a new one within the next 3 months), but the Mac naming conventions have long gotten the better of me.
Great presentation, content, style and delivery as always, thanks Gary! Would also love to see a vid on moving home folder to another drive - I did that recently and torched a bunch of data and my entire tm backup 😒 - clearly made some dysfunctional choices.
do you have a video of how to transfer all data to a new Macbook Pro? on iPhone is very easy because it mirrors everything in the new phone but not sure about laptops. thanks.
Another good tutorial, however my case wasn't covered. I legally changed my name and although my Apple ID I logged with my current name and "groups and Users" shows the correct name, when I open the Finder > Macintosh HD > Users, my folder is showing the previous name and I can't rename it. Any clue?
That's the "short name" for your user account, which is also the Home folder name. Those have roots back in unix/linux for decades and are very hard to change because so much relies on the paths to your Home folder. I always advise against changing that unless you really want to. And also have lots of backups for everything before you try. Apple has this page about it here: support.apple.com/en-us/102547
Hi Gary, another terrific video and of course i learned a few things. I noticed my full name appears at the top of the screen, just next to the battery icon and the wi-fi icon. I don't want my name to appear so how can I remove that?
I was making some changes recently, trying to rename my user account from within macOS High Sierra System Preferences, and it seems I've locked myself out from making any changes to Users & Groups now. When I click the lock icon (Click the lock to make changes) I am prompted for a Username and Password. No matter what I input in these fields I am unable to unlock the preferences. I am sure I know my user account, otherwise I wouldn't be able to log into the computer, and there is only 1 user on my Mac.
Gary, Thanks for another great video, and the timing of your videos is amazing. : ) What is the best way to hide the folders on my mac desktop. We do a lot of screen recording and want to tidy up the desktop but have the folders back for our daily use. I know there are a ton of apps to do this but would love your recommendation. Thank you in advance! Jaime
There are some technical reasons to not leave a lot of folders or files on your Desktop. Create a folder somewhere, ~/Documents/Screen Recordings might be a good place; and put all those folders in there. Then put an alias to that folder in your Dock or on your Desktop for easy access to a Finder window with all those folders of your screen recording projects.
Hey sir, I can't change the *Computer Name* and what I mean by that is that on Sharing and General --> Information it show what I correctly changed it to, but on *My name* --> Devices it shows the old *Computer Name* so please help sir..
Is there any way to change your iTunes account name to match your Apple account name. I set up the iTunes account when the only apple devise I had was an iPod and uses the email address I had at the time which is no longer a valid email account.
Is it possible to change the computer name that appears in Terminal? Also, how did people rename their user accounts before OS X Yosemite? Just curios.
@@macmost I did Gary! It just wasn’t clear to me in the section for iCloud what name you were referring to that needs changed in order to change the names listed under iCloud.
I have question I bought my MacBook from someone and I added my Apple ID and connected py to my phone but in my I phone settings I saw it still have their name my question is by any means it share any kind of data
You should have wiped or reset the Mac when you first bought it. It sounds like you just created a new user account and still have the previous owner's user account on there. I would take it to an expert and have them back up your stuff, then wipe the machine and start again.
@@Itss_sunnyhere It could. If you left the previous owner as an account on the machine, then they may be able to access anything. Probably not. They probably didn't know what they were doing and didn't wipe the machine when they sold it, but you definitely should get the help of an expert right away to check it out.
My reason would be that I recently bought a MacBook Pro from a friend which I’ve already signed into my iCloud but the computer still retains my friends name. Please help me.
You really need to wipe the Mac before using it. If you have already put any data on it (outside of iCloud) then I would back that up and save it to an external drive or location. Then wipe the Mac and start fresh. That's the only way you can be sure everything is yours and secure from this point on.
I recently changed my admin name on users & groups on my Mac but I had no idea that my files would have all been changed too. If I were to revert my old admin name and user name would the files go back to normal or have I messed already?
Not sure what you mean by "my files would have all been changed too" -- the files shouldn't change. Do you mean the PATH to the files? How has that become a problem, exactly?
I did this but it didn't change the name every where. In the list of my devices it changed but when I go the finder side panel tab it sill shows the old name.
@@macmost Did a little more research and I guess I was talking about the home folder. Apparently I have to sign out the current act and login w/ another admin account and change the folder name that way. Seems odd. How can I create a second admin account? I only have one apple account. Doesn't each user account needs its own Apple ID?
@@marksalazar4207 First, consider simply not doing anything. Is there a good reason, a really good reason, to change your home folder name? This is not something *I* would do unless it was critical in some way. Otherwise, just use Users & Groups to create a new admin account. You can use the same Apple ID, but I'm not sure why you would need to do that anyway as opposed to signing out in the old account and then signing in in the new one.
I follow these steps to personalize my Mac name in the sharing area, but as soon as I click the lock to save it, it goes back to the default name of "Mac mini". Why won't it let me save the new name? Yes, I unlock the padlock before I modify the name. It's just when I go to lock it back that it changes the name back to the default. Please help.
Could you do a video on The Mac Notes app and how, why, and when to use it over text edit and pages/word or stickies because I always feel like notes are similar to reminders. Also, it is different on windows, so I thought it would be an excellent video to see how you use messages.
Your login name is your user name. But you can change your "Full Name" to something different if you go to System Preferences, Users & Groups, Control+click on your user in the list and choose Advanced. The Full Name is just for display and you don't user it when logging in, unless you are choosing from a list.
why is it even difficult to change the user name this much? you can change the name of the device but user ACC name is not changeable or very risky to do. I ran away from windows but finding out these little idiotic issues exist in mac world too. Unbelievable...
This is how all Linux-like system works. The user Home folder gets the name of the user account you create. So then if you change the account name, the Home folder name needs to change with it. But the system doesn't know which apps are using that Home folder name in paths to things.
If you already know this, then great. But in 6 minutes I show you about your Mac model name, your computer name, local network name, iCloud device name and user account name. There's lots to dig into. But I know not everyone is curious about learning things.
Excellent tutorials, some of the very best I've seen. Clear, concise and well paced. Thanks and congrats!
That was an excellent tutorial. I found this after extensive attempts on my own. This is one of those non-intuitive solutions that I wouldn't have thought of: changing the device name in "sharing". Thanks, Gary.
Everyone of your videos is an unequaled treasure of information that is presented so well !
I've learned so much from your channel and the amount of time I saved by just watching your videos is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all.
I am in awe of Gary's abilities, yet the one area I would never touch is that of making any changes to the home folder. When I purchased my current MacBook Air in mid-2012, an employee at Apple completed the initial setup and did not take some extra time to answer questions that I had. I am grateful for the fact that my MBA has served me well (and I do expect to buy a new one within the next 3 months), but the Mac naming conventions have long gotten the better of me.
Found EXACTLY what I was looking for in the first minute and a half. Thanks soooooo much
Thank you so much for this video. You have a friendly voice & it is easy to follow your instructions
Just what I was looking for. Thank you so much. You explain things perfectly.
Absolutely brilliant! I’ve been looking for a way to change from my wife’s name to mine and now it’s happened!
Thanks so much!
instead of changing the user account and home folder names you can create a new user and delete the old one. and when prompted, set up you apple id
Outstanding! Thanks. What an obscure place to store the name of the computer.
Excellent and useful as usual. Thank you Gary
i just spent like 45 minutes trying to figure this out! Thank you
tysm for the video, the visuals areally helped me
This solved a problem I've had for a VERY LONG time due to different named macs backups over the years
Great presentation, content, style and delivery as always, thanks Gary! Would also love to see a vid on moving home folder to another drive - I did that recently and torched a bunch of data and my entire tm backup 😒 - clearly made some dysfunctional choices.
I was able to use this immediately- thanks.
Thanks Gary. Very helpful
Very well explained, Sr. Thank you
Best tutorial. Congrats & Thanks
Very useful! Thank you, Gary!👍🏻👏❤️
Can't be any clearer than that.
Thanks a lot, mate!
solved my problem in the first 2 minutes. my guy 🤝
This is helpful.Thanks 👍
Super precise,.... just as all others out here, absolutely concur.
Could you describe admin account name also, as I got a used Mac Pro from my som 2008 El Capitan 10.11.6
Thanks for the video, Gary.
do you have a video of how to transfer all data to a new Macbook Pro? on iPhone is very easy because it mirrors everything in the new phone but not sure about laptops. thanks.
Thank you so much!!
Another good tutorial, however my case wasn't covered. I legally changed my name and although my Apple ID I logged with my current name and "groups and Users" shows the correct name, when I open the Finder > Macintosh HD > Users, my folder is showing the previous name and I can't rename it. Any clue?
That's the "short name" for your user account, which is also the Home folder name. Those have roots back in unix/linux for decades and are very hard to change because so much relies on the paths to your Home folder. I always advise against changing that unless you really want to. And also have lots of backups for everything before you try. Apple has this page about it here: support.apple.com/en-us/102547
Hi Gary, another terrific video and of course i learned a few things.
I noticed my full name appears at the top of the screen, just next to the battery icon and the wi-fi icon. I don't want my name to appear so how can I remove that?
Thank you!
Very good, thanks a lot as always.
Unbelievable.Super clear. Thanks
I was making some changes recently, trying to rename my user account from within macOS High Sierra System Preferences, and it seems I've locked myself out from making any changes to Users & Groups now.
When I click the lock icon (Click the lock to make changes) I am prompted for a Username and Password. No matter what I input in these fields I am unable to unlock the preferences. I am sure I know my user account, otherwise I wouldn't be able to log into the computer, and there is only 1 user on my Mac.
You'll need to contact Apple Support for help with that.
Es un maestro este Don!!
Nice work, thanks
Thanks Mr Apple...very much
Perfect! Consise and exactly what I was looking for. Subbed!
Thanks
Very helpful!
Gary, Thanks for another great video, and the timing of your videos is amazing. : ) What is the best way to hide the folders on my mac desktop. We do a lot of screen recording and want to tidy up the desktop but have the folders back for our daily use. I know there are a ton of apps to do this but would love your recommendation. Thank you in advance! Jaime
There are some technical reasons to not leave a lot of folders or files on your Desktop. Create a folder somewhere, ~/Documents/Screen Recordings might be a good place; and put all those folders in there. Then put an alias to that folder in your Dock or on your Desktop for easy access to a Finder window with all those folders of your screen recording projects.
Very useful
Hey sir, I can't change the *Computer Name* and what I mean by that is that on Sharing and General --> Information it show what I correctly changed it to, but on *My name* --> Devices it shows the old *Computer Name* so please help sir..
The first is for networking. For your iCloud device name, go to System Settings, General, About and change the Name.
thank you
Hey Gary how do we do this on Ventura?
System Settings, General, Sharing, Local hostname.
Is there any way to change your iTunes account name to match your Apple account name. I set up the iTunes account when the only apple devise I had was an iPod and uses the email address I had at the time which is no longer a valid email account.
Those are the same thing. Perhaps you have two separate accounts?
Is it possible to change the computer name that appears in Terminal? Also, how did people rename their user accounts before OS X Yosemite? Just curios.
Yes. Search for "customize Mac zsh prompt" (or bash instead of zsh if you are using bash) and there are plenty of tutorials.
thanks Gary...good tutorial
Don’t forget to check under network and connection dns wins tab there is a systems mane there to to check and change if needed
Question: Changing the name under "Sharing" in System Preferences, is this what eventually changes the name as listed in iCloud?
Watch the whole video and I show where to change that.
@@macmost I did Gary! It just wasn’t clear to me in the section for iCloud what name you were referring to that needs changed in order to change the names listed under iCloud.
I changed the network name and since then (may be a coincidence) the Time Machine won't reinstall a previous version...?
Previous version of what? The network name shouldn't matter.
I have question I bought my MacBook from someone and I added my Apple ID and connected py to my phone but in my I phone settings I saw it still have their name my question is by any means it share any kind of data
You should have wiped or reset the Mac when you first bought it. It sounds like you just created a new user account and still have the previous owner's user account on there. I would take it to an expert and have them back up your stuff, then wipe the machine and start again.
@@macmost I’ll do it but it does not share my current data with previous owner right ? Thank you for help.
@@Itss_sunnyhere It could. If you left the previous owner as an account on the machine, then they may be able to access anything. Probably not. They probably didn't know what they were doing and didn't wipe the machine when they sold it, but you definitely should get the help of an expert right away to check it out.
Ahh, interesting, thanks. Still waiting to change the User Account name with out the chance of drama. Perhaps Mac OS 37?
My reason would be that I recently bought a MacBook Pro from a friend which I’ve already signed into my iCloud but the computer still retains my friends name. Please help me.
You really need to wipe the Mac before using it. If you have already put any data on it (outside of iCloud) then I would back that up and save it to an external drive or location. Then wipe the Mac and start fresh. That's the only way you can be sure everything is yours and secure from this point on.
I recently changed my admin name on users & groups on my Mac but I had no idea that my files would have all been changed too. If I were to revert my old admin name and user name would the files go back to normal or have I messed already?
Not sure what you mean by "my files would have all been changed too" -- the files shouldn't change. Do you mean the PATH to the files? How has that become a problem, exactly?
@@macmost yes the path to the files. I found them in my users sections of the hard drive but now all my preferences and settings have been reset.
@@euclid1762 Preferences where? I'm missing something here. What app or process is relying on these files being at the old paths?
Thanks bunches
Is it easier to change the name of a user account that is not the admin?
Which name? The short user name (that is also the Home folder name). No.
@@macmost Thanks
You Are Rock 😎
I did this but it didn't change the name every where. In the list of my devices it changed but when I go the finder side panel tab it sill shows the old name.
Do you mean under Locations? Odd. Changing the name in Sharing definitely should change that. Maybe try a restart.
@@macmost Did a little more research and I guess I was talking about the home folder. Apparently I have to sign out the current act and login w/ another admin account and change the folder name that way. Seems odd. How can I create a second admin account? I only have one apple account. Doesn't each user account needs its own Apple ID?
@@marksalazar4207 First, consider simply not doing anything. Is there a good reason, a really good reason, to change your home folder name? This is not something *I* would do unless it was critical in some way. Otherwise, just use Users & Groups to create a new admin account. You can use the same Apple ID, but I'm not sure why you would need to do that anyway as opposed to signing out in the old account and then signing in in the new one.
I follow these steps to personalize my Mac name in the sharing area, but as soon as I click the lock to save it, it goes back to the default name of "Mac mini". Why won't it let me save the new name? Yes, I unlock the padlock before I modify the name. It's just when I go to lock it back that it changes the name back to the default. Please help.
Not sure why that would be. Is this a Mac you bought used, maybe?
@@macmost I bought it brand new. It’s so weird.
Could you do a video on The Mac Notes app and how, why, and when to use it over text edit and pages/word or stickies because I always feel like notes are similar to reminders. Also, it is different on windows, so I thought it would be an excellent video to see how you use messages.
See th-cam.com/video/GkVz18sif8w/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/K0ZNWFgR2eE/w-d-xo.html
Change user account That’s what i did …and I lost everything
Won’t ever do it again that’s for sure
Can I change my login name without changing my username?
Your login name is your user name. But you can change your "Full Name" to something different if you go to System Preferences, Users & Groups, Control+click on your user in the list and choose Advanced. The Full Name is just for display and you don't user it when logging in, unless you are choosing from a list.
thx
I renamed mine Big Mac.
you're so katkot thank you!
why is it even difficult to change the user name this much? you can change the name of the device but user ACC name is not changeable or very risky to do. I ran away from windows but finding out these little idiotic issues exist in mac world too. Unbelievable...
This is how all Linux-like system works. The user Home folder gets the name of the user account you create. So then if you change the account name, the Home folder name needs to change with it. But the system doesn't know which apps are using that Home folder name in paths to things.
Someone gave me their computer and I can't change the name
If you acquired a used Mac, you should wipe it and reinstall macOS before trying to use it for yourself.
@@macmost thanks for answering, yep it's used, a friend of mine gave it to me, but yeah maybe I have to erase everything and start from zero
Why is this a 6 minute VIDEO?
If you already know this, then great. But in 6 minutes I show you about your Mac model name, your computer name, local network name, iCloud device name and user account name. There's lots to dig into. But I know not everyone is curious about learning things.