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I have renamed my Mac username from root login. It was done successfully and I can see the new name of my home directory but certain folders in Mac HD have a red dot with a - symbol.

I tried to change permissions using Get Info and added my user name after which I can view the files but when I try to delete the files it keeps on asking for my password.

How do I resolve this?

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migrated from serverfault.com Jan 23 '12 at 10:32

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You "changed" the root username?

Can you elaborate on the process you use? I suspect you created a new account and then copy and pasted the files from the previous directory, roots home directory, to your new user. If this is the case you will likely need to use Terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal) to restore the permissions on them as root is probably still the owner. Assuming your username is bob execute the following commands in terminal.

Change the owner of the files to your user:
sudo chown -R username:staff /Users/bob

Change the permissions of your home drive to 600. (Owner read/write, everybody else denied):
sudo chmod -R 600 /Users/bob

Let us know how you go or if you need more detailed instruction.

If you have a copy of the OSX DVD I believe there is a utility on it to repair home drive permissions but I can't remember it offhand, sorry.

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I followed the steps mentioned here. Which means i renamed the existing user directory with new one. When i login with new user i created i face this problem.. – technocrat Jan 23 '12 at 8:31
I realized that i only followed till step 10, thinking its done i logged out. I made so many changes after logging with new user, like changing the full account name.Can i continue from there now?? – technocrat Jan 23 '12 at 8:56
Step 10 doesn't even have the copying done yet; are you sure you meant 10? That being said it looks safe to pick-up on any one of those steps, I can't see anything that you could do by interrupting that would break it. Step 23 has my suggestion above, as well. I suggest you follow from Step 23 onward. – nullity Jan 23 '12 at 9:20
Alright then i'll start from step 23.. hope the problem will be resolved. – technocrat Jan 23 '12 at 9:23
Should i proceed with the steps with the root login?? – technocrat Jan 23 '12 at 9:30
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