I don't know how I put myself in these situations.

So I was fooling around with dscl late last night, making and removing accounts, when suddenly I ran dscl . -delete /Users instead of dscl . -delete /Users/someuser.

So now I have no users on my machine, all that works is single user and recovery HD.

What do you think is the best way to fix this? It seems to me like doing the re-install from recovery HD will restore the system users and leave my files alone. I've found another answer from a few years back (link) where OP says the installer hanged (hung?) when he tried that. However, he was running 10.6, where I'm running 10.9, and the restore mechanism is different. Has anyone else been in this situation?

I'm thinking of doing the re-install and, if everything works fine, re-creating my user with the original home folder with DSCL. What I don't know is how safe that is.

Also, I don't have a backup of any kind.

All that really matters is not losing anything in my home folder. If I have to copy all of my files off to an external HD and do a wipe and install, I'll do it. I'd just like to avoid such extremities if at all possible.

I don't know how I put myself in these situations.

So I was fooling around with dscl late last night, making and removing accounts, when suddenly I ran dscl . -delete /Users instead of dscl . -delete /Users/someuser.

So now I have no users on my machine, all that works is single user and recovery HD.

What do you think is the best way to fix this? It seems to me like doing the re-install from recovery HD will restore the system users and leave my files alone. I've found another answer from a few years back (link) where OP says the installer hanged (hung?) when he tried that. However, he was running 10.6, where I'm running 10.9, and the restore mechanism is different. Has anyone else been in this situation?

I'm thinking of doing the re-install and, if everything works fine, re-creating my user with the original home folder with DSCL. What I don't know is how safe that is.

Also, I don't have a backup of any kind.

All that really matters is not losing anything in my home folder. If I have to copy all of my files off to an external HD and do a wipe and install, I'll do it. I'd just like to avoid such extremities if at all possible.

I don't know how I put myself in these situations.

So I was fooling around with dscl late last night, making and removing accounts, when suddenly I ran dscl . -delete /Users instead of dscl . -delete /Users/someuser.

So now I have no users on my machine, all that works is single user and recovery HD.

What do you think is the best way to fix this? It seems to me like doing the re-install from recovery HD will restore the system users and leave my files alone. I've found another answer from a few years back (link) where OP says the installer hanged (hung?) when he tried that. However, he was running 10.6, where I'm running 10.9, and the restore mechanism is different. Has anyone else been in this situation?

I'm thinking of doing the re-install and, if everything works fine, re-creating my user with the original home folder with DSCL. What I don't know is how safe that is.

Also, I don't have a backup of any kind.

All that really matters is not losing anything in my home folder. If I have to copy all of my files off to an external HD and do a wipe and install, I'll do it. I'd just like to avoid such extremities if at all possible.

Thanks all,

Matt

I don't know how I put myself in these situations.

So I was fooling around with dscl late last night, making and removing accounts, when suddenly I ran dscl . -delete /Users instead of dscl . -delete /Users/someuser.

So now I have no users on my machine, all that works is single user and recovery HD.

What do you think is the best way to fix this? It seems to me like doing the re-install from recovery HD will restore the system users and leave my files alone. I've found another answer from a few years back (link) where OP says the installer hanged (hung?) when he tried that. However, he was running 10.6, where I'm running 10.9, and the restore mechanism is different. Has anyone else been in this situation?

I'm thinking of doing the re-install and, if everything works fine, re-creating my user with the original home folder with DSCL. What I don't know is how safe that is.

Also, I don't have a backup of any kind.

All that really matters is not losing anything in my home folder. If I have to copy all of my files off to an external HD and do a wipe and install, I'll do it. I'd just like to avoid such extremities if at all possible.