I want to change login type of a local user to a network (AD) user

Question

I am using macOS 10.12, Sierra, and I've two local accounts (the one created during unboxing and a backup one).

This is a work laptop and I would like to use my Active Directory credentials to login instead of the loca account. I would also like to get integrated network login etc... but this would be a bonus, it's not a requirement.

I've followed Join your Mac to a network account server and read Best Practices for Integrating OS X with Active Directory.

I can easily join the Mac to the domain and can use AD Utilities to browse objects inside the domain so I assume it's working. Now I cannot find how to 'link' my existing local account to a specific AD account.

The accounts are:

• local account: simoneavogadro (/Users/simoneavogadro) display "Simone Avogadro"
• Active directory account: simoneavogadro ([email protected]) display name: "Simone Avogadro"

Currently, if I logout & login I must use the local password to login. The AD one will not work. This makes sense to me since I can't find how to 'link' the two things (how to tell the Mac which AD Object to bind for login)

Answer 1

Once AD logins are working as expected I think the best answer here is to re-use your current home folder rather than trying to link accounts.

Since you're using a local home for the AD user you can shuffle the home folders and update the ownership. Be sure to do this from another account- not the local user or the AD user (you may have to create a temporary admin user).

To be clear, don't do this until you have AD logins working properly... :)

For example:

sudo mv /Users/aduser /Users/aduser-orig
sudo mv /Users/localuser /Users/aduser
sudo chown -R aduser:staff /Users/aduser