can't delete user account..

alexandr · #1 September 15th, 2004, 01:34 PM

i'm having troubles deleting a test-account a set up a while ago. i can't seem to get rid of it, although i've tried to delete it several times on system prefs. i get the message saying alt the content in this user 'home'-filder will be lost, and moved to deleted users-folder.. i press ok, wait a couple of minutes and it seems like it is removing the user. but when the message disappears the user it still there. i've tried restart, and the user is still active..

whats wrong, or what am i doing wrong? the user's got admin rights by the way..

alex.

MDLarson · #2 September 16th, 2004, 12:41 AM

Umm, I had this problem before. Some UNIX guru gave me a tip. I think you have to temporarily establish yourself as root (using -sudo or something like that in the Terminal) and delete it via the command line (the Terminal)... I think.

Satcomer · #3 September 16th, 2004, 01:04 AM

Better yet, log out of your Admin's account. Then at the login window click choose "Other" then log in as Root (if you enabled root). This will account will let you delete the user. Just don't do anything harsh or stay in Root long. Root is the ultimate Superuser and changes can't be undone! So once the account is deleted, get out of root!!!

**fryke** · #4 September 16th, 2004, 07:03 AM

Don't bash me for even bringin' it up, but it's probably a permissions problem. But I don't mean to go to Disk Utility and 'fix permissions'. Rather, you should go to the Terminal and become the owner of said test-account's home folder. That way, Sys Prefs should be able to remove the stuff. It's not _normal_, mind you, Sys Prefs should be able to do it without such hassle, but apparently something's wrong with the permissions of the test account.

So: (Don't type the " in the commands...)

1.) Go to the Terminal and type "sudo -s" and hit enter. It asks you for your password and eventually lets you be 'root' on the shell.

2.) Type "chown -Rf YOURUSERSHORTNAME:YOURUSERSHORTNAME /Users/TESTUSERSHORTNAME/" replacing the names with your user's short name and the test user's short name.

3.) Go to Sys Prefs and try again.

**fryke** · #5 September 16th, 2004, 07:06 AM

Oh and: I would NOT just delete the files as root, because the system will still think the user's there, which could possibly lead to other problems. Or you'd have to get into NetInfo in order to then remove the user from the system. I would urge you to try the stuff I've said in above message instead. Easier, cleaner for Mac OS X.

bobw · #6 September 16th, 2004, 10:02 AM

Not a bad idea to keep a test account.

filthuponyouOSX · #7 March 25th, 2005, 08:51 PM

well I looked at this thread and some other forums, and found how easily you can delete users from your Mac.

1. Open terminal
2. type in "sudo -s"
3. type in your password
4. type in "nicl / -delete /users/USERSHORTNAME"
5. done go see if it works in sys prefs.

Mackey · #8 March 5th, 2009, 12:56 AM

Hey, when I type in sudo -s it sais that I am not a sudouser? WTF?
Can someone help me?