# How do i change UID on OS X 10.5 ?



## RC&D (Jul 3, 2008)

Hi all 

after days of head scratching and cursing our tech support guy (who doesnt know how to fix my problem!) i think ive found a solution, i jsut dont know how to fix it!

basically, ive got a new Imac running OS X 10.5 connecting to a windows server.  I have been unable to copy or save anyhting to this server, even though another mac on the same network can.  

Ive come to the conclusion (after much forum searching) that i need to change my UID from 501 to some unique that is not shared on the network.  everything ive found how to do it only seems to apply to earlier versions of OS X.

can someone please help me?  im fairly new to Macs, but i know my way around computers in general, so im not afraid to get my hands dirty with Terminal (which i assume is what im going to have to do.)

So!  how do i change my UID? i saw something elsewhere saying that i hacve to change 2 things, the local UID and one for ALL the files on the computer, is that correct?

many thanks in advance


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## VirtualTracy (Jul 3, 2008)

RC&D, I'm certainly no expert in this field but I did read something today that may help you.  It concerned NetInfo Manager and creating a new "Group" regarding "Permissions".  

I'm replying to your thread because I think that to create a new UID you might just need to use NetInfo Mgr ... 

Please don't do anything until you hear from someone else about this as there may be another totally different approach to your issue that doesn't involve tinkering about in NetInfo at all ... 

NetInfo, BTW, is in the Utilities Folder ...


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## Tommo (Jul 3, 2008)

A few questions to get a bit more info if I may. I assume you are connecting to a samba (smb) share on the windows system, is this the case ? If you et an error message what is it ?

Secondly do you have a username/password for this windows system ? If you do can you login to the other Mac and copy files ?

Thirdly, is your mac bound to the Active Directory domain the windows server is in and using network login or are you logging in with a l,ocal account on the Mac ?

Sorry for that lot, but there should be no reason you should need to change your UID in either case, I have over 50 Macs connecting to windows shares and none have given issues with a UID, plenty of other issues mind you


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## RC&D (Jul 3, 2008)

thanks for the quick replies!

i am fairly sure it is a smb share, although i have left work so i cant check (and im a fairly new Mac convert, so bare with me!)

Basically what happens is, i have to log in to the server, which works fine.  I can open files, and copy them onto my desktop to edit/save etc, but i cant save TO the server, or paste/copy anything on to the server.  If i do, the connection to the server is severed and i get the message, something like, "you do not have the right permissions to do this", ( i will check exactly when i get to work tomorrow).  

*Secondly do you have a username/password for this windows system ? If you do can you login to the other Mac and copy files ?
*
the other mac works fine on the server, it can copy/save; all the normal stuff you would expect.  Both of them have the UID of 501, which is what got me thinking that might be the problem.  I have tried to start a new account on my mac (the problem mac), to see if that fixed it, but no.  even if i log into the server using a different server account name (that i know works on other computers) i still get the same problem.  I even did a fresh install of OS X to see if that worked, but alas, same problem.

*Thirdly, is your mac bound to the Active Directory domain the windows server is in and using network login or are you logging in with a l,ocal account on the Mac ?*

The third question, im not so sure about! all of our computers (5 pcs, and 2 macs) have individual usernames/passwords to log into the server, but they arent exclusive to whichever computer you are using (meaning i can log in any any computer using any user name/password ).

I knew this whole mac/pc network was going to give me a headache, but unfortunately it usually falls on my head to try and fix these things (ironic its only my computer doing it too, grrr.).

In response to the other reply from Tracey, i saw a post somewhere about the netinfo thing, but i couldnt find it in Utilities, i read somewhere it has been removed in Leopard?  not sure about that one.

anyway, thats a long enough post i think, thanks for the help again guys


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## Tommo (Jul 3, 2008)

A quick thing to check is the time on both systems (server and Mac) as if they are more than a couple of minutes out it can cause this.


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## Satcomer (Jul 3, 2008)

Plus if you are using a Mac in a Windows domain ALWAYS visit the site MacWindows.com.


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## RC&D (Jul 3, 2008)

thanks Satcomer, 

i checked out the site, and there was an article about adobe CS3 not saving to windows servers properly, which is one of the problems i was having (doesnt account for other files but we'll see!)  im downloading 10.5.4 update for OS X now, hopefully that will fix it.  i just checked the other mac on the network, and that has 10.5.3, while mine was just 10.5  hopefully the update will fix all!!

i will let u know


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