How to remove the /Users Folder

Browni

Browni

Registered
As i am the only one who uses this machine ( there are no other OSX users). I would like to remove the Users folder at the root of my hard drive, and use the machine like an OS 9 Machine. this would solve many of my font problems ( i am using Suitcase 11 for font management )

Thanks

Adam
 
This would be a VERY bad idea. Mac OS X, like all Unix based systems, relies on a few particular folders being where they are expected to be. This includes not only /Users, but a lot of the hidden folders you never see.

Removing the Users folder, though it is possible, would almost certainly disrupt software installs, opening documents, logging on, and just about ANYTHING. This is why it is set with such tight permissions that you'd need to sudo to remove it. Don't do it!

Instead, why not look at other approaches to the problem. What is it Suitcase 11 actually needs? Can this be achieved by just making a new folder as a storage spot for fonts? Or setting up an alias to your ~/Library/Fonts file?


LUCKY 2000th POST!
 
This would not solve all your problems.

Incidentally, you are the only human user of the computer, but far from the only user account used to make the computer function properly. The command:
niutil -list . /users
will show you the full list.
 
I too would strongly recommend against it but you can make your home directory be "/" instead of "/Users/JoeBob". With Mac OSX, I am not sure how to do that. Probably start up NetInfo (is that what its called) and go mucking about your user record.

But I don't understand how that is really going to help anything.
 
my problem is that OS X places fonts in every fonts folder Users/User/Fonts , Library/Fonts System/Library/Fonts. and the adobe font folder as well What i want is the fonts to be in One folder. can this be done.?
 
OS X doesn't place fonts anywhere other than those fonts installed when you installed OS X. There are preinstalled fonts located in System/Library/Fonts and Library/Fonts. Even still, the amount of fonts placed in those folders with a default OS X install is minimal and should number below 150 (a VERY manageable number of fonts even without font management utilities, AND far less than that if you eliminated any languages you don't need when you installed). Any fonts in /Users/(username)/Library/Fonts were placed there by you or a 3rd party piece of software.

OS X most definitely does not place any fonts in the Adobe Font Folder. Your 1st suspect should be (drum roll please) Adobe applications that place fonts in that folder. OS X isn't Adobe and Adobe isn't OS X.

There is no such directory as Users/User/Fonts or Users/(username)/Fonts unless you created it yourself.

Suitcase X11 will allow you to store your fonts ANYWHERE. Make a folder containing fonts of your liking on a separate hard drive, in your Documents folder, at the root of the hard drive, or in a hot-air balloon 50 miles above Earth and Suitcase X1 will be able to manage them. It doesn't matter where the fonts are located, and Suitcase X1 will not move the fonts to any other folder unless you specifically tell it to.

I have a folder on a 2nd internal drive called "Fonts" and inside that folder are sub-folders of fonts for my clients. Suitcase X1 manages these just fine and leaves them be in those folders while still allowing me to activate and deactivate them until my heart's content.
 
Users/someuser/Library/Fonts is what you mean. If you use OS X's font management utility, and have it install fonts for one user only, that's where they go.
 
I've found also that installing as Joe User is sometimes not the same as installing as an administrator. If an administrator does the install, it will put things in a global place. If Joe User does the install, it puts things in /User/Joe/Library/...

So, perhaps uninstalling and installing things as an administrator might cut down on the redundancy.
 
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