user account

[mactruck]

I enabled root, because i'm a control freak. i'm hitting myself in the head for it sort of though, not because i've ruined anything. i just got this macbook the other day. i had no idea it was like unix. i'm a little familiar with linux, so it's kind of not new to me. anyhow, i enabled root and opted to delete my previous user account, because i forgot my filevault master password.

(i tried resetting prams and booting into open firmware and single user mode for terminal access to try and reset it with various net commands i've found on the issue, but neither boot option works using command-s, opt comm o+f or p+r, possible listed reasons being that it's not a power pc mac but an intel mac yet again, i'm a macnewb---despite the username).

anywho....

I was going to delete my previous account, it has administrative rights. but i can't. the - to delete accounts is greyed out. the user id has me placed in a group called staff as well. which, like linux it would be wheel as an administrator, and i would think root might have a staff grouping (although linux does not have this group it has wheel).

likewise, strange things occur with the authentication lock, sometimes I either can't click to prevent changes, or I can't click to make changes, even while logged in as root.

any more experienced mac os x users that could help? I found a thread here, and few at other locations. none is a resolution for the matter.

TIA, i'm RTFMing...not the everything mac one though, it isn't that useful!

 

[DeltaMac]

The problem with enabling root - it's easy to make a mistake that you can't easily recover from - which is where you are now.
Experienced, or not - if you have only had your MacBook for a few days, you may find that the easiest way 'back' is simply to "nuke and pave": Boot to your installer DVD, erase the hard drive using Disk Utility that you will find in the Utilities menu, and then reinstall your system as a fresh start. When you have restarted, and set up your user account, insert the 2nd DVD to install the rest of the software that came with your MacBook.
Suggestion: try to avoid passwords that you have no hope of recalling later
That applies particularly to a password for FileVault. You can't retrieve or change a lost password in a filevault partition, and you probably can't retrieve the lost data. Most users would say that you should avoid filevault, unless you actually need that level of security - better to use encrypted folders for your sensitive data.
Experienced Mac users may enable the root user for specific purposes, then disable root when that task is no longer needed. Root user is seldom needed (sudo will almost always do the trick), and the risk is too great to leave root enabled for normal use. I like the thought picture: Root enabled will let you to completely crash your system, without so much as a warning. That's not control, so much as it's living dangerously!

Don't get so caught up in that "Unix thrill", and ignore that great 'look and feel' that Apple has provided for the GUI. You already said that you didn't buy your new Mac as a Unix system. It's a bonus! And - you can choose to ignore that part...

 

[mactruck]

i'm not sure what you mean by buying mac as a unix system, but i'm a newb and perhaps this is the portion I should ignore, or maybe you meant it's my choice to live dangerously in this respect.

there is trouble with a fresh installation. first off it's os x snow leopard so macbook has one disc, and an application disc plus ilife cpu something or other. that might help because your saying 2 disks sounds like tiger.

secondly, the way these issues arose, is that the optical drive went haywire within a few hours of initializing the mac. i had to call apple, set an appointment with the genius', which due to the holiday turmoil i promptly missed. in effect, i'm without an optical drive so in attempting to resolve how to boot from airport base station, (hence the issues with pram --that i'm now told relates to video, and the other boot options mentioned; etc.) I found myself stumbling on one terminal command, then another then another. I didn't realize i had lost my master pass by file vault or the open firmware password until i tried to alt into boot options for the remote installation. it brought me to a locked screen. I figured no problem, I'll wait until I can get with the genius' following the holiday and take it from there but in the mean time, I found root and enabled it. My line of thinking is that if a user can hack into my account, then whether or not root is enabled is of little consequence and I know enough (from screwing up linux numerous times) not to be hasty at the terminal.

I did search for commands related to deleting a user account from macbook using snow leopard. i found two different commands, which did let me reset the password in appearance (one of the commands), but it didn't effectively change the password unless qwerty is messed up on the mac, or i forgot my password within an hour of making it which I'm doubting. i think it's a network issue, but i'm definatley not a networking amateur, let alone pro.

so the person who gave me the mac told me make an admin account, try and delete the other admin account, which worked. now i'm assuming that deleting administrative accounts isn't possible from root, but this sounds odd to me as, it's superuser!

in either case, i'm a mac newb. it's possible this is refurbished, i didn't want to press the issue when i was told it was spanking new. this might explain a few issues with the inability to relock preferences in security after unlocking them, as well as another place. any advice you can give me, that'd point me into looking into the integrity of the system at this point or deleting my old admin count would be useful. my thought is, that while genius may fix the optical drive, and reset the disk, they may not look into the system beyond that. which means i have to do some poking around. TIA.

 

[DeltaMac]

Of course you can delete an admin account when logged in as a root user.
But, you can't delete an account that you are currently logged in (at least, I don't think so)
An admin can delete another admin account, no sudo required for that... So, you create a new admin account, then log out, and log in to that new admin user. And, you can then delete the previous admin account.

Your MacBook came with 2 disks (same for all Macs for the last 5 years or so). One for the OS X install, and the other is for your bundled apps. There's been other combinations, but usually just 2 DVDs. You may have seen some that came with an OS X update disk, such as when Snow Leopard was first released, came with a 'drop-in' upgrade DVD, added to the box before that Mac was sold, and just not installed yet. And, most recently, the addition of iLife '11, which would be on its own DVD...
Tiger was sold on one DVD, as all OS X versions have since Panther (10.3), which was on 3 CDs.
Tiger was also available on a set of (4 or 5?) CDs, but only by special request, so those sets are not too common.

Keep reading your Mac manual. You may come up with another question or two. I'm sure that someone here will help you out with that, too.

 

[MacTribe]

I vote for a wipe / reinstall. Next time dont use root access for anything unless you have to. The entire security of your mac is built into root - better to run as administrator and only use root when you have to ie sudo commands.

Think of it as a great learning curve..

J