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Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder

Posted on 01/05/202122/08/2026 Christian By Christian No Comments on Change the name of your macOS user account and home folder
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macOS user account rename

The Home folder is a folder where all your documents are stored, this includes documents, music, movies, pictures, downloads, cloud storage, etc. Just like on Windows, every Mac user has his own Home folder, which enables you to share your device with other users or family members. So you can all work on the same Mac using their personal user accounts. Here are some related contents: How to make a screenshot on a mac device, how to stop Zoom App from launching automatically at startup on MacOS, how to convert images from PNG to JPG on WordPress, Windows, and Mac, and how to stop apps from launching automatically upon startup on Mac.

Thus, when a user turns the Mac on, he finds his own Home folder and can access only his own files, unless another user shares a folder with him. In the Home folder, you will also find the following folders. Firstly, the Desktop folder which contains all the files the user has placed on his desktop. Each user sees only his own desktop.

Also, the Library folder is hidden by default and keeps different files and information related to the macOS and user settings.

In contrast, the Public (Shared) folder keeps all the files and folders you share with other Mac accounts using the File Sharing option. You can rename your macOS user account and home folder, which were named when the account was created by following the steps below.

The name of your macOS user account and the name of your home folder must both be the same. Changing these names does not change or reset the password of your user account. Because doing this incorrectly could damage your account and prevent you from logging in, you should back up your important data before proceeding.

Prerequisite

The name of your macOS user account and the name of your home folder must both be the same. Changing these names does not change or reset the password of your user account. However, doing this incorrectly could damage your account and prevent you from logging in. So, it is important that you should back up your data before proceeding.

  • You can’t change the name of an account while logged into the account you’re changing, so you have to have least two accounts on the Mac.
  • You must have administrative access from the account you log into to change the other account’s full name.

Part 1 – First rename the home folder: Before you proceed, log out of the account you’re renaming, then log in to a different administrator account. (If you don’t have another administrator account, you can create one. If you change your name of your macOS user account and home folder without If you renaming your home folder, you may lose access (everything) to your home older.

change home folder name

Now, have the home folder renamed.

macOS username update

Part 2 – Rename the Account

Launch your Terminal, and open the Spotlight search using the “command + space” button and type “System Preferences“, then hit the “return or enter” key.

modify user profile folder

Change the name of your macOS user account

Alternatively, hit your launch pad and click on the System Preferences icon, or hit the Apple Icon as shown below and click on System Preferences as shown below.

macOS user account rename

Then click on Users and Groups as shown in the image below.

change home folder name

Click on the lock , this will enable you to make system related changes on your mac

macOS username update

Enter the administrator name and password that you used to log in. 

Screenshot-2021-05-01-at-14.52.45

Moreover, From the list of users on the left-hand side of the window, right-click the user you want to rename, then choose Advanced Options.

Screenshot-2021-05-01-at-14.54.45

Note: If you do not rename your home folder as discussed in step 1 above, you may lose access (everything) to your home older.

This can be undone in so many ways though. The name of your macOS user account and the name of your home folder must both be the same. Changing these names does not change or reset the password of your user account.

Change the “Account name” field to match the new name of the home folder. It should have no spaces.

If you want to change the full name associated with your account, update the ”Full name” field as well. It can be any name, and you can use either the full name or the account name to log in to your Mac or make changes that require your name and password.

Screenshot-2021-05-01-at-14.56.08

Click OK as shown below.

Screenshot-2021-05-01-at-14.57.21

Furthermore, Please, you will have to restart your computer.

Screenshot-2021-05-01-at-14.57.44

I hope you found this blog post on How change the name of your macOS user account helpful. However, Please let me know in the comment session if you have any questions.

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Mac Tags:User Access, users

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