Category: Mac

After installing the latest upgrade for Mac OS X, the Lion, I couldn’t  login to my user account on my Macbook Pro! There was no way to log into my user. I tried to login with “root” and the root account was not available.

Basically,  all users disappear after install of Mac OS X Lion or upgrade to Lion (10.7), and you can’t login to your system.

After a little research, here is what worked for me:

Before giving you the solution, you should know that the first thing to do, is to call Apple’s customer service, and I take no responsibility for what ever might happen if you follow these instructions. They worked for my case, use at your own risk. 

Solution for Mac OS X Lion Login Error (Users disappear after upgrade to Lion):

• Step 0 : Don’t panic, your files are not gone !

• Step 1: Reset ROOT Password for Mac OS X Lion:

  1. 1. Restart your Mac,
     2. Hold “Command+R” buttons just the moment your Mac starts up,
     3. Hold still…
     4. A window should appear, it says “Utilities…”
     5. From the tools menu, at the top, open “Terminal”
     6. Type “resetpassword” and hit enter
     7. A new window opens, select the System Administrator account (root) option
     8. Set a new password, easy to remember for you,
     9. Confirm and close all the windows,
     10. A question will appear as would you like to restart?
     11. Restart!

• Step 2: Login as ROOT on Mac OS X Lion:

  1. 1. Let the Mac startup,
     2. At login screen, type the user  name as “root” and put in the password you’ve chosen in step 1.8 above.
     3. Wait a while…
     4. You should be logged in with the “root” account to your Mac OS X Lion.

• Step 3: Re-create your user (Reincarnation!)

  1. 1. Right click on the “Finder” icon in the dock, select “Go to folder…”
     2. Type “/” and click on “GO” to go to your Mac’s hard drive,
     3. Navigate to the “Users” directory, you should see your own user folder, remember the folder’s name!
     4. Click the Apple logo on the left top side of the screen, select “System Preferences…”
     5. Go to “Users and Groups”
     6. Your user should not exist in the left side list, so click the small “+” button below the users list to add a new one.
     7. Set your Full name as it was previously (not very important though)
     8. Set the “Account name”  EXACTLY AS THE FOLDER NAME YOU SAW IN STEP3.3 (VERY IMPORTANT)
     9. Set an easy to remember password for your account,
     10. And hit “Create User”
     11. Confirm on “using the Existing folder for Home…”
     12. Wait….until you see your user appear on the users list…

• Step 4: Back on the Road:

  1. 1. Restart your Mac
     2. Login to your own account easily and get all your data back!

• Step 5: Send me a coffee from the Donations Page.