Re: change home directory name

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Author: Michael Havens
Date:  
To: michael, Main PLUG discussion list
Subject: Re: change home directory name
Ahhh shucks.... you guys already told me that was going to be a problem and
you gave me the solution I was asking for. Good thing I looked through the
posts again. Thanks..... it looks like I'm not as smart as I thought I was.
Me and my acursed memory!

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 11:57 PM, Michael Havens <> wrote:

> lovely..... because it ran out of space my old user can't log in to the
> gui. I try logging in to a terminal as <new user> and it says:
>
> root@Michaels-PC:~# su bmike2
> To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
> See "man sudo_root" for details.
> bash: bmike2/.bashrc: Permission denied
> bmike2@Michaels-PC:/root$
>
> I just looked at /home and it seems that what happened is it changed the
> user name and barfed when it was coopying the files and so it left me with
> the new user name and the old directory. So please..... how do I associate
> the new user name with the old directory? Would I still use usermod
> ..... Well, I figured I didn't have anything to lose by trying it and I
> found out that didn't work. Because the user was changed while the previous
> command was in process user bmike1 doesn't exist.... I bet I know what's
> going on!everything is owned by user bmike1 (who doesn't exist anymore) so
> when bmike2 tried to access .bashrc it said 'nope'. So I think I figured
> out the problem! (this is exciting)(I'll be a regular computer wizard
> soon!) If what I think is the problem is is correct the solution would be
> 'find -r /home/bmike1 * | chown bmike2'. Would this work? Are there
> programs not owned by the user in it's directory? What about them (if there
> are)?
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:34 PM, Michael Havens <> wrote:
>
>> Well, I guess I don't really need to change the directory's name. So I
>> suppose just
>>
>> 'usermod -l <newuser> <old user>'
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Michael Butash <>wrote:
>>
>>> Add some? :)
>>>
>>> Actually it sounds like it's "copying, then deleting" (safe) vs.
>>> "moving", so if you're short diskspace, you'll need to just move it, change
>>> your /etc/passwd and group file for the user/uid, and chown -r the
>>> directory to the new username/uid.
>>>
>>> Matrix's method presumes you have temp disk space, but looks like you're
>>> doing it the hard way manipulating ownerships and such from root user.
>>>
>>> -mb
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 04/02/2012 02:09 PM, Michael Havens wrote:
>>>
>>>> hmmmmm. It just ran out of disk space. Any suggestions on what I can do
>>>> about that?
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:58 PM, Michael Havens <
>>>> <mailto:bmike1@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>    thanks for explainig the rationale of putting the old user name last.

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>    On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Matrix Mole <
>>>>    <mailto:matrixm@gmail.com>> wrote:

>>>>
>>>>        If the account you are trying to change is your current account,
>>>>        it may be easier to login as root to make the changes (just to
>>>>        prevent any existing programs in memory trying to use the old
>>>>        username/directory). I'd also use the command as follows:

>>>>
>>>>        usermod -l <newuser> -md <newuser> <olduser>

>>>>
>>>>        since an existing username needs to be at the end (so the
>>>>        command knows what user account to modify).

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Michael Havens <
>>>>        <mailto:bmike1@gmail.com>> wrote:

>>>>
>>>>            I'll use usermod then. Thanks for letting me know about it.
>>>>            so I think this is the proper syntax. Will this work?

>>>>
>>>>               sudo usermod -l <olduser> <newuser> -dm <newuser>

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>            On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Matrix Mole
>>>>            < <mailto:matrixm@gmail.com>> wrote:

>>>>
>>>>                If you are changing your username, there is flags to the
>>>>                usermod command that can help change the home directory.
>>>>                The -d flag to usermod will update /etc/passwd with the
>>>>                users home directory, and the -m flag will move the old
>>>>                directory to the new name. I'm pretty sure that usermod
>>>>                will also take care of the ownership issues as well.
>>>>                Check 'man usermod' for more details on this. If you
>>>>                don't use the usermod command, then there is also the
>>>>                ownership issue to consider with changing home
>>>>                directory. The chown command can help make sure the
>>>>                directory is owned by the correct user with 'chown -R
>>>>                {username} [homedir]' command.

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>                On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 1:00 PM, Michael Havens
>>>>                < <mailto:bmike1@gmail.com>> wrote:

>>>>
>>>>                    Thanks. Is that the only thing I have to worry about?

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>                    On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Patricia Wilson
>>>>                    <
>>>>                    <mailto:wilson.pr.gm@gmail.com**>> wrote:

>>>>
>>>>                        Note that your home directory name appears in
>>>>                        the /etc/passwd file so the system knows where
>>>>                        you "live" when you login. If you change the
>>>>                        name of that directory you need to change your
>>>>                        entry in the passwd file to match.

>>>>
>>>>                        On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 12:17 PM, Michael Havens
>>>>                        < <mailto:bmike1@gmail.com>>
>>>> wrote:

>>>>
>>>>                            How would I accomplish this? Is it as easy
>>>>                            as just moving the old name to the new name;
>>>>                            or should I do a 'find -r / <old
>>>>                            directory>|mv - <newdirectory'?

>>>>
>>>>                            --
>>>>                            :-)~MIKE~(-:

>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>                        --
>>>>                        Sent from my super hot-shot dual core 64 bit
>>>>                        Gateway running Ubuntu 11 from the
>>>>                        chrome/teakwood/glass desktop in my Luxo
>>>>                        Scottsdale condo.

>>>>
>>>>                        Patricia Wilson
>>>>                        Apache Junction, AZ
>>>>                        Member NRA, ARRL
>>>>                        WB8DXX

>>>>
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>>>>                    :-)~MIKE~(-:

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>>>>            :-)~MIKE~(-:

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>>>>    --
>>>>    :-)~MIKE~(-:

>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>
>
>
>
> --
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>




--
:-)~MIKE~(-:
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