[Jeff_N]

We have several Mac's that I would like to change the administrator name. This will allow identifing them on our network easier. Each one only has the one account (administrator) . Is this possible and how would I do it. I'm hoping you won't say I have to do a clean install.
Thanks for the help.

[d00d]

Easy way is to make a new user with the name you want, make it an administrator, then delete the old one.
There is a program to change the short name of an existing account, but I'm not sure if there are any kinks.

[Jeff_N]

To be more specific, I want to change the name that appears next to the "house" icon in the sidebar, and when you click on the users folder the same "house" icon.

[d00d]

I'm pretty sure that's the short name. I'm not in front of my Macs right now, so maybe someone else can confirm. My advice still applies if it is.

[Jeff_N]

Somewhere I thought I read that you can not delete the orgional admin that was created when the os was installed. True or false.
If false, then if I understand you correctly, are you saying I should create a new account, give it admin privileges, give it the desired short name, and then select the orgional admin account and delete it.
Because you can have several accounts that are admin accounts, how how will the os know that this new admin account is the one I want to appear next to the "house" icon.

[Philbert]

In reply to:

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Because you can have several accounts that are admin accounts, how how will the os know that this new admin account is the one I want to appear next to the "house" icon.

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The "house" will appear to whatever account is currently logged in. You can have only one user at a time. An administrator account can do anything - including deleting other administrator accounts. (Although I've never tried deleting the original account, I don't see why it wouldn't work.) The easy way to delete an account is in the Accounts Sys Pref.
And yep, d00d, the user name is the short name.

[Jeff_N]

Derik / Philber
>There is a program to change the short name of an existing account, but I'm not sure if there are any kinks. <

Would you have the name of that program or any info as to where I find it.
If I delete the orgional admin account (if It can be done) will that also delete other accounts associated with it? eg: the mail account,address book, the network, safari pref, bookmarks, etc. I would not want that to happen.
It maybe better/easier/safer if I can just change the short name.
Thoughts

[d00d]

It's available here, and it's made by Macworld writer and forum member Dan Frakes. I'll private message him to get his opinion, but the page for ChangeShortName even recommends creating a new account.
You'll have to transfer existing data, but that's easily done while you have the two accounts still operating.
Let's see what Dan thinks.

[Dan Frakes]

If the accounts are new -- meaning you haven't really used them a lot -- the easiest thing to do is just create a new account. If they've got a lot of data and preferences in them and you're determined to change the name of the first account, then ChangeShortName is probably the best solution. However, three caveats:
1) Back up first. This is true whenever you're doing anything serious to your Mac.
2) To make the change, I recommend creating a second admin account, logging in to that account, and then running ChangeShortName. Afterwards you can delete this second admin account. It's just safer this way.
3) Be sure to read the ChangeShortName ReadMe. It's important.

[Jeff_N]

First off, Dan and Derik, thanks so much for your input and efforts. It's very much appreciated.
I get a distinct feeling that what I'm asking to do is a bit risky for system stability (ie: screwing things up). So I will be sure to read the help file you put together. At this point I'm in a holding pattern.
One of the accounts has alot of data/pref/ address book/bookmarks etc on it that would need to be perserved.
One last thought is would it be possible to create a new account, and then transfer all the data/ pref etc from the orgional account, then delete the orgional account. If this would work, how would I go about it, and where would I find the files to move.

[d00d]

That should work fine. You might need to alter permissions to access the old account's files (or copy the files to a shared area), but that should be fairly easy. Essentially all that information would be in the original account's Library folder. Any documents should be in Documents. The rest of the folders should be self-explanatory.