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TICKET ARCHIVE -> MAC reset to its defaults, WHY???

Greg Reez - Dec 7, 2006 - 5:42 am

I came into work this morning... started my Mac, and every preference, setting, and profile was reset to its defaults! I turned my computer off at the end of the day yesterday, and I turned it off with no programs running, and no downloads or updates running, what's the deal? I essentially want to keep this from happening again, and for that to happen I think I need to know what could've caused it.

I have OSX 10.4.8... Files that I had stored on my desktop are now gone (though not important thank god), MS Entourage was reset (had to re-establish user accounts), MSN Messenger was also reset (including its updates), all items in my dock were removed and changed back to how it looks when you turn on a MAC for the first time.... Any display pictures I had for Messenger are gone and so are my bookmarks and favorites for my web browsers.

Now, this is only a minor problem compared to what could have happened. Luckily all of my work is kept on company share volumes and backed up nightly. It seems that all that were lost were program preferences, profiles, bookmarks, and a few files I had stored in my documents and my desktop. I need to avoid this happening in the future because I now have to re-do all of my profiles and settings. Everything was so perfect before! Please help me Mac Gods!

stottm - Dec 8, 2006 - 12:46 am

Something happened to your home folder... Sounds like you are on a network. If you are running Mac OS X servers then your home folder might be stored on the server. It's possible that when you booted up it could not find your home folder on the server for some reason and created a local copy of your home folder on your computers local hard disk. The home folder is normally stored locally under /Users/username/ and it contains it's own ~/Library folder that stores all those settings you lost. You also are missing ~/Desktop and ~/Documents which reside in the home folder. You also probably lost your keychain, etc. The reason you could still login is because you must be authenticating against the network server. The home folder can be stored on a server. Perhaps someone in IT moved you to a network home folder or visa versa or the home folder is not found so Mac OS X created a new one on your hard drive.

If this is the case, you probably should be calling your IT SysAdmin and not looking for help here. Perhaps the home folder wasn't mounted or it's been damaged and needs to be restored from backup, etc. Only the Mac OS X Server administrator can fix it if your home folder is hosted on the server.

You can check under Finder look at your local hard disk and double-click the Users/ folder. See if you can see more user accounts then your own. These are home folders. Perhaps your home folder was renamed or something like that.

The only other possibility is that you may have attempted to change your username or the name of your home folder which would have a similar result.

I can continue to try to assist, but if it is controlled by your IT SysAdmin then you won't be able to fix it on your own and you will need to reach out to a Help Desk or your IT SysAdmin for assistance.

Greg Reez - Dec 8, 2006 - 4:14 am

Thanks, actually, I did rename my home folder... I think that pretty much explains it. I have about 3 Home folders here... one includes the other designer, and our tech guy. I renamed mine because it was actually named for the old designer who is no longer here. I turn my computer off, then turned it back on to start the new work day and everything was changed. Thanks, you helped alot.