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User not visible on Users & Groups

I have a very odd issue. I use Mac OS Mojave and have two users set up. My user (admin) and a standard user.

The other user is not shown, when I go to "Preferences" - "Users & Groups" But the user can log on and is also visible on the logon screen.

Very odd is also that the users home folder is located /Local/Username where my user is at /Users/Username


For now, it works and there is no real issue besides that I can't administrator the account, BUT I tried to update now to Big Sur and then I was not able to log in to the account. I always got the wrong password, but I know it is correct. And because I can't administrator the account I can't change the password, even with the terminal it did not work. So I restored the Mac to a previous state. Tried it again with the same result.


How can I fix the user account without setting up everything from scratch?


Thanks for the help.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 2, 2020 7:19 AM

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Posted on Dec 2, 2020 9:03 PM

I cannot find the Apple article which mentions moving the user account to another location (I recall seeing a reason why the account would be at a different and perhaps hidden location, but I don't recall the reason for it --- this is different than simply changing the home folder location in the "Advanced Options" of Users & Groups).


You can see if the "hidden" user has the "hidden" attribute set for the account by using this command (modify it for the exact name of your user including the path the to that user's home folder):

sudo  dscl  .  read  "/Local/Username"


This will show you the options/attributes which are currently set for this account called "Username". The following command will only return whether the "IsHidden" attribute is set:

sudo  dscl  .  read  "/Local/Username"  IsHidden


If the "IsHidden" option was never set this may return an error or the "IsHidden" option won't be shown in the output of the first command I listed. The macOS default does not have "IsHidden" in the output.


Here is an Apple article which shows how to hide the account and how to make it visible again:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203998


Here is another Apple article on how to modify the user name and location of the home folder, but I don't know if I would do this since there may be something else at work here which moved the home folder originally (I really wish I could remember what triggers this behavior):

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201548


Edit: Make sure to have a good backup before attempting any changes.

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6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 2, 2020 9:03 PM in response to marcorobert

I cannot find the Apple article which mentions moving the user account to another location (I recall seeing a reason why the account would be at a different and perhaps hidden location, but I don't recall the reason for it --- this is different than simply changing the home folder location in the "Advanced Options" of Users & Groups).


You can see if the "hidden" user has the "hidden" attribute set for the account by using this command (modify it for the exact name of your user including the path the to that user's home folder):

sudo  dscl  .  read  "/Local/Username"


This will show you the options/attributes which are currently set for this account called "Username". The following command will only return whether the "IsHidden" attribute is set:

sudo  dscl  .  read  "/Local/Username"  IsHidden


If the "IsHidden" option was never set this may return an error or the "IsHidden" option won't be shown in the output of the first command I listed. The macOS default does not have "IsHidden" in the output.


Here is an Apple article which shows how to hide the account and how to make it visible again:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203998


Here is another Apple article on how to modify the user name and location of the home folder, but I don't know if I would do this since there may be something else at work here which moved the home folder originally (I really wish I could remember what triggers this behavior):

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201548


Edit: Make sure to have a good backup before attempting any changes.

Dec 4, 2020 12:55 PM in response to marcorobert

I've only used these commands to unhide a hidden user account. I really don't know how macOS handles these things or what other things may be involved since it is so hard to find general information on this topic. I do know that if a user is associated with a network account (aka Active Directory login) or perhaps some macOS privacy feature that the physical location of the user's home folder may be relocated as part of the process. Perhaps there is another value similar to "IsHidden" that controls whether the user is displayed within the User & Groups System Preferences.


Is this Mac being managed by a school or business?

User not visible on Users & Groups

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