DaveWT
Well-Known Member
My wife came to me today claiming all her documents were gone. When she opened her Documents folder it showed 0 items. This led me down a rabbit hole of looking in the usual places she may have dragged them, looking in Trash etc. but then I started to notice some strange configuration things that I don't understand. Her computer is a 2016 MacBook Pro with macOS 12.4 I compared it to my 2017 27" iMac with macOS 12.4 Both computers have an Admin account and a couple of Standard Accounts. What I first noticed when I double clicked on her hard drive icon and then opened the users folder, there was a "me" folder which I have not seen on my iMac. So here are some comparisons.
To start with, if I go into the Users folder on the hard drive on the iMac, I see no "me" folder whether in an Admin account or a Standard account.
However if I go into the Users folder on the hard drive on the MB, there is a "me" folder whether I am in an Admin account or a Standard Account.
In this case the "me" name appears to be a substitute for the actual Admin account name, which does not otherwise show up as it did on the iMac.
Note also that the Guest account is not accessible here as well.
Next I turned my attention to the System Preferences > Users & Groups to see how these accounts were set up. (a long time ago, done by myself on both machines.)
First from my iMac's Admin account. Note the item "Allow user to reset password..." here.
Now here is the corresponding shot from the MacBook's Admin account. Note that that item is not there.
Now we look at one of the iMac's Standard accounts.
And now the corresponding shot from one of the MacBook's Standard Accounts. Note that the item "Allow user to reset password..." has jumped to the Standard Account screen on the MB.
So I would love to know what caused these differences. The good news, a power down and restart restored her access to all her documents although these screens remain as shown, with the differences noted.
Dave
To start with, if I go into the Users folder on the hard drive on the iMac, I see no "me" folder whether in an Admin account or a Standard account.
However if I go into the Users folder on the hard drive on the MB, there is a "me" folder whether I am in an Admin account or a Standard Account.
In this case the "me" name appears to be a substitute for the actual Admin account name, which does not otherwise show up as it did on the iMac.
Note also that the Guest account is not accessible here as well.
Next I turned my attention to the System Preferences > Users & Groups to see how these accounts were set up. (a long time ago, done by myself on both machines.)
First from my iMac's Admin account. Note the item "Allow user to reset password..." here.
Now here is the corresponding shot from the MacBook's Admin account. Note that that item is not there.
Now we look at one of the iMac's Standard accounts.
And now the corresponding shot from one of the MacBook's Standard Accounts. Note that the item "Allow user to reset password..." has jumped to the Standard Account screen on the MB.
So I would love to know what caused these differences. The good news, a power down and restart restored her access to all her documents although these screens remain as shown, with the differences noted.
Dave