Renaming home folder

[inkslinger]

SOLVED!

I'm still not sure how I made /home/rock and /home/adam disappear, but I used the following command to create /home/adam:

Code:

mkhomedir_helper adam

With the home directory for adam now recreated, I was able to configure blueman-services correctly.

Am I missing anything obvious or am I safe to mark this issue as solved?

[appdev46]

So I got the same exact error when following the instructions on the wiki. I even overwrote my emmc with the latest Debian Mate image and tried a second time with the same results. It appears the instructions are incorrect?

Currently I can log in with my new user but the path to my home directory is /home/rock/

I am certain I can replicate this by writing the current Debian Mate image to sd card and following the instructions on the wiki (because I did it twice)

Can somebody please provide updated instructions on how to rename this folder as if you are starting from scratch?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

So I got the same exact error when following the instructions on the wiki.  I even overwrote my emmc with the latest Debian Mate image and tried a second time with the same results.  It appears the instructions are incorrect?

Currently I can log in with my new user but the path to my home directory is /home/rock/

I am certain I can replicate this by writing the current Debian Mate image to sd card and following the instructions on the wiki (because I did it twice)  

Can somebody please provide updated instructions on how to rename this folder as if you are starting from scratch?

I ignored the instructions, because I'm an old Unix guy and have done similar many times before on SunOS, Irix, Linux etc.
Here's what I did, as described in my "Initial Impressions" post: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...4#pid56654

A quick CTL-ALT-F1 got me to a console, tho'. I logged in root, changed (root) password and quickly edited /etc/passwd /etc/shadow and /etc/group, then moved the /home/rock to my new <username> (mv /home/rock /home/newusername). A quick su - <username> landed me in the right directory, and ownership/permissions were verified, before giving a passwd command for change. I could exit both nested login shells, and ALT-F7 to LightDM.

Good luck!

[appdev46]

So I got the same exact error when following the instructions on the wiki.  I even overwrote my emmc with the latest Debian Mate image and tried a second time with the same results.  It appears the instructions are incorrect?

Currently I can log in with my new user but the path to my home directory is /home/rock/

I am certain I can replicate this by writing the current Debian Mate image to sd card and following the instructions on the wiki (because I did it twice)  

Can somebody please provide updated instructions on how to rename this folder as if you are starting from scratch?

I ignored the instructions, because I'm an old Unix guy and have done similar many times before on SunOS, Irix, Linux etc.
Here's what I did, as described in my "Initial Impressions" post: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...4#pid56654

A quick CTL-ALT-F1 got me to a console, tho'. I logged in root, changed (root) password and quickly edited /etc/passwd /etc/shadow and /etc/group, then moved the /home/rock to my new <username> (mv /home/rock /home/newusername). A quick su - <username> landed me in the right directory, and ownership/permissions were verified, before giving a passwd command for change. I could exit both nested login shells, and ALT-F7 to LightDM.

Good luck!

 I was able to get my home folder fixed I think.  I logged in as root and ran (mv /home/rock /home/newusername), then modified passwd by changing root to my newuser.  

I looked at shadow and group and didn't know what to modify.  I had previously changed passwords.  

I now have a /home/myUsername folder and account I can log into.

I still would like to get this process better documented for myself and other users.  If I figure out an easier set of steps than what I did I will post back here.

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

So I got the same exact error when following the instructions on the wiki.  I even overwrote my emmc with the latest Debian Mate image and tried a second time with the same results.  It appears the instructions are incorrect?

Currently I can log in with my new user but the path to my home directory is /home/rock/

I am certain I can replicate this by writing the current Debian Mate image to sd card and following the instructions on the wiki (because I did it twice)  

Can somebody please provide updated instructions on how to rename this folder as if you are starting from scratch?

I ignored the instructions, because I'm an old Unix guy and have done similar many times before on SunOS, Irix, Linux etc.
Here's what I did, as described in my "Initial Impressions" post: https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...4#pid56654

A quick CTL-ALT-F1 got me to a console, tho'. I logged in root, changed (root) password and quickly edited /etc/passwd /etc/shadow and /etc/group, then moved the /home/rock to my new <username> (mv /home/rock /home/newusername). A quick su - <username> landed me in the right directory, and ownership/permissions were verified, before giving a passwd command for change. I could exit both nested login shells, and ALT-F7 to LightDM.

Good luck!

 I was able to get my home folder fixed I think.  I logged in as root and ran (mv /home/rock /home/newusername), then modified passwd by changing root to my newuser.  

I looked at shadow and group and didn't know what to modify.  I had previously changed passwords.  

I now have a /home/myUsername folder and account I can log into.

I still would like to get this process better documented for myself and other users.  If I figure out an easier set of steps than what I did I will post back here.

In /etc/shadow you change the rock entry to new username and path
/etc/shadow just change username - optionally blank the password field between the colon characters, if you are comfortable with the field
/etc/group rename the rock group to your new username, too.

You can reset the password for the account as root - or as I did, as the user, getting in "free" with 'su - newusername' as root.

[appdev46]

As a test, I tried this whole process again.  I am pretty certain the wiki is wrong.

I downloaded the image from here:  https://github.com/mrfixit2001/debian_de...123.img.xz

I used Etcher to write the image to an SD Card.  
I booted and ran update script. 
I logged out of rock.
I logged into root
I opened the root terminal window and ran "usermod -l myNewUserName rock" and had no issues
I ran "usermod -d /home/rock -m myNewUserName"  and got the error -> usermod: no changes

[Arwen]

As a test, I tried this whole process again.  I am pretty certain the wiki is wrong.

I downloaded the image from here:  https://github.com/mrfixit2001/debian_de...123.img.xz

I used Etcher to write the image to an SD Card.  
I booted and ran update script. 
I logged out of rock.
I logged into root
I opened the root terminal window and ran "usermod -l myNewUserName rock" and had no issues
I ran "usermod -d /home/rock -m myNewUserName"  and got the error -> usermod: no changes

Yes, that is wrong. It's basically saying change my home directory to the same name, then move my home to that location. Thus, no changes.

I've corrected it.

We sort of have the information in 2 places, the second, (which I started), has more details. Eventually we will decide which is better placement.

[appdev46]

As a test, I tried this whole process again.  I am pretty certain the wiki is wrong.

I downloaded the image from here:  https://github.com/mrfixit2001/debian_de...123.img.xz

I used Etcher to write the image to an SD Card.  
I booted and ran update script. 
I logged out of rock.
I logged into root
I opened the root terminal window and ran "usermod -l myNewUserName rock" and had no issues
I ran "usermod -d /home/rock -m myNewUserName"  and got the error -> usermod: no changes

Yes, that is wrong. It's basically saying change my home directory to the same name, then move my home to that location. Thus, no changes.

I've corrected it.

We sort of have the information in 2 places, the second, (which I started), has more details. Eventually we will decide which is better placement.

I tested from scratch with the updated instructions.  Everything works great now!  

Thanks Arwen

[appdev46]

I just noticed something odd...

When I want to shutdown the system and push the power key, the popup window says "You are currently logged in as rock"

Any ideas why it still appears that I am logged in as rock when I actually logged in as the new user I created?

[inkslinger]

I just noticed something odd...

When I want to shutdown the system and push the power key, the popup window says "You are currently logged in as rock"  

Any ideas why it still appears that I am logged in as rock when I actually logged in as the new user I created?

Similarly, I noticed when I use Firefox's "send tab to device" feature on other computers, my PBP is listed as "rock's Firefox on Debian-Desktop." Is that just a quirk because the user was originally named "rock" or a sign that something hasn't been renamed correctly?