Easily Change the Short Username in Mac OS X
Have you ever wanted to change the short username in Mac OS X? Dig around in the System Preferences and you’ll soon find it’s not as easy as just typing in a new name. Apple has some directions on how to do it, but the instructional document is painful just to look at, let alone implement. Fortunately, there’s an easier way with a shell script aptly called ChangeShortName. There’s even an accompanying helper app that automates the process for you.
ChangeShortName is undoubtedly the easiest way I know of to complete this task, if you know of an easier way please let us know by posting a comment. The script apparently works in Mac OS X 10.2 and above, but we know for sure it works in 10.4. There is a lengthy documentation PDF that accompanies the shell script and helper app that the author recommends you to read. So, here we present to you, the hard way, and the highly recommend easy way with ChangeShortName:
The hard way: Pull teeth with Apple’s instructions
Apple’s painful instructions
The easy way: Run ChangeShortName shell script
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Very useful. I gave an old mac recently to a family member and it was a mess trying to change the username. I just ended up making a new user account, but this is quite nice.