Why do I have 2 accounts on my new Mac and how do I get rid of one of them?

General Questions
#1

I hooked up my old Mac to my new Mac via Firewire so that I could manually copy over applications/files. Somewhere in the process, my new computer created a second account that has the same wallpaper/doc icons as my old computer. I think that when I set the old computer to “target disk mode”, my new rig had to recognize it as an entity of some kind, and therefore created a new account based on the old rig. Every time I boot up, I have the option of logging into either account.

When I view accounts in my system prefs, the “old” account is grayed out so I can’t edit/delete it. Is there another way to get rid of it?

#2

Sounds like you used Migration Assistant to copy data from your old computer to your new one. I don’t see how you could do this accidentally.

Anyway, if you click the lock in the Accounts pane, and enter your password, you will be able to delete the unwanted account (click on the account, and click the “-” sign). All the information for this account will be move to a “deleted accounts” folder in your home directory. You can than REALLY delete it (by moving it to the trash) from there.

#3

Yes, I did initially use MA to transfer settings, but then decided that I needed to pick and choose apps on my own to transfer, and went the target disk mode direction after that.

Account deleted (I didn’t even notice the locked lock on that!)- thanks! I have sooooo much learning to do about 10.6- off I go!

#4

A word of caution…

Don’t get rid of your backup yet! Make sure everything is good on your new machine.

There were known issues with the guest account on Snow Leopard, which may or may not have been resolved.

The mere fact that the bug involved “another account” and “data loss” would make me pause in your situation.

#5

Well, I think the only bug involved in the other account was me!:smiley:

I just remember at some point in the MA/manual transfer, my new computer saw my old computer with the exact same name and asked me to rename the incoming account (which was the “old” computer"). I don’t know everything about settings, but it might have been at the point when I requested the migration of the settings that the 2nd account w/ different name was requested. Anyway, the 2nd account is gone now, and to be honest, I’m not even sure when I would ever need/use a guest account…

I remember also in trying to get my other rig properly firewired up to this one, I clicked on “file sharing” in the sharing preferences- maybe that’s when the 2nd account was created.

I just can’t remember! I think all’s good now, though…