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66 Chapter 4 Setting Up User Accounts
To change a user’s first short name, create a new account for the user in the same
directory domain that contains the new first short name and retain all other account
information (user ID, primary group, home folder, and so on). Make sure you use the
same GUID for the new account. Then disable the login for the old user account.
After you disable the old login, the user can log in using the changed name but will
have the same access to files and other network resources as before and will belong to
the same groups.
For more information, see “Working with GUIDs” on page 87, and “Disabling a User
Account” on page 60.
Avoiding Duplicate Names
A user’s short name is used by the login window. This means that having multiple users
with the same short name causes a conflict. Although you can’t create multiple users
with the same short name in the Basic pane of Workgroup Manager, it’s still possible to
create multiple users with the same short name when you use command-line tools or
the Inspector.
If multiple user accounts have the same long user name on a Mac OS X computer, the
login window displays a list of users to choose from.
If two users have the same first short user name, the login window only recognizes and
authenticates the first matching user account it finds in the sequence of directory
domains specified by the computer’s search policy, as set in Directory Utility.
If a local user and a network user have the same first short user name, the local user
always takes precedence, preventing the network user from logging in to the
computer.
In groups created using Mac OS X versions earlier than 10.4, group membership is
determined by the user’s first short name and group ID (GID). If multiple users have the
same first short name, then they have the same group memberships.
Groups created using Mac OS X Server v10.4 or later determine group membership
using a GUID and a combination of the user’s short name and GID. For information
about GUIDs, see “Working with GUIDs” on page 87.
If you don’t upgrade legacy groups, the groups still determine membership by only the
user’s first short name and GID. For instructions on upgrading legacy groups, see
“Upgrading Legacy Groups” on page 94.
To ensure that users have the correct legacy group membership, do not use duplicate
user short names.