8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.

3 | Kirkville
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Bring Back the
Hidden /Users
Folder in OS X
10.9.3
Update: Apple has released a
!x for this issue.
OS X 10.9.3 was released today,
and with it a bit of a surprise:
the /Users folder is hidden.
This is the top-level folder, at
the root of your hard disk, that
contains each users home
folder.
Its easy to bring it back
though. Run the following
command in Terminal:
sudo chflags nohidden
/Users
Enter your administrators
05/15/2014
Writings
about Macs,
music and
more by
Kirk
McElhearn
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password when prompted,
then press Return. The /Users
folder will be visible again.
Update: apparently, for some
people, the /Users folder is not
hidden. Its not clear why. Its
hidden for me on both my
Macs, and both have multiple
user accounts, and Im logged
in as administrator on both. If
you dont see it hidden, post a
comment; Im curious to try
and !gure out why this may be.
It turns out that, after running
the above command, and
restarting your Mac, the /Users
folder becomes hidden again.
To ensure the visibility of the
/Users folder after restarts, you
can create an AppleScript
applet, and set it to run when
you log in to your Mac. Use the
following code:
tell application
"Terminal"
do shell script "chflags
TECH
MUSIC
BOOKS
ARTS ETC.
! "
# $
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ABOUT KIRK
CONTACT
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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do shell script "chflags
nohidden /Users"
password "yourpassword"
with administrator
privileges
end tell
Replace your password with
your user password. Save this
as an application, and add it to
your login items in System
Preferences > Accounts.
Update 2: Dave Mark has a
great solution on The Loop. He
suggests simply creating an
alias of the folder. This will
remain visible after restarts,
and you wont need to worry
about AppleScripts. You wont
be able to name the alias
Users, however, since that
name is taken by the hidden
folder. You can also do this for
the /Library folder in your
home folder, to ensure you can
access it easily.
Update 3: Please read this
article for the reason why this
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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article for the reason why this
is happening. Curiously, it has
to do with the iTunes 11.2
update and Find My Mac
Related Posts:
OS X 10.9.3: Why is the
/Users Folder Hidden for
Some Users but Not All
Users?
Apple Issues Fix for Hidden
/Users Folder
iTunes Update and Hidden
/Users Folder: How Could
Apple Blunder Like That?
OS X 10.9 Mavericks: Easily
Display Your Users Library
Folder
OS X 10.9 Mavericks: Where
Did My Books Go?
Share this article:
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AUTHOR
Kirk McElhearn
CATEGORY
Tech
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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18 Comments
TAG
Mac OS X
COMMENTS
18 Comments
Scott Siegling
05/15/2014 - 9:27 PM
Closer to iOS and iCloud with
each .point release!
REPLY
Chucky
05/15/2014 - 9:41 PM
Yeah. I dont see why Apple
needs to expose any of the !le
system on OS X. Just show any
iCloud docs for an app when
you launch it via the
Launchpad. That should cover
all use-case-scenarios. Its got
more electrolytes!
REPLY
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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Chucky
05/15/2014 - 9:47 PM
And, hey, Scott Siegling, you
wont know me cuz Im
pseudonymous, but I
remember you, cuz youre the
!rst person who showed me a
running copy of Mosaic, back in
an Iowa City medialab, and I
was like, Whoa!
REPLY
David Helms
05/15/2014 - 9:52 PM
I had the same problem and
this !xed it almost. If you
restart, its hidden again. Same
is true for /Users/Shared. There
must be a setting in a prefs !le
somewhere that needs to be
updated.
REPLY
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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tkamps2013
05/15/2014 - 10:23 PM
Same for me.hidden /Users
after update to 10.9..3 So bug
or feature??
REPLY
Howard Mullinack
05/16/2014 - 12:29 AM
My Users was hidden as well. I
had a deleted user in the
folder, and alas the update put
a Deleted Users folder in the
sidebar, which gave me access
to the deleted dmg.
The terminal command to
unhid did not persist after a
restart. I put the Users folder in
the sidebar, a trick that Ive
used over the past years for
the ever-disappearing Library
folder.
REPLY
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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Philippe
05/16/2014 - 2:50 AM
/Users/ is plain visible here,
one main user, two regular,
non-admin users. On my other
Mac, /Users is also visible.
I havent tried to restart yet.
REPLY
Joel
05/16/2014 - 5:55 AM
three out of four of my
computers have visible Users
folders, really strange. One
more to go tomorrow, probably
restart all of them again then
to see if they are still in their
current state.
I use command-shift-G and
enter /users to see the folder
on the one computer that
doesnt show it. Pretty easy,
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and dont have to worry about
it resetting on a restart.
REPLY
Abra Cadabra (@Dudikowski)
05/16/2014 - 6:39 PM
Here is a tip how to work with
the hidden Users folder. It
requires no scripts or terminal
!xes.
1. In Finder press Command-
Shift-G (Go to folder)
2. Type /Users and hit return
3. Optional. Drag your little
house icon to the sidebar in
Finder and you can forget
about all this.
REPLY
Kirk McElhearn
05/16/2014 - 6:41 PM
Sure, but some admins would
like access to /Users. And to
/Users/Shared, which also gets
hidden.
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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REPLY
Derek Currie
05/16/2014 - 8:54 PM
I use the same computer for
running both OS X Mavericks
10.9.x AND the AppleSeed
betas. I updated both
partitions with the same copy
of the !nal COMBO version of
the downloaded 10.9.3 update
installer.
ONE partition is missing the
/Users folder.
ONE partition is NOT.
I had repaired BOTH volumes,
including permissions, before
installation. The only
substantial di"erence between
them was that one was
updated from 10.9.2 and the
other was updated from a
three-versions-back of 10.9.3
beta.
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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To test this BUG, I ran
permissions repair on the
partition WITH the bug.
WRONG permissions were
found on both the Users folder
AND the Users/Shared folder.
Repairing the broken
permissions didnt !x the bug.
Your terminal command did.
REPLY
Derek Currie
05/16/2014 - 9:09 PM
Further fooling around: I also
found this bug extends to
/Users/Shared/. as indicated by
the broken permissions I
discovered. Therefore, I !xed
that folder by using an
extended version of your
Terminal command:
sudo ch#ags nohidden
/Users/shared
And now Shared is back where
it should be. Meanwhile, the
una"ected partition is still
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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perfectly happy, all folders
showing. Really odd bug.
Further thought makes me
believe that the broken
permissions on these folder
somehow lead to a process
that could not set the folders to
be revealed during the update.
At least, I have to assume the
broken permissions came !rst.
This is for Apple to repair.
Also of interest: The partition
that did NOT have the bug was
updated from the other
partition that did have the bug.
This meant that the happy
partition never had to go
through the Restart process of
the update. It was simply
updated. I then booted to it
myself, and all was well.
Therefore, Im going to guess
that this bug instantiates
during that Restart aspect of
the installation.
I hope that helps folks.
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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AND: Hi Kirk!
REPLY
David Helms
05/16/2014 - 9:42 PM
After browsing several websites
today, the bug does indeed
appear to be connected to
iTunes 11.2 AND Find My Mac
being on. So it appears the
cause doesnt really involve the
10.9.3 update directly.
With that being said here is the
permanent !x that I have tried
on my system and it did indeed
work for me (sourced originally
from somewhere on the Apple
discussion blogs):
Start your computer with Alt +
CMD + P + R in order to do a
PRAM reset
Then start your computer with
CMD + R for recovery partition
boot
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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Launch Disk Utility and repair
permissions. Quit Disk Utility
and open Terminal (Utilities ->
Terminal) and type:
cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD (or
the name of your partition)
chmod 755 Users
chmod 755 Users/Shared
ch#ags nohidden Users
ch#ags nohidden Users/Shared
Quit and reboot to the normal
Macintosh HD (or whatever the
name of your partition). The !x
will survive restarts. One poster
recommended a value of 1777
for the Users/Shared folder. I
dont know enough about the
!le #ags to know which is the
preferable value, but 755
seemed to work for me.
REPLY
Derek Currie
05/16/2014 - 10:54 PM
*sigh* Thank you. David. But
note that this is just a
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workaround. I still want a
permanent !x from Apple for
whatever crap code has
created this bizarro problem. I
cant recall an Apple installer
bug that was so convoluted.
REPLY
David Helms
05/16/2014 - 11:17 PM
Oh I agree completely this is a
just get me by !x. I have to
use a Windows computer at
work and like coming home to
a computer that just works.
Unfortunately, it almost feels
like Microsoft is creating the
Mac updates these days.
REPLY
Michael
05/17/2014 - 12:13 AM
/Users/Shared should be 1777
otherwise no one would be
able to write anything to the
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folder
the 1 is the sticky bit. In OS X it
means only the user that put
the !le in the folder can delete
it (except of course for the
admin).
REPLY
David Helms
05/17/2014 - 4:11 PM
Thanks for the clari!cation,
Michael. I went back with
Terminal under the recovery
partition boot and adjusted
this parameter on my
computer. I appreciate your
help with this!
REPLY
Michael
05/17/2014 - 12:20 AM
Re: ~/Library folder
Theres a Show Library Folder
option in the Home folders
8/16/14, 8:12 PM Bring Back the Hidden /Users Folder in OS X 10.9.3 | Kirkville
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2014 EYES OF THE WORLD LIMITED
Enter your comment here... Enter your comment here...
View Options
right-click in your Home
folders window,
choose View Options from
the pop-up menu
check the Show Library Folder
checkbox near the bottom
REPLY