back to article Users folder vanished after OS X 10.9.3 update? Here's a fix

If you updated to OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 after it was released on Thursday, did your Users folder disappear from the Finder listing of the root level of your startup volume? Happened to some; didn't happen to others. Go figure. No, it hasn't been deleted – that would certainly be a colossal cock-up on Apple's part, now, wouldn' …

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  1. ecofeco Silver badge

    Uh oh

    Is it just me or has there been a string of problem with all things Apple lately?

    Rhetorical question and by lately I mean over the last few years.

    1. 45RPM Silver badge

      Re: Uh oh

      It's not just you. But, on the other hand, there've been a whole string of problems with Linux, Android, Windows and <insert name of any OS here>. Even VMS hasn't been immune - although the problem there is mainly an inconveniently placed bullet in the head courtesy of HP.

      If you expect Apple to be infallible and believe that they don't normally ever have any problems then yes, panic! Unusual number of problems and bad news. If you expect them to be human then they're no worse than most and a lot better than some.

      So have you been at the koolaid again?

      1. ItsNotMe
        WTF?

        @ 45RPM

        "But, on the other hand, there've been a whole string of problems with Linux, Android, Windows and <insert name of any OS here>. Even VMS hasn't been immune - ..."

        OK Mister...that will be just enough of your logical thinking. One more outburst like this, and I am afraid you will need to turn in your official ElReg Commentard membership card.

        This is no place for sensible thought or comments.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Uh oh

      "Is it just me or has there been a string of problem with all things Apple lately?"

      Its looking suspiciously like Steve Jobs *was* the quality control at Apple. Sometimes you need someone with an attitude who's prepared to kick some backside and herd all the cats (and mix metaphors). Since he died there seems to be a an increasing Microsoft style "lets release it early and let the users beta test it" approach.

      1. chivo243 Silver badge

        Re: Uh oh

        think harmonic convergence here man! Apple has a road map to unify OSX and iOS, that was Steve’s plan for global domination...

      2. Frankee Llonnygog

        Re: Steve Jobs *was* the quality control at Apple.

        He must have been putting in quite a few hours on the production line at Foxconn

    3. Mr. EMan

      Re: Uh oh

      "Is it just me or has there been a string of problem with all things Apple lately?”

      Actually, it’s gotten much, much better. From 10.0 - 10.4, I would never update until I had read the litany of issues over at Macintouch. I remember issues like losing Wifi, or even losing RAM from cheap suppliers—all from OS updates.

      I usually just wait a few hours (instead of a few days) before upgrading, but it’s been a while since I’ve run into any issue (knocks on aluminum).

      Generally, I still go with the rule of: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

      1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

        Re: Uh oh

        Actually, it’s gotten much, much better. From 10.0 - 10.4, I would never update until I had read the litany of issues over at Macintouch. I remember issues like losing Wifi, or even losing RAM from cheap suppliers—all from OS updates.

        I think 10.5 was my first version and it was pretty solid. 10.6.0 (the move to x86_64) was a "brown bag" release and I generally steer clear of the x.0 releases. The OS is in general better now that the number of toolkits has been reduced but there's still room for improvement: adopting a "ports" like approach for the Posix stuff would be a big plus.

    4. JeffyPoooh
      FAIL

      Re: Uh oh

      Yes, Apple .EQ. FAIL recently.

      Their latest iOS Podcasts app 2.1 Simply. Doesn't. Work. The recent reviews back up the fact that it is not just me. When I'm made King, there would be summary executions for such buggy software releases.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I find the Apple laptops the best hardware suited to my needs, but OS X has gone down massively in quality in recent years... These days it feels like we are the beta testers and the OS is plagued with problems that never seem to go away like bad WiFi and problems waking from sleep... I never have this problem when I dual boot in Windows

    1. Valeyard

      With me it's the macbook air: lock the screen with a 2nd monitor in and about 50% of the time waking it won't bring up a login screen until you unplug that other monitor...

  3. Financegozu

    If you have stuff in the /shared folder the /User stays

    - On my MacbookPro I have 1 user and nothing in the /shared folder ➞ /Users disappears (and also /shared)

    - On my MacPro I have 1 user and stuff in the /Shared folder ➞ /Users stays

  4. Eddy Ito
    Trollface

    What kind of update frees over 82 GB of space and manages to consume all of it plus another 50 MB?

    1. Frankee Llonnygog

      What kind of update frees over 82 GB ...to consume all of it plus another 50

      One that takes up 132 GB?

  5. John Sanders
    Trollface

    I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

    To install Linux on it.

    1. Steven Raith

      Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

      I'm getting to that stage meself; I did have Ubuntu on here and only used OS X when I needed to use OS X specific stuff (as I occasionally troubleshoot apple gear - working with Airports etc is far easier from an OS X based machine, my office job database is in Filemaker, etc) but it got broken with every 10.X update.

      I eventually didn't reinstall it one day (I have it on my bigbox at home anyway) and I've been using OS X since, exclusively, on my Macbook that I use as a daily tech support hack.

      However, recently, I've been having problems reconnecting to wifi upon getting out of sleep, and it's fucking infuriating; I used sleep as it's a convenience that OS X was always, apparently, better than any other OS at.

      At this rate, I might just nuke the system, install OS X + my Mac tools that I need, and then just do everything else in Ubuntu - I'm sick to fucking death of having to disable/re-enable wifi two or three times before it reconnects to the same damned access point I was talking to twenty minutes ago every time I put the lid down.

      Something has gone badly wrong with OS X quality control - are we seeing another drop in QA like wot was seen in the early 90s, when Apple was a joke in the hardware and software industry?

      1. rvt

        Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

        I understand why you want to install linux, but please, don't talk about ubuntu that's just far more buggy then any other linux distro.

        Let me search your files, ooo here are also some amazon ads for you, wtf!

        1. Adam Inistrator

          Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

          ubuntu buggy? - bullshit

          1. JeffyPoooh
            FAIL

            Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

            AI "ubuntu buggy? - bullshit"

            I still haven't found my PC's MBR eaten by Ubuntu 10.something.

            1. Steven Raith

              Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

              If you're you're looking for a Windows MBR after installing Ubuntu, then you're doing it wrong; GRUB takes over and it's far friendlier.

              And not directed at jeffypoo, but at the usual anti-Canonical crap - as for the Amazon search stuff - ooh, scary. Other than that tickbox that says 'don't send my results to outside sources' or whatever it is - I turned it off three revisions ago and haven't touched it since, and (I think) three upgrades later, that preference hasn't been changed. It's not like it's not well publicised, and it's not like it's hidden away - it's a radio button in the general preferences for fucks sake. Grow up.

              I understand why they do it - they need income. I have contributed to Ubuntu (badly) and other OSS projects (rather better - translation stuff, rather better) and I get the reasons for it.

              I disagree with them, I make that clear with my preference choices, which are not even remotely hidden.

              Take your anti-Canonical bullshit elsewhere, child - the rest of us are smart enough to see what this is; it's not like the option to turn it off is obfuscated, and how to opt out hidden away (I dare anyone to suggest otherwise - go on, I fucking dare you. Take Windows 8's online accounts as a running start, you smartarse pricks; and then install Windoews 8.1 and still tell me that it's hidden in comparison to the 'keep using my local account' option), so why get so angsty about it?

              Ah, wait, you're a free software advocate as opposed to someone who actually is involved in free software and understands the politics involved in it.

              As for bugs, it's free software - holy crap, it's not quite as smooth as OS X 10.9.3 - which has billions of dollars behind it and is still broken for a substantial minority of users since 10.9.2 - but at least Ubuntu maintains it's connectivity between sessions.

              In short, STFU, children, and leave the adults to talk.

              Steven R

              1. Steven Raith

                Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

                Boy, I can really rant when I've had some booze in me, eh?

                Steven R

                1. Blitterbug
                  Thumb Up

                  Re: Boy, I can really rant when I've had some booze in me, eh?

                  Yep - but so articulately and compellingly that you got an UV from me - and I don't even use Linux! ('less I have to repair a fuxxed PC)

              2. Trixr

                Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

                I've used Grub to dual boot Ubuntu/Windows for years. And twice an update has managed to nuke my MBR. Which, yes, Windows requires after Grub has handed over booting to Windows.

                It might be "friendlier", but it sure as hell ain't rock solid. It's all very well to say that some preference you set 100 years ago works in one trivial instance, but something important like Grub should not nuke your boot order preference whenever it feels like it.

                It also drives me nuts how I have to re-enable my touchpad every time I log into Mint. Sure, I have a little script doing it at start-up now, but I should not have had to have created one if it is supposed to remember my preferences so well. (And yes, my /home is a separate partition, so don't give me the n00b guff).

                1. Steven Raith

                  Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

                  Interesting - I've never seen Grub eat an MBR, but as always, a survey of one etc.

                  Regardless, noted - I'll watch me MBRs in multiboot situations from now on. Upvote DELIVERED.

        2. Aaronage

          Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

          It's a two second process to toggle online search off, hardly the greatest inconvenience of all time.

          14.04 is solid - I'm using Xubuntu 14.04 at work and Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 at home, both have yet to throw a wobbly.

          Thinking about it, I never had issues with 13.10, 13.04 or 12.10 either. Some of my hardware didn't work out of the box with those releases, but you can't blame Canonical for none-existent support in the kernel (some will try, I'm sure)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

        There was a problem similar to this a few years back and it turned out to be the routers that were the cause. In the case of my Draytek a update solved the issue. The problem was also manifesting itself with my Xbox but in a different way. Again the same update fixed the issue.

        1. Steven Raith

          Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

          Mr HIll, thanks for the reminder, I had that exact same problem with Macbook/Draytek and an update to the modem fixed it (and gave me new features - yay!). Chromecasts don't like the Draytek AP either it seems, although I haven't tried it since the last update to my 2830; I've just been using my Engenius ESR600 with the latest firmware since before Chrimble - and it's only been a problem since 10.9.2 came out in Feb.

          Occams Razor and all that!

          Steven R

          (PS: that engenius AP has been nicely reliable, incidentally - I'll cheekily suggest going to solwise.co.uk if you're interested in one, they are excellent technical resellers and have earned that plug with the help they've given me over the years on larger/more niche projects)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I find Apple hardware extremelly good...

      Not many O/S's that upgrade themselves in one window while you carry on working on them. When it's ready, simply reboot and you're ready to carry on rolling.

      Total downtime for upgrade on Xbunutu from 13.10 to 14.04 last Friday, 45 seconds to simply reboot the box after the upgrade! Now try to compare that with the other leading "washing powders".

  6. grchauvet

    Another workaround is to create a symbolic link to the hidden directory - a bit ugly, but it works and it won't go away on reboot.

  7. Jason Hindle

    No biggie

    But thanks for the explanation. I've only one user so probably wouldn't have noticed, as long as I can get to my work. Annoying now I know about it 8-).

  8. Vector

    Would someone PLEASE explain to me...

    ...this fetish for eliminating the filesystem? Apple and Google both seem quite intent on this in their mobile offerings and I just don't understand. The first thing I have to do when I get a new mobile device is grab a file manager of some sort so I can get to my files.

    I know there's search and applications can filter the file types they consume, but IMHO there's just no substitute for a good old fashioned file listing.

    1. Mike Bell

      Re: Would someone PLEASE explain to me...

      It's probably because your average mall rat is more worried about things like photos & videos (which you can see), songs (which invariably have album covers), and message threads.

      They may be supported by a filing system or database under the hood, but your typical phone user probably isn't interested in that. When you click a photo and have an option to 'share' or print it, it's mostly of no concern that something called a file (maybe) that represents the photo is involved somewhere along the line.

    2. bazza Silver badge

      Re: Would someone PLEASE explain to me...

      Call me cynical, but I suspect it has more to do with advertising revenue than anything else.

      All the major players want you to not have a file system (at least, not one that you see). They want you to use their file system in their cloud. Ideally they would like you to want to use it, so they make it free, they add some crude sync features, etc. But just to make sure they make it harder or impossible to use the file system on your device / PC / Mac / whatever.

      The catch is that once your stuff is in their cloud they can (because you accepted the EULA which, at clause 754.1.a.iv, says so) rummage through your stuff and sell the resulting advertising data.

      It's not just Apple. The latest versions of Office + Windows save files to SkyDrive (or whatever it's called now) by default.

      Paid-for cloud services (Dropbox?) maybe less inclined to rummage through your stuff, though shareholder profit pressure will erode that fairly quickly I should imagine.

      In Apple's case I suspect that their original motive to hide the file system from you on iPhone was more to do with DRM control of music on your device. If you can't see the files, it's harder to rip them off. However, I suspect that nowadays their motivation is more to do with advertising than DRM.

    3. lpcollier

      Re: Would someone PLEASE explain to me...

      Actually, eliminating the file system should be the next big step in operating system development, so long as it's done right. It's like the difference between a spreadsheet and a relational database. Flat file systems give you one way to reference a file (path+filename) that hopefully contains enough information for you to find the file and know what it is. Searching relies mostly on the name. Files ought to be referenced by every piece of information that helps you know what it is - rather than deciding if it's /Users/me/work/customers/bob/invoice1 or /Users/me/work/invoices/paid/bob1, it should be all of those. I think that's the idea of the OSX tags, but it hasn't been developed far enough to date.

    4. Jason Hindle

      Re: Would someone PLEASE explain to me...

      Mostly because they can't tell the difference between a bog standard consumer and someone who does real work with their equipment. The day Apple forgets this distinction, it's next stop Linux for me*.

      * Ok, better to say 100% Linux for me - I already use a couple of Mint VMs for many tasks.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Twenty years it took me to recover from my first Road Mac...

    ...and I end up buying another one with Mavericks out of the box. At least it runs Windows...

  10. Strange Fruit

    This is getting worrying

    I handle a lot of audio and video data. I use the file system to keep stuff organised. Apple seem to be increasingly trying to take that control away from me. Logic X now puts project into 'packages' which are really just folders, but with the useful added feature of not being searchable (yes, you can open and search them, but the contents won't be indexed on a global search). Seriously, who in hell thought that that was a good idea?

    I can see that the 'technologically ignorant user' is a good sector to design for, but they appear to be applying too much of that approach to their professional market as well and it's starting to make life difficult.

    1. Mike Bell

      Re: This is getting worrying

      Dabblers like myself really appreciate Logic X packages. Whereas before I had a bunch of folders to navigate, I've now got a bunch of composition icons in one place. It's a nice simple abstraction. Not for everyone, but you do have the choice of saving your projects one way or another.

  11. tempemeaty
    Meh

    Dear Tim Cook, what's on the desk is still not an oversize hand-held "i"device.

    Hiding more from users and giving them less control of their files...does that make for the better customer "Experience" that Steve had talked about being so important when he was still alive. Do we want to go against that now? Really?

    Personally I don't think it's worth the blow-back.

    1. Mike Bell

      Re: Dear Tim Cook, what's on the desk is still not an oversize hand-held "i"device.

      Don't get carried away. It was an iTunes bug that has now been fixed in update 11.2.1 today.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dear Tim Cook, what's on the desk is still not an oversize hand-held "i"device.

        But an issue that should have been caught during Beta testing. Not to mention that this bug was a huge vulnerability.

        http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6251

        Impact: A local user can compromise other local user accounts

        Description: Upon each reboot, the permissions for the /Users and /Users/Shared directories would be set to world-writable, allowing modification of these directories. This issue was addressed with improved permission handling. For information on the general content of iTunes 11.2.1, see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5434.

        CVE-ID

        CVE-2014-1347

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Dear Tim Cook, what's on the desk is still not an oversize hand-held "i"device.

          Upon each reboot, the permissions for the /Users and /Users/Shared directories would be set to world-writable

          That's astonishingly incompetent and should have been the headline to the article - even worse that it was caused not by a system update, but by an application one.

  12. Scroticus Canis
    WTF?

    It is getting weird

    Last night (Saturday 01:00 BST) App Store notification bounces into view advising updates are available so launch it to see what's up and it's just iTunes 11.2 and Dig. Camera 5.05 so let it install those and nothing else is reported as available. Close down and off to bed.

    Yet this morning after reading this article and therefore checking App Store manually, OSX 10.9.3 and iTunes 11.2.1 are waiting. Yet it was released on Thursday. WTF is happening I ask?

    Giving it a few days before thinking of installing to see if any other crap floats to the surface.

  13. Scott Broukell
    Coat

    Air today, gone tomorrow

    <see title>

  14. Tim99 Silver badge
    Gimp

    I'm probably being dim, but

    Can't you just drag Users into the sidebar when you have made it visible?

    Alternatively [Cmd]+[Shift]+[G] usually remembers the last folder that it used.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks like it was a cock up

    iTunes update pushed out today has fixed my Macbook

    1. Thomas Gray

      Re: Looks like it was a cock up

      Yes, I was just coming to post the same.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        WTF?

        Re: Looks like it was a cock up

        Quite odd that iTunes can make the /Users folder disappear. It shouldn't really have rights to do that.

        I didn't have the problem by the way.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...we doubt they'd be that stupid"

    They were stupid enough to remove double clicking a folder opening in a new window, for no obvious benefit at all since you could set that as a behaviour anyway. So I think think the 'stupid' bar has been moved in the wrong direction, even if the disappearing user folder was an accident.

  17. ShrNfr

    A tad better file system than 10.9.2 though

    On the other hand, 10.9.3 fixed some of the horror show that happened to the file system performance in 10.9.2 for some folks. It was also cute to have lots of apps crashing every time they accessed the file system.

  18. Matthew 17

    started with 10.7

    Apple decided that ~/Library should be invisible in Finder, no idea why but have to 'unhide' it every time I reset permissions.

    Didn't have this issue with /Users but it was fixed almost immediately.

    1. Tim99 Silver badge
      Gimp

      Re: started with 10.7

      @Mathew 17

      You can just tick an option box or, for occasional use, hold down the option key....Link macobserver.com

  19. Tim Bates

    At least it was still booting

    We don't see many Macs in our shop, but the last 3 months or so, we've had a series of Macs, all with the same problem - did updates, now it won't boot. In each case, the filesystem was too messed up for Mac OSX to read or repair it.

    We booted a Linux live CD, mounted the disk, copied their data off, and factory restored the silly things.

  20. unwarranted triumphalism

    And people say Macintoshes don't do anything...

    Yeah they do, they occupy space.

  21. string
    Holmes

    moral of the story is

    don't update straight away... let someone else do the debug for you.

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