10.9.3 Update Makes /Users/ Hidden

[pblake]

Seems with the 10.9.3 update Apple is hiding the Users folder. I believe Apple had done this by design, but it also could be a bug. I don't see any harm in it as users couldn't see other users files anyway. The only harm is maybe to people who use the "Shared User" folder. Regardless, I wanted to let you all know.

If you want to change it back here is a fix below.

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 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.

[djohnson]

I'm not seeing /Users hidden on the system I updated last night.

Anyone else?

[justin]

is this for non-admin users only? I see my /Users dir.

[dpertschi]

Maybe...

There are more than a few folks over on the MacEnterprise list saying that this did not happen to them and the /Users folder is still visible. Worth keeping an eye out for though.

[dgreening]

I've updated a few test machines and am not seeing /Users hidden on any of them.

[colonelpanic]

I have yet to see this on any systems that I own, however I have also seen reports of this happening. I am wondering if this was some soft of bug.

[pblake]

I am going to run a bunch of tests today. Some updates through App Store some through combo update. I will test a few with AD Binding, Centrify Binding, and no binding.
I will report the results.

[damienbarrett]

Did NOT happen on my work iMac.
But it DID happen on my home iMac.

[golbiga]

I had one machine that had /Users and /Users/Shared hidden and /Users was also set to 777.

[pblake]

Someone in our London office spoke to Apple, they said they are unaware of any change and have not received calls. I will hopefully get some testing done today.

[corbinmharris]

The Users hidden issue affects my MBP. Though most of our end users won't notice, we will hold off on deploy 10.9.3 until an official fix.

With all the Mavericks issues, we are certainly not going to rush into 10.10 when it is released late this year or next.

[mm2270]

I've only installed it on one Mac, by downloading and installing the standalone Combo Updater, and I didn't see the /Users folder become hidden. I have to believe this is a bug, because it actually doesn't make much sense to hide that. I get hiding the user level Library folder, but not /Users. What would be the reason for that exactly?

[robb1068]

I have one laptop (MBP) running the 10.9.3 pre-release and the /Users folder was not hidden. Updated and the /Users folder remained visible.

I also had one other laptop (MBA) that was updated from OS X 10.8.5 to 10.9 through the App Store. Ran the update and the /Users folder remained visible as well.

[millersc]

We've just begun testing 10.9.3 and have NOT see this as of yet. This is less than 6 units (MBA/MBP/IMAC). Will post if we see anything.

[daz_wallace]

4 Macs updated using the Mac App Store Software updates from 10.9.2 to 10.9.3.

2 have the issue and 2 do not.

Seems like some sort of bug.

[mm2270]

Hmm, similar to the issue with one of their OS updates - which one was it? 10.8.5? - that was making the mach_kernel file visible after installation. Apple's getting kind of sloppy I think.

[golbiga]

Looks like this is tied to Find my Mac being turned on.

https://twitter.com/mikeymikey/status/467337054968246272

[pblake]

@daz_dar - Do you have Find My Mac on the two that were affected? Seems odd that would be the issue.

[golbiga]

The one machine that had /Users and /Users/Shared hidden had Find My Mac turned on. The other two machines that did not have the issue did not.

[nessts]

Did NOT happen to my machines

[mpermann]

I upgraded a MacBook Pro and Mac Pro using the combo updater and the MacBook Pro experienced the issue. If i look at the iCloud System Preference neither are logged into iCloud. But it is possible that I did at one point have my MacBook Pro linked to my iCloud account.

[damienbarrett]

I can confirm that I had Find My Mac enabled on the one machine that had the /Users folder hidden. It was disabled on the one that kept the /Users folder visible.

[robb1068]

The two laptops I upgraded included both the OS X 10.9.3 update and iTunes 11.2, but neither had the Find my Mac feature enabled, as Allen had noted.

MacObserver posted that it's related to the iTunes 11.2 update and not OS X 10.9.3

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/hidden-users-folder-result-of-itunes-11.2-and-find-my-mac-combination-not-1

[golbiga]

It looks like Apple pulled the initial iTunes 11.2 update. I just checked my reposado server and the version I downloaded last night was deprecated.

Update: The new version does not resolve this issue.

[donmontalvo]

I wonder if this fiasco is due to the public being asked to participate in the 10.9.3 seed? Non-technical public folks don't really know what to test or what to look for.

That, or WiPro/InfoSys (the two offshore companies that Apple have been farming out patch development to in the past few years) simply did not do adequate UAT. ;)

http://goo.gl/dGQHQx

[rtrouton · Accepted solution]

It looks like this issue has been tied to two causes:

1. iTunes 11.2 being installed
2. iCloud's Find My Mac being enabled.

I've got a post on the issue and what currently fixes it available here:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/users-folder-being-hidden-with-itunes-11-2-installed-and...

[mm2270]

Wow, just sloppy bs on Apple's part. They need to can this outsourcing nonsense and bring it all back in house where people actually give a s#it about quality work. Of course I know that's just a dream and will never happen, but at the very least I hope someone at Apple takes a trip out to these firms and makes it clear that they need to up their quality control or they're out of the picture. Their track record with OS updates the last couple of years has been pretty bad.

Its also pretty crazy that turning Find My Mac back on will re-hide the folder. :S
I would love to know what wacky code is installed that's doing that!

[donmontalvo]

I just heard that a build of iTunes 11.2 was just released?

[pblake]

@rtrouton - As always, you have all the answers. Great post!

[chilcote]

@rtrouton One important note for IT admins is that if they are repurposing a Mac, they'll need to make sure the nvram key 'fmm-mobileme-token-FMM' is deleted before provisioning. If FMM was not deactivated on the machine before reformat/restore, this key will persist and the issue will continue to affect the Mac, regardless of whether FMM is activated on the new system or not.

[jhbush]

A little info on what @chilcote describes http://ilostmynotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/disable-find-my-mac-by-modifiying-nvram.html

[andrew_stenehje]

Looks like they've released iTunes 11.2.1 to address it: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/itunes-11.2.1-fixes-hidden-users-folder-bug-restores-folder-v...

[CGundersen]

Hi Andrew. Yep, there's 11.2 1 in my AutoDMG Apply Updates section. Hopefully no more builds before the weekend is out. :)

[barnesaw]

@mm2270

Wow, just sloppy bs on Apple's part. They need to can this outsourcing nonsense and bring it all back in house where people actually give a s#it about quality work. Of course I know that's just a dream and will never happen, but at the very least I hope someone at Apple takes a trip out to these firms and makes it clear that they need to up their quality control or they're out of the picture. Their track record with OS updates the last couple of years has been pretty bad.

Sorry, but QA is still on Apple's head. It doesn't matter who writes the code - the testing was inadequate. And nothing short of abandoningthe yearly release cycle is going to make it any better. The instant 10.9 was out the bulk of their software resources went to the next big thing instead of focusing on the issues. Gotta have something new next year, after all.

This is why we're still running 10.8 on any machine that didn't ship with 10.9, and will always be one release cycle behind. 10.9 is 10.8 SP1. And you never run an OS in production until the second service pack.

[scottb]

Apple has changed things in the way they test pre-GM builds. How's that for skirting rules? Let's just say that the last few iterations of OS X have not been fully tested before release. I don't get the reasons for the change - this one would certainly have been caught if it was seeded and/or released to the dev community for testing. In the end, hardly a show-stopper, but an embarrassing and needless mistake.

[donmontalvo]

That's the beauty (cough) of outsourcing, where the offshore team are shielded/protected while onshore team is accountable for the gross incompetence/failure.

Remember Scott Forestall and the Apple Maps Fiasco? It's a safe bet his parachute included an NDA to the tune of "Don't reveal how the offshore team forked things up, here is a stack of cash to go away silently."

Welcome to the lucrative world of outsourcing. Not all of it is bad. But I've seen an incredible amount of "Just go with it; just look the other way". Most folks never expected Apple to go into that rabbit hole. Welcome to profit at all costs.

At the end of the day, great talent walks and cheap labor from third world body shops replaces it. Worst case scenario, but quite likely in this case.

[jhbush]

@donmontalvo I just don't see the need for a new OS every year. I'm not asking for one and most users are happy with a stable OS over "new" features that will buggy at best for quite some time. Apple is quickly losing the "It just works" reputation with users. How do they expect people to get accustomed to working when they keep changing the fundamental OS and interupting productivity. Users shouldn't be expected to relearn key portions of how they work every time Apple ships a new OS.

[donmontalvo]

I should provide a bit of context. Not all outsourced resources are incompetent/incapable. If you ever get the chance to work with Karthikeyan Marappan or Vishnu Kulkarni, trust these are top tier resources.

But for each top tier resource, there are dozens who lie and bloat their resumes with Googled keywords and copied/pasted blurbs, all in an effort to land a position they are are not qualified for. The irony, expect offshore managers to lie and fight for them. Hit me up offline for the comical/gory details. ;)

Outsourcing isn't all bad but there are tons of charlatans, shysters, and con artists deep rooted in the business. Adobe and Microsoft are just the most visible examples of "failure for profit".

It's a bad sign when a company goes down that road. Sad.

[mm2270]

The problem with this kind of thinking is that, it takes a lot of hard work and often years to build up a reputation of being a reliable and quality outfit, the way Apple has done over the last decade plus. It only takes a few really bad mistakes to lose all that in the public eye. This is even more true for Apple, who is under almost constant scrutiny from the peanut gallery crowd who believe in their hearts that their success has been nothing but a fluke. They aren't Microsoft where they can regularly release crap and everyone just accepts thats the way it is. They can only not care about this for so long.

I would think that hard earned reputation would be worth spending some more bucks on quality control to maintain what they've built. In the end, chasing pure profits will kill any company. Apple has never been just about profit only, so hopefully this isn't what's happening here, or I don't see their success lasting very long.

[donmontalvo]

All bets are off when shareholders run the show:

http://goo.gl/qaWFu3