Can I delete ~admin

[Healy]

I am currently running macOS Catalina 10.5.7. When I start up I get a black screen with a circle with a line through it and the note, “support.apple.com/mac/starup”
I can restart with the option key depressed. It then has me reenter my internet link and password.
I tried restart with command + R got the message:
The file “~admin” is located on the root of “___”. If you continue installing this file will be deleted.
Can I delete “~admin”?

Also, for some reason I can only have one finder window open at a time. This has never happened in the past. Is there a preference for this?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

-Which exact model Mac?
-When did this issue start - randomly, after a macOS upgrade/update, after a hardware upgrade, etc.?
-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup of your data?

C

 

[Healy]

Hello and welcome.

-Which exact model Mac?
-When did this issue start - randomly, after a macOS upgrade/update, after a hardware upgrade, etc.?
-Do you have a current Time Machine or other backup of your data?

C

It is an iMac (Retina 5k, 27-inch, Late 2015) running Catalina 10.15.7. I was part way through an upgrade and it had the problem when I restarted. I just use the option key when starting and go thru the previously mentioned steps. It runs like usual it is just a hassle at start up.

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK...

Maybe try these steps:
-Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac
-After second chime in above step, immediately hold the X key down until you see the Apple logo

See if that works,

C

 

[Healy]

Nothing changed. To reinstall the system it asked if could delete the file, “~admin”. Should I let it delete it?

 

[TonyAguila]

If you have a Time Machine backup, it should be okay to delete anything on the Mac. I would go ahead and delete the account, if that error message is even correct. I would start in Recovery and elect to reinstall macOS. More often than not, a macOS reinstall, or a reinstall of the latest combo updater will fix the problem.

A Time Machine backup is key. Redundancy is also great insurance. I also religiously make clones using Carbon Copy Cloner, but it’s not able to clone the system partition, and it will warn you accordingly; so if you try to boot from that drive, the older system will be loaded. I use the clones for migration if I have to reformat the startup drive, reinstall macOS, and then copy my latest data from the clone—but only if my Time Machine backup is not available.

I think Carbon Copy Cloner clones still work properly with Catalina, but definitely not with Big Sur and Monterey.

 

[Healy]

Thank you so much. Yes I have a Time Machine backup and a SuperDuper back up.
So in the view below I should just click on macOS Installer and let it do its thing?

 

[TonyAguila]

I think going into Recovery and installing from Apple’s server will be better. Is the volume macOS Installer a startup drive that contains the macOS installer? I assume Healy_4_18_21 is your startup drive.

Installing from the internet will provide you with the latest version, along with security updates. You just need to be connected to the internet. Catalina shouldn’t take very long to install. I do this quite routinely in Big Sur and Monterey, at the first sign of “weird” behavior.

Some will tell you to do an Internet Recovery (Cmd-Opt-R). This will only take up an inordinately longer time. A regular Recovery (Cmd-R) will still download the installer from the internet.

 

[Healy]

When I click on Software Updates in System Preferences it wants to update to macOS Big Sur. Should I stay with Catalina. This is a 27-inch Late 2015 iMac.

 

[TonyAguila]

That’s good. You have an iMac17,1. Big Sur will work fine, as it will probably also work in Monterey. Big Sur performs much better than Catalina mainly from it’s better execution of APFS. You can go ahead and perform the upgrade, although I would want to take advantage of the Big Sur version of APFS. Chances are your drive is also APFS from Catalina, a possible cause of your problems.

I still maintain bootable drives of Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur, but I reformatted them in Monterey (beta) before installation.

If you cannot afford the added time reformatting your drive with Disk Utility and restoring from Time Machine, I would go ahead and upgrade directly to Big Sur. With your Time Machine backup, you data is safe. Thinking ahead, you should consider reformatting your Time Machine drive to APFS as well. My guess is that one is still HFS+. Good luck!

 

[Healy]

I installed BigSur and it restarted after a half hour. The thermometer would get a third of the way and it would reboot. It did this numerous times until I rebooted with the option key down and it went back to the process of selecting the network and entering the password. It is still in Catalina but it works. .. .. . . . for now.

 

[Healy]

Is using the macOS Installer shown at left any different from the Software Upgrade in the System Preferences?

 

[TonyAguila]

It’s hard to tell if the updater in that installer disk is current. I suggest getting the latest version. Launch App Store from the  menu, search for “macOS Catalina” and it should present you with the Get button. Click to start the download… but when it’s done DO NOT install it right away. Quit if you have to.

The installer file (Install macOS Catalina.app) will be in your Applications folder. Make a copy of it in a separate folder. Afterwards, you can proceed with the installation by launching the installer file in Applications.

With the original installer still it Applications, a reboot will also automatically trigger the update. Itwill then disappear afterwards. That’s reason for making a copy in a different location. You might need it in future.

There were times when the App Store would not offer up the installer. If you can’t find it there, you can get it from,

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?mt=12

Enjoy!

 

[Healy]

Thank you!!! I did as you instructed but at this point do I delete, “~admin”?

 

[TonyAguila]

As long as you are confident that your Time Machine backup is good, by all means, yes!

 

[Healy]

How do I test my Time Machine backup?

 

[TonyAguila]

I can’t verify the steps on my Mac right now. I did a wipe and restore of my system drive last night and the backup that started this morning has three more hours to go. Try this anyway:

If you don’t have the Time Machine menu bar icon showing, select that option in Time Machine system preference (“Show Time Machine in menu bar”). Then click on the TM icon, hold down the Option key, and select Verify Backups.

Trying it myself now but the option is greyed out, probably because the backup session is still on-going.

 

[TonyAguila]

Let me know if it works for you. I have a feeling that the verify function is not working for me because my TM drives are APFS formatted.