In Mac OS X Server, a user's home folder is created with the following default folders:
- Desktop
- Documents
- Library
- Movies
- Music
- Pictures
- Public
- Sites
Not all users require these folders. You may want to change the template to reduce the amount of unnecessary folders and files, or to add custom applications and files.
The following steps explain how to edit the UserTemplate folder for each new home folder created. Please note that this procedure affects Mac OS X users only. Computers that use Mac OS 9 or Macintosh Manager will not behave the same as computers with Mac OS X.
1. Log in as the root user.
At the login screen, log in as the user 'root' with your Admin user password.
2. Go to /System/Library/UserTemplate.
Choose Go to folder from the Go menu then type "/System/Library/UserTemplate/" and click Go.
3. Open the localized folder for your location.
For English, double-click the file name "English.lproj" to open up the user's Home folder template for English home folders.
4. Edit the template folder to meet your needs.
- If you want to streamline the user's Home folders, you can delete folders that you don't need. Deleting certain folders may reduce Mac OS X's features. For example, deleting the Sites folder means users will not have a Web site in their home folder unless they create one.
- If you want to add folders, files or applications, you can create the files and folders appropriately. Note that items you add here will be duplicated in every new user's home folder, so if you add many files or applications or even a few large files or applications, you may need to expand the server's storage capacity.
- If you want to edit the default Web site for new users, create your default Web site and place it in the Sites folder. Make sure the index file is named 'index.html' so Apache will find it.
5. Create a new user and test.
Create a new user then look in their home folder. The contents should be an exact copy of the template. If it is not, make sure you edited the correct localized version of your UserTemplates folder.
Related documents
106290: "
Mac OS X: About the root user and How to Enable It"