Update: The glitch may be related with the latest versions of Find My Mac and iTunes, according to testing by The Mac Observer.
Since upgrading to OS X 10.9.3, some users are reporting that their /Users folder is now hidden. This means the folder is no longer visible when looking at the root of the hard drive in the Finder, which is inconvenient for Macs with multiple users installed.
With OS X Lion, Apple took the liberty to hide the Library folder from OS X users. However, it does not seem like hiding the /Users directory is an Apple design decision. Many users are still seeing this folder after updating and the behaviour is consistent. The most likely conclusion is that is simply a bug that slipped through to final release, despite Apple’s new beta testing program. If you are affected by this bug, you can find out how to make your /Users folder visible again after the break …
Thankfully, the fix is simple. Open a Terminal and type:
sudo chflags nohidden /Users
Verify you have typed this command exactly and hit Enter. The command prompt will then ask you to enter your Mac administrator password. Your keystrokes won’t appear in the console, but this is normal. They are still being registered. Type your password and press enter. Your /Users folder will now be visible again. Close the open Terminal window to finish your session.
As usual, Apple has been asked for comment on the matter and we’ll update if we hear anything.
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Unfortunately after a restart, it goes back to being hidden.
True. The workaround here would be
sudo ln -s /Users /Users\ Folder; ln -s /Users/Shared /Users/Shared\ Folder
This will put a link to the Users folder called “Users Folder” on your Hard Drive and a link to the Shared folder called “Shared Folder” inside of the Users folder.
Thanks Benjamin. I’ve also been having a problem when searching spotlight, in the way that now of my folders show up anymore. This is a pre 10.9.3 issue that I recently found a couple of days ago, any help please
Just to add, Folders is ticked on the Spotlight Preferences>Search Results
Uau… thank you for the fix… i just notice that I was affected too…
Doesn’t survive a reboot though, without scripting it for every reboot.
I used the “Go to Folder” item of the Go menu, and then put the folder in the sidebar.
Thank you for the fix… Just notice that I was affected too… Got it fixed
Under Users where is the shared folder
All good for me since the upgrade: Users visible in Finder and in Terminal…
If you add the /Users folder to the sidebar it remains visible there, but not in the finder otherwise, after a restart.
It’s definitely not surviving a reboot and the Shared user doesn’t appear after running this Terminal command. 3 of my 4 machines are affected (the only one that isn’t affected was a fresh install of 10.9 and hasn’t had data migrated to it). Getting to the Shared folder is a bigger issue for me, since the main user is in the sidebar and I can see everything from there. Of course, 10.9 also has a problem with folders disappearing from the Favorites area of the sidebar (they seem to be only network folders) so maybe that’s not much of a consolation… Is it me, or does 10.9 seem to be one of the worst Apple OS releases ever (we didn’t even adopt it until 10.9.2 after some of the major Mail issues were resolved).
I’m much the same, Users folder is hidden, and after the terminal fix. It still ‘re-hides’ itself with every reboot. Waiting for an apple response to you guys.
My “Users” disappeared after upgrade and reappeared after typing “sudo chflags nohidden /Users” into terminal followed by my password. Thanks to 9to5Mac for the instruction.
It’s really a permissions issue, which is why it doesn’t survive a reboot. Run “repair permissions” in Disk Utility, then run “sudo chmod 755 /Users” in addition to “sudo chflags nohidden /Users”.
Here is the command needed to unhide both /Users and /Users/Shared:
sudo chflags nohidden /Users /Users/Shared
sudo chmod 755 /Users
chmod 1777 /Users/Shared
Oops, forgot the sudo on the last line.
sudo chflags nohidden /Users /Users/Shared
sudo chmod 755 /Users
sudo chmod 1777 /Users/Shared
Followed your instructions and the folder still disappears after rebooting. I already have it pinned in the Finder so I don’t really care either way but you’d think that two sudo commands wouldn’t be overturned by restarting OS X.
I had to restart twice before it stuck, not sure why that would matter… but it is staying for me now.
I haven’t updated to 10.9.3 yet, I just haven’t found a convenient time to want to reboot my mac. However, I just checked, and my /Users folder is hidden already and I’m still on 10.9.2! I think Apple may have the ability to push out security updates or other individual files that might be responsible for hiding this folder.
I actually don’t feel like this is a bug. It feels to me like an intentional design decision. Including that it re-hides on reboot. Apple has been busy hiding folders people don’t need to see. I feel like obscuring where a user’s home folder is, is one more step on a long journey of making the file system less daunting for regular people. If you want to go to your home folder you can use the sidebar or the Finder Go menu. (This is what I think is *their* logic, I haven’t decided yet how I feel about it.)
10.9.3 Also rehides user-level Library folders. But at least those can be reactivated with the checkbox in View Options.
How many people REALLY go into the /Users folder? I almost never do. On a Mac with multiple users, the Desktop, Music, Pictures, Documents, etc. folders will be inaccessible by other users anyway, so going into /Users doesn’t make sense. Only the additional folders created by other users will be accessible, and even then, we may not want them to be. I don’t care if the folder got hidden. You can still get to it by using the Go to Folder… command from the Go menu or Command + G. Just type in /Users, and hit return.
Wow, really? That’s a pretty sad defense for taking something away that has existed since the OS was released. There is no excuse for this. If it’s a bug it needs fixed. If its a decision by Apple then it’s a damned stupid one and whoever made it needs to be dealt with.
“How many people REALLY go into the /Users folder?” is perhaps the dumbest response to something like this I have ever seen. Just because you don’t do it doesn’t mean the rest of us should be punished with your lack of file system knowledge.
I agree… and everyone DOES go into the /Users folder since it is the path to their home folder. I can understand hiding /Library or ~/Library since most actually don’t need to go in there, even /System… but /Users? It doesn’t make sense to break the path so no one can actually navigate to where their home folder resides. As a system admin I will be modifying this on all of my user’s Macs and in my images (if it doesn’t get resolved/reversed).
I think you and a lot of other people are getting way too worked up over this. Do you really need to attack me and call me dumb for having an opinion about something? That’s really sad. I’ve been a Mac user for over 20 years. I used NeXT before OS X even existed on the market. I’m very familiar with OS X. Just because something has always been there does not mean that it can’t be changed. Oh.. and by the way. I have an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator certification. I know OS X extremely well, probably better than most people who come here. You’re entitled to your opinion, and I respect that. You won’t see me bash someone just because they think differently from me.
is this how mac os is going to be like from now on? we all have to be programmers???!
Dave Hamilton — wrote this up
“Most – but not all – folks who upgraded to 10.9.3 yesterday immediately began noticing that their /Users folders had disppeared. Those who looked also found that their /Users/Shared folders had disappeared.
Never fear, we published a few tricks to unhide those folders.
We became curious when more and more people began reporting that their folders hadn’t disappeared, so we set about doing some isolation testing. After all, OS X 10.9.3 wasn’t the only update Apple released yesterday. iTunes 11.2 made its public debut, as well.
Turns out that hidden /Users folder has nothing to do with OS X 10.9.3. Your /Users and /Users/Shared folders will be hidden by OS X upon every reboot of your Mac if you have updated to iTunes 11.2 and have Find My Mac enabled.
This hiding of the /Users folder happens at reboot, so it’s possible to still see it even after updating iTunes with Find My Mac enabled. Once you reboot it will disappear. Even if you use our trick above it will still disappear after you restart your Mac.
Once it’s hidden it will stay hidden, though, even if you disable Find My Mac and then reboot. However, if you disable Find My Mac and run our Terminal command in the aforementioned article, the folder will stay visible.
One of our readers indicated that Apple said this is intentional. If it were in 10.9.3 I would believe it. But seeing as how it’s related to the iTunes update, I’m not sure. We’ll reach out to Apple and let you know if we hear anything official.”
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/hidden-users-folder-result-of-itunes-11.2-and-find-my-mac-combination-not-1
Fixed with iTunes update 11.2.1 (1).
I was also affected by it. When you really want to hide or view a folder then you can also use http://www.showhiddenfilesmac.com.
Thanks for the fix!! I was getting crazy on that thing!
I still have a question though… I need to restore some files from my Time Capsule but some of the User’s folders there are also hidden. How do I do the same thing on the Time Capsule? Is that even possible to make them visible?
Thanks in advance! You are a life saver!