Removing Zenoss User Account Gloriously

One of those long list of the pleasure of using MacOS X is the fact that it is a UNIX derivative. Being reliable, fast, network-native, secure and stable are some of its destiny and as in apple product tradition, it is packed in a sexy body, and very friendly. Yes, I slept with my mac often.

Being great and all, it is an ideal station to monitor network. That's when Zenoss came in. A very good software indeed. As all what I love, it also comes and goes. There was time to uninstall Zenoss. Well, some ex-girl friends are just too stubborn to get rid of (they usually love me too much) so is Zenoss. Removing the user account from Mac is hard.

This is what usually people do to get rid of an app:

1. uninstall it. Say in Mac you usually just "send to trash" it from the Finder.

2. Since you notice that Zenoss is still hanging out in the login window, so you need to delete it from the Group.

3. Delete the user from the /Users

After you logoff, you will still notice that the user is still there in the login window. That's when some people usually decide to cry.

Here's the steps for you to dry up your eyes:

1. Enable ROOT and the login as ROOT

Open Terminal, type: sudo passwd

then follow the instruction like making a new password and all.

Once root password created/changed, logoff and login as root.

To login as root, you need to click "other" in the login window and type in "root" (without quotes) and the password you've just made.

2. Make hidden files show

At the terminal type:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killAll Finder

3. Delete zenoss.plist file

Navigate to /var/db/dslocal/nodes/default/users

then delete file zenoss.plist

4. Hide the hidden files back

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killAll Finder

logoff and watch the zenoss acount is gone now.

And be happy ever after.