Jul 22, 2011 Fortunately, this is easy to reverse and if you wish you can switch the behavior and instead show Library all the time with a quick terminal command. This tutorial will detail four different ways to access the User Library folder in Mac OS X from Mt Lion and beyond. Jul 22, 2011  To access the user library folder on a Mac with OS X Mountain Lion or Lion, issue the following command syntax into the Terminal app, this will. Is it safe to delete the file Caches, in the Library of the Mac OS X Hard Drive? It's a pretty big file, 3.56 GB, Caches reminds me of logs i don't need or browser cookies. Is it safe to delete. Dec 20, 2018  Your user library instantly populates in your user folder; Unhide Folders to See User Library and a Heck of A Lot More! Another command we can leverage is the Unhide Keystroke of Command+Shift+Period. This action makes any hidden files or folders visible in your Finder, including the user library and all other hidden files. By default, the User Library folder is hidden in Mac OS 10.7 and above. We'll cover a few different methods to easily access this hidden folder. The User Library is home to many 'under the hood' files and folders that correspond to the various Apps and system processes in your computer. Why did you give three ways to access the library and then dissuade people from using any of them? Not to put words in Kappy's mouth, but messing with these libraries unless you know what you are doing, is a very quick way to disable your Mac, break an application, or mess up your user account.

Problem to be Solved

You’ve got a great backup of your OSX computer, and you need to get something back from the Library folder, say something in the Application Support subfolder. These instructions will show you how to do unhide the User Library folder on the external drive or even on a second Mac.

Credit goes to Steve Davidson for teaching me how to do this.

Let’s Start with a Remote Mac Because the Syntax is Simpler

On the remote Mac, enable Remote Login (https://www.podfeet.com/blog/how-to-set-up-a-mac-for-remote-login/) and use the ssh command to Secure Shell into the remote Mac. In this example, our local machien name is Podfeet-rMBP, and our remote Mac’s name is Core-i7-4.local.

I have the same user account on both but I used the allison@ the beginning to show you how to enter your user name if it’s different on the other Mac.

Note that the Library Folder is Not Visible

Here’s a screenshot of the remote Mac Core i7, and the Library folder is invisible.

Next Let’s Repeat This On An External Volume

My backup drive has a nice long annoying name “Core i7 backup 2011 03 03”. As you can see I have a backup of my home (allison) directory but I can’t see the Library folder.

Repeat the chflags Command

In this case we have the same command but we have to navigate first to Volumes, then to the specific backup drive name (with those annoying spaces replaced with and space) and then to the user directory and then Library.

To be honest it might be easier to change the name of the volume not to have spaces than it is to type it this way!

Or you could use quotes like this:

Show Library Folder Mac

Now Your Library is Visible on Your Backup Volume

Where Is User Library On Mac

Important note – you only have to do this one time, every time you connect your external drive the Library will be visible.