Mac OS X v10.5 or later: How to share a Mac with other people

Learn how you can share your Mac with other people by setting up different accounts. This article applies to Mac OS X v10.5 and later. Several people can share a single Mac by logging in to their individual user accounts. Each user can select their own customized settings, such as Safari bookmarks and Finder view preferences, and access their own private storage space, called a Home folder. You can create as many user accounts as you want. Users sharing the computer also have access to a common Shared folder. The first user account created on your computer is designated as an administrator account. Administrators are users with special privileges: They can give new users access to the computer, allow for the installation of software, and change some computer settings that non-administrators cannot. Note: If you forget the administrator password, you can reset it using the Mac OS X Install disc. Start up from the disc and choose Reset Password from the Utilities menu. Because a user with the Mac OS X Install disc can gain unrestricted access to the computer, you should keep the disc in a safe place. Guest user account If you want others to be able to temporarily use your computer and you don’t want to create a user account for each user, you can create a guest account. When a guest account has been created a guest may log in to the computer without a password. When the log in window is appears the user can just click Guest Account, if names are listed, or type “guest” for the name. For more information, see this article.