Different Users-Same Programs

[Cursor]

Hey guys. I am running a 15" FP iMac 800Mhz and OS X.3.1. I was interested in creating 2 users-me as one and my wife as the other (we have different look/feel preferences).

The problem is: how can I configure Mail, Safari, iTunes, iPhoto, etc. to use the same libraries and preferences between the two users? I am trying to get these programs to use the same bookmarks, mailboxes, music libraries, but the OS seems to want to make a whole new "Home" folder for my wife. Ideally, I want it to work this way: I get our e-mail and my wife can log in and see it OR my wife downloads music and I can log-in and see it.

Does anybody know how to do this or does anybody share my situation? Maybe I am being too optimistic. If any more info is needed, let me know. Thanks for the help.

 

[Makosuke]

Unfortunately, what you're trying to do isn't exactly something the MacOS was designed for; you want two seperate logins (giving you a seperate set of preferences for views, desktop, etc), but shared data files. OSX is designed to give each user their own Library folder, and hence their own set of data files.

That said, it is possible, and people have done it. Here are some MacOSXHints.com tips on how:

Share iPhoto libraries with multiple users on one machine

Share One iCal file between multiple users on one machine

The procedures outlined in those should apply to most applications with a bit of modification. good luck with your effort.

(Oh, and by the way, if you're running 10.3, be careful not to have two users logged in at the same time trying to use the same data files--that could have disasterous consequences.)

 

[MoparShaha]

If you're both sharing the same settings, why have two accounts? If they're both identical, just use one.

 

[bousozoku]

You can specify the iTunes music folder so you may want to try creating a copy under the /Users directory, not under a user name but under Shared.

Go into iTunes and change the folder to look there for both users.

 

[FattyMembrane]

you can try making symbolic links from the preferences of one user into the preferences of another user. theoretically, it should work. you would do this by typing

ln -s /Users/YOURUSER/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist /Users/ANOTHERUSER/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist

the resulting file should have a little arrow on it, indicating that it points to another file. aliases might work as well, but symbolic links are a more sure fire way to do it. you would have to repeat this process for every preference file you wanted to share, but it should get the job done.

type "man ls" in the terminal to read about how exactly the ln command works.