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KathrynSheridan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2022
22
26
Hello,
I am new to Mac computers, although I have an iPad & iphone. I have an admin account for my MacBook 12" (which has OS Big Sur) and I would like to add an account for my husband. Ideally, I would like to add him as a standard user which I have read about on this forum, as well as on Apple Suppoprt (link to the apple support page about the different sort of user accounts ) which describes 3 different sorts of user accounts: admin, standard and guest. So, I have gone to 'System Preferences' and then 'Users & Groups', as is widely suggested. However, when I do, I can only see an option for "Guest User" and it says in bold font that the Guest User will lose all their files when they log out, which I really don't want because my husband won't be too happy if he loses all his files each time, and, also, this guest account won't be secure enough if it doesn't require a password for logging in.

1642016324254.png


Therefore, a guest account isn't the sort of account I am hoping to set up. But I can't see any options for the different sorts of accounts (eg. Admin / Standard / Guest) as described on the Apple Support page (see link above) which doesn't match up.

So, I would really appreciate it if someone could explain
1) how to set up additional 'standard' user or 'admin' accounts?
2) Also, it says "if Firevault is turned on, Guest users can only access Safari". I remember choosing to turn Firevault on when I was setting the MacBook up, (because I didn't know what it was and just guessed that I'd better have it). Is Firevault something I perhaps was unwise to have turned on, and if so, how do I turn it off?
 
THANK YOU! I don't know why I didn't spot that plus sign at the bottom of the window. Doh! I feel so stupid! I think I was too busy looking at where it said "guest user". Thank you very much for solving my problem.
I wonder if you could also answer a quick question about the accounts for me, please. I understand that admin users have the authority to change passwords and things like that, but can they also get to access each others' files/documents and be able to see each others' correspondence (messages and emails), or is that sort of thing private to other users, even if they are admin account holders. Is there a difference between the privacy of an admin user vs a standard user when it comes to the other admin user on the MacBook?
 
You were so close! Your screenshot just cut off the plus sign. So rather than trying to explain it I thought it easier to post the link. Admin users cannot see other user’s files. I’ll leave it to others to add more detail.
 
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You were so close! Your screenshot just cut off the plus sign. So rather than trying to explain it I thought it easier to post the link. Admin users cannot see other user’s files. I’ll leave it to others to add more detail.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I'm assuming the same applies to their correspondence (messages / mail etc)?
 
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