Colour Shift after fast user switching

An old issue has returned...
When I use fast user switching to log into another user and then log that user out to go back to the log in window - I get a dramatic colour shift once logged into my normal admin / owners account.
System Prefs bleep each time I select the Display Pref panel too.
My account is still logged in when switching users.
Only a log out and log back in will bring everything back to normal.
Both users using the same colour profile.
Any ideas as to the fix ?

See: http://www.tuaw.com/2006/03/29/fixscreen-applescript-to-fix-fast-user-switching- color-bug/

Similar Messages

Screen has a bluish tint after fast user switching and then warning tone

Hi all I'm having a bit of a problem that I hope someone can help me with. First the details, I have a MBP bought in late '07 and running Tiger. I was doing full backups using "Backup" and I also had Safari, iTunes, and Word open. I briefly switched to my other account using fast user switching and when I returned to the original account the whole screen had a blue tint to it. Like the color profile was off. This has happened before and a restart usually cures it, I haven't restarted yet but I am fairly certain it will correct the problem this time too. But is there anyway to prevent this? My second question is the one I'm more worried about. It also has happened before but usually when using more CPU intensive applications. When I went to System Preferences and opened up the display preferences in an attempt to correct the previous problem I heard a very loud tone. Like some type of warning tone, it was loud enough that it startled me. I had iTunes playing and after the tone the music got very quiet but relaunching it brought it back to normal. I'm just wondering is this some type of warning tone? Is it something I should be concerned about? Besides the music everything else seemed unaffected, although the previous times that this has happened usually when using handbrake there was noticeable problems after the tone (like applications crashing). All of these problems are gone after the computer is restarted though. Does anyone have any insight on these issues? Thank you.
-James

OK I ran TechTool and everything passed except for the volume scan. Then I checked this with Disk Utility and the HD failed for a few minor reasons, like invalid block count. I repaired it using the fsck -fy command in single user mode. The computer seems a little faster now. I don't know if this error is related to the beep in any way, I may try talking to an Apple genius to see if they know. Since it seems like pretty minor errors I'm not too worried about it but it does seem to be happening often. The last time I had this error was when I posted a question here about it which I just checked was on March 1st. So this error happened again after a little more than 2 weeks which seems excessive to me. Any thoughts?

Apps do not launch after fast user switch; requires restart

I have 3 users accounts on a mid-2010 with 12 GB RAM; two with parental controls - the kids.
The kids like to play games (particuarally Minecraft), so will log in a play for a while. Typcially when one is done playing they will use the fast user switch menu to go back to the "Login Window..." They are pretty good about shutting down the apps afterwards due to previous performance issues.
When the second user logs in, the only application that seems to work is Finder. Clicking on an app in the dock results in the "Denied"sound. Tyring to launch from Finder or from the dock using "Open" results in nothing happening. It just seems to ignore it - not even the spinny wheel.
It is almost like everything is locked for the second user and the restart clears it. Generally it is responsive for the upper menu items so it does not seem to be a memory or CPU issue. Activity montor does not show anything out of the ordinary.
This does not occur on my accout which I am currently running as an admin. (I shouldn't but am). I can login and run all the applications but if I switch to the second user nothing launches.
I have re-installed Mavericks, and ran both the file and permissions repair on disk. I cleared all of the old cahce. The only thing that seems to work reliably is to restart the system.
It also seems that if the first user logs out then when the second user tries to log in the system just seems to hang after trying to log into the second account. It swtiches to the user screen but gets stuck with the spinny wheel; this requires the one finger force reboot.

Generally yes, they will keep running. You can confirm this by running the "Activity Monitor" app to see their CPU usage.

Lose System Alert Sound after Fast User Switching

After switching between accounts a few times I lose all alert sounds from all applications, including the Finder. I can still play music, hear audio from movies, etc., but any alert sound is now silenced. Anyone else know a fix for this?

I don't have a solution, but I thought I'd mention
I'm having the same problem where the alert sounds
(Finder, Mail, etc.) can no longer be heard so that
the "powers that be" can see that it's a growing
problem and perhaps find a resolution.
I didn't notice this problem until I recently
upgraded to 10.4.4, but I may have simply not noticed
with 10.4.3 since I've always got my iTunes cranked
up.
G4/933Mhz
Quicksilver Mac OS X (10.4.4)
I had no problem until 10.4.4 and I do not switch users. But having some knowledge of Unix, I went digging, and I tried a Force Quit on the system process "coreaudiod". Can be found in Activity Monitor - select all processes. iChat started sounding again on its own, and a restart of Mail got it going again. This worked for me (tired of re-booting to fix).
I hope this helps others
Dave
Dual G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Time machine effect with fast user switching

I already calculated it will take 11 hours to do my initial back up of 420 gb. but my Gf wants to login. I am certain this will at least slow to process down if not pause or cancel. does any one know for sure?

Audio output is squelched when fast user switching. Under Panther, audio playing in one user account would continue to play after fast user switching to another account. Under Tiger, the actual process continues, but the sound is muted.
Same thing goes for audio input. I learned this the hard way by setting up an app to record a two hour radio program through the built-in audio input jack. During the recording I switched to another account for an hour. When I later went to listen to the recording, there was an hour of silence corresponding to the time I was in the other account.
I really wish Apple would fix this.

Scanners usable with Fast User Switching

Which mid-range scanner operates with multiple logged users?
Manufacturers seem poorly equipped to answer this, since they test their products with only one user logged in—their support people come up empty-handed. I work in a small but busy office where fast user switching is considered a basic part of the Mac OS, and I feel that if a product doesn't work with multiple users logged the maker shouldn't be allowed to state, without caveat, that it works with OS X.
We recently tried two scanners and found them lacking: first, the HP Color LaserJet 2840 all-in-one. After six months of support calls that often involved switching users, HP happened to mention that user switching with any of their scanners is unsupported. (Good-bye, HP.) Next, the Epson 4490. Ditto—zero support.
My intent was to use the 4490 as a replacement for the color laserjet's function as a copier. We don't want to mess with another multi-function machine, as the makers don't seem to have their act together when it comes to drivers for those. We miss our color laser, but we can get by with an inkjet. In the meantime, everyone in the office needs access to a copier, and I see no reason a printer plus a scanner (with its scan-to-printer button) can't be that copier.
Do you know of a scanner that's fully functional, buttons and all, under OS X—that is, ALL of OS X, including fast user switching?
G4 and G5 iMacs Mac OS X (10.4.6) FileMaker, Toon Boom Studio

Audio output is squelched when fast user switching. Under Panther, audio playing in one user account would continue to play after fast user switching to another account. Under Tiger, the actual process continues, but the sound is muted.
Same thing goes for audio input. I learned this the hard way by setting up an app to record a two hour radio program through the built-in audio input jack. During the recording I switched to another account for an hour. When I later went to listen to the recording, there was an hour of silence corresponding to the time I was in the other account.
I really wish Apple would fix this.

User activity with fast user switching

what actually continues with one user when another user logs on with fast user switching?
Does any activity continue, such as downloading, calculating, getting mail, or playing movies? Or does everything go into limbo until that user logs back on?

Audio output is squelched when fast user switching. Under Panther, audio playing in one user account would continue to play after fast user switching to another account. Under Tiger, the actual process continues, but the sound is muted.
Same thing goes for audio input. I learned this the hard way by setting up an app to record a two hour radio program through the built-in audio input jack. During the recording I switched to another account for an hour. When I later went to listen to the recording, there was an hour of silence corresponding to the time I was in the other account.
I really wish Apple would fix this.

Safari misbehaving with fast user switching after Mavericks upgrade

Anybody else have this problem with fast user switching?
Since upgrading to the worst OS upgrade in history, not only have I lost TB's of data from my external drives, but Safari is behaving like a spoilt brat when fast user switching is used.
If I leave safari windows open and switch users, then switch back, the Safari windows are collapsed to about a tenth of their normal height and stuck in the top left of my screen. When I say stuck, I mean that if I attempt to move them, they snap back.
The best part is, it's not consistent, so I can't reproduce it at will.

I have a 2014 BTO 27 inch iMac and I have the same problem with open windows being locked to the top left/right of the screen and just a fraction of their previous size after switching to other users and then switching back. In addition if an open window is not bugged into either of the top corners it may still get re-sized
Due to screen backlight issues, I went through being shipped (and returning) 3 BTO iMacs before settling with this current one and each of those iMacs had the same fast user switching bug. This leads me to think that a re-install will not neccessarily solve this issue as I am assuming that the BTO iMacs they shipped to me from China were brand spanking new. We see this behaviour with Safari, Chrome, Mail, iCal, and iTunes since these are the apps that we commonly leave open. We do not have these as full screen apps either, just open windows.
It is very easy to replicate this bug. Open a few of the above mentioned apps, and then switch to another user; I'm guessing even the guest user will do if you have no other users on your system. Switch back to the first user and more than likely one or more of the windows will be anchored at the top left or right of the screen, depending on where the window was initially. As stated by a few other users above, this doesn't always happen but switch users a couple of times and it is bound to happen before long.
Curiosly when my windows are anchored on the left after switching users, the upper edge of the window is hidden BEHIND the menu bar. If I pull the window down it appears that the red button is off screen to the left and only that portion of the window to the RIGHT of the amber button is visible.
When the windows are anchored to the right they are BELOW the menu bar, and only the red and amber buttons are visible and only that part of the window to the LEFT of the amber button is visible.
In both cases it seems the amber minimise button is the window cut-off point.
You wonder how they could have broken this feature since ML and much worse, still not have it fixed 3 months later.

How does fast user switching know which energy settings to use?

When using fast user switching and keeping 2 accounts logged in, which accounts' energy settings take priority (assuming their settings don't match)? For example, let's say I set my account's display to sleep after 15 minutes and my wife sets hers for 30 minutes. If we both keep our accounts logged in and then leave the Mac on the login screen, who wins?
The reason I ask is because my display won't stay asleep. Unlike my example above, I've made sure both accounts have identical energy settings (sleep the display after 15 minutes & the iMac itself is set to 'never sleep'). I can get it to sleep (usually by pressing control-shift-eject), but it will not stay asleep. I don't think any applications are causing this (I've shut down all apps to test - only Time Machine is scheduled to run automatically). I'm starting to wonder if fast user switching could be the cause? I usually keep both accounts logged in at all times and return to the login screen before heading to bed. I then force the display to sleep with control-shift-eject, but several hours later I wake up to a bright room because the display has turned on again. I haven't tried turning off fast user switching yet, but I can see where that might confuse the OS?
Oh, I've also disabled waking on bluetooth activity just in case my wireless mighty mouse was losing its connection & waking the display upon reconnection - no luck.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated - it's driving me nuts, especially since I can't just turn off the iMac display itself without powering down the entire system.

Energy Saver settings are system-wide and not specific to the user. If one user changes the settings, it's changed for everyone. Screensaver settings are user-specific.
That said, the reason that the system wakes by itself can be one of several things: the system is set to wake up (you can set this under energy saver) by preferences or some application/service, the system receives a wake-up message from something on the network (you can configure this under Security, I believe, or Network, I don't recall), or you have "chatter" related to a device plugged into your computer.
"chatter" is when a USB device or FireWire device sends a signal to the computer it's connected to. Normally, peripherals are quiet if not actively in use, but some things (cheap USB hubs, certain mice, etc) will spuriously send a signal to the connected computer and cause it to wake.

How to get "fast user switching" and network shares playing nice

I've been alternating between banging my head against a wall and reading every forum I could find to try and get a reasonable compromise between using "Fast user switching" and sharing a folder from a file server. It baffles me how the network share/mount model of OSX/AFP is completely killed by fast-user-switching; this is a big problem with Apple requiring users to be actively logged in to share music/video from iTunes which therefore essentially requires fast-user-switching if anyone else wants to use the computer. (anyone find it odd that you can share files without being logged in, but sharing songs requires an active login for each user who is sharing? Apple: time to make iTunes sharing a service!)
For the sake of example, lets just say I want to share my /Groups folder from my desktop and have it be accessible to my laptop. Here are all the things that I tried:
Apple Method 1) Share /Groups in the Server.app on the desktop (running Lion Server), use finder on the laptop and drag the share icon to "Login Items", alternative use a startup Apple script using "mount volume" Both of the options work and will mount the /Groups folder under /Volumes/Groups, of course when the second person logs in via fast-user-switching (and occasionally the first person for no apparent reason), they will get /Volumes/Groups-1 since /Volumes/Groups is already taken. Tomorrow we log in a different order and now the previously /Volumes/Groups-1 user has their mount at /Volumes/Group and vice versa. Any links, aliases, finder sidebar references, and application settings which pointed to yesterday's location are now BROKEN. Not very user friendly to my mother-in-law who is trying to find those pictures of the kids and doesn't know anything about mount points. I also can't reasonably mirror the file location structure on the desktop so that application preferences that are synced between the two (portable home directories) work. fail.
Apple Method 2) Use automounter and set up by hand direct maps for /Groups or an indirect maps for the children of /Groups. Now it will automatically get mounted to /network/servers/SERVER/Groups/ on the laptop and on the desktop it will automatically create a similar symlink structure so that the same path (/network/servers/SERVER/Groups) work both on desktop and laptop. Cool. Except when the second person logs in, the /network/servers/SERVER/Groups/ mountpoint is already owned by the first user and they don't have any permissions to access it. Fail.
Apple Method 3) Use mount_afs and specify directly the mount-points. Have each user have their own startup AppleScript which mounts /Groups to a different location (e.g. /Users/Shared/username/Groups) that way they don't conflict with multiple users. On the desktop, set up symlinks from /Users/Shared/username/Group to /Groups so that it will be the same as the client and applications settings will work when synchronized back/forth by portable-home-directories. Will it work, yes it does, but what a bear to maintain. Is this really what I should expect to do just to have multiple users on my desktop and laptop (which again is essentially required now if I want to do any type of iTunes sharing). This can't be what apple expects.
What I ended up doing - the "not quite apple" solution.
Non-Apple Method 4) After a read of "Autofs: Automatically Mounting Network File Shares in Mac OS X" (http://images.apple.com/business/docs/Autofs.pdf) at the very end there is a single paragraph of "Kerberized NFS": "A Kerberized NFS mount can have multiple connections from multiple users, each using the correct user’s credentials for each transaction. This allows administrators to support multiple users, each authenticated with their own credentials to the same mount point. This is very different from AFP and SMB mounts," (emphasis mine)
It appears that by using good 'ole NFS (abeint with Kerberos for security!) you can actually have multiple users on the same mount point. Roughly following the guidance at https://support.apple.com/kb/TA24986?viewlocale=en_US. What I needed to do was:
1) create /etc/exports on my desktop and add a single line "/Groups -sec=krb5". The existence of /etc/exports triggered a start of nfsd which no longer has any GUI options in Lion.
2) Add a line to /etc/auto_master on my laptop "/- auto_mymounts" to reference a new direct map.
3) Create /etc/auto_mymounts and add a single line "/Groups SERVER:/Groups" to create the direct map.
THAT'S IT. Three lines in three files.
Now when I log into my laptop, there is a /Groups that is a network mount of my desktop's /Groups, same location AND it works for all of my users, even simultaneously.
In the end I'm happy with what I've got, but man was this a difficult path just to support fast-user-switching. In Lion, Apple appears to be getting away from NFS (no longer turned on by default and remove from the GUI controls) but clearly this really useful functionality which doesn't exist in AFP.
I'm really curious, after all this work. Any other ways to accomplish this?

In my example above, yes I chose to mount the share "Groups" to the top of the root since that is where I put it on my server and I wanted to keep them similar; but that was just my preference, it isn't a requirement. You can export and mount from other directories.

Fast User Switching with Mounted Network Drive?

I have a headless G4 Cube running 10.5.8 with a 2TB firewire drive plugged in for storage accessable to any of my macs here at home. I can access it fine with my 2 desktops over ethernet and wirelessly. Recently we decided to consolidate our 2 desktops into one using the muliple users feature. Seems to work fine, and both accounts can access the shared drive. They are logging in with the cube's admin credentials, and the shared drive is set to ignore permissions. I have the drive set to mount on login with a startup item in the system login items prefs. As long as I logout before switching users, everything is good.
The problem arises with Fast User Switching which we'd love to be able to use. I can't figure out how to connect to the drive in one account without the 2nd account then seeing it as a volume without proper permissions, then that account creates a new volume mount for it (which doesn't work with iTunes properly and seems to cause other wierd issues).
Example: So say 'user1' logs in, mounts the drive 'Jukebox'. everything seems OK so far. 'Jukebox' is on the desktop and iTunes finds the music. Now I fast user switch to 'user2' and there is a 'Jukebox' on the desktop with the red minus icon indicating I don't have permissions to access it. If I then browse the network and mount the drive, I end up with ANOTHER 'Jukebox' on the desktop. BUT iTunes doesn't see it properly. If I look in the /Volumes/ folder with the Terminal, I see a mountpoint for 'Jukebox' (with the owner of 'user1' group 'staff') and now a new mountpoint called 'Jukebox-1' (with the owner of 'user2' group 'staff').
It seems when you mount a AFP drive, it creates the Volume with the current user and staff group, but switching to another user then can't access that when it sees it in the /Volumes folder. You try to mount again and it creates a NEW mountpoint, names it with a '-1' at the end and you can use that (but iTunes cant).
So... how does one use a shared drive that you want on BOTH users desktops with Fast User Switching turned on? Is there a way to have the drive mounted BEFORE either user logs in, such that it will be seen as any other local drive (which doesn't have the issue)??
Or is there some other way I can attach to the network volume in each account on login so both have access to music and videos with full permissions?
I'm really stumped here after 2 hrs of googling, searching here and trying things.
TIA

I've not had any luck with the suggestions in the link either.
Here's two other approaches I've tried and failed with:
1. Creating a new share point on the cube itself so that one user can mount it as a different volume. Then the issue is that I still don't have a volume named "Jukebox" available to each user when switching. I DO have access now to the data from both accounts, but under 2 different mount points (volume names) and the xml file for iTunes is hard coded with the path for each mp3 including the "Jukebox" volume name... so no go.
2. Tried figuring out a way I could script a mounting of the share with the terminal thinking I could then run that shell script at startup. Can't seem to get the sytax right. If I create a directory in /Volumes and mount and afp share to it, it takes on the ownership of root/wheel which I can't access in the finder and can't seem to change.
BUT I'll keep playing with both these ideas a bit... the first one might be overcome with a bit of logic and the 2nd if I can get the syntax right to mount the share with afp_mount and give it the correct ownership/permissions such that when a user logs in she/he sees the volume on the desktop and has full r/w access to it.
thanks again. if you offhand know the syntax for that, let me know

Shared Disk - can't connect with Fast User Switching

Hi,
I've created a Disk on my Time Capsule, and shared it via "File Sharing", it's secured "with a disk password", and is working well ... sort of. I can connect to it with no issues, and so can my wife via her MacBook Pro. However, if I'm signed into my account, and she accesses her account using Fast User Switching, she can't connect to the shared volume. She has to Disconnect, and then reauthenticate, and after doing so, I can't connect to the shared volume. I must Disconnect, and reconnect. Why is this? Is there an authentication file that's set up some where on the root of the shared computer, that's preventing us from being able to signin to the shared volume? Or is something broken?
Thanks!

Complete uninstallation and reinstallation of network adapter drivers has been reported to resolve this error in some cases. Open
Device Manager and select Show Hidden Devices from the
View menu. Expand the Network Adapters category and delete all drivers under this category. After the devices are removed right click and select
Scan for hardware changes.
Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

Network Drive problems with Fast User Switching

I have a USB drive connected to my Time Capsule and shared to the network. On one of my computers (Mac Pro) I have 2 user accounts which access the data (music, photos). The first one to access the drive after a power on has no problems, and everything works perfectly. However, if I Fast User Switch to the other account, it can see the drive but cannot access it (permission problem apparently). I then have to click the disconnect button in finder, and reconnect, and then can use it again fine. Then when I switch back to the first account its the same deal, having to disconnect and reconnect. It is really annoying, since it marks all my itunes songs as missing and whatnot. Does anyone know how to fix it?
Thanks!

Yes, under Sharing in System Preferences both users have been added to full access of the drive. I had to do that for the non-admin account to be able to access it at all.

Home Sharing stops working with fast user switching

I have a late 2013 iMac running Mavericks. The main account has my iTunes library with Home Sharing enabled. The AppleTVs and IOS devices can see the Home Share and it works well. But, it stops working when user accounts are accessed on the Mac.
For instance, as soon as I select "Login Window..." from the fast user switching menu, the share is lost. I did not log out, iTunes is still running. I simply showed the login window. All IOS and ATVs loose the share. Switching to another user also stops the share. It's as if iTunes is completed halted and not allowed to run in the background.
When moving from the login screen back to the user account where the iTunes library is located, the home share is restored. Likewise, moving from a 2nd user account back to the main account where iTunes is runnning restores the home share.
I have a MacPro running Mountain Lion, and it works fine. The iTunes library is always available for the devices, even if multiple users are signed into the Mac, or if the Mac is on the login screen.
Any work around for Mavericks? It competely breaks the entire media ecosystem if every device looses the home share if someone tries to use their account on the Mac.

And just like that I may have found the solution! IT suddenly occured to me that one of the settings that got changed when we imported my wife's profile was a change to the sleep settings. Previously, I had had my iMac set to never go to sleep, since it shares our media with the rest of the house and runs eyeTV to record TV shows and such. For a little while after my wife's account was imported the settings to changes so that the computer would go to sleep after 15 minutes. I'm not totally sure why, but I think having that set up somehow meant that when we switched accounts my other account just "went to sleep" and therefore stopped sharing the iTunes library. After I noticed the change and switched the computer back to "never" for sleep the problem seems to have stopped.
So perhaps check your sleep settings? That seems to be the only change I can think of that got things working correclty for me. I'll keep digging though and see if I can find any more helpful info. Good luck!

ITunes 7.7 pauses with Fast User Switching

As far as I can tell iTunes 7.7 now stops playing songs after I switch users. I'm using 10.4.11. Has anybody had this problem in Leopard?
I really want to hear songs continue playing from my work user account when I switch to my personal account. Any ideas?

Now that I'm running Leopard I can say that is still happens; iTunes stops when switching accounts through Fast User Switching.
Except yesterday iTunes kept playing for some reason. At the same time it seemed like Fast User Switching was broken, at least from the account with iTunes playing. Only the Login Window choice was enabled. So it might be that selecting a user directly is when iTunes gets stopped. However I don't know how to get it to work that way again since the login window option is not available when Fast User Switching is turned off—you can only Log Out (which of course turns off everything).
Maybe an enterprising programmer can fix this lack of choice in Leopard.

Colour Shift after fast user switching

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for