Imac Guest account

My iMac keeps asking me to enter a password to log into the Guest account. I never did put a password for this account as it was for visitors coming to my house. I know that by using the guest account they cant access anything except simple computer usage and browsing and also that all data downloaded etc gets deleted as soon as one logs off the guest account. Can someone please tell me why the account is asking for a password now and how can I remove this because at the moment the Guest account is inaccessible.
Thank you

Try disabling and enabling the Guest account, as it doesn't use a password. Log in your user, open System Preferences > Users & Groups, choose your Guest account in the sidebar and untick its first option. Then, tick it again, open  > Log Out, and log in your Guest account

Similar Messages

  • Changed file viewing settings for Guest account, now iMac won't boot :(

    I'll start this off by mentioning that I'm not really a techie type person, but I'll do my best to describe what I did as accurately as possible. And I'm pretty good at following layman's terms troubleshooint advice!
    I recently decided to move my iMac into the living room of my apartment. I have never found the need to create a Guest account, but I figured it might be convenient for..well, a guest every now and then. But when I created the guest account I discovered very quickly that they would have access to all of my photos, documents, movies, etc. via the "view all documents" "view all photos" tabs on the left-hand side of the Finder window. I googled what to do and people were saying that it is best to change the viewing options of particular folders via the "get info" tab when you right-click on a folder. There were three categories, the first one I believe was Admin or the main user, the second is "wheel" and the third says "Everyone". I changed the "Everyone" access on the folders I wanted private from read-writable to "none". I left the "wheel" and "admin" categories alone. I also did this to the utilities folder, and the library under the assumption it would only affect guest access to these files, not admin access!
    Also, under the Account Preferences tab in the Apple menu I disabled the viewing of shared folders for the guest. I also disabled automatic login.
    Next thing I know, while I'm under the guest login trying to test out my security updates, I see I can't click on anything! Or open anything! I can't open the finder at all, I can't open the internet, I can't even get to the Apple drop-down menu. I couldn't even log out of guest. I had to turn off my computer without shutting it down. I turned it back on, and it went through the motions of booting up until the blue screen with the grey dashed loading circle (no beach ball, thank god). It acts like it will proceed beyond that point, the grey circle disappears for a moment, but then nothing happens and that process starts over. Like it's stuck and can't find it's own files. I also notice a tiny white square in the upper left-hand corner of the blue screen if that means anything.
    I don't know what the heck I did. I think I somehow managed to block my own admin access (is that even possible??).
    -Shayna

    You need to get the install discs, erase the hard drive, and reinstall all the software from scratch. When acquiring a used Mac there's no way to know what condition its software is in... there might be hacks, security holes, pirated software, keyloggers, credit card sniffers, or other even riskier stuff on it. Using a pre-owned Mac's software as-is is a Very High Security Risk. Your Mac's software is obviously distressed. What's more, you are not licensed to use any Apple software unless you own and are in possession of the install discs.
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  • I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files.  What's the best way to do this?  Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

    I'd like Time Machine to backup my personal account's files separately from my guest account's files. Both have big files.  What's the best way to do this?  Should I connect 2 external HD to my new iMac, one for each account?

    NeuroBrain wrote:
    Since my new external hard drive is have a lot of space, I'm thinking of splitting it for Time Machine and external storage.
    This is a common mistake and I highly advise against it.
    1: TimeMachine saves states of changes and thus requires more room on the TM drive than the boot drive it's backing up.
    2: Something happens to the TM drive, loss, theft, dropped, power surge, etc., you lose both backups.
    3: The storage drive might become a portable need, with it being on the TM drive, now your increasing the risk to the TM backup that something could happen to it along with the storage drive, due to increased movement.
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    Most commonly used backup methods
    it's ASC User Tip that saves us regulars all the trouble of having to repeat ourselves over and over again in the posts, because we tend to forget things too, or not here sometimes etc.
    "Plan for the worst and the good will take care of itself" - Donald Trump

  • Imac suddenly has a guest account icon

    Last night I logged out of my iMac running Lion and was surprised to see an icon for Guest that was not there before. Under it it stated that the computer would now reboot with a secure login for that user. I immediatly shut down and rebooted the wireless router.  I had just signed up for iCloud, I was also configuring a new Garmin GPS for the car, I had added two patches for Lion and a few days earlier I had activated my account with my service provider using their dedicated router. The wireless account is secured with a new password.  Is this a sign of a virus or hacking? What steps should I take before I turn the computer back on?

    I'm not sure exactly what happened, but you have nothing to worry about with a Guest account. Guest accounts allow restricted use of the computer and internet, but will not allow anyone to install or do damage to the installation.
    I don't think you need to do anything before turning it back on.
    Once it's on, if you want, you can go to System Preferences > Users & Groups and you can turn *off* the Guest account so it doesn't show up on your login screen.

  • Only guest account shows up at start up on Macbook Air

    Last night I was updating my Macbook Air, left it alone to do it's update, came back the next morning to turn it on and it was stuck at the apple logo.
    After preforming a safe boot, it took me to the login page however only the guest account shows up.
    I'm not sure if something went wrong during the update, it was at 70% battery life when i preformed the update so I didn't have it plugged into a power source like recommened, but i've never had a problem with it before.
    I've tried enterng control+alt+command+enter which gives me the chance to put in a username and a password.
    First I enter my name and passwor, but it was rejected.
    So then I tried my apple ID and password, and it was rejected again.
    I know I'm entering the right username/password, because it has been the same for my Air, Pro, and iMac.
    Now I'm not sure if the account even exsists on my Macbook Air, but the guest account only allowed me to use safari.
    I'm not able to access system prefences or anything.
    I'm also having trouble with my iMac after updaiting to Mavericks, it work fine until the update and now it's saying my disk is corrupt, but that's a whole other story.
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    If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data, then reinstall the OS. You don't need to erase the startup volume, and you won't need the backup unless something goes wrong. If the system was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you may need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
    There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.
    If you installed the Java runtime distributed by Apple and still need it, you'll have to reinstall it. The same goes for Xcode.

  • Creating Guest Account Crashes System Preferences

    I recently replaced an old mac mini G4 with the newest low end mac mini, the 1.83ghz core 2 duo with combo drive model.
    I restored everything to the new machine with my time machine backup. Unfortunately, the guest account didn't get restored, and when I try to enable the guest account, System preferences crashes, so in order to do anything I have to force quit system prefs. After force quitting system prefs, I am unable to open applications using the dock. I have to reboot the computer in order to get anything to work again, but somehow enabling the guest account just wont work, and always crashes.
    What can I do to fix this?

    It happened to me also, on my imac and my MacBook Air.
    It seems that user account migration somehow confuses the "guest user" machinery, which totally trashes securityd which dies of sudden death and from then on nothing works on the computer.
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    IMPORTANT: short name must be "guest" - OS will suggest "guest1", but you must edit that into "guest".
    2. Enable system guest account in System Preferences (check the "Allow guests to log into this computer" switch). It will work now that "guest" name is taken.
    This action will create user account with short name "guest1" with all the properties of guest (clean-up after logout etc.).
    3. Completely delete standard user "guest", which you created in step 1 (check "delete all data and folder now").
    4. Disable system guest account (uncheck the switch).
    5. Right-click on system guest account icon and choose "Advanced" or whatever (there is only one menu item anyway) and change short name from "guest1" to "guest".
    6. Enable system guest account.
    Voila. You now have working guest account (well, I have it, and hopefully you will, too)...
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  • Limiting a Guest Account

    I am in the process of opening a B&B and wish to make an iMac available to guests. I'm OK about setting up a guest account and the ability to limit certain aspects of that account (non admin, parental controls etc) but can I limit the apps available for use. I would only wish them to access the internet through safari, NeoOffice and possibly digital mapping software via parallels.
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    Hi Pete,When restricting user access to applications, note that all applications are selected by default. Click the disclosure triangles next to folder names to individually select or deselect applications.
    -mj
    [email protected]

  • Can't use guest account in safe mode

    i have a late 2008 unibody macbook 2.4.
    my wife has a late 2007 imac.
    when i apply update i boot into safe mode and update from there.
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    on my macbook however, when i try to enter the guest account the display 'shakes and quakes' and doesn't allow me to use the guest accounts.
    we are currently 'up-to-date' with updates (10.5.7 etc).
    we have zero problems in general.
    the settings appear to be the same on both computers (as regards accounts).
    anyone have a clue, why i can use guest on the imac, but not on the macbook.
    thanks a bunch.

    excellent points greg, but not applicable here.
    there are 3 accounts guest, me, admin.
    the guest is 'factory stock', the admin is 'factory stock' w/pass, and mine is mine.
    as i stated i can use guest in safe mode on my wife's imac, which is configured identically.
    there are zero passwords on our guest accounts.
    additonally, all permissions on both computers 'check-out' ok per disk utility.
    ps....i update only in safe mode so that nothing will interfer/hinder a proper update. we always download and install directly rather than using the 'automatic' update via software update.

  • Can't cable guest account in lion

    Since i istalled lion guest account disabled. I went to system pref users and groups
    i see guest account. i select guest account but it will not allows me to check
    allow guests to log in to this computer. it is gray out.
    ( lock is open)
    How can i enable gust account in Lion. Thank you.

    I'm a bit confused here.
    I have File Vault "on" on my MacBook Air and I can see the Guest User in the login window.   when I go to my Mac (also 10.7.2.)  - i don't see the "Disable restarting to Safari  when screen in locked" option in Security & Privacy -> General  preference pane.   See this article:
    http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/13/disable-guest-user-account-mac-os-x-10-7-2-login- screen
    any ideas on how we can get this working on our iMac would be awesome!

  • Guest Account Bug Resets User Accounts and Deletes Files on Snow Leopard

    Hi Everyone
    Well basically, I hadn't used my Guest Account since upgrading to snow leopard, and I accidentaly clicked it instead of my user account this morning, to find that when I logged into my normal account ALL my files, settings, mail etc had been reset.
    So I'm posting this to let people know, (and hopefully Apple if they don't know about this) what's happening.
    Here's the post I sent to Apple Feedback:
    Hi,
    Well basically, I upgraded to snow leopard recently, everything was working fine, I've upgraded to 10.6.1 and have all the latest software updates etc, so anyway this morning I turned my computer on and accidentaly clicked on the Guest Account on the login screen instead of my normal one, so it started trying to load the guest account (which I hadn't loaded since before the upgrade).
    So I wait about two minutes, and nothing atall happens apart from it loading on the logon page, so I pressed Enter to return me to the login window.
    So once I was returned I logged on as my normal user, to find my Desktop reset, my Dock reset, my Documents, Music and Photos reset and all my software reset.
    So I restarted my computer and logged on again, it was exactly the same, everything gone. At which point I looked in the Users folder to find that my User profile had been removed and replaced with a fresh one with the same name. So I then spent half an hour restoring everything from my Time Machine backup.
    I hope Apple are aware of this issue and would greatly appreciate to hear back on the status of what's happening about it, as it doesn't seem to be an isolated issue it's been happening to other people over the last month.
    Here's a few posts from other people who've had this problem, and an article on the CNET site MacFixIt about the bug:
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10123656#10123656
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2157518&start=15&tstart=0
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2171494&tstart=0
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2142272&start=30&tstart=0
    Reports on the Internet:
    http://9to5mac.com/snowleopards_eatusers
    http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10346974-263.htmll?tag=mncol;txt
    To clarify, I have an iMac (aluminium 20" one), with a 2.4ghz processor and 3GB of Ram, please update me on anything that's going on with this issue as I don't want it to continue happening to others who might not have backups,
    Thanks,
    Daniel.
    So if anybody else expieriences this issue your not alone, there's a couple of other posts from people who've had problems above in the middle of my feedback letter. Unfortunately in my case it deleted my Home folder and replaced it with a new one, so if this happens to you then your only option is to restore from a backup. You can attempt to use file recovery software if you don't have one, but I haven't tried this and don't know how well it would work.
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    Daniel.
    Message was edited by: dbferrari

    Maybe it will be usefull but last days I tried to login as *Guest* (because I didn't want to logout as my user). In *system preferences* I allowed guest login, then I fast switched to *Guest Account*, do some changes in profile like mouse movement and so on, then I correctly logged out and logged once more to my account. Now I affraid off rebooting macbook (I always hybernate system with changed default settings which store memory into HDD) until the fix will be released. Probably the data was not removed, because I was logged in as me and */Users/$USER* was still in use. Now I am wondering if I can reboot safelly macbook without losing my data..
    For backup do I need to use some command for backuping home to windows machine through *SMB*? because unix like systems have links and so on.. (in *AIX OS* I have to use "*rsync*" command, which copy whole data exactly as it is stored on filesystem - if there is link it will copy only that link, not file which is linked...)

  • How do i force a guest account to Auto log off after being inactive for a period of time?

    I have a 2010 21" iMac running OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8) in a hotel's guest lounge. I want to have it log off of the guest account after being inactive for 5 mins so that it clears the session info if the last person who used it did not log off when they were done (***this happens very often***).
    I tried using the "System Preferences > Security> Log off when inactive for X minutes" option but this brings up the "Delete files and log off" dialogue which unless someone makes a selection just stays there and doesn't timeout, essentially stopping the logoff process.
    How can i bypass that dialogue and force the system to log off the Guest User to avoid any issues with other guest seeing info from the previous user?

    Hi daniel,
    I don't believe it's possible to do what you want, unless someone could write an Applescript for it. I suspect the best route for now is the old fashioned way, paper and marker, warning guests to log off or their info will be public.

  • Not possible to delete guest account's picture

    Under Pref.Accounts, there are no pics for the Guest Account.
    If enabling this account, there will be a pic in the log-in window for the guest account.
    The pic is known, but I need to delete it, but cannot find it anywhere.
    I duplicated one iMac from another, and this pic was on the first computer originally.

    This worked for me:
    1. Log in as Guest
    2. Close all Finder windows
    3. Make sure you are in the Finder (it should say “Finder” just to the right of the  logo in the menu bar
    4. Type ⇧⌘G (Shift-Command-G) and copy-paste the following:
    /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/
    5. Open Address Book (this is where it's important you're logged in as Guest)
    6. Click on the “Guest Account” entry, and click the Edit button
    7. Double-click the picture
    8. Drag the UserIcon.icns file to the picture you want to replace and hit Return
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  • Adobe Reader 8.1.2 Quits on Admin Account OK on Guest Account Leopard

    I have a new Aluminum Imac that when opening Adobe reader 8.1.2 on the admin account it quits unexpectedly. When I log into the guest account it opens no problem. I have tried removing some adobe.plist files and at least got to an opening screen before it quit. Where do I go from here to troubleshoot this?

    I got it. What I did is click on the Reader icon and did get info on both admin user accounts. At the bottom is permission the read write for different users. I put them all at read figuring with Adobe Reader I can't change anything anyway. I then went to Macintosh HD library/preferences and trashed anything adobe the same for both admin user libraries and anything else I could find. I then rebooted and it now works. Not sure if everything I did is necessary but the important thing is it works.

  • Adobe Reader 8.1.2 Quits On Admin Account OK on Guest Account

    I have a new Aluminum Imac that when opening Adobe reader 8.1.2 on the admin account quits unexpectently. When I log into the guest account it opens no problem. Where do I go from here to troubleshoot this?

    Just so other people that might have this problem will know I got it fixed. I found that Adobe worked in the guest account. I made another Admin account and tried it there and it quit on that account also. With a suggestion by someone on the Adobe forums that it was a permission issue I tried fixing permissions with the OSX install disk because I had already repaired permissions several times while booted normally. There was only one permission fixed called private/var/log. After that I tried it again and again it quit. So then I clicked on the Adobe icon and went to get info. At the bottom of that window is permissions for different users. I changed them all to Read from Read/Write. I then trashed everything Adobe I could find in the user accounts and the Macintosh HD folder other than the Adobe icon. I then rebooted and it then worked. I do not know if everything was necessary but it did the job.

  • How to prevent guest account from accessing my admin account files/documents?

    I have an iMac 21" running OS 10.6.8.    I have a guest account set up in addition to my own administrators account.  When I log on as a guest, I am able to access all of the file documents on my computer, including the ones created on my administator's account.  These are files I do not want a guest to be able to access.  My question is how to change the settings so these do not show up when logged in to the guest account.  I have tried changing Finder Preferences in the guest account - this can be easily changed back by the guest user, and the settings also revert back after I log out.  In the admin account I checked System Preferences settings - the only thing on is printer and bluetooth sharing.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    Here's a way to reset the Home folder permissions and ACLs posed by Linc Davis that may do the job. 
    Linc Davis
    Re: Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs not working?
    This helped meRe: Reset Home Folder Permissions and ACLs not working?
    Apr 30, 2014 10:06 PM (in response to plcmms)
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