Moving iTunes between User Accounts on home Computer

Hi all - I'd appreciate some advice please. When my son set up iTunes on our home XP computer he did so in his own user account. This cannot be accessed by my daughter in her user account or in the general family account. How do I move the base set up between user profiles on the same computer?
Regards
Phil

My advice is to consolidate your son's library to a shared folder.
Then everyone can access the music from their accounts, yet keep separate ratings & playcounts, etc.
If you just move things around in windows, your son will either lose ratings & playcounts, or the paths to the music. Here is how to consolidate:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Here is some light reading
Multiple users, use Method 1:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1495
Sharing files on same PC: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203
This is important so you don't get duplicates files and fill up your hard drive.

Similar Messages

Sharing iTunes between user accounts no longer works in iTunes 10.4

I recently upgraded to iTunes 10.4 (80). Still running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
I have two user accounts on my MacBook Pro and my iTunes Media folder is shared i.e. /Users/Shared/ITunes/iTunes Media
This has always worked with no problems but since upgrading to iTunes 10.4 I can no longer see my iTunes content from both accounts.
First time I opened it after the upgrade it just presented me with an empty library. I eventually managed to see my iTunes content by deleting the iTunes library and xml files and relaunching iTunes. However when I quit and switch to the other user account I can't open iTunes - it keeps telling me that the library is locked or I don't have access to the files.
I have to keep manually resetting permissions on the iTunes folder & subfolders in order to be able to launch it but even when I manage to open it from the second user account I just see an empty library again.
I always used to be able to just quit iTunes in one user account and then launch it from the other; no permissions changes required. Now it just doesn't work.
Please can someone offer advice or is this a known issue with the 10.4 release?
Many thanks in advance.

I've been trying to do this same thing. My wife and I share one computer and she has her own login account to check email etc. I moved all the music, movies, videos to the shared folder. We can now "share" that music without having two iTunes media libraries. However, I want to remedy the situation of adding music from different accounts, adding and deleting playlists. How do I have that type of library data automatically get updated from account to account? I've asked this question in it's own thread about a week ago and it got buried with no responses or solutions.

Sharing between user accounts on same computer

Hi Folks,
I've just tried this and it didn't work, However the default setting for this scenario is usualy that I've got it wrong.... So.
Can you share an iTunes account between two different user accounts on the same computer?
The reason for the question is that my Wife and I both share the same iMac. At present we just use the admin automatic login and share everything. Neither of us have Mac eMail so my eMail is pushed to "Mail" application, and I use this and "Address Book" to sync my iPod touch. The calendar is shared anyway. My wife access her eMail through Safari.
However my Wife is about to get an iPhone. (I'm not jelous...much) This means that we will need a way for her to sync the shared iTunes content but to have her own Mail, Notes and Address book.
The easy way seemed to be to set up a user log in account for her, to give independant Mail etc. and have it share the iTunes account. But this did not seem to work, so have I got it wrong? Or is there another way to achieve the same end?
Many thanks,
David.

Put them in /Users/Shared.
-mj

Sharing Itunes between user accounts

Hi all,
I just came back to the mac and set up user accounts for myself and my wife. She tends to do most of the photo editing and I do most of the music stuff on itunes. I heard that I can set it up so that she is actually using my itunes or library even though she is on her login in. And we could do the same with the iphoto in reverse so that if I download photos it goes into the iphoto on her login. We would like to avoid having some music and pictures separated by the different logins. So my question is, is this the best way to set things up in our situation and how do I actually do it? Are there any hiccups when I sync with my iphone and she syncs with her itouch? Thanks for you help.

I've been trying to do this same thing. My wife and I share one computer and she has her own login account to check email etc. I moved all the music, movies, videos to the shared folder. We can now "share" that music without having two iTunes media libraries. However, I want to remedy the situation of adding music from different accounts, adding and deleting playlists. How do I have that type of library data automatically get updated from account to account? I've asked this question in it's own thread about a week ago and it got buried with no responses or solutions.

File permissions between user accounts on one computer

Hi!!!
I have an iMac PowerPC G5 computer which I set with 2 accounts, one for me (the administrator) and another for some workers.
I´m having problems regarding writing and using files. I have some documents which both accounts need to use, read and save. The original files are not in the administrator account, but on the normal one. What I do when I want to read and write on a file located on the normal account is access to it going into the other user account and open it from the document folder. BUT i have to be givening permissions all the time because it lose them when I switch between both accounts
Sorry for my english, i´ll try to explain better:
1-I open a file which is in the normal account from my administrator account
2- It wont let me save anything so i have to give writing permissions
3-I switch to the normal account and wont allow me to write again, so I have to give permission again
4- Everytime I switch accounts i will have to give permission
How can i solve this?
Thanks!!
G.

Sean Dale1 wrote:
Very interesting thank you.
I wondered if it might be possible to modify files copied into such a shared folder with the aid of an AppleScript or Automator action saved as an application
nothing you can do with applescript or automator can come anywhere close to be as simple or as effective as the ACL method. folder actions only watch the top level of the folder they are attached to and plus they are extremely unreliable. what could be simpler than the method outlined above? you run two terminal commands and you are set. no scripts to run, no cron or launch daemons to make to run some periodic change of permissions scripts. file system does everything itself.
or would opening a file and then doing a simple 'Save As' to the folder do the trick?
only if you don't mind creating multiple copies of the same file any time you need to change it.
the only real problem with the ACL method is that inherited ACLs are not applied to items moved into the shared folder, only to copied or new files. this is not normally an issue except with some applications like photoshop which like to utilize temp files. when photoshop saves chages to a file it does the following. it saves the changed file to a temp file in a temporary directory, deletes the current file and then moves the temp file to where the original file was. because moving is involved this washes out the ACLs. very bad of photoshop. if you are unlucky enough to be using an app like this then there is a different method that can be used that does not have the deficiency of ACLs with respect to moved files but it requires some more prep. although once the prep is complete it works quite well. see my os x hint here
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20100202195536952
on how to do that. However, in most situations the ACL method is perfectly suitable and is much easier to set up so I recommend you go with that.

Transferring iTunes between user accounts

I have just moved my iTunes library from my PC to my MacBook pro via Migration Assistant, however, I did this after my initial set up. So it has created a new user profile, profile B, which my iTunes library is now in. Question: how do I now move/merge/transfer my library that is in profile B (ex-PC data) to my (initially setup) profile A? I have looked through FAQ but have found nothing that has helped. For my benefit, please pretend you're talking with a monkey, I am not computer savvy at all. Cheers.

I've been trying to do this same thing. My wife and I share one computer and she has her own login account to check email etc. I moved all the music, movies, videos to the shared folder. We can now "share" that music without having two iTunes media libraries. However, I want to remedy the situation of adding music from different accounts, adding and deleting playlists. How do I have that type of library data automatically get updated from account to account? I've asked this question in it's own thread about a week ago and it got buried with no responses or solutions.

How can I share my iTunes library between user accounts in iTunes 11

Since upgrading my iTunes library to Version 11 I can no longer share the library between user accounts on the same Mac.
The 2nd user is asked to create oir use an iTunes library, but when it is pointed to the Media folder it cannot share it.
Previously in iTunes 10 it all worked fine.
How can this be done please?
The library is in a shared areas that we both have Read/Write permissions to.

jc_hering wrote:
that works for anything he purchases after he creates the new account. What about his current music that currently resides in my itunes library? How can I get his current music out of my library into his new account/library?? Thanks..
Copy it to his computer into his iTunes library and authorize his computer with the iTunes account used to purchase them..
You cannot tranfser items from one iTunes account to another. Purchased items remain part of the iTunes account is was purchased with.
iTunes account - used to purchase items
iTunes library - where purchases (and CD RIPs) go on the computer

I have one imac. my wife and i each have our own user accounts and itunes library. How do we share selected music between user accounts?

i have one imac. my wife and i each have our own user accounts and itunes library. How do we share selected music between user accounts?

To give other users read-only access to your library, use the Sharing features of iTunes. Sharing works over the local network as well as on the same computer. See the built-in help for details.
If you want to give full read/write access to more than one user, see the support article linked below.
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer

I have itunes on one computer. my account says that I have 2 computers authorized. I want to have itunes on both users accounts on my computer. how do I do this? thanks for any help!

I have itunes on my computer in my main user account. I want ot have the same itunes on the other user account on my computer - under the apple account info- it says that I already have 2 computers authorized - how do I find out which 2 they are talking about? the only button nearlby is one that says to 'deauthorize all' etc.... thanks,. I have a pc.

You can only deauthorize all your itunes computers once a year, so I would avoid clicking that at the moment. Log onto the 2nd user, and open itunes. Go to Store> Authorize This computer.
As an alternative, you could point the 2nd user itunes library to the primary itunes folder. So both users would use the same itunes folder. You can do this by holding shift, clicking itunes icon. There should be an option to browse for an existing library. Locate the main computers itunes folder. (Most likely under: C:\Users\*Account name*\Music where *Account name* would be your main user accounts name.
Good luck!

Sharing iTunes Library between user accounts...possible?

Hello all,
I'm an experienced Mac user but am currently setting up a new iMac for my family. I've never had more than one user account because I'm the only one who uses my macbook but now my family wants 3 different user accounts for the new iMac in their home.
Because I only use my one user account at home, I never thought about the fact that different user accounts would also split up iTunes music libraries. If I import music from a CD, I would like that to be accessible and available when using any 1 of the 3 user accounts. Is this possible?
For example, my mother and father purchase CDs together...so they both own the same albums. They want to share music on the iMac, but if I import discs twice it takes up twice the amount of time and much more importantly twice the amount of space. How can I get around this??? Can one user access another users iTunes library and make that the default folder?
Thanks for your help as always!!

What you need to do is locate the iTunes Music Folder that contains the actual music in a location that is read/writable by all users. By definition, the security on each user's home folder keeps others out.
A common suggestion is to locate the music in the /Users/Shared/ folder and make sure that everyone has read/write privileges. Bear in mind that means that anyone will be able to delete all the shared music.

Can't share iTunes between Users

Trying to share iTunes between users on a Powebook 15" 1.6 Ghz running Leopard.
I followed the instructions in this link:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203?viewlocale=en_US
As instructed I moved the administrators iTunes Music folder to the computer / Users / Shared folder.
Then I changed the Preference in the admin's iTunes to choose the new location of the folder as instructed. (I chose the Shared folder as the location, not the iTunes Music folder itself)
Then I got a dialog box asking if I wanted iTunes to organize the files and I clicked Yes.
(then I rebooted iTunes)
Then I looked in the Shared folder and was surprised to see that the Shared folder was full of lots of folders of artists names which contain music files. Also in there was the iTunes Music folder which contained a few folders of artists names.
Is this correct? Should all the artist folders be inside the iTunes Music folder?
Lastly the sharing does not seem to have worked. When I log in as one of the other (non admin) users, and change their iTunes Preferences to locate their ITunes Music folder as the computer Shared folder, then reboot iTunes, the music is NOT accessible to them. (no music showing in their library)
In the link instructions it says to "follow the above steps for all users who want to share their music"
Well, as mentioned I changed the non admin users iTunes Preferences to specify the new location inside the Shared folder
but if I also try to follow the step of moving the non admin users iTunes Music folder to the computer Shared folder it asks me if I want to replace it - so I assume I should not duplicate this step.
PHEW !!
Also I noticed in the admins home folder there is also a Shared folder which seems to be a different one to the computer Shared folder. (this one contains other music files)
PLEASE HELP
thanks
Pete
London
UK

I am having a similar problem, but between macs and PCs. The PC (1 vista and 1XP) can share between themselves, and the mac can share between users, but neither PCs or mac sees the other. I have checked all sharing (itunes and systems prefs) and both indicate they are on but no one is connected. Both PC also have sharing turned on. By the way, this worked a week ago. I have not changed anything that would cause sharing to be affected.

Sharing FCP projects between user accounts problem

Hello!
I'm working on a project with several other colleagues. Each of us has his own User account on the computer (dual G5 / 10.4.7) because we have different preferecnes regarding keyboard layouts, desktop colour etc. We would like to have our FCP project files accessible to each of us.
I have tried different approaches to solve this task, but haven't fully succeded yet (I tried creating the project file within the /Users/Shared foler; putting it into a dedicated /Users/FCPProjects folder and applying chmod/chown commands; creating a Editors group with NetInfo and assigning those foders to this group; I even tried to work around this using ACLs).
The problem is that when we click "Save All" command in FCP, we get three or four OK-only dialog boxes in a row saying "Access denied". The project file is in fact saved (I can see it by checking the Modified time in Finder), but FCP seems not to be aware of this and doesn't want to quit. It's an unpleasent situation because it allways makes us worry about losing our work.
Could someone please give us instructions on the correct procedures for resolving the issue.
Thank you
Best regards
Mato Ilijic

matoid,
ACLs should work for you, and it seems that they are. You shouldn't have to deal with the error dialogue either, so let's see if we can't get rid of it.
First, let's talk about groups. I have looked at your "step by step," and I notice that you didn't bother to change the group ownership of the "shared" folder that you created. Fine, ACLs still work, but the group ownership of "wheel" might be the cause of your error messages. ACLs are a more advanced system of access controls than the older POSIX system, but POSIX still exists, and might affect your work.
Let's assume that you have your standard users that will be using FCP placed properly into a common group. For this discussion, I'll call that group "fcpusers." Under the POSIX paradigm, any "shared" folder can be owned by any one of the users in this group, but it must have a group ownership of "fcpusers" in order to work properly for everyone. When it does, every new file or folder created in it will "inherit" that group ownership.
Now, every user on a given machine will have read access to that shared folder. If a non-member of group "fcpusers" attempts to save a file there, however, an error message is likely to appear. One other possibility is that the file is saved, but with an "unknown" group ownership. This is because of a conflict between the groups the saving user is a member of and the attempted "inheritance" from the enclosing folder.
I want you to try the following. Please do this exactly as I outline it:
1) Create a new group in Netinfo Manager. Duplicate the "admin" group. Change the name of the duplicate to "fcpusers," then delete the "realname," "generateduid," and "smb_sid" properties. Change the GID to "101." Select the "users" property, then choose Directory>Insert Value. Type the short name of one of your users. Repeat this procedure for every user of FCP. Select any admin users in this group who will not be using FCP, and click the "Delete" icon. Finally, choose Domain>Save Changes.
2) Create a new folder in /Users/Shared. For this discussion we will assume that you will call it "FCP_Data." Further, we will assume that one of your FCP users is named "usera" (your terminology ;-)). Open Terminal. Since you seem to be well-versed in the use of Terminal, I will simply post the commands needed:
<pre style="overflow:auto; font-family: 'Monaco'; font-size: 10px">sudo chown usera:fcpusers /Users/Shared/FCP_Data
sudo chmod g+w /Users/Shared/FCP_Data</pre>
3) Before anyone begins saving files in this directory, make sure that their umask is changed using TinkerTool. Also, I recommend that all media gets saved here, too. I'm not sure how close FCP is to iMovie, if it doesn't save all data in a "package," but it is likely that media is being referenced using "placeholders." If this is the case, and media for a given project is scattered all over the file system, there could indeed be ownership issues. If media needs to be on externals, this same "shared" folder can be created there. Just make sure that #1, the volume has "ownership and permissions" in effect, and #2 all media is kept within the "shared" directory structure.
You must use TinkerTool to change the umask such that members of the group have read/write permission. TinkerTool doesn't specifically say this, but the corresponding umask is "002" (the OS X default is "022"). BTW, umask is subtracted from the "full permissions" value of "666" when saving non-executable files ("777" for folders and executables).
Once you have a properly configured "shared" folder and a proper umask in place, your users can begin to populate the shared directory. If any existing projects are to be added, they must be copied by a user into the shared directory, not simply moved. Only when a copy is made will the new copy inherit the proper group ownership. Just to be sure, I will include one more set of commands to use, once the shared directory has been populated:
<pre style="overflow:auto; font-family: 'Monaco'; font-size: 10px">sudo chown -R usera:fcpusers /Users/Shared/FCP_Data
sudo chmod -R g+w /Users/Shared/FCP_Data</pre>
Please follow these instructions carefully, then report the results. This should work, and without using ACLs.
Scott

Sharing between User Accounts

I'm new to Macs and need some help.
I have 2 user accounts on my mac and want to share picture and music files between the accounts. Both can be read & write. All my music is in the iTunes music folder. Even when I share that folder I can't get to the files on the other account. Each artist has their own folder within the iTunes music folder and they all have the minus symbol beside them when viewing from the 2nd account. How do I share these files between user accounts?
Also, where do I save my pictures so that they can be seen on both accounts?
I started to share all the folders with in iTunes but that was taking forever so I quit the process and now my public folders are not showing as shared in the preferences. How do I get my sharing preferences back to the default settings?

I now have my mac set up just the way i want. thanks for the input you all gave! How I did it:
in the file sharing system prefs i deleted the "ghost" folders that were showing. I call them ghost folders because they were grayed out and not clickable. They were pointing to a folder that I had removed from my system because I deleted my user account so that i could start over from scratch to set things up right from the beginning. This still left these folders in the sharing menu so I just had to delete them one at a time until they were all gone making everything look clean again.
I learned that sharing files between user accounts on the same computer (and even the guest account) can only be done with files that are in the public folder. Adding my iTunes Music folder to the sharing list did not share my mp3 across users on the same computer. I just had to move the iTunes Music folder (not the iTunes folder) to the public folder so the other account could access it. Then I followed the directions in the link provided in this thread about sharing in iTunes. Now I don't have to have my wife's Maria Carry in my library! And she does not have to have my songs in her library!
For photos I placed the files in the public folder and just imported them into the iPhoto library for each account.
On a side note, having our own accounts allows us to set up the computer they way we want, but allows us to have access to the same files. I'll be adding a 500gb hard drive to it soon for time machine and can't wait to have that set up. My only question now is when can i add time capsule? Can I add it as a 2nd wireless network in addition to my linksys wrt54g2 that is connected to the cable modem (i need the linksys connected to the internet for xbox live and ps3's network), i know i would then connect the external HDD to it for more storage, therefore I guess I would move all mp3's and picture files onto it freeing space on the computer and just direct both user accounts to the files on the HDD connected to time capsule.

Can I share my iPhoto library with other users accounts on my computer?

My wife and I both have our own user account on the computer. Right now all the photos are on my account. If we put the iPhoto library in users/shared will this allow us both to access the photos?
Thanks.

Yes, this is exactly how I use iPhoto on my system.
You do need to update the permissions on the iPhoto directory after it's moved to the Shared folder. the default permissions will only permit your account to fully access the files, your wife's account will get errors or not see thumbnails correctly when accessing the pictures from iPhoto in her account.
After moving the iPhoto Library into Shared (and with iPhoto closed), Get Info on the iPhoto Library folder and change the Others access to Read+Write. Let it apply to all enclosed folders, also. Then hold down the Option key while starting iPhoto and choose the Shared version of the folder as your Library. Repeat the iPhoto launch w/option key on the other account as well and each user will access the same set of pictures, albums, keywords, etc. Just make sure you don't open iPhoto from both accounts at the same time. Close iPhoto before walking away from the computer or letting the other person logon.

Sharing files and library between user accounts

I know this question was asked many times before, but I never read a clear answer. Is it possible to share the library (and files) from one user account to another user account on same computer (same apple ID in iTunes) so that when user 1 downloads music, user 2 will see the music (without any additional steps) when they log into iTunes.
The problem I ran into was user 2 had to manually add the new purchased music to their library in order to see the music. If user 2 was unaware of any purchases, user 2 unaware could potentially repurchase the same music.
My issue is my other users (family members) are not diligent when it comes to checking.
Is there an easy way to sync the two music libraries (or 1 real library) across multiple user accounts on the same PC.

Move the library to the /Users/Shared/ folder, go into each user account, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose that library.
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Moving iTunes between User Accounts on home Computer

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