Setting up network accounts.

Hello,
Is there a way that I would be able to set up network accounts to be used over my wireless network? I would like to be able to log onto any computer on my network and access my photos, music, documents and other stuff without having to have 4 different user accounts and constantly having to update my files on the other computers. Does anyone know what I am talking about? If so, can you tell me how to do that? That would be great.

Hi. I think you are talking about file sharing, meaning you turn on file sharing in the System Preferences of your primary computer, where your information is stored. Using any other computer on the network, you will see it on the sidebar under "shared" items (if you are using Leopard).
If you are using an earlier system, choose "Network" and find it there. Log in just as you would if you were sitting at your primary computer. You will be able to access to your files, as if Computer #1 were an external hard drive. I hope I understood the question. I'm no expert. Good luck!

Similar Messages

Clean install Lion Server ...set up network accounts correctly....can't log in?

I recently wiped the system and using internet recovery I did a clean lion server re install ... after configuring user accounts and the server app correctly by the book, I am unable to login on any computer that is joined to the OD server. I set a share point afp://server.ex.ex/Users in workgroup manager as its home directory. When I go to login it tells me it cannot because an error has occured. Yes I have configured all units to allow all network accounts to login on the client end.
In addition I have all the services activated on the server .app pane .... none of them except only wiki server are able to authenticate successfully against the server.
It is running through a WRT54G cisco router with the DMZ zone set to its DHCP IP.
DNS is correct and the account is a dyndns domain name resolving to the router.
What is happening here?
Any ideas....

By the way I also should add that I deleted the old hostname and created a new one but DNS seems good as it points to the server when entered through locally and globally.

File Share network account

Hi all
once again I have questions
I have a network account called Mark.
On my MBP I log into the network account- everything is good.
I log out and then go to another mac. everyhting is good. When here, I save a document called test.
Then I go to my MBP, go to the Documents folder for the user and test doc isnt there. How can I set up network accounts so my students can move computers and still have there docs linked to their network account?

If I'm understanding your question correctly, simply saving a document in a user's home folder on a local machine does not transfer it between machines. Open Directory is only going to authenticate your user's credentials and grant them access to the machine.
You can, however, setup preference and file syncing with Workgroup Manager. You can download it here: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1567
Once installed, configure it to connect to your server with your diradmin account. Once authenticated, you can setup file syncing to sync an entire home directory or just folders within it, preference syncing, etc. You can also manage preference for users and groups and enforce company policies regarding security or whatever else you may need to. It can also automatically mount the user's network home folder when they login.
Once you set this up, whenever a user logs into their account on a managed machine, it will run the preference and file sync settings you created.
I hope this answers your question. Or at least gets you steered in the right direction.
Taylor

Setting up a plain network-account server

To simplify a process I need to get done quickly, but have no knowledge of, I am asking for the support of the helpful users here in the discussions.
The end product I need is a 10.5 server (already installed and not set up yet) to host network user accounts to a number of 10.5 client computers (set up with one local admin account each).
Each user account just needs to be a standard account and I need the clients to show a list of available network accounts, with each account having a fully functional home folder on the server.
The server itself needs to do nothing else but this function. The server and the clients already exist on a fully set up network with each client machine having only to set up a specific IP address, router IP, and DNS server in it's network preferences to join the network. The server can join the network the same way.
What I need to know is what is the best way to set up the server to only provide the network accounts and no other service? Consider the server can be wiped and set up again if anything goes wrong, any links to online literature or a step by step guide posted here would be greatly appreciated.

To simplify a process I need to get done quickly, but have no knowledge of, I am asking for the support of the helpful users here in the discussions.
The end product I need is a 10.5 server (already installed and not set up yet) to host network user accounts to a number of 10.5 client computers (set up with one local admin account each).
Each user account just needs to be a standard account and I need the clients to show a list of available network accounts, with each account having a fully functional home folder on the server.
The server itself needs to do nothing else but this function. The server and the clients already exist on a fully set up network with each client machine having only to set up a specific IP address, router IP, and DNS server in it's network preferences to join the network. The server can join the network the same way.
What I need to know is what is the best way to set up the server to only provide the network accounts and no other service? Consider the server can be wiped and set up again if anything goes wrong, any links to online literature or a step by step guide posted here would be greatly appreciated.

Setting up user iCloud accounts within Network accounts

Hey All;
New to the server environment and have (I assume) successfully setup a Open Directory (for Network user accounts with network homes) server and I am able to successfully bind to it and login to a Network user account via a client mac.
I'm having an issue with setting up iCloud accounts in my user's Network accounts.
The iCloud preference panel is able to log into and setup all but mail. It seems that it creates the mail account settings, however when you attempt to launch Mail, it freezes and eventually asks to Rebuild mailbox information. When I select this option the application eventually quits.
I can setup the iCloud mail manually via Profile Manager for the specific user, however this in turns destroys the iCloud settings for other services.
Can anyone help?
Additional information:
Server: Mac pro, Yosemite 10.10.2 and Server 4.0.3
Mac Client: Mac mini, Yosemite 10.10.2

Check Settings>General>Siri>My Info to be sure you have selected your contact.

Setting Scratch for Network Accounts

Hello,
We hav a lab of 18 Imacs and 5 Mac pros. We are using OD on an Xserve and we would like to set the Scratch disk for FCP 6.0.3 to use an external firewire drive. The problem is each network account it wants to use the network Home folder. Any help would be much appreciated.
Message was edited by: sjkeith77
Message was edited by: sjkeith77

Nope...gotta set it manually in the program.
Hey, the students have to know this stuff...so they'd better know how to set the scratch disk.
Shane

Cannot login to network account (leopard client and server)

Up until now, I have used local accounts on my leopard server. I want to start experimenting with OD prior to implementing. I created a new user account in the /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1 domain, and have bound my leopard client to the server using directory utility. On the login screen, "Network Accounts Available" has a green button to the left of it. When I try and login to the server account, the login window just shakes. At first, I could enter the password and then it would prompt me for a new password. Trying to enter a new password would not allow me to login. I went back to server admin and disabled the "require new password" setting, (as well as the other good security policies)...
I have also reset the password in WGM, and made sure to disable all the security stuff there too...
Lastly, I have deleted the server in directory utility, rebooted, then added it back in, and rebooted again...
I still cannot login to the server account, the login screen just shakes
Does anyone have an idea of what settings and or logs I can check to try and narrow down what is going on?
Thanks in advance....

to close out the thread, I have working dns on my network, but I did not have dns enabled on my server. I enabled the dns service and entered just the info for my server, then assigned my server and client to use the server's ip addy as the primary dns server. Next, I created the home directory.
Once both steps were done, I was able to log in from my client to my server based account...
FYI-I found a document on afp548.com called "leopard server: advanced setup, rsync backup and automated reporting" that walks you right thru the process...Here is the link, it's a very useful doc....
http://www.afp548.com/filemgmt_data/files/Leopard%20Server%20Quickstart%20Guide. pdf
thanks again boomboom_uk and woVi, your suggestions were spot on....

One iMac cannot login to network accounts

We have a small network with Lion (10.7.5) Server running on a Mac Pro and a variety of 8 iMacs and Mac minis that use the server for file sharing and network accounts. The client Macs are running a mix of Mountain Lion (10.8) and Mavericks (10.9). They have all 'joined' the 'Network Account Server' using the 'Login Options' section of the Users & Groups preference pane. And, except for one iMac, all the clients can log into network (or mobile) accounts from the server -- both ones that have previously been logged into on that machine and ones that haven't. However, one of the iMacs will not log into a network account. There are a few local accounts and logging into them is no problem. But every time we try to log into a network account on this iMac, the login dialogue just does the 'invalid login' shake. It seems not to check the login credentials with the server.
As far as I can tell, this iMac is set up the same as all the others. It is certainly joined the Network Account Server and there is a green dot by the server name in the Users & Groups preference pane. I have removed and re-added the server from there a few times, and I've even reinstalled Mavericks on this iMac (it is running 10.9.2). I haven't been able to find anything that has helped to solve this problem. Does anyone know why one iMac would refuse to use the network logins from the server when the others work? Or what I can do to gain further information?
Many thanks.

On your client machine login screen, type in ">console" (without quotes) in the username field and hit enter. Try and login with your network account username and password. What error messages do you get in console?
Taylor

Cannot login to network accounts from client computer

Hi. I'm setting up my first OS X Server setup for home use...I'm not creating a very complicated setup, but I've been working through the setup one step at a time.
Right now, I'm just running the DNS, File Sharing, and Open Directory services. I setup a couple of Network User accounts, and I wanted to try using one of the accounts to log in to a Mac client (running Mountain Lion) on the network. When the machine first comes up, I get a message that says 'Network Accounts Unavailable,' and if I try to log in, I get the error message saying 'You are unable to log in to the user account "xxxxx" at this time. Logging in to the account failed because an error occurred.'
If I stop and restart the Open Directory service, I get the following messages in the Open Directory Log:
2013-02-15 09:11:01.017801 EST - Unregistered node with name '/LDAPv3/127.0.0.1'
2013-02-15 09:16:19.139744 EST - Registered subnode with name '/LDAPv3/127.0.0.1'
Not sure if this is the source of the problem, but these are the only messages that are coming up if I turn the Open Directory off and then on again.
If anyone has any experience with this, or any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thanks!
If it helps:
Running OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2) with Server (v2.2.1)
Client Machine is a VMWare Fusion VM Running Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

On your client machine login screen, type in ">console" (without quotes) in the username field and hit enter. Try and login with your network account username and password. What error messages do you get in console?
Taylor

Can't Login With Network Account After Upgrade To Yosemite Server 4

I've been putting off this troubleshooting for a while now, and after trying everything I could find, decided to post.
- After upgrading my server to Yosemite with Server 4, and my MacBook to Yosemite, I can no longer login with any network accounts.
- I was on clean installs of Mavericks before the upgrade.
- I'm using SSL for the OD, with a GoDaddy cert, the same one that was working on Mavericks.
- I've tried removing the laptop's binding using the Users and Groups preferences dialog, which does not remove the laptop's entry from Open Directory, so I manually deleted the record on the server.
- I then choose to Join again, and it looks as though everything goes through, but I still cannot login with a network account. Also, when rejoining, it does not create a binding on the server.
- If I use the Directory Utility->Services->LDAPv3, and add it that way, entering the FQDN and checking Encrypt..., Use for auth and Use for contacts, it asks me for the directory admin username and password, and does in fact create the binding on the server, but I still cannot login. What's strange about that method, is that it forces the use of the IP address of the server, rather than the FQDN, like I entered it, which would of course have problems, because the certificate's common name is the server's FQDN. It does not allow me to change from using the IP address, graying out that field.
- I've also tried destroying the OD and restoring from archive to no avail.
It looks like many users have hit dead ends with this, with some having success by completely formatting and setting up a new iteration of the server, but I will not be doing that. However, I'll be happy to try any other suggestions.
Thanks for your time,
   -- Mike

     Okay, I've finally resolved the issue, thanks to the Apple Enterprise tech support team. I'm thinking they wouldn't mind if I share this information, but I can't guarantee that this will work on your system or, worse yet, degrade your system further. However, that's fairly unlikely, just make sure you have plenty of backups before you begin any troubleshooting session.
     So I was told to perform the following instructions, which I did, line for line. The part about closing Server.app seems a given, but I'm not sure why they want you to open Server.app at the the end (maybe taken out of context from some other instructions?). I did it anyway, but you should be able to begin testing, on a client workstation, right after rekerberizing is complete. I did, however, need to reboot my client, login as local admin, and then binding would proceed, and network users are able to login again. The engineer also let me know to expect an error, something like the following: "2015-03-11 21:58:38 +0000 Error synchronizing removal of attribute draft-krbPrincipalACL from record 72519e4c-7ac7-15e4-bd42-10adb1944cbc: 77013 result: 16 No such attribute" - this is apparently normal, and did in fact happen in my experience.
So here's the fix:
- Quit Server.app (don’t just close the window)
- On the Open Directory Server, execute these Terminal commands:
- sudo mkdir /var/db/openldap/migration/
- sudo touch /var/db/openldap/migration/.rekerberize
- sudo slapconfig -firstboot
- Open Server.app
And that's it. I did nothing else on my OD server, just logged out. Immediately tried binding on my MacBook client, it failed, I rebooted, tried again, it worked quickly, and I'm able to login with network user accounts again.

How do I make a new network account visible to a client at login?

I have just installed a new Leopard Server machine. It is an Open Directory master and I have created a number of new accounts with network home folders. On my client machines I have identified that OD server using the Directory Utility program. Yet when I log in from any of my Leopard client machines I only see local accounts, not the network accounts.
What am I missing?
Ian.
--

Did you set up your accounts on the server to be mobile or network home accounts?
I believe they are network home accounts. For example, for the user fred I have a folder on the server hard disk called /Volumes/disk1/Users/fred, which I created as the home folder when I created the user account.
There is a folder called "fred" visible at /Network/Servers/penguin.example.com/Users/fred/ from the client computers.
DId you set your sharepoints up to be automount?
I believe so. In the above example the folder /Volumes/disk1/Users is marked as a share with "Enable automount" selected and marked "Use for User home folders".
Did you bind your computer in DIrectory Utility?
Well, on each of the client computers I have used the Directory Utility program to connect to the OD server. Does that constitute binding?
Is DNS resolving properly?
Definitely. I can ping all of the computers, including the new server, from any of the computers on the network.
I should have mentioned that I had done these things - sorry about that. Anyway, I'm stumped. Anything else to try?
Ian.
--

Can't login on iMac to Local Network accounts on server

I'm a volunteer at the Marjorie P Lee retirement community. We had two iMacs that were available for residents to use. We recently bought two more iMacs and a Mac Mini Server. The goal is to make it possible for residents to use any of the computers and have their files available.
I have set up the server and did the updates so the machine is running 10.9.4 and the latest update of the server software. I have enabled Open Directory and created a couple of Local Network User accounts for testing. I also enabled file sharing and Time Machine backups.
One of our older iMacs is running OS X 10.6.8. On this iMac, I went to the Users & Groups pane and under Login Options I connected to the Network Account Server. I got the green dot indicating that the connection was successful. I then enabled network logins. This worked; I am now able to login on this iMac to the local network accounts on the server.
I did exactly the same thing on one of our brand new iMacs. Again I got the green dot indicating a successful connection to the server. Unfortunately I have been unable to login to the local network accounts from this machine. When I try to login, the password shakes as though I had entered the wrong password.
What do I need to do to fix this?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
~~Dan

Most likely your Imac is using g or n to broadcast wirelessly while your router is using b. Solution update your router.
Greetings from Northern Ontario, Canada

Lion Server network accounts not working on some computers.

Hello all -
I'm currently having an issue with network accounts working on some Macs but not others. I have a Mac Mini and a MacBook Pro. The Mac Mini works fine and I can login and sync my network account with the server just fine. However, I cannot connect to it from my MBP.
When I try and connect I get an error that says "You are unable to log in to the user account "xxxx" at this time. Logging in to the account failed because an error occurred."
If I login through console (by typing in ">console" in the username field) I get an error that says the user does not have a home directory...
I have searched numourous other forums but I have not found a solution that seems to solve this problem. I have unbound and re-bound my client to the open directory and I have restarted file sharing. Neither has solved the problem. I have a feeling the issue originates somewhere on the MBP since I can log in to the Mac Mini without any problems.
Anymore suggestions?

Thanks for your suggestion, SolidWood. Unfortunately it didn't help.
After a 90 minute phone call with AppleCare, this issue has finally been resolved. Here is what the solution was. Turns out it was pretty simple but it took a while to find it.
First we created a test user and left the home folder set to Local Only in the Server App. I was successfully able to login with the test user on both clients but since there were no mobility preferences set, it was pretty basic.
Then, we removed the Users sharepoint from file sharing, turned off file sharing to disconnect any users, and restarted the server. Then we created a new folder on the Server HD with a random name. We chose Darron. We created a new sharepoint in file sharing (with it still turned off), and shared the new folder called Darron. Double click on the sharepoint and scroll to the bottom and check the box that says "Make available for home directories over AFP". Then we restarted file sharing.
Then we opened Workgroup Manager, clicked on the problem user in the left sidebar, clicked on the Home option at the top, and there were three things listed:
     (None)
     afp://servername.com/Users
     afp://servername.com/Darron
Then we removed the Darron sharepoint from file sharing, and found that it was still listed as a home directory under the problem user.
This was the root of the problem. The system didn't know which path to use as the home directory.
Sooooo...
In the server app, we opened the Directory Utility (Tools in the menubar, Directory Utility). Clicked on Directory Editor. Authenticate to the directory using the diradmin login. Changed view settings to match this below:
In the left column, there were two paths listed for home mounts. We deleted both of them, saved changes, and closed directory editor.
Then, we restarted workgroup manager and both paths had been deleted from the users home listings. This was begining to solve the problem.
In the Server App, we recreated the users sharepoint, made it available for home directories, and restarted file sharing and workgroup manager. Now only one path is listed for the home folder for all the users.
This solved my problem of not being able to login on the MBP. The system synced the home folder and all was well. On the Mac Mini, I had to delete the problem account, un-bind from the network server, re-bind, and recreate the account. Now both clients are sycning perfectly and all is well.
Thank God I bought AppleCare! Thanks to everyone else for their help and suggestions.
As a recap, the problem of not being able to login to the MacBook Pro was caused by having multiple paths to the multiple home folders. These rogue paths were added somewhere in the troubleshooting process to try and recreate the home directories before I called AppleCare. To solve this, we had to remove the directory listings from accounts using Directory Editor, remove and recreate the users sharepoint in file sharing. The syncing problem on the Mac Mini was also created when multiple paths were introduced. The system didn't know which files to use.
Taylor

Is there a way to merge/migrate my local home folder to a network account

My family has a number of Macbooks and a couple of iMacs and we've been thinking we'd like centralized storage for our media collection and other files and I'd like an easier way to deal with these machines to keep them updated, etc. Also we swap laptops and desktops depending on who needs to do what at a particular moment. Is there a way to migrate an existing home folder on a macbook to an account on the server. What I would like to be able to do is to be able to log into any computer in my home and have it look like "my" computer, with files, settings etc... Since I am new to the server world I am confused by the terminology re: network accounts and mobile accounts. Is there a good guide someone could recommend to get me started. Thanks.

Hi Yodalogger,
I hope you have yourself sorted. I've been through alot of pain with lion server, it's very buggy at best.
Your best bet is SolidWood's suggestion of network accounts if you are constantly on the same network. I use this at home and it works very well. For simplicity, you can use WorkGroup Manager for this as it's more intuitive!
If, you need a mobile account, this is what I did.
I migrated local macbook accounts to server machine (migration assistant).
I renamed the /User home folders on macbook to _backup. For safety.
I deleted local accounts from macbook. Keep your _backup home folders! Also, you will need to have a local Admin account in place. Make sure you do not delete it.
On Server. You will have local accounts created for all your migrated macbook accounts. Just remove the accounts in system preferences but ensure you leave the /User home folders in place when prompted.
On server. I created the new users (old mackbook accounts) and groups in the server app. This doesn't create or overwrite your existing home folders. So go ahead and name them exactly the same as before and make sure the accounts match your home folder's names.
On server, using profile manager, I set up mobility etc., for the device. That is, you need to enroll your macbook with the server and configure services for it in profile manager. You can add a placeholder for this in profile manager to configure stuff.
A handy tip to alleviate all the automatic push settings pain and heartache is to set the general payload to manual. You can then wip up the profile manager from your macbook to install the profiles manually. (easily done).
On Macbook, login with local admin account.
On Macbook, go to system prefs and accounts, set up your open directory stuff in the login options.
On Macbook, log out of admin. Back at the login screen, you should see your admin account and 'Other.' Give it a few minutes or so to figure this out. It needs to contact the server etc. for info.
Once you have 'Other' click on it and login with one of your new network accounts. This will log you in as a network account - you should see all your usual settings that previously existed on your macbook when it was a local account.
At this point, you whip up profile manager. http://yourserver.local/profilemanager Change yourserver to the name of your server.
Login to profile manager with your admin account. I do this as I will be downloading a few profiles that only admin has access to.
So, you need to download a trust profile, your device profile, and a profile for remote management if you have set this up. You may have seen various download buttons knocking around the the interface. In downloads double click these to install (if it doesn't do this automatically).
Log out of everything.
Log back in with one of your network accounts. This time you should be prompted to create a mobile account. Say yes and let it sync your home folders from server to macbook.
Once each mobile account is created, you can then further define user/group settings in profile manager. You download these by logging into http://yourserver.local/mydevices as the user and download the appropriate settings.
I think thats it. Sorry, if its not detailed enough - I'm presuming you know yourself around a mac! I have to say the process is straightforward but Lion Server is not. I do not get consistent results with it and I'm still trying to tame it...
By far the easiest option is network accounts. Mobile accounts need more attention.
I hope this helps (and anybody else!)
Paul.

SL bound clients can't logon Lion Server network accounts

Sorry if this has been covered or resolved elsewhere elsewhere, if so please point me in the right direction!
I posted this in a different thread and it was suggested this one would be more helpful.
I've spent all day with a new mac pro with Lion Server installed trying to set up a small network. Created an OD Master (from the Server App) then used WGM to make accounts. From the Server app I'd created sharepoints (where has File Sharing gone in Server Admin?) one of which was enabled to be used as home directories for which I configured back in WGM. I then bound SL clients computers to OD making sure there were no hypens in the computer names and allowed all network users to logon onto the machine as well as adding the Lion servers IP address as a DNS record.
The problem is, I go to logon with the network account and it starts to logon, i.e the icon expands rather than shakes then stops with the not very informative error "Cannot log you on because an error occurred".
The bound clients appear in WGM. The user accounts look ok. I've not enabled SSL on anything. This is really frustrating.
Any help much appreciated.
Regards,
Evan

Sorry if this has been covered or resolved elsewhere elsewhere, if so please point me in the right direction!
I posted this in a different thread and it was suggested this one would be more helpful.
I've spent all day with a new mac pro with Lion Server installed trying to set up a small network. Created an OD Master (from the Server App) then used WGM to make accounts. From the Server app I'd created sharepoints (where has File Sharing gone in Server Admin?) one of which was enabled to be used as home directories for which I configured back in WGM. I then bound SL clients computers to OD making sure there were no hypens in the computer names and allowed all network users to logon onto the machine as well as adding the Lion servers IP address as a DNS record.
The problem is, I go to logon with the network account and it starts to logon, i.e the icon expands rather than shakes then stops with the not very informative error "Cannot log you on because an error occurred".
The bound clients appear in WGM. The user accounts look ok. I've not enabled SSL on anything. This is really frustrating.
Any help much appreciated.
Regards,
Evan

Setting up network accounts.

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