Sharing one library with two user accounts.

I want to share one iTunes library with two user accounts on the same iMac.
I've followed the tutorial where you move the iTunes Music folder to a shared location HD/Shared/iTunes and then pointed both iTunes to that location via the advanced menu, but only the admin account has the music. The other user account iTunes shows nothing.
Also, I've now moved the music folder back to my area on the HD (not shared any more) and now the iTunes music folder shows all the album folders where before I guess they were hidden. Why and how do I get it back to how it was...?
All we're trying to do is share one mac. My wife and I have our own log in user accounts, but want to have the same music and iPhotos accessible on our own set-ups.
Thanks for any help.

Out of interest I got this to work.
I made a folder called 'All Music' and put all the album folders in it.
Moved this folder to User/Shared/ and then clicked on the file, and Get Info.
In Get Info added my wife to Sharing & Permissions as Read & Write.
In iTunes / Advanced found the folder on my user account, and then did the same on my wife's account and hit add to library.
I hope this was the right way to do it..... It seems to have worked.

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How do we sync contacts and calendars (ONLY) between two iCloud accounts, two iPhones and one iMac with two user accounts?

This is complex. Until today we had one iMac with two user accounts - one for me and the other for my wife. We sync'd our calendars and contacts between our two user accounts using my iCloud account, thereby keeping our schedules coordinated and our contacts information always the same between us. Also, as I had an iPhone, I sync'd my phone with my iCloud account, thereby keeping the contacts and calendars in the two user accounts on the iMac AND my iPhone sync'd. (I also sync'd other things, like Notes and Mail and Safari settings, between my iPhone and my user account on the iMac, but my wife did not want to be burdened with all my emails showing up in her email account and I wasn't interested in hers, etc., so we didn't sync anything between us other than calendars and contacts.)
We've finally bought my wife an iPhone and set up an iCloud account for her. And of course she now wants to sync several items from HER account on our iMac to HER iPhone, but I don't want them, just as she doesn't want all of my other stuff. But we still want our mutual calendars and contacts to sync to HER new iPhone, just like they already do to mine. But I can't figure out how to CHANGE her iMac user account from using MY iCloud account on the iMac to using HER new iCloud account, and then having HER iCloud account speak to MY iCloud account but share JUST our calendars and contacts.
Originally I tried a workaround by simply having her iPhone log into my iCloud account. That works great for the calendars and the contacts. But...she can't sync anything else from her iMac account to her new iPhone because she's presently "forced" to use my iCloud account. And neither of us want to sync our other things to each other's iMac accounts or iPhones. Also as we're both using my iCloud account, in things like the Find My iPhone app, the Cloud is seeking two phones labeled with my name and none with her's. So we definitely don't want this as the set-up and communications network between our devices.
We want to set up our users on the iMac to sync to our SEPARATE AND DIFFERENT iCloud accounts and then have those iCloud accounts sync calendars and contacts (ONLY) between themselves, and then push that data to our separate iPhones (or the other way, from either of our iPhones to the individual accounts on our iMac and the other person's iPhone). Does this description make sense to you? I've diagramed it nicely using Keynote, but even thiough I can draw it, I can't figure out how to set up and configure all the devices to make it work. If you would like me to send the Keynote slides (just two of them - the current and desired configurations - please send your email address to me at [email protected] and I'll be happy to forward it to you.
If anyone can help me set this up I'd be most appreciative! Thanks so much. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers in this community!

BobT.
I had the same problem, and decided to look into it last night.
First of all, the solution I would like to have is for Apple to allow for selection of iCloud accounts per application, i.e. Contacts to one, Photo Stream to another. I believe this would be the most straight forward solution for the problem we are facing.
Since this is not an option I came up with a workaround. I was most interested in solving this for Contacts, so this is what I tested for. Now I have all 3 devices with the same contacts.
1) Turn off iCloud for Contacts on all devices. On the device that has the Contacts list that you would like to propagate to all others select to keep the contacts, and on the others select not to keep them.
Note that the current backups still exist on iCloud, so in case something goes wrong you can still turn the iCloud for Contacts back on to get your current Contacts back.
2) In iTunes, sync All Contacts with the phones, starting with the one with the Contacts content you chose to keep.
From this point on, the 3 devices should sync contacts with each other.
This, of course, will stop your iCloud backups of Contacts, but I don't think this is really needed. You are already storing copies of your Conacts on 3 devices, which for good parts of the day are likely not all co-located. You also potentially have Time Machine backups turned on, which would mean there is a 4th copy there as well. For the case of Contacts iCloud only complicates matter ... that is until Apple implements the solution I first wrote about.

I need to share my Itunes library on one computer with two user accounts

I have one computer with two IPODS. I would like to share the music I already have stored on one library with another user library. How do I do this?

See if this helps: iTunes - How to share music between different accounts on a single computer
There are a few different ways to use two iPods with one computer, have a look at this help page for suggestions: How to use multiple iPods with one computer

Question re. sharing iTunes library with other user accounts

I have seen this document:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203
I want to share one library with four users on my account. I'd like for any music purchased or ripped to this computer to end up in User 1's iTunes library, and for Users 2, 3 and 4 to have access to User 1s library just as User 1 does.
When I follow the directions for "Listening to another account's music files" in the above referenced document, it tells me to navigate to User 1's library through the dialog box that pops up after User 2 clicks "Add to LIbrary".
The problem is, when User 2 is doing that, and User 1 has put the iTunes library in ~user1/public, as the directions suggest, that dialog box won't allow user 2 to access User 1's Public folder.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance...
Chris

Another long description in store here...
iTunes has two main elements. One is the library.itl database file. When you open iTunes it is this that you see. It contains what music is in a library, playlists, date added, playcount, etc. It is this that is really the library. The other element are the media files. When you tell iTunes to play a track it checks in its library file which music file is associated with that track and goes and plays it.
Now you say, "for Users 2, 3 and 4 to have access to User 1s library just as User 1 does." Do you really want User 4 to be able to go and delete or rename tracks, or change the playlists? This can be done if you really want it. Or do you want each person to keep their own library [file] and share media? Even that has disadvantages as a person might still be able to rename a file or even delete it for all. At least everybody would have their own playlists, ratings, etc, though a person could delete a file and then it would appear as a broken link for others. To be honest, iTunes isn't great for sharing.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Exactly what you want to do will involve different setups so before going into detailed insructions it would help to know which ones to provide. Here's an sampling:
iTunes: How to share music between different accounts on a single computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203 - relocating iTunes' media folder to a shared area but leaving separate library files - extra tip at https://discussions.apple.com/message/17331189
Chris CA's instructions on sharing one iTunes music library between multiple user accounts - https://discussions.apple.com/message/8974074 - Multiple users using a single library file - similar post at: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3753008
iTunes Home Sharing now works between users on same computer - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3865597 The problem with HS is I think you then end up with multiple copies of files, one for each user. At least they cannot damage another's collection though.

Home Share on One Computer with Two User Accounts

We have one computer in our house with two user accounts. I have an iTunes account and my husband has his own. Due to many moved music files and whatnot, it is very annoying and difficult to try to find songs from his library to add to mine using the Add File (or Folder) to Library link in the iTunes file menu. I am unable to access some of the songs currently in my library because he moved some of his files and my iTunes can't locate them any longer. I was hoping Home Share would solve our problem, but can't get it to work. Is it hopeless for me because we technically only have one computer? Is there an easier way for me to add some of his songs to my library without searching through our five or six different iTunes library folders on multiple hard drives?
We have both enabled Home Share on our individual user accounts, but do not have the Home Share icon appearing in our iTunes side bar.
Thanks for the help!

I was able to get the two iTunes home shares to work on the same machine and "see" each others library as long as I have them both open at the same time (for the Mac, using fast user switching made that very easy). Once the home sharing was working, playing music/movies/etc worked but when I tried to import / drag and drop from one account to the other it acts like it's doing it but then doesn't.
This may be perhaps unique to me because of my unusual setup, I set my "secondary" account to use the iTunes folder of the other, "primary", account to avoid having two copies of the same thing. Doing it this way meant I didn't have two copies of files on my computer, but it did mean I had to "Import to Library..." the media into the "secondary" account every I added something to the primary. I wonder if giving each account it's own library location would resolve this issue (while unfortunately meaning that the two accounts would each have a copy of all of the music/movies/etc, doubling my drive space usage). I'll update this post if I find out anything more.

Sharing iPhoto Library between Two User Accounts

Is there any way to fully share a single iPhoto library between two user accounts on one machine (iMac 2.0GHz dual core Intel, 10.5.1, iPhoto '08), without using an external drive (because I don't have one)? By share, I mean each user has full rights and priveledges to the entire library, regardless of who uploaded the pics. Holding down the option key on iPhoto startup does not work because my wife can't access the pics I loaded even though she's pointing to the shared library in a shared folder.

If you want the other user to have the same access to the library as you: to be able to add, edit, organise, keyword etc. then:
Quit iPhoto in both accounts
Move the iPhoto Library Folder to an external HD set to ignore permissions. *You could also use a dmg*.
(Some people have had success putting the library in the Users/ Shared folder. If you do this make sure the file permissions are set to allow read/write access to everyone. But that's unlikely to work on 10.5 because of the way that the permissions have changed with the new OS.)
In each account in turn: Hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting dialogue, select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new library location. From that point on, this will be the default library location. Both accounts will have full access to the library, in fact, both accounts will 'own' it.
However, there is a catch with this system and it is a significant one. iPhoto is not a multi-user app., it does not have the code to negotiate two users simultaneously writing to the database, and trying will cause db corruption. So only one user at a time, and back up, back up back up.
Regards
TD

Shared iTunes Library with two users

I am trying to have my system permit me to share one library between two users. My Mac acts as a Music Server for my house audio system through Airport Express and it also plays music locally through the computer speakers. In order to do this, I need to run two users simulatnaneous - one for the music server and one for local use - itunes runs on both user accounts simultaneously playing to the Airport Express and the local speakers. Trouble is that each user needs its own library. If I add a song locally, the server does not get it, and if I put a song on the server, I dont get it locally. Any thoughts?

Thank you Joe - I tried this but it's only showing a teensy amount of music - the stuff on the second users account as opposed to the giagntic library on the 'main' account. I actually went to a Genius Bar and they said that apple doesn't really want you to share music between accounts - parents don't want to hear their kids music etc. Which seemed strange, but it might be the case sadly Thanks anyway!

Sharing Itunes library with another User Account & Fast Switching

Hi. I recently purchased a new iMac G5 and am in the process of setting it up to be used by 2 separate users (girlfriend and me). I apologize in advance if this is more of an Itunes issue and not solely an Administration issue.
My question deals with creating a new user account on my Mac (with Fast Switching) and allowing my girlfriend to share my iTunes library with the ability to transfer music to her ipod when she is logged into her own unique account. I will be the Administrator on the Mac.
We are trying to avoid loading our music two times into the Mac under each of our logins. Is there a way that we can share the music I have already loaded into my Itunes library when she is logged into her account so that she can transfer to her ipod and create her own distinct playlists? If so, any advice on how to enable this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Seth
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Unfortunately, baltwo's solution will not allow your girlfriend to create any playlists or copy songs to iPod.
The easiest thing would be to share the entire music folder, so anyone of you can listen to your music.
You'd have two options.
If you want to be using the exact same library, so any playlist you created can be edited by your girlfriend and vice versa:
1. Go to yourusername/Music/iTunes. You'll find two files called "iTunes library" and "iTunes music library" Copy them to your desktop, so you'll have a backup just in case.
2. Move your yourusername/Music folder to computer/users/shared. (The folder will be copied ONLY in case your using FileVault, so you'd have to delete the original User/Music folder after making sure you'd got a functional copy at computer/users/shared) Select users/shared, press "apple+i" to get the info window, go to "Ownership" change all permissions to "read & write" and hit "apply to enclosed items"
3. In case you're using FileVault, either delete or rename the original Music folder within your own account. Again, not necessary as long as FileVault isn't enabled.
4. Select computer/users/shared/music, hold down "ctrl" while clicking on it and choose "create alias" from the contextual menu. Copy that alias into your homefolder as well as your girlfriend's account (need to log in) and rename it to "music" without the "alias" at the end.
5. Launch iTunes. Done.
6. Don't worry, in case you don't see your music. I've used a slightly different approach, yet this one should work totally fine.
If you want to listen to the same music, yet be able to set up your own playlists, ratings etc.:
For your account:
- go to yourusername/Music/iTunes, move "iTunes Music" to computer/users/shared and change ownership according to #2.
- If FileVault is enabled, check #3. Of course, you want to rename the original "iTunes Music" in this case.
- create an alias for computer/users/shared/iTunes Music and copy the alias to yourusername/Music/iTunes. Rename it to "iTunes Music" without "alias".
- Launch iTunes. Should be working the way it used to. Quit.
For your girlfriend's account:
- log in, copy alias to username/Music/iTunes, rename alias.
- Launch iTunes, go to File-> Add to Library, select username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music, choose.
That's it.
The only downside is, only one user at a time can access the music folder, so if you're logged in and running iTunes, you're girlfriend, logged in via fast user switching, won't be able to open iTunes until you quit it for yourself. Haven't found a way around this yet.
Fell free to report any issues.
huhh...rather long posting...

Sharing iTunes Library with two users on the same computer

I have all of my music stored on a external hard drive.
Both users on the same computer have the iTunes music location folder as the external hard drive. How do I see music added in one persons log-in? For example: I just purchased two albums under one log-in. The second log in can not see that music unless I manually add it.
Both Libraries point to the same file location.
I have over 40GB of music and I am looking for a way to manage my music files more effectively and I want to make sure that both log-ins have the same music.
I followed the instructions in article HT1203 from the apple support site.

lafdengine9 wrote:
Both users on the same computer have the iTunes music location folder as the external hard drive. How do I see music added in one persons log-in? For example: I just purchased two albums under one log-in. The second log in can not see that music unless I manually add it.
The reason you are having this issue is because you have a shared library but private databases. What you have on the external drive is the collection of media files (library) that each account is set up to access as the source for media. What you have not done is set up a shared iTunes database, so each user accesses the same library differently.
When each user opens iTunes, iTunes access the database on their account (~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library). Therefore, their settings, views, playlists, etc., are private. When they add songs to their library only their database file is updated to reflect those additions; simply having files in the music folder does not mean that iTunes will recognize them, hence the reason iTunes asked you if you want to move the file to the trash when you delete it from your library.
The confusion here is the double use of the term library. The contents of you music folder most definitely constitutes your media library, as it is the collection of your media files. What you see as your library in iTunes is not your library but, for the most part, the content stored in a database table maintained by iTunes in the iTunes Library file in your iTunes folder. iTunes does not access your actual media files unless it is absolutely necessary. The general assumption is that what is shown in your iTunes “library” will actually mirror what is in your music folder.
So the missing step in your setup would be to switch to the account that has the most current iTunes library—that is the one reflects the actual contents of your music folder as of now—and follow this procedure.
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Move the iTunes folder to the Shared folder (./Users/Shared).
3. Launch iTunes, but immediately hold the option key to invoke the Choose Library window.
4. Select the database (iTunes Library file) now located in the shared folder.
5. If you do not see your content, go to iTunes’ preferences and reset the location of the music folder to the external drive.
6. In the other accounts, re-launch iTunes and change the library according to steps 3 and 4.
Now all users will have access to the same iTunes database as well as the shared library. The downside of this is that each user will have full access privileges. If you have iTunes 8, then to avoid the disadvantages that come with this type of set up, see [this thread|http://forums.macworld.com/thread/105366?tstart=0] over at Macworld.

Sharing iPhoto library between two user accounts on the same Mac

My wife and I each have an iPad and we share the same iMac. We each have our own user account on the iMac. She syncs with her account, and I sync with mine. This works fine in general, but we store all our photos within iPhoto on my account. She is therefore unable to sync the photos to her iPad. The same is true with the music that we keep on the iTunes in my user account.
Is there a way for her to sync so that the photos and music sync with her iPad also?

I have used a program called iPhoto Library Manager (http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/) for years and it has worked like a charm. The program handles all of the permission/subfolder aspects transparently. Our iPhoto library is stored in my wife's default location, but I have seamless read-write access to it. When I open iPhoto, I see the same thing she does, and I have complete control.
To answer your question about music, there are a couple of approaches. If you turn on Sharing in iTunes, and your wife's iTunes is set to look for shared libraries, she'll be able to have complete access to play anything in your iTunes library (as long as you have iTunes open). I believe she also has rights to copy files from your iTunes library into hers.
That's great for playback on a Mac, but what you can't do is sync an iPod/iPad/iPhone with someone else's shared library, so here's how I do it:
1) My iTunes library is our "primary" library, located in my Public folder (where other users have read-access).
2) In my wife's iTunes, library, I hit keystroke Apple-O to add content to her library, and navigated over to my iTunes Library in my public folder to select it. Once I did this, her iTunes library looked like mine.
3) The key thing is that under her iTunes Advanced Preferences, I ensure that "Copy content to iTunes library" is deselected. Otherwise, it would make a copy of my entire library on her side, and that would chew up a ton of disk space.
Note that I don't think it's entirely necessary to have the iTunes library in the Public folder. It could stay in the default location as long as you changes your music folder to have read-access by other users. I moved mine before I knew any better.
When I add new content to my library that my wife wants, we hit Apple-O from her side and add it to her library. This setup is kludgy, but a) both users can sync the music to iDevices and b) it doesn't require having two copies of everything. Note that unlike the iPhoto Library Manager solution, this is a static thing. You have to manually update the "satellite" library to keep it up to date with the main one.
I'm not in front of my Mac, so some of my notations may not be completely accurate.
Good Luck!

Best way to share iTunes library with two user accounts?

I have a single iTunes library on my Macbook Pro. I would like to share between to user accounts, each with Apple ID's. What's the best way to do so? Right now, I've given the second user rights to read/write to the first users "Music" folder. But when one user adds song files, the other must "Add Folder" in order to see the new purchases. It's kind of putsy. Is there a better way? Thanks!

Hello again,
Have the iTunes Library located in the Shared Folder for instance and then launch iTunes in both users while holding option (or alt) on your keyboard. Choose the iTunes library file wherever it may be located. You can keep it in the same spot if you want (i.e. your Music folder). Many people have their's on a local network hard drive and do this.
The benefit is that when one user updates the iTunes library file, the next user will open an updated version that has all songs that the other user added.
Since you have one computer shared, this should be fine. I am unsure what happens when multiple computers/users access the library file at the same time.

How do I best share all photos on one iMac with two user accounts?

I recently bought an iMac and Aperture. I am converting from a windows-based platform. My immediate pain point is the ability to share one library in Aperture under both my account and my wife's user account(like we do our iTunes, for example). We would both like access to all the photos, and I am searching for the simple way to both store them and manage them. Either of us may download the pics from our Canon 40D at any point, and our current photo count is nearing 40k & 175GB (and increasing rapidly).
I have read several support articles about where to place the library, most of those articles are dated around 2008. I have the library in the "shared" folder, not in a user folder. I have set the permissions so that each of our accounts have "read & write" access. My wife's user account is unable to access the library.
I currently have the original files in a directory structure sorted by years, then essentially events, and have not imported anything besides some test photos into Aperture.
Any advice on how to optimize our set-up so we can both view / sync to iPhones / manage / etc our collective photos would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,

First off all I would recommend against shating between accounts since Aperture was not designed for this and your might encounter library corruption.
You might try this tip on Macworld.com. It requires you to use the Terminal though. Make sure you follow the commands exactly, without any typo's before you hit the enter key to execute a command. (And make a TimeMachine backup before you start.)
After you've complete this, start a new library in the place where you set the extended permissions on. Then everything should work.
A seccond tip is to setup the Aperture library on an external drive and set this volume(drive) to ignore ownership permissions.

Sharing one Library with two iPods

My wife and I each have an iPod and like the same music. Rather than have two duplicate sets of music imported to our home computer can we share a single Library and sync the two iPods to this Library? I suspect we can do this by naming the iPods identically but I have to believe there is a better way.
Dell 8250 Windows XP Pro

Try the instructions in this article.
(9812)

Problems syncing photos with two user accounts on one Macbook pro in iPhoto

Hi, I hope someone can help. I've have a Macbook Pro with two user accounts, my wife and myself. My wife and I both have our own iPhones. We log onto our own accounts and sync perfectly with itunes - so far so good.
The only issue is we have a shared iphoto 'database'. When each of us go into iPhoto we're looking at the same photo library (i.e we can both see the same photos, events, etc), although we make sure we don't both go in at the same time as I've heard this can cause issues.
In iTunes if I sync photos from iPhoto to my iPhone it works fine. If I then log out and my wife logs in and tries the same she gets a permissions error. We've worked round this by deleting the photo cache folder, however if this is done on my wifes account, for example and then she logs out, when I log in I get the same permissions error until I delete the photo cache myself - and round and round we go.
Is there a way that we can setup iPhoto and/or iTunes so we can both sync with iPhoto to our own iPhomes? If its means me 'owning' the iPhoto database and my wife having some sort of read access/view only access, that would be fine.
We're using the latest version of iTunes (9.2.1) and the iPhone OS (4.0.2) and Snow Leopard (10.6.4)

Yes I moved the iphoto library to a mounted volume, as suggested in the apple support pages, and it works fine now.
I also made sure the volume was mounted at log on automatically. The only downside is that I have to make sure may wife doesn't log on and use iphoto whilst I am logged on.

How to manage one library with two accounts

how to manage one library with two accounts

you can only be logged into one account at a time on the iTunes store. However, you can authorize your computer for both accounts, making your computer work with both. In the menu bar just click [Store > Authorize Computer]

Sharing one library with two user accounts.

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