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Force other users to logout

I can I force a logout of a managed user when using fast user switching?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Dec 21, 2008 8:39 AM

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10 replies

Dec 21, 2008 9:09 AM in response to fridmeister

This can be done with Activity Monitor. Find the loginwindow process running under the user you wish to terminate. Force quit it. You will need to enter an admin password.

WARNING. This will completely kill all processes running under that user. Applications and processes will not terminate properly. Any of that user's unsaved changes will be lost, and it might even cause data corruption of the user's home folder. So proceed with caution. You have been warned.

Dec 21, 2008 10:07 AM in response to fridmeister

fridmeister wrote:
oops, I mean How can I force a manage user to logout when using fast user switching as the system administrator?

Thanks,

-david


You can use a gentle force by entering the shutdown -r command in the terminal giving everyone 5 minutes to logoff with an appropriate message
(man shutdown to get more info)
and if the ruse works, you can cancel the shutdown.

Dec 23, 2008 3:01 AM in response to nerowolfe

Thanks for the tip nerowolfe.

I also miss an easy way to logout other users. My son and daughter sometimes leave Safari, Messenger etc open in their accounts so they unnecessary consume the CPU so that the fans may even turn on although my active account is idling.

Rebooting the system does the trick but it takes time and then I have to login and open my applications.

So I miss the "clean logout of other users with no rebooting" - option.

So does shutdown -r force other users besides me to logout?

Dec 23, 2008 9:22 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Matti Haveri wrote:
Thanks for the tip nerowolfe.

I also miss an easy way to logout other users. My son and daughter sometimes leave Safari, Messenger etc open in their accounts so they unnecessary consume the CPU so that the fans may even turn on although my active account is idling.

Rebooting the system does the trick but it takes time and then I have to login and open my applications.

So I miss the "clean logout of other users with no rebooting" - option.

So does shutdown -r force other users besides me to logout?


The shutdown command I gave will log out all users and restart the computer. It was a "scare" tactic 🙂
However,
shutdown -k
with "k" for kick off" will remove all users, including yourself, but will not reboot the machine, so all you have to do is log in again, but I am not sure how because:
The manual says:
Kick everybody off. The -k option does not actually halt the system, but leaves the system multi-user with logins disabled (for all but super-user).

So it may not be a good method after all.

As an administrator you should be able to log into the other accounts and log them off manually. That's probably the best way.

Dec 31, 2008 12:58 AM in response to V.K.

Yes, I know the other users' passwords and I have set the system so that they can't change them on their own.

Occasionally, if the children behave badly, I diminish the time they can spend on the computer or alternatively I change the password for a few days... (They can still access the web via our Wii/Opera because I haven't bothered to disable that during those days).

I have advised them to always logout so their Safari/Flash content don't take CPU cycles. Unfortunately they usually stay logged to the last seconds and can't logout before their account is suspended via the Parental Controls.

I find it odd that even those suspended accounts can consume so much CPU time via Safari/Flash etc.

Force other users to logout

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