What is ‘mobile account’ and how does it work?

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Level 1

19 points

What is ‘mobile account’ and how does it work?

This is a hidden feature in Mac OS Leopard, that I believe require an Leopard Server on the network.

I have not found it in the regular user interface, but it can be revealed by following the below process:
1. Go to System Preferences > Accounts
2. Unlock
3. Search for mobile account, and press Enter
4. Wait for the Mobile account options to show up

What is this feature? How does it work?

I have found no references to it in the normal documentation.

Macmini3,1, Mac OS X (10.5.6), Intel C2D 2GHz, 4 GB RAM

Posted on May 2, 2009 12:34 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

741,623 points

May 2, 2009 12:45 PM in response to Macsential

A mobile account exists on both the local computer and on the server with two separate home folders, which can be synchronized with each other as desired. The local copy can be used when the computer isn't connected to the network.

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Answer 2

May 2, 2009 12:46 PM in response to Macsential

Google is your friend:

"A mobile account is a Mac OS X Server user account that has been copied to a local computer and remains synchronized with the server account so that both locations contain a matching set of data."(Mac OS X Server User Management, p. 46).

And it has been around since 10.3, so it is not something new to Leopard.

see: http://www.afp548.com/articles/Panther/mcx2.html

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