New user account not remembering my appearance dock etc.

Question

Level 2

225 points

New user account not remembering my appearance dock etc.

I had problems with a user account
I set up a test account and whenever I log in to this account my dock, desktop, icon & window position, window appearance, revert to the apple default.

What do I do to get MY appearance and my dock to do what I want it to look like?

Also maybe related is Safari will not remember my home page my bookmarks etc.
Firefox will not run at all on the new user account but will on the old one otherwise I'd be using it.

macpro, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jul 14, 2010 8:14 AM

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Answer 1

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 14, 2010 12:00 PM in response to Jack Ball

Delete the test account, create another, and ensure it's an admin one. Log into it, set things up, and see if the changes stick when logging back into it. If not, download and install the 10.5.8 COMBO update, repair permissions, restart, and try again. If you're still having issues, reinstall the OS using the Archive & Install option, saving user and network settings. If that fixes the problem, run Software Update until there aren't any more things to install.

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Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,822 points

Jul 14, 2010 1:31 PM in response to Jack Ball

What do I do to get MY appearance and my dock to do what I want it to look like?

That's what a new account is supposed to do and look like. Everything you mention, including bookmarks and such are stored per account. Completely intentional so one user cannot access anything belonging to another user. You wouldn't want them being able to login into an online account you have your browser to automatically fill in your user name and password for, would you?

It's also so each user account can be individualized. Your choice of desktop pattern/wallpaper/whatever, items you want on the Dock or don't. Fonts only you want access to and not everyone using that Mac, etc.

Short answer: It's not a problem, that's what it's supposed to do.

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Answer 3

Jack Ball Author

Level 2

225 points

Jul 14, 2010 2:14 PM in response to Kurt Lang

I understand what a new account is supposed to do but my customizations will not remain under the new test account when I log out/log in.

When I login with fast user switching even my mouse scroll speed is @ default every time AFTER I have changed it. Every login I have to speed it up to be useful.

If I log out and turn OFF fast user switching, all customizations are lost when I log back in. The doc icons I have removed reappear and those i have added are gone. The desktop shortcuts I added are gone. I place the dock to the right it reappears at the bottom. I cannot change the desktop background. I can choose a color or image but it will not change.
No changes I make are honored when I log back in.

At an application level.
Why won't firefox run?
Why wont safari bookmarks bookmark and why does my choice of homepage not remain?
Why wont Acrobat professional launch and instead I get "and internal error occurred"
I am going to do an archive and reinstall.

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Answer 4

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Jul 14, 2010 3:52 PM in response to Jack Ball

And, what happens if you turn off FUS, set things up, and log out and back in? Have you tried the other things I mentioned earlier?

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Answer 5

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,822 points

Jul 14, 2010 5:45 PM in response to Jack Ball

Ah! When you said whenever I log in to this account my dock, desktop, icon & window position, window appearance, revert to the apple default., I read that as you expected the new account to mimic the one which created it.

In that case, yes, something is certainly wrong. An account should remember any changes you'd made to it. At least an Administrator or Standard account should. Which leads me to ask, what kind of account did you create? From the help files:

Managed with Parental Controls: These accounts have limited privileges that are managed using Parental Controls preferences.
Sharing Only: Sharing only users can access shared files in a specified location, but can’t change files on the computer or log in using the login window.

Not sure how limited a Managed account would be, but the Sharing Only account does describe your issue. Any changes you made would not be allowed to be permanent as files can't be changed. Which would also be why FireFox wouldn't run. No setup or initial preference files would be allowed to be written to disk. Same with Acrobat and others.

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