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Guest user

Guest user popped up on screen. I have no guest user. I opened it up to see I could figure out what it was. Went to close guest user, message that all info in guest user account will be deleted. Will information and folders from my personal account also be deleted?

this is happening on my iMac desktop

iMac Pro

Posted on Aug 16, 2021 2:19 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 16, 2021 2:36 PM

The Guest account is a special one, designed so that you can let a visitor use your Mac while signed into that account - he can't do any damage since he can't install any software and can't get at any of files. (Allowing someone else into your own account, particularly a child, is just asking for trouble).


When the Guest account is closed it deletes all its contents, ready for the next guest. It cannot affect any other accounts so your data is in no danger - that's the point of having the Guest account.


If you don't want to see it you can go to System Preferences>Users & Groups, click the padlock at bottom right and sign in, click the Guest account and uncheck the checkbox shown in this image:


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 16, 2021 2:36 PM in response to Pirt5-1pmBma

The Guest account is a special one, designed so that you can let a visitor use your Mac while signed into that account - he can't do any damage since he can't install any software and can't get at any of files. (Allowing someone else into your own account, particularly a child, is just asking for trouble).


When the Guest account is closed it deletes all its contents, ready for the next guest. It cannot affect any other accounts so your data is in no danger - that's the point of having the Guest account.


If you don't want to see it you can go to System Preferences>Users & Groups, click the padlock at bottom right and sign in, click the Guest account and uncheck the checkbox shown in this image:


Aug 16, 2021 2:36 PM in response to Pirt5-1pmBma

The Guest user gets a temporary login and temporary use of the Mac. When the guest logs out, all of the data that they were using does get erased. This will have no effect on data for other computer user accounts. You can safely okay that prompt.


After you have signed out of the user account, log in to your regular account, go to System Preferences > Users & Groups and disable the Guest user account if that is your wish.

Guest user

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