What is the best way to have two separate users completely separate on a single M1 Mac mini?

Hi DorothyMacha,

To continue from D.I. Johnson's point, I would actually make an amendment:

1. Have 1 Admin account; but not one that is used as the daily user accounts for either user. That way, if you (making an assumption here, that you are the owner of the Mac) want to admin the Mac mini, log into the separate Admin account to do so and then, log out of it and back into your normal account.
2. If you have already setup users accounts and each has Admin rights, what I suggest is:

a. Setup a new Admin account, call it possibly NewAdmin

b. Log out of each account currently logged into and then log only into the new Admin account

c. Demote the other user accounts (so your daily user one and the one for this other person) by doing the following:

• System Preferences > Users&Groups prefpane, then unlock the lock icon in the bottom lefthand corner.
• Enter in the username and password for the new admin account
• Go to the account of one of the users you want to demote from an administrator to a standard user account and uncheck the Allow user to administer this computer checkbox. Follow the related instructions and once done, repeat with the other user you want to demote to a standard user.
• Lock the lock icon and reboot the Mac. You should now have two standard/normal user accounts and one separate Admin account.
• Be sure the Admin account name and password are strong, not obvious and kept in a safe and readily available spot for use.

I make this suggestion, for the fact that it reduces the likelihood of either normal user doing something problematic to the Mac overall and only being able to do so, with intent.

I have a Mac mini as well that I have setup as follows:

One Admin user, four normal user accounts (one of which is my daily user account, one for my spouse, one for my kid and another as a constantly on media server account).

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Anthony

Hello, DorothyMacha.

The BEST way to have two separate users on the the Mac is to have two separate user accounts, each with their own login password and each using their own Apple ID credentials. Administrator privileges should be given only to one of them for security of the entire system, but that will be up to the boss. I suspect the "wires got crossed" because multiple users were allowed to administer your Mac.

It IS possible to partition the drive and install copies of the OS on each, but that is so outside of norms that it would normally not be recommended, and it would definitely invite more trouble than you may be having now. A variation of this would be to install the OS on a separate external drive and allow one user to boot from that, but that also is another big can of ugly worms.

+1 👍🏽