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Can I prevent Standard Users from upgrading MacOS?

Just cancelled the Sonoma upgrade that my son initiated on my iMac via his standard user account. He said he was able to start it by entering his account password. There is only one admin account on this iMac. Is this normal and if so how do you limit upgrades to only Admin accounts?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 26, 2023 4:22 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 29, 2023 4:36 PM

D-avid-P wrote:

Is this normal

Yes.

how do you limit upgrades to only Admin accounts?

You would need an MDM for this kind of control. See About software updates for Apple devices - Apple Support


These days, it is best for each device to belong to an individual person. Sharing computers really isn't supported anymore.

9 replies

Sep 29, 2023 7:48 PM in response to D-avid-P

D-avid-P wrote:

One person per device? Have you heard of children?

Yes. Small, strange creatures that have been alive for only a few years yet seem to have so much to talk about. They live in a different world than we did at their age. Apple recognizes this and assumes that its customers will not be sharing devices. You can either accept it, try to fight it and reward yourself with a poor experience, or move to a different platform with a poor experience.

Sep 26, 2023 4:47 PM in response to D-avid-P

Unless your son's account is actually been given admin privilege he shouldn't be able to install any updates. Go to System Settings > Users & Groups to check if his account is admin. I realize you mentioned there is only one admin but it won't hurt to double check. Or did he possibly log in as you or the single admin account without mentioning that?

Sep 26, 2023 10:12 PM in response to D-avid-P

The upgrade process seems to be different from previous versions. But I guess admin privileges should be required to really update/upgrade.


"this is offered through Software Update as an update rather than a full upgrade, so if your Mac is already running a recent version of Ventura, it won’t download the full Install macOS Sonoma app, but go straight into the update process. Please be careful!"


https://eclecticlight.co/2023/09/26/apple-has-released-macos-14-sonoma/

Can I prevent Standard Users from upgrading MacOS?

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