Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Disable password required when shutting down OS Lion when multiple users are signed in

When multiple users are signed in on OS Lion and I want to restart or shut down the computer, A screen pops up requiring an admin password before it will shut down.


I want to disable this requirement so the computer will reboot or shut down without requiring the admin password.


Is this possible and how?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jan 16, 2012 4:48 PM

Reply
13 replies

Feb 3, 2012 9:53 AM in response to baltwo

baltwo -


Im not sure why you would bother answering someone without helpful information or just to make a snide comment. It does not help the community discussion process at all.


In answer to your question, your knowing "why" is irrelavent. Many users would have many different reasons why. In any case my reason why is this. I have multiple user accounts on one computer. For security only two of those accounts are administrators with full privileges. This is so kids and guests can not get into restricted files and can not alter the operating system in an undesirable way or by mistake. A computer can need to be reset for hundreds of reasons (it locks up, a program stops responding, a network issue etc), and a reboot is necessary. In this case a non-administrator can not reboot the computer if any other user is logged on. In some settings the owner may wish to have the computer locked down like that so important work can not be disturbed but in my case I do not want that function. I want all users to have the ability to do a soft reboot. Unfortunately with OS Lion, Apple has made it so other users must do a hard reset by holding the power button or unplugging the machine. This is much harder on the system than a soft reset and is undesirable but it is the only way with Lion for non-administrators.


Again, none of this matters as to the "why" to you or anyone wishing to respond to this question. In the future it would be nice if posters such as yourself with no relavent information and plenty of snide comments would just move on to other posts and realize that those types of comments are distructive to the community and not helpful in any way.

Oct 1, 2012 3:07 PM in response to FarNorth_1

There must be a way of doing this, but probably not a standard setting.


It is annoying - having a shutdown halted by a stupid prompt, especially when you have the expectation that you will be logged out. Especially annoying when a privileged account is kept logged in because an unprivileged account was also logged in, more so to find that unprivileged user using the privileged account.


One shouldn't have to baby sit a computer to power off.

Oct 1, 2012 4:01 PM in response to FarNorth_1

FarNorth_1 wrote:


baltwo -


Im not sure why you would bother answering someone without helpful information or just to make a snide comment. It does not help the community discussion process at all.


In answer to your question, your knowing "why" is irrelavent. Many users would have many different reasons why. In any case my reason why is this. I have multiple user accounts on one computer. For security only two of those accounts are administrators with full privileges. This is so kids and guests can not get into restricted files and can not alter the operating system in an undesirable way or by mistake. A computer can need to be reset for hundreds of reasons (it locks up, a program stops responding, a network issue etc), and a reboot is necessary. In this case a non-administrator can not reboot the computer if any other user is logged on. In some settings the owner may wish to have the computer locked down like that so important work can not be disturbed but in my case I do not want that function. I want all users to have the ability to do a soft reboot. Unfortunately with OS Lion, Apple has made it so other users must do a hard reset by holding the power button or unplugging the machine. This is much harder on the system than a soft reset and is undesirable but it is the only way with Lion for non-administrators.


Again, none of this matters as to the "why" to you or anyone wishing to respond to this question. In the future it would be nice if posters such as yourself with no relavent information and plenty of snide comments would just move on to other posts and realize that those types of comments are distructive to the community and not helpful in any way.

Then the answer, simply and without further probing, is no.

Oct 1, 2012 4:02 PM in response to Mostlegendary

Mostlegendary wrote:


There must be a way of doing this, but probably not a standard setting.


It is annoying - having a shutdown halted by a stupid prompt, especially when you have the expectation that you will be logged out. Especially annoying when a privileged account is kept logged in because an unprivileged account was also logged in, more so to find that unprivileged user using the privileged account.


One shouldn't have to baby sit a computer to power off.

Even more annoying to be the other user when you lose his unsaved work.

Oct 1, 2012 6:02 PM in response to Csound1

Well, that was what I tried to do last night, but even having a guest account logged seems to trigger the administrator prompt before it will allow shitdown.


That said, I'm happy with this user having her own account, and I wouldn't mind so much if the shutdown password prompt came up immediately...



My intent was to shutdown so my account wouldn't be logged in...


Thanks for helping anyway.

Disable password required when shutting down OS Lion when multiple users are signed in

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.