moyers93

Q: MacBook Pro Parental Controls


Greetings,

 

My son has a MacBook Pro Retina 13" laptop and I'm trying to limit his access.  I want to use Parental Controls but I don't want to give him an administrator account.

 

However I'd still like to give him the ability to install software/applications without having an admin account (so he can't turn off the parental controls).

 

Any suggestions great appreciated.

Posted on Jul 26, 2016 2:43 AM

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Q: MacBook Pro Parental Controls

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  • by Ella Fitzgerald,

    Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Jul 26, 2016 2:50 AM in response to moyers93
    Level 4 (2,292 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 26, 2016 2:50 AM in response to moyers93
  • by moyers93,

    moyers93 moyers93 Jul 26, 2016 3:41 AM in response to Ella Fitzgerald
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 26, 2016 3:41 AM in response to Ella Fitzgerald

    Thank you.  I read the article but I'm not asking about Internet access levels.

     

    Bottom line is I don't want him to have an Administrator account but still enforce Parental Controls.  Administrator accounts can turn Parental Controls on or off as they desire.

     

    I also want his regular (non-administrator) account the ability to install software without out the system prompting for administrative credentials.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jul 26, 2016 7:15 AM in response to moyers93
    Level 10 (188,994 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 26, 2016 7:15 AM in response to moyers93

    By definition one has to have Admin privileges to install apps and Apple has not provide a means to only assign Admin privileges for installing apps but other uses

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 26, 2016 10:25 AM in response to moyers93
    Level 9 (60,971 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 26, 2016 10:25 AM in response to moyers93

    What you will have to do for now, is to get him to come to you for Installation of new Applications.

     

    There are a few that are happy to install for his userid only, and will install in a new:

    /Users/<his_short_username>/Applications

  • by moyers93,

    moyers93 moyers93 Jul 26, 2016 10:11 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 26, 2016 10:11 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Please explain what you mean by "There are a few that are happy to install for his userid only, and will install in a new:

    /Users/<his_short_username>/Applications"...Are you saying some applications can be installed without having an Administrator account?

     

    It's hard to believe Apple makes User account privileges so "black and white" with no option to give special rights to account like MS Windows.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jul 27, 2016 12:29 AM in response to moyers93
    Level 10 (188,994 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 27, 2016 12:29 AM in response to moyers93

    I take it as "/Users/<his_short_username>/Applications" is where applications are listed that can be used by the Parental Controls account and that you can pre-list those applications if ou know of the applications.

    The Parental Controls account does not have the privileges to change that files.

  • by moyers93,

    moyers93 moyers93 Jul 27, 2016 2:45 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 27, 2016 2:45 AM in response to lllaass

    I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying.  Can I give him a Standard User account that can install/use applications or not?

  • by dialabrain,Helpful

    dialabrain dialabrain Jul 27, 2016 9:36 PM in response to moyers93
    Level 5 (6,251 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jul 27, 2016 9:36 PM in response to moyers93

    Standard: Standard users are set up by an administrator. A standard user can install apps and change settings for his or her own use. Standard users can’t add other users or change other users’ settings.

    from: OS X El Capitan: Set up users on your Mac

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 27, 2016 9:38 PM in response to moyers93
    Level 9 (60,971 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 27, 2016 9:38 PM in response to moyers93

    My kids never had an admin account. Yet when I looked at their computers, they had been able to store a few games in their own accounts, without admin access. These were specific to their ID, NOT "Installed for all Users on the machine".

     

    I believe this was because these games did not require access to the System-level  /Accounts directory, which is locked.

     

    Most commercial packages (a big word-processor, for example) insist on Admin access, and insist on being Installed in the /Applications folder. Smaller scale stuff like games sometimes does not.

     

    So I suggest you tell your kids, " if you cannot Install it yourself, you will need to ask me for help." [and be sure to either not enter the password in front of them, or explain that Trust is important, and they should NOT memorize this password because there will be consequences of its unauthorized use. (I trained my kids to turn away and not look when I entered the Admin password, and they understood and never tried to steal it.)]