How To Add A New User Account On A Mac (April 2023)

Maybe you need extra user accounts on your Mac so you can have multiple people using the same Mac without all sharing the same account, or perhaps you just want an extra user account to keep your work and personal computer usage separate.

Whatever the reason it’s pretty simple to set up additional user accounts on a Mac

1. Click on the apple menu icon (the little apple icon in the top left corner).

2. Click the System Preferences option to open the system preferences window.

3. Click on the Users & Groups option.

4. Before you can make any changes you need to unlock the window. To unlock it click the padlock icon.

5. Enter your username and password into the popup and click unlock.

6. Click on the plus (+) icon under the user accounts list to open the user creation dialog.

7. In the next dialog select the account type for your new account

  • Administrator – An account with administrator rights will have full control over the system.
  • Standard – A standard account will be able to perform everyday functions like running programs, creating documents, customizing their account etc.
  • Managed with Parental Controls – Accounts with parental controls can have limits set on them such as which websites they can visit, time limits and so on.
  • Sharing Only – Sharing only accounts can only access files that are being shared from other user accounts

8. Enter in a name for the new user account. You can’t use the same name as an existing user account.

9. Enter in an account name. This is the name that will be used for your home folder.

10. Setup a password for the new user account. You can either use your iCloud password or setup a separate password for the account.

11. Click the Create User button to close the dialog and finish creating the user account

12. You should now see the new user account in the user accounts column. Click the padlock to secure the User and Groups dialog.

Your new user account is setup!

To login to your new account click on the apple icon at the top left (step 1) and choose Log Out to go to the account log in selection screen.

If you have any problems setting up your new account let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to help out.

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