Have to sign in now?

Before I upgraded to Yosemite, each time I sat at my imac, it was 'open'.
Now every time I have to 'sign in'. I have changed every setting I can think of and its still there, takes quite awhile to wake up also.


I would appreciate any help.

Saying you looked everywhere you can think of doesn't help us much unless you enjoy getting suggestions of where you've already looked.

Did you look in System Preferences - Users & Groups - Login Options - and select your account in the Automatic Login?

Sorry- yes, I have.

Are you using FileVault? If you are, automatic sign on is overridden by the system. With FileVault, you must sign on.

No, not using File vault.

OK, then check System Preferences, Security & Privacy, General. Make sure you haven't placed a check in the box for "Require Password...... If there's a check in that box, you'll need to click the small lock, enter your admin password to allow the lock to open. Then you can remove the check from the box.

Thank you for your reply, that has been looked into also, its not the problem.

bobtomay said:

... unless you enjoy getting suggestions of where you've already looked.

Click to expand...

Point well taken, er, well made.

OP, can you think of other things you've looked at? (So, they don't get suggested as well.)

royalpei said:

Before I upgraded to Yosemite, each time I sat at my imac, it was 'open'.
Now every time I have to 'sign in'. I have changed every setting I can think of and its still there, takes quite awhile to wake up also.


I would appreciate any help.

Click to expand...

1. Please read the link in my sig and give us some meaningful information. Playing Twenty Questions is going to make it very difficult to sort out.

2. What does "Sat at my iMac, it was 'open'" mean? Was the iMac powered off, sleeping, awake, what? We can't even begin to suggest meaningful stuff until we know more.

I am sorry I am not as 'savvy' in my language that you understand me.
It used to be when I returned to my imac it was awake and ready to go.
Now I have to sign in everytime and it takes awhile to be ready to use.
I know it has to do with Yosemite, because now my macbook pro is doing it after installing Yosemite.
I had tried all of the suggestions above, I do not know what else to try.
They were just obvious ones to try.

I hope you can make sense of this post.

Yep, that helped.

If you want it always on, go to System Preferences/Energy Saver and move the slider on the two bars, labelled Computer sleep and Display sleep, all the way to the right. Now the machine will never sleep. However a better way to set it up is to have Computer sleep all the way right and Display sleep somewhere around the 15min tick. That way the screen goes black, but wakes up when you press any key. Now, if you do that, to avoid having to enter the password when the screen has gone dark, go to System Preferences/Security & Privacy and make sure that on the General tab there is no tick in the Require Password box. TO make that change you will have to click on the lock at the bottom left, enter your admin password and then make the change or it won't apply.

I truly thank you for your help, that did not work either, I came back 6 hours later and I had to sign in again.
Thanks any way.

Yes, you have to sign in. That's a different setting. The suggestion I made was to solve the "takes quite awhile to wake up also" comment. To avoid having to sign in (which is, but the way, for your security) System Preferences/Security & Privacy, General and UN check the "require password ... after sleep or screen saver begins" and your machine should not require you to log in. You may have to press a key to wake the screen, but no login. Also, go to System Preferences/Desktop & Screen Saver and set the "Start After" to Never on the Screen Saver tab. With those settings your machine will never sleep, never screensaver, never ask for a password after you log in and be power consuming and wide open to anyone who comes along.

MacInWin said:

Yes, you have to sign in. That's a different setting. The suggestion I made was to solve the "takes quite awhile to wake up also" comment. To avoid having to sign in (which is, but the way, for your security) System Preferences/Security & Privacy, General and UN check the "require password ... after sleep or screen saver begins" and your machine should not require you to log in. You may have to press a key to wake the screen, but no login. Also, go to System Preferences/Desktop & Screen Saver and set the "Start After" to Never on the Screen Saver tab. With those settings your machine will never sleep, never screensaver, never ask for a password after you log in and be power consuming and wide open to anyone who comes along.

Click to expand...

NOPE, not true at all I have done everything suggested and I was out of the office long enough to eat dinner, came back and my firefox picture was there. Touched the computer return key, all closed and sign on came back on.
Signed in, all programs closed. It is driving me crazy. Imac only a few months old and since upgrading I HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we don't know what to tell you. You've received every possible answer as to why your log on name and password are required and you say none of our suggestions have worked for you. If your account is the only one on the iMac and you have no other accounts activated, and not using FileVault, and have followed all our suggestions, you should not have to sign in. Maybe it's time for you to contact Apple? Your iMac should still be under warranty and free telephone support if it's less than 3 months old.

Something -- perhaps a third-party program? Is logging you out of your account after X amount of time. Or at least that's what it sounds like.

When you come back to the machine and have to sign in again, is it the standard OS X login screen, or something a little different (like a dimmed-out view of your normal desktop)?

Also, under "Users & Groups," do you have automatic login under your account turned on or off?

Finally, can you verify that Filevault is turned off by telling me what the last line of the Filevault panel says under "Security and Privacy" in System Preferences?

+1 for what chscag said. If, in fact, you have taken all the steps we have suggested, there is nothing else to be done.

Well, what about creating a new, troubleshooting account to see if the problem persists there?

I really appreciate all of you trying to help and I think you are correct, either contact Apple or live with it.

I really think you should create another user account and see if the problem still exists there.