How to set up a new iMac for family

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I have had macs in the past but they were for a single user. When setting up for a family do you guys make each person their own sign in or do you just create a new Apple ID for the computer only?

Thanks in advanced for the help
 

chscag

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Apple IDs are assigned to individuals not computers. Probably the best way is to have each family member with their own account on the machine, but keep yourself as the only Admin account. Each family member can if they desire create their own Apple ID and password.

Be aware though... that each new Apple ID that is created will be required to also invoke 2FA. Do some reading about 2FA before you decide.

Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support
 

Rod


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My experience has been that to avoid confusion into the future it’s best if each user has their own Apple ID (account) and their own login for the family computer. I also strongly suggest that you keep a copy of their login and Apple ID user names and passwords until they are old enough to take responsibility for them.
Have a look at this article Family Sharing and Apple ID for your child - Apple Support


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I have had macs in the past but they were for a single user. When setting up for a family do you guys make each person their own sign in or do you just create a new Apple ID for the computer only?

Hello - already some great advice - not sure how many family members would be using the computer nor what their ages may be - but review Apple's Family Sharing feature - no personal experience (just my wife and I in the house), but would likely use it if I had a young family - allows a LOT of control of children's accounts w/ you as the 'Family Organizer'. Dave

P.S. noticed that Rod already provided a link, different from mine, so look at both.
 
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It would depend on their familiarity with PC's, either winOS or macOS. I usually set up PC's with an "owner" admin account, and a "user" standard account. Let the owner decide how they want to proceed.
 
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Tbh, since there’s just me and my husband (and he doesn’t handle any of this stuff), we just share the Apple ID. So...I guess it’s “mine” and he uses it?

We haven’t really seen a need for two. I’d like to know if there's a good reason--for us, in our case--to have our own. Or are we fine with “sharing” it? We each have full access to all iMacs, iPads, MBP, and iPhones (no secrets, mostly because we’re both too boring to have secrets).
 

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Tbh, since there’s just me and my husband (and he doesn’t handle any of this stuff), we just share the Apple ID. So...I guess it’s “mine” and he uses it?

We haven’t really seen a need for two. I’d like to know if there's a good reason--for us, in our case--to have our own. Or are we fine with “sharing” it? We each have full access to all iMacs, iPads, MBP, and iPhones (no secrets, mostly because we’re both too boring to have secrets).

A lot of partnerships (Husband - Wife, for example) share their Apple ID as you do. It does make life much easier if the people concerned are comfortable with this arrangement. You two seem to be - so no need to change:)

Ian
 
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Tbh, since there’s just me and my husband (and he doesn’t handle any of this stuff), we just share the Apple ID. So...I guess it’s “mine” and he uses it?

We haven’t really seen a need for two. I’d like to know if there's a good reason--for us, in our case--to have our own. Or are we fine with “sharing” it? We each have full access to all iMacs, iPads, MBP, and iPhones (no secrets, mostly because we’re both too boring to have secrets).

Hello and thanks for the clarification, i.e. just 2 people, a husband and wife - from the OP I believe a number of us were unclear as to the number of individuals involved, e.g. parents + kids which prompted recommendations to look into 'family sharing' - now that the number of users has been stated, the decision is somewhat easier. My wife & I share the same Apple ID (but have different iCloud accounts, so another decision to make) - having the same appleid allows you to share purchases made (such as books and apps, saving $$ on dual buys of the same items) - thus, if we want to read the same book on our iPads, I'll purchase it on Books, otherwise I might use Amazon, just one example.

NOW, other items are shared that might be annoying or positive (such as a calendar or groceries list) - here's ONE TAKE - there are plenty of other google discussions on this topic, if interested. If one of you obtains a new Apple ID, then previous purchases made on the other ID will not be available. SO, I agree w/ Ian; wife & I have been fine w/ the same ID. Dave
 
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A lot of partnerships (Husband - Wife, for example) share their Apple ID as you do. It does make life much easier if the people concerned are comfortable with this arrangement. You two seem to be - so no need to change:)

Ian


Thanks for confirming no issue in our case.





Hello and thanks for the clarification, i.e. just 2 people, a husband and wife - from the OP I believe a number of us were unclear as to the number of individuals involved, e.g. parents + kids which prompted recommendations to look into 'family sharing' - now that the number of users has been stated, the decision is somewhat easier. My wife & I share the same Apple ID (but have different iCloud accounts, so another decision to make) - having the same appleid allows you to share purchases made (such as books and apps, saving $$ on dual buys of the same items) - thus, if we want to read the same book on our iPads, I'll purchase it on Books, otherwise I might use Amazon, just one example.

NOW, other items are shared that might be annoying or positive (such as a calendar or groceries list) - here's ONE TAKE - there are plenty of other google discussions on this topic, if interested. If one of you obtains a new Apple ID, then previous purchases made on the other ID will not be available. SO, I agree w/ Ian; wife & I have been fine w/ the same ID. Dave


And thanks for the clarification of the various account-options. Yeah, sharing a calendar is REQUIRED for us. And I maintain the “NOTES” because have medication lists for his parents, my mom, ourselves, and a lot of medical insurance (You know how they ask for that and it’s hard to tell on the card? When I got a form with the info clearly delineated, I put that on a NOTE, not a pic--pics can be deleted too easily when uploading from a phone.)
 

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Family Sharing allows apps, music, movies etc to be shared between family members so no real issue as far as purchases from Apple. By having two Apple accounts you double the free iCloud storage allocation so these are plusses.

Then there is the portable device syncing issue. Perhaps you don't have iPhones or iPads but if you do and you sync them to your computer or iCloud which is advisable and you use two step verification, also advisable, you may run into all sorts of issues. Believe me two seperate ID's can save a lot of problems over time.
 

Rod


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The reason for my suggestion is based on a real life situation a married couple (friends of mine) had a few years back. They too had an iMac and one Apple account. In the beginning it was the only Apple device they owned. Then the wife got an iPhone. That was fine, she synced it to the iMac and iCloud. Then she decided to give her phone to her husband and buy a new larger iPhone and later an iPad. The husband changed the SIM card in his iphone the wife kept hers but created a new Apple ID for her iPad.
Before long he was receiving her emails while her new emails went to her iPad but not her iPhone. This was further complicated by the forgetting of the first Apple ID password and the fact that the old email address used for the Apple ID no longer existed so reset codes could not be received. It just became more and more complex and took a couple of hours from ma and several calls to Apple to sort it out.


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Yeah, we ran into some issue similar. But worked around it. We have our new iMac, our old iMac (I believe it’s starting to fail, it’s mid-2010), our MBP (our old one, a 2011, died), iPad mini 1, iPad some-number, and two iPhone 11’s. Plus the old phones and a original iPad that I’m not sure if it works.
 
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Update!! So when I opened it up and started it up it asked if I wanted to use migration assistant. I didn’t know I could get my 2008 Mac mini to migrate to the new os. Very slick. So what I opted to do was migrate then each person has there own log in. My wife is very happy. Now I do have a old Mac mini to get rid of. If anyone wants it. I also don’t have discs for this new machine? How do I change a hard drive or something? This is kinda confusing.
 

Slydude

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Haven't seen you kicking around the place for a while. Welcome back and congrats on the new gear. Apparently you were very good in 2019. Me not so much. lol

Update!! I also don’t have discs for this new machine? How do I change a hard drive or something? This is kinda confusing.

Since Apple doesn't distribute the OS on disc anymore you have to take a few steps on your own. Either of the methods I'm going to suggest will get you back up and running in the event of a disaster.

Method One Create an installer disk

1. You need a 16 GB or greater flash drive. A hard drive will do s well.
2. Download the Catalina installer from the Mac App StoreThe installer will run after it downloads. When it gets to the point where you are supposed to select the drive to install to quit the installer program.
3. Follow the directions here

Method Two Create a "bootable" clone of your current installation

Since your new machine is presumably clear of problems this is a good time to create a bootable copy of your hard drive. In an emergency you can either boot from the clone and continue working until you can troubleshoot the issue or use the clone to restore everything to sort of last known good state.

You'll need an external hard drive somewhat larger than your current drive and cloning software. The software of choice among members of the forum seems to be either Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper. Both seem to be easy to use and both have free trials so take a look at both and see which has an interface that you prefer.

Boot from the clone when you're done to make sure it works. Update it periodically as you make significant changes to the system.

Method Three Boot from a Time Machine backup

Recent versions of Time Machine allow you to boot from a Time Machine backup to restore individual files or the enter system. If you hold down the option key immediately after startup, every bootable drive attained to the system should appear and can be selected.

Apologies for the length of the post
 

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