[GENERAL_SMILEY]

Can I have two users login at the same time, or at least sequentially? So that the startup items of both users are ran through, leaving only one with final control, while the other operates in the background?

Could this be applescripted?

Thanks.

[gorickey]

Not that I know of; however, can't you just use Fast-User Switching to switch to the other account, have it start-up what is needed and then instantly switch back?

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

The mac is headless and on a scheduled start up and shut down; I am not always there, so would like it to be logged in to both accounts as quickly as possible.

[Moose]

What, exactly, is it you're trying to accomplish?

You might be going about it the wrong way.

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

Thanks for the response, I'll try and explain. The computer is an old B&W G3, sitting under a desk connected to broadband, I have physical access to it sometimes, but I don't have a monitor or keyboard to plug in - mainly I access it through Timbuktu. I use it mainly as a sort of personal file server. I also share it with someone else, who uses it as a web server to test projects on. We have separate accounts, and would rather keep it that way, I guess so I we don't mess each others stuff up.

Finally it is set to boot up at night only, so it doesn't leech all the bandwidth from users during the day - also nobody is tempted to turn it off at the mains as they leave, because they can see it's light is on, which is how some people seem to think they should turn computers off, as it's just 'so quick!'

[kman42]

You shouldn't need to be logged in for file sharing or having it act as a web server. That being said, I might still be missing something.

There are startup daemons that run before the login screen comes up (I think that's right) and one of them is probably in charge of logging in a user automatically. Perhaps you could add another daemon to log in two users automatically. The actual implementation of this is beyond my skills.

kman

[holygoat]

Make StartupItems for whatever you want to start on boot.

I did it recently for SnipSnap; it's quite simple.

Make a folder in /Library/StartupItems, write a shell script and a little XML file, et voila.

When the machine boots, it'll run the app. That way, noone needs to be logged in!

[Moose]

Originally posted by kman42:
You shouldn't need to be logged in for file sharing or having it act as a web server.

Correct.

Does something actually not work with users not logged in?

[GENERAL_SMILEY]

KDX (for example) needs to be in the startup items of the user.

Maybe I'm just asking too much, just thought it might be possible to script it - my applescript is poor (to say the least), but is fast user switching scriptable?

[Xeo]

If you use the command referenced in this hint, you should be able to script it in "do shell script."