Double El Capitan?

April 16, 2016 1:13 AM

MacBook Pro has two users. Do we need to dl & update the OS for both?

Two users on this MacBook pro, both admins.
To update the OS, I was in my account, downloaded El Capitan, and restarted. All good.
Then switched to the other user's account (wife) to see if it had updated also. It hadn't.

So we need to download the OS update for each user?
(to clarify, I'm not adding a new user).

posted by artdrectr to Technology (10 answers total)

No, you shouldn't need to update the OS twice. Why do you think your wife’s account hasn’t been upgraded?
posted by pharm at 1:19 AM on April 16, 2016

Response by poster: Why do you think your wife’s account hasn’t been upgraded?

Restarted. Logged into her account. About This Mac still says Yosemite.
posted by artdrectr at 2:16 AM on April 16, 2016

Log in to your wife's account and run Software Update. Does it say El Capitain is an option to install?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:29 AM on April 16, 2016

After you downloaded the update did you actually run it? A major OS update runs an app you have to click through, it's not like the minor ".10.1" updates where the machine just restarts after doing its thing in the App Store.

Check your Applications folder for the "Install El Capitan" app and run it if it is still there.
posted by bcwinters at 4:22 AM on April 16, 2016

Best answer: Restarted. Logged into her account. About This Mac still says Yosemite.

Then you haven’t upgraded to El Cap. What does your account say? I bet it says Yosemite too.
posted by pharm at 4:50 AM on April 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

downloaded El Capitan, and restarted

Yeah, to reiterate the above -- I upgraded one of my computers to el capitan the other day and there's a lot more to doing the upgrade than downloading and restarting. You have to run the installer and there will be multiple reboots plus a configuration process (maybe more than one, I had to fix some network settings and then reboot and then do the rest of the configuration). It takes somewhere between 30 minutes and hours, depending. It will also be visually obvious already at the login screen that you have changed OS version (as well as in a lot of ways throughout anything you do).

Protip: if you have a static IP write that information down, the el capitan installer wiped that when I upgraded.
posted by advil at 7:33 AM on April 16, 2016

There is only one OS unless you have multiple drives or partitions. The 2 accounts run on the same OS. It’s not possible for one to be updated and the other not, they are the same.

You and your wife are Users, your house is the OS. If you remodel the inside of the house it is remodeled for both of you. It is not possible to be otherwise unless you have another house.
posted by bongo_x at 11:23 AM on April 16, 2016

Response by poster: Both accounts say...Yosemite! Roll eyes.
So...sorry, I have some updating to do.

I totally thought I had updated to El Cap since I used Software Update to download it and it alerted me to restart. Must have been an incremental update of Yosemite (now 10.10.5).

In any case, good to confirm I don't need to dl for each user.

Thanks
posted by artdrectr at 11:25 AM on April 16, 2016

I totally thought I had updated to El Cap since I used Software Update to download it and it alerted me to restart. Must have been an incremental update of Yosemite (now 10.10.5).

I think it will make you update to the latest incremental version of your current OS before the el capitan installer will work, so that's probably what happened.
posted by advil at 11:32 AM on April 16, 2016

I think it will make you update to the latest incremental version of your current OS before the el capitan installer will work, so that's probably what happened.

No. The installers for major OS X upgrades have everything they need, to the point that they can do a fresh installation on an empty volume. The only situation i know of where you had to install an small, incremental update before downloading a major upgrade was on 10.6 where you had to be up to 10.6.8 to have the app store (which was new on OS X) to get 10.7 (or later). Similarly, i believe there was a minor fix for old 10.6.8 installations this last year in order to maintain app store compatibility so 10.6.8 users could still upgrade (if their computers supported newer systems).

I’ve noticed that the app store currently has a big ad for 10.11 on the system update pane of the app store even when you are just installing whatever updates are available for the older system, which are listed below it. This is probably the cause of the confusion, as there are then two install/upgrade buttons — one for the normal updates, one with the ad for 10.11.

If you did download the 10.11 installer but did not run it for some reason, it should be an app in the Applications folder and i believe it also puts a link to it on the dock. The normal behavior is for the installer to be automatically deleted after a successful upgrade of the volume it was downloaded to. It can be copied elsewhere before running it if you need to save it to use later on other drives/computers. It takes a lot of drive space so it’s best not to keep it unless you do have a specific need to.
posted by D.C. at 3:57 AM on April 17, 2016