Standard User and Network Permissions

[roland.g]

I've got my teen setup on a MacBook Air as a Standard User and I use Screen Time across the Air and his iPhone.

His Air is running Sequoia and even before the upgrade, he cannot add a new wireless network at a coffee shop, library, etc. without Admin credentials, nor can he remove known wireless networks.

I've been trying to find a way to provide him this access without upgrading his account to an Admin which I think would give him control over his Screen Time preferences, not only on his MacBook but also on his iPhone.

I found some articles with Terminal commands for this use case, but they seem to have been rendered obsolete by the more recent OS prison that is Mac OS.

Anyone have a way that works in Sequoia that would allow me to give him admin access to add and remove wifi networks as a standard user? Likely through terminal command(s).

 

[Brian33]

Have you tried turning off "Require an administrator password to access system-wide settings" ? I think then a standard user can affect the Network settings.

The problem is, I'm not sure what else would be allowed...

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac...y-advanced-settings-mac-mh40595/15.0/mac/15.0

 

[gilby101]

I'm not sure what else would be allowed...

You mean, for example Screen Time changes?

I've got my teen setup on a MacBook Air as a Standard User

You don't trust him?

His Air is running Sequoia and even before the upgrade, he cannot add a new wireless network at a coffee shop, library, etc. without Admin credentials, nor can he remove known wireless networks.

But you don't want to nanny him all the time?

Technology is seldom the best way to teach good habits.

 

[nmt1900]

Can this possibly help: deactivate THIS option under System settings -> Wifi -> Advanced

 

[roland.g]

Can this possibly help: deactivate THIS option under System settings -> Wifi -> Advanced

That doesn’t actually work.

 

[roland.g]

You mean, for example Screen Time changes?


You don't trust him?

But you don't want to nanny him all the time?

Technology is seldom the best way to teach good habits.

This is a Sequoia forum for help with the OS. If I needed your advice in other areas, well, I still wouldn’t ask for it.

 

[ChrisA]

I've got my teen setup on a MacBook Air as a Standard User and I use Screen Time across the Air and his iPhone.

If the kid is smart he will boot the Mac off a USB thumb drive, and change whatever setting he likes. Anyone who has physical access the computer and do what they want with it.

In fact just the other day an older person I know bought an M1 MacBook and he completely forgot every password. The disk was encrypted. There was only one admin account and we could not log into it. I had it back in operation in about 20 minutes. It is not hard if you have a physical computer in hand.

My advice is to let him have full access to the computer and if you want to spy on him, look at your WiFi router logs and see if his computer is accessing the Internet at odd hours. Or place the access limits on the router, not on the mac.

If you do need to enforce a limit to Internet access, the router is the better place to do this

 

[bogdanw]

That doesn’t actually work.

That should work. Have you tried to remove the Wi-Fi network interface and add it again?
Can you share the Terminal commands you have found? Maybe we can meke them work.

Wi-Fi settings on Mac - Advanced button settings https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mh11935/
Set up a network service on Mac https://support.apple.com//guide/mac-help/mchlp1176/