Activating Prism on a Mac. For one user or all?

When you first run Prism on a Mac, you need to activate it to associate your serial number with your computer. As part of this process, Prism shows this dialog box:

Older releases of Prism presented the choice this way:

User accounts? OS X lets you set up several user accounts on your computer. This can be useful when sharing the computer with others, so each person has his or her own account. Even if no one else uses your computer, you may want one account for home and one for work, or one with admin rights and another without (more secure).  To see the users on your computer, go to System Preferences and choose Users & Groups. Learn more about User accounts here and here. More details (but no overview) from Apple. 

Prism gives you two choices:

• Do not check the option box to install Prism just for the current user account (with the older versions click No). If any one else logs into this computer using a different user account, he or she will not be able to use Prism (without activating again). 
• Check the option (with older versions, click Yes) to install for all users, even those that might be added in the future. This offers more flexibility. But in order for this to work, another dialog will pop up, and ask you to enter the OS X password for an account with admin rights. Don't select this choice unless you know an admin password.

If you only use one account, then it doesn't matter which choice you pick, but if you check the option, you'll need to enter your OS X password. 

Tech details: This choice determines where Prism saves the serial number file. 

For one user in Prism 6:

For all users in Prism 6:

For one user in Prism 7:

For all users in Prism 7:

 Changing your mind

Once you tell Prism you want to install for one user, you won't be able to switch to all users by installing again. Instead follow the instructions below. This should be done by someone who is familiar with the Mac file system and who understands that there are multiple Library folders on the mac. There are two ways to accomplish this. First, make sure you can view hidden files.

Easier:

1. Manually delete Prism license file (prism-license.qxt) in /Users/(Username)/Library/Application Support/GraphPad/Prism/
2. Launch Prism and activate again, using the check-box "Activate Prism for all users on this Mac" in the third step of activation.

Techy:

1. Locate this folder:   /Users/(Username)/Library/Application Support/GraphPad/Prism/

              Note that this library folder is within a particular user's folder and it contains several items

   • .obmlf (file that is hidden in Finder)
   • 7 (folder that contain other files if you use Prism 6)
   • prism-license.qxt (Prism 7 license file or SSPrism6.qxt for Prism 6)
2. Move that entire folder into Library/Application Support. Note this is the Library folder directly on the drive, and that this is distinct from the Library folders within the Users folder.
3. Control click (or right click) on the folder in the new location, and choose Get info.
4. In the ‘Sharing and Permissions’ section, change permissions for everybody listed  to ‘Read & Write’.
5. Click the ‘Gear’ button and click ‘Apply to enclosed items…’ item.
6. Click ‘OK’.