Installing things on a Mac
I’ve been receiving various calls from new Mac users because they can’t quite figure out how to install software. It’s usually one of the easiest things and you’re used to just pressing the next button but on a Mac, there’s one thing most people get confused on when it happens the first time.
With these questions, I’ve decided to post a quick explaination on what’s going on in hopes that it will help someone else out.
Here’s what is happening:
You pop in the CD and you click on the icon to install the software, when all of the sudden a window pops up and asks you to enter in a username and password. Without much thought you put in the Serial Number that was given to you but that doesn’t work.
The username and password you are being asked for is your computer username and password. If this is your computer then you’ll need to put in the username and password you set your computer up with. If it’s a computer that a lot of people use and someone else administrators it, then you’ll have to get the administrator of that computer to type in his username and password.
The reason this is happening is because Mac’s require only administrators to install software. Now you might remember before when you installed some software and it didn’t ask you for a username and password - this is because not all packaged software requires certain things to be placed in certain folders. If a piece of software needs to put a couple things throughout your computer, it will say; “Whoa, I need to get permission from my owner before I can let you do that!”.
So try installing the software again but this time put in the username and password of the computer and then everything will work fine.
