Yesterday I volunteered at a local release party for Fedora 7. We had a great time, a lot of people showed up, and Fedora was enjoyed by all. One feature in the new Fedora 7 desktop that was popular is that of fast user switching. Of course, not to be outdone, I decided to sit down and write a tutorial on how to activate fast user switching on an Ubuntu 7.04 machine.
This tutorial breaks up into two main steps. The first is installation, the second activation / configuration.
To install the fast user switching option on Ubuntu you can use the following command or install the package via Synaptic.
sudo aptitude install fast-user-switch-applet
After that has installed (it’s only 645kB) you simply need to add it to your panel as an applet. You can do that by right-clicking on your panel, selecting “add to panel” and finding “User Switcher” in the Miscellaneous section.
Once this is added you are able to very easily switch between users on the system without completely logging out and logging into another desktop. Simply click on the “Users” icon now appearing on your panel and select another user!
If you have multiple users an your machine, or share the machine with a spouse / roommate / etc this is a really useful little tool. Enjoy!
Is there a difference between that and clicking on the log off button and choose «switch user» ?
Do you mean you’re not going back to gdm ?
Hey, did you note if the latest release also has the GDM/KDM login where instead of entering a password you swipe your finger if your machine permits? At a local event here in March, Tom Callaway from Red Hat was showing it off, it was bad arse!
Hmm, I’ve been having a Switch User -> Lock Current & Start New Session menu item in my K menu for quite a while… In ubuntu.
Hmm… rather agree here with other posters. The blog entry is cryptic.
Is it essentially the same thing that was built into KDE for couple of years, or is it something technically new?
Sometimes a small disclaimer on the bottom of the blog, like “Yes, KDE users, it’s the same thing you had for ages. Don’t bother asking” would be welcome.
Not just KDE users… It’s in the Gnome logout menu for quite some time already as well. But I guess this option works a little bit better. The Switch User option I know usually throws you back to XDM and isn’t very smooth yet, most of the time you have to type your password twice, for example.
What’s new in Fedora is that it support ConsoleKit (both in GNOME and KDE) so user switching works a lot better. Ubuntu doesn’t yet (maybe gutsy :p ).
This is very handy for switching between my main account with XGL / Beryl running and my other account that does not use that so I can better run games / 3D stuff. Thanks for the tipola on the switcher.
This feature is really significant for young children. My 5 year old has no trouble switching to his environment on a Mac, where he chooses his name from a list. With Feisty, he has to click through several screens.
How would you UNInstall Fast user Switching app?
I have it mounted on my desktop and I am unable to delete it..
In 9.10 Ubuntu, once you start a new session, you can hit crtl-alt-F9 for the new session and ctl-alt-F7 for the original sesson. Pretty handy. No logging in or out, 'one' touch.