Request Administrator Rights on macOS
- A.J. Newman
- Ashley Mattingly
- Les Martin
Broad, automatic administrative rights are no longer granted on University-managed Macs. This means that actions that require administrator rights (ex. installing applications, modifying certain files) are blocked for security and stability purposes. If you need administrative rights to complete a task on your computer, you can temporarily grant yourself administrator rights.
Administrator rights grant access that can cause damage to your computer and leave it vulnerable to malware. Only grant yourself administrator rights for a task that you are confident is necessary for your work.
This process is only for university-managed Macs. If you have a personally owned computer, this will not apply to you.
Requirements
The computer must be running the “Jamf Connect” login system. All Mac computers purchased or prepared by ITS in Summer 2024 or later are running Jamf Connect. If you are interested in moving your older Mac to Jamf Connect, please reach out to your local IT support.
The computer must be a single-user machine. If the computer is used in a lab environment or is otherwise considered “shared-use”, this method of granting rights will not work. If you need administrator rights on a shared machine, please reach out to your local IT support.
You must be the primary user of the machine. The primary user is the first person who signed into the computer and is the one who the device is assigned to. If you are the primary user of your Mac but were not the first one to sign into it when it was set up, please reach out to your local IT support.
Instructions
Click the Jamf Connect icon on the macOS menu bar.
In the drop-down menu, select Request Admin Privileges.
When prompted, provide a brief explanation for needing administrator rights. Then select Continue.
You will now have administrator rights for 10 minutes. You will see a timer in the menu bar indicating how much time is remaining.
Software installations, OS upgrades, and other tasks initiated during the 10-minute window of elevated access will continue to complete under that elevated status, even if the process extends beyond the designated time. Any task started within the scope of elevated access will maintain that elevated access until it is finished.