How can I access multiple user profiles on Mac?

Macs handle multiple user profiles since 2001 with Tiger.

You can quickly switch between profiles by going to the Apple Menu ➜ Lock Screen, and then selecting a different user from there to log into.

click here ➜ Switch quickly between users on Mac - Apple Support

Wether that keeps docker sessions separate, I cannot say, but docker seems to user containers already to keep your virtual machines separate from each other on its own.

As far as the profiles, I created one, but I am unable to get into it like they did. It looked like it was a macOS VM. It had a desktop and everything.

By “profile” I assume you mean another user account. If so, turn on Fast User Switching and put FUS in the menu bar. You can switch between accounts by selecting another from the menu bar

MauWoW wrote:

I am not able to get OVS to work inside Docker or Podman.

Ontario Virtual School?

The plan is to have Ubuntu server, ARM version to install OVS for the virtual switch. Ubuntu is the only linux that supports OVS to be installed. My main function is Podman. Everyone knows Docker and use it a little, but the Cloud Environment I am building is using Red Hat.

Working on another project, I cannot install ESXi or Aria Automation. That puts a damper on this.

This is a user-to-user tech support forum for users of Apple products. You've mentioned a whole lot of brands, but one specific brand name (Apple) is missing.

Over all I am trying to get back to where I was with my Intel version, but hasn't been a great transition.

Intel is dead and won't be resurrected.

As far as the profiles, I created one, but I am unable to get into it like they did. It looked like it was a macOS VM. It had a desktop and everything. I not sure how to bring up another profile in the active profile. If I could create a macOS VM life would be little easier.

I'm sorry, but none of us were at that presentation. Maybe it was another user profile, maybe it was a separate macOS VM. You can do either.

In the datacenters I work in, the servers are 100% Intel. Broadcom is rumored to be in talks with Intel. Intel will not be dead if they purchase the company.

The problem with AWS and AZURE is that I am building the main infrastructure of a cloud and they do not support it. Standing up VCF VMware Cloud Foundation has worked on my previous system, along with running Cisco ACI for the servers to connect to. It ran a bit slow, but it was functional. I prefer doing the pre work in a lab, then flying to the datacenter for weeks in a cold datacenter. Robert Noyce, a founder of Intel, did not like taking the mind to work but had a vision to brining the work to the mind.

I'm sorry, but this is simply not viable. You're going to have to purchase different computers for this. Apple uses Apple Silicon and they aren't ever going back to Intel. Intel itself probably won't survive. You can use Windows, you can use Linux. It really doesn't matter. But macOS running macOS on Apple Silicon. There are a handful of apps that run virtual machines, but these are strictly experimental and will be so for years, if not forever. With enough tweaking, you can sometimes run certain versions of macOS, some funky versions of Linux, and some people have even gotten Windows (ARM) to run. But that's it. That's all there is. That world you describe of virtual machines running all different kinds of platforms on a Mac is dead and buried.

I have no idea what you are talking about with respect to AWS and Azure not supporting cloud processing. That's literally what they are. That's what you should be using. I'm not a fan of Azure just because I don't like web-based UIs running in slow motion. But AWS is a different story. Plenty of Intel capacity there. I don't know any other way to put this - use AWS. This is what AWS was specifically designed to do.

Maybe he was using a remote desktop connection to a Windows PC or virtual server somewhere or something that was running Docker and that let him wipe the virtual machine and start over with a pre-configured image.

MauWoW wrote:

Does Mac natively allow for access to other profiles on the system

Sure.

But I don't see why you would need that. If you are running any kind of virtual machine, then the virtual machine lives in its own environment. It can't access anything on the host unless you specifically configure it to do that ahead of time. You could run it in another user account, but that would be a pointless hassle.

PS: Docker is just a stripped-down VM that is extremely difficult to configure. But it runs natively.

MauWoW wrote:

Typically I run VMware Fusion VMs with docker inside of it, but some of the packages are not available for ARM as they are for Intel x86_64 os.

Yes. I understand. I'm just trying to tell you that running a virtual machine inside a virtual machine is really not an optimal solution. If you want to run Docker, just run Docker.

Yes. I realize Docker is a pain. I wasted a couple of months of my life on Docker. Maybe you can configure your Docker to run off an APFS volume or something. Then you can just delete that to clear everything out.

The problem is that some of the packages are available for Apple Silicon but not other ARM os.

I don't know how that's relevant. If you are running Docker in a VM, it still all got to be the same architecture.

I've never understood what people get so giddy about Docker in the first place. It's total trash. Always has been. If you want to run a VM, then just run a Linux VM. Docker is literally just Linux without an interactive shell.

I also never understood why so many people were so ****-bent on Docker when Apple Silicon first came out. I must have been the only person to realize that it wasn't going to work because, well, it's a different architecture.

However someone was using their mini as two profiles, one they were using / presenting with and another they logged into and setup like a VM. When they needed to start over he blew away the profile and make another.

OK. So do that. Why stop at two profiles? Do twelve! I'm sure you'll run out of disk space before you run out of user IDs.

It's becoming frustrating and may come to the point to buy another system to do actual work on.

What is "actual work"? If "actual work" involves Docker, then you should have done that five years ago. Intel is dead, and not just on the Mac. If you want to do any kind of Linux VM work, you can spin up anything you want on AWS for a few cents. If you need a 128 core monster with 1 TB of RAM, that's less than $10. How much does your time cost fiddling with Docker?

MauWoW wrote:

This was an explanation on what I had seen.

Why are you asking us about what you saw? Why don't you just ask the presenter from your video conference?

Asked if anyone was aware on how to achieve the goal then explaining the why, when questioned.

System Settings > Users & Groups > Add User

It appeared to have lead to an attack for trying to using the new system the same way the previous Mac functioned.

You asked a bunch of Mac users about Docker, VMware Fusion, Podman, OVS, ESXi, Aria Automation, Ubuntu, Red Hat, CentOS, AWS, Azure, VCF VMware Cloud Foundation, Cisco ACI, and VirtualBox. Then you complained when you didn't get a satisfactory answer.

In fact, not a single one of those things is an Apple product. VMWare Fusion achieved some Mac success shortly after Apple switched to Intel, but this product was abandoned about 15 years ago. VirtualBox was popular with the freebie crowd after Parallels pulled their bait-and-switch a decade ago.

To be crystal clear - there is absolutely nothing inherent in separate user profiles that is going to enable in any way the functionality you are seeking. You are welcome to try, but it's simply not going to work. One user profile isn't any different than the first one. Neither of them are going to run Intel virtual machines.

The time for deciding on future directions was 5 years ago. You could have pulled off an orderly transition to a different product. But you didn't do that. Now you have to scramble. You want to blame us for it? Fine, go right ahead. Nobody ever got in trouble by putting the blame on Apple and Apple users.