User profile for user: gregoirefromsaulny
gregoirefromsaulny Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Two Macs sharing same user account/iCloud but each one with its own desktop

Hi,

I have 2 Macs, a Mac Mini M4 and a Macbook Air M4. Both have been configured to use my user account and are connected to iCloud to safely store all my data there, and share it also with my iPhone.

I would like each Mac to have its own desktop configuration, with its own icons and shortcuts.

However, currently, since both machines share the same iCloud account and, as it seems the same iCloud folder for the desktop files, both desktops are always synchronized, i.e. everything I do on the desktop of device 1 is automatically mirrored to the desktop of device 2.

I would like to avoid this mirroring while still taking benefit from all the other iCloud functionalities on both machines.

Is there any way to define two separate folders for both desktops so that both are stored in iCloud but do not overlap to the same destination folder?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Kind regards,

Greg

Mac mini, macOS 15.3

Posted on Mar 22, 2025 10:38 AM

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User profile for user: g_wolfman
g_wolfman
User level: Level 4
2,908 points

Mar 23, 2025 7:39 AM in response to gregoirefromsaulny

It's actually not an easy problem if the tool is designed - which iCloud is - to be a sync service. By definition, that means all the different computers and the online version are identical. I don't think any similar service (e.g., OneDrive) acts differently.


Also, having worked in places where technology prevented syncing desktops - like where I had a corporate laptop and also a virtual desktop in the office managed through VMWare - the number of times I was enraged because I needed a file on the other desktop was orders of magnitude higher than the number of times I wished I could customize different desktops.


I don't think any of the companies see a large enough feature demand to make it economically worthwhile to solve a non-trivial engineering problem.

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User profile for user: gregoirefromsaulny
gregoirefromsaulny Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Mar 23, 2025 3:16 AM in response to g_wolfman

Hi!

Thanks a lot for the swift answer.

This seems a bit counterproductive.

I have an iCloud + subscription with 2TB, more than enough to store my data from my several devices in one single place. This is awesome and working perfectly fine. But why is it not possible to benefit from that while having the possibility to have dedicated, separated, desktops for the macs...

The user should have the possibility to decide if the desktop should be shared with all devices or not. Maybe define a different path, or have a root "by device" on iCloud.

Maybe the engineers will think about that for the future, would be really nice.

Kind regards,

Greg

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Two Macs sharing same user account/iCloud but each one with its own desktop

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