[SOLVED] How to install for multipler users on 1 PC
I've installed PIA V. 75 on my Mint 17.1/64-bit/XFCE computer. As per instructions, I installed PIA using my user id. Works great!
Now I want to ensure another user id on that same computer can use PIA also. (This second user id would not be in simultaneous use with my own user id, but rather would be using the computer alone at a different time.)
How do I set this up?
Thank you.
Now I want to ensure another user id on that same computer can use PIA also. (This second user id would not be in simultaneous use with my own user id, but rather would be using the computer alone at a different time.)
How do I set this up?
Thank you.
Comments
You should be able to use the NetworkManager setup however, as the NM applet should share the VPN state between all users of the system.
1- install PIA as per usual instructions using your usual User ID.
2- Verify PIA works ok.
3- Ensure the 2nd User ID you want to run PIA from has linux ADMIN authority
4- Install PIA as per usual instructions using the 2nd User ID. You MUST install it into a different target directory so that this install is completely separate from your first install. For example, if your 1st install was into the /opt directory, make this install into directory /opt2.
5- Now either User ID can use PIA at one time.
6- To switch between the 2 User IDs, do NOT use "Logoff/Login" or "Switch User". You MUST fully SHUTDOWN and RESTART Linux to switch between User IDs and have PIA work.
I should add -- I installed PIA Version 75 for one User ID, and Version 76 for the other. I don't know whether this is important or not for this solution to work.
Technically with v76 I think both users could just run /opt/pia/run.sh and have a working PIA installation, as long as both users don't run it at the same time of course. v76 also got rid of some junk it used to put in /tmp which is also no longer needed, so I'd imagine the ownership problems that occured before are also gone.
As long as it works!
This doesn't seem sustainable to me as a reliable way to use the product.
Also, the Help Desk did not help me solve this problem. Instead, they told me I need to buy a second account if I intend to use a second Username (even if the two Usernames are on 1 computer and are never used concurrently). I think perhaps they're confusing a linux User ID with a PIA Username. But I'm not interested in spending time discussing this with them.
So, I've decided to abandon this attempt.
Thank you, Max-P and martouf, for your advice and feedback.
While I understand The desire of PIA to sell multiple accounts, the advice given above when Support was contacted was misleading in 2 ways IMO:
1. PIA's terms indicate "5 devices simultaneously" can be used. To me, at least, this means that my machine should be able to support both user accounts with one PIA account as long as they are not being used simultaneously.
2. Because the app now installs in a common location, it doesn't seem possible for multiple users to use PIA on the same Linux device regardless of how many PIA accounts are used.
Neither Windows nor Linux are single-user OSes. System-level software should not be designed contrary to that fact.
It actually works on multiple accounts on Windows and macOS with minor tweaks, so I think the situation on Linux is more of a security/permission issue due to the need of a suid binary to avoid prompting for the root password.
I'm travelling for other company stuff so I don't have my virtual machines and tools to work on this, but I'm pretty sure there's a way to make it work that I probably could convince the devs to support.
Until then, I still heavily recommend the NetworkManager version since it does handle multi-user (even at the same time) just fine.