Help me remove my wife from my App Store!

[lonadar]

Okay...I give.

Somehow, my wife's e-mail address and account have infested my App Store (Mac OS X 10.6.8).

* I'm running App Store under my user account on the computer.
* It shows me as logged in.
* I have confirmed and re-updated my settings on the Apple ID website and through the application.
* I can log into my App Store account.
* I can log into the iTunes Store using the same information.
* The "Updates" icon shows (8) and, when clicked, lists 8 updates for my wife's account.
* Apps that I want to install on my computer show as "Installed" when I haven't installed them.
* If I choose an app to purchase, a dialog comes down wanting me to log in and shows her e-mail address.
* Replacing it with mine would generate an Unknown Error #4.
* Apple says to make another Apple ID. That would be my third, thanks to an iTunes screwup they can't/won't fix.
* I do not want 1/2 my music in one ID, 1/2 in another, and my Apps in a third. No. No. No.
* No.
* Spotlight sucks at finding "App Store" or "Appstore", finding only the application.
* I deleted the preferences from ~/Library/Preferences, and AppStore from ~/Library/ApplicationSupport.
* I deleted the application.
* I downloaded the 10.6.6 updater.
* It would not run. (Duh, I'm at 10.6.8.)
* I used Pacifist to install the App Store.
* I have restarted somewhere in here.
* I run the App Store. It still lists all of my wife's updates.
* I still cannot download anything she already has through my account.
* I am able to download the FaceTime update.
* It shows as the only thing in my Purchases.
* I quit and re-ran the App Store.
* It STILL shows her updates.

I want to remove my wife's account from my App Store.

Help.

Send c/o the padded room down the hall.

 

[Kaveman]

With all that its hard to see what the problem really is.

All Applications purchased through the App Store that have been installed on your Mac will show up in the App store regardless of who is logged in. I have some from my son, I can't download the updates or re-download them but he installed them here so they live on. That's how the store works.

As to the log in window remembering your wife's log in, this should change once you have logged in yourself, it remembers the last person to log in. If you really wish to purge her details, just use Keychain Access (in Utilities) and delete her passwords.

Stay calm...

 

[lonadar]

That's part of the problem - none of the programs she uses on her computer have been installed on mine. I'm really not sure why her address has been attached to my App Store. I just want to reset the app to it's default, but even reinstalling it and deleting all the preferences didn't do that.

As for Keychain, I looked but was unable to find her passwords, or anything indicating the App Store, there. Where should I be looking?

 

[Kaveman]

It sounds to me that you are in fact logging into her store account. There is only one email address per iTunes account, and if you are using her email address then you are logging into her account, which would explain the symptoms.

If you want to log out of your wife's account App Store > Store > Log Out.

To edit your details App Store > Store > View My Account.

 

[stephenwales]

I have the same problem, a friends accounts seems to now be perma-linked to my app store.

He needed to install Twitter while at my home and he did so using MY App Store application but HIS itunes account.

For those who dont seem to grasp the problem, a friends copy of Twitter is now linked to my machine meaning I cannot take it off, update it or use it. I now have a need to install it for my use but I am unable to do so because of the error no 4 like the original post.

Surely there is a way to remove his app-link to twitter, having uninstalled the actual Application I am stuck with the reference to it in my App Store.

 

[Kaveman]

"He needed to install Twitter while at my home and he did so using MY App Store application but HIS itunes account." thats allowed.

"I cannot take it off" yes you can, you just get the Application from the Applications Folder and put it in the Trash and Empty the Trash.

"update it" not without his password.

This has nothing to do with the App Store Application, re-installing it will have no effect.

 

[lonadar]

* I have logged her out.
* I have checked my account's settings.
* I am not using her e-mail address anywhere.
* I have logged my account in.

* It still refuses to allow me to install applications that she has tied to her account.

* She has not installed any applications on my computer.

I want exactly what Stephenwales wants - I can't update programs that are now only available on the App Store (Twittie/Twitter, for example, or Lion) without logging into her account. This should not be the case. I want to be able to log into my account down download apps for my computer.

You missed the end of Stephen's post: Now having deleted his friend's application, he is no longer able to get the program at all since it won't allow him to download it through his own account.

If this isn't the App store, than what is it?

 

[Kaveman]

hmm, worked that way for me.

If Apple can't sort it, I'm not sure we can here. Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[lonadar]

I was able to find the solution, and the reason for the issue, in a response on the Apple Support forums:

The App Store is scanning the Mac and finding purchased apps in the Applications folder. It then checks against the list and finds that they are old versions and prompts for an update.

All that is required to install an app is a Apple ID and admin rights on the target mac. The apps she is installing are wrapped in DRM which identify her as the owner, but the App Store doesn't care, as she is entitled to install them on your Mac. But it reads her ID from the wrapper and thus prompts for her password to do the update.

I had no idea it would be scanning for other downloads. Armed with that, I went looking (for this, Spotlight actually worked). I found where we had copied her hard drive from her laptop onto my computer in preparation for some repair work, and every one of the named applications was there. 101.7GB deleted later and without any need to reinstall the App Store was happy to accept me, and let me download programs.

Thanks for the assistance. I truly do appreciate it.