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I have the following AppleScript that's supposed to automatically switch to the Administrator user. It worked in Big Sur, but isn't working in Monterey.

tell application "System Events"
    tell its application process "ControlCenter"
        tell its menu bar 1
            click its menu bar item "barmar"
        end tell
        
        tell its window "Control Center"
            tell its group 1
                set btns to its buttons
                repeat with btn in btns
                    if name of btn = "Administrator" then
                        click btn
                    end if
                end repeat
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
end tell

It gets the following error:

System Events got an error: Can’t get group 1 of window "Control Center" of application process "ControlCenter". Invalid index."
number -1719 from group 1 of window "Control Center" of application process "ControlCenter"

The list of users is popping up, but it's failing on "tell its group 1".

1 Answer 1

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Assuming you are targeting the Fast User Switching menu bar item, then you do not need tell its group 1 as there is no group 1.

Also, you are using far more code than necessary, as the following works for me:

Example AppleScript code:

tell application "System Events"
    tell application process "Control Center"
        click (first menu bar item of menu bar 1 ¬
            whose value of attribute "AXIdentifier" is "com.apple.menuextra.user")
        click (first button of window "Control Center" whose name is "Administrator")
    end tell
end tell

Notes:

As coded, it does not matter how Show fast user switching menu as is set under System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Options for the Fast User Switching menu bar item. It work with Icon, Account Name, or Full Name as it uses a different criteria to click the Fast User Switching menu bar item.

The example AppleScript code, shown above, was tested in Script Editor under macOS Monterey 12.0.1 with Language & Region settings in System Preferences set to English (US) — Primary and worked for me without issue1.

  • 1 Assumes necessary and appropriate settings in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy have been set/addressed as needed.

attribute "AXIdentifier" "com.apple.menuextra.user" exists in macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey.

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  • You're right. I got rid of the tell its group 1 line and matching end tell, and it worked.
    – Barmar
    Dec 24, 2021 at 1:27
  • I assume this used to be needed because the menu is split into multiple sections: The list of users to switch to, "Login window...", and "Users and Groups preferences...", and you first had to drill into that first section.
    – Barmar
    Dec 24, 2021 at 1:29
  • @Barmar, Please see updated answer, thanks. Dec 24, 2021 at 1:33
  • Yes, that's even nicer. I do very little AppleScript programming, I don't know its shortcuts. I'm pretty sure I got the original script from discussion.apple.com.
    – Barmar
    Dec 24, 2021 at 1:35
  • Have to replace User with my actual username.
    – Barmar
    Dec 24, 2021 at 1:42

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