How to use two (multiple) Skype accounts at the same time, Mac OSX Lion

Skype is widely used in the business world. If you don’t want to mix work with personal life, you should have 2 separate Skype accounts. So far no problem there, but what if you want to be online with both accounts? This how to will show you “How to use two (multiple) Skype accounts at the same time on Mac OSX Lion”

There are several approaches to solve this problem:

• Install a virtual machine and install the second instance of Skype there (which is a not elegant “brute force” method)
• Launch Skype from another user on the same machine (elegant solution, explained here)

I’ve been searching quite a lot to find a solution for Mac OSX Lion 10.7, but no one explained how to solve this problem properly, that’s why I decided to write a little how-to on my own. Enough talk… Let’s get it started:

1. Create a new “Standard” user on your OSX (via “System Preferences”->”Users & Groups”), remeber the “Account name” we’ll need that later on… Set the password to whatever you want.
   
2. Once created fire up “Automator” (yes it’s that little robot holding a tube). Choose “Application”.
   
3. There on the left select “Utilities” and then drag “Run Shell Script” to the workspace.
   
4. Replace the “cat” with this script:

   
osascript -e 'do shell script "sudo killall Skype;
sudo -b -u skypebusiness /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/MacOS/Skype;
sudo -b -u skypepersonal /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/MacOS/Skype" with administrator privileges'&

   “skypebusiness” should be replaced with the Account name of the user you just created before, “skypepersonal” should be replaced with the Account name of your current user (the Account name is not the same thing as the Full Name! You can check it in the Users&Group settings),
   
   

5. Save this automator Application to wherever you want (I saved it to the desktop)
6. Launch this Application, you will be prompted for the administrator password (this is needed  in order to launch something in the name of another user)
   
7. Once you typed in the administrator password (please note that under Name there will be YOUR name, not “Administrator”, don’t change it to “Administrator” use your name with your password), two instances of skype will launch (you will see 2 skype logos in your bar)
   

And that’s it… Even though I’m showing how to launch just 2 instances, one can have more than that (but remember, each account a new user!)…