# User (classic)

A *user* is an object that represents an individual account in a device (local user) or in a group of devices (domain user). The account may identify a physical user or a system user. Physical users, that is, persons who work in front of a device, are also called *end-users*.

Depending on the context, a user may also refer to an operator of the Finder or the Portal. In these cases, context information is usually enough to differentiate between Nexthink users and end-users.

### Users across platforms <a href="#user-classic-usersacrossplatforms" id="user-classic-usersacrossplatforms"></a>

A user may have access to more than one kind of device. Those devices may, in turn, belong to different platforms. For a user that has access to multiple devices, possibly belonging to different platforms, Nexthink can detect that there is only one single user.

To be able to detect that a user accessing multiple devices is actually the same person, the accounts of the user must be unified in an Active Directory. For instance, to detect that a Mac user is the same as a Windows or Mobile user, the Mac device of the user must join the Active Directory.

{% hint style="info" %}
Applies to platforms | Windows | macOS | Mobile
{% endhint %}

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RELATED CONCEPTS

* [Device](/platform/references/references-classic/glossary-classic/device-classic.md)
* [Object](/platform/references/references-classic/glossary-classic/object-classic.md)


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