Home › Forums › Software › InstaDMG › Can I bake complete user directories into a Lion image?

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  • May 2, 2012 at 9:46 pm #381825
    chops
    Participant

    I am using instaUp2Date.py to try to bake some base Lion images. I’m having problems with the CreateLionUser.pkg failing to create the user directories. I have been reading the docs and searching around these forums looking for help and there seem to be some partial answers but I’m still not sure what’s going on. I guess I’m just dense.

    Is there a way to bake complete user directories into the InstaDMG image instead of having to wait unitl first login? I was able to do it with the old CreatUser.pkg. My problem goes further than just that though: When I log into a user account for the first time the user directory is created (as I have read is supposed to happen) but it is empty. No sub-folders (Library, Desktop, Documents, etc) at all. 😕

    I MUST be missing something! Surely I’m not the only one who needs complete user directories in order for DeployStudio to use custom packages that drop files into those directories.

    Reading other threads here I got the idea that having catalog entries that dumped stuff into user directories breaks the user directory creation process, so I removed all packages that put anything in user directories. Here is the relevant part of the catalog file I’m using:

    [code]Output Volume Name: Macintosh HD
    Output File Name: Lionbase.hfs

    OS Updates:
    # We’re assuming your using the original 10.7.0 build 11A511 as your install ‘media’, otherwise comment the next line
    OS X Lion Update 10.7.3 http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1484/en_US/MacOSXUpdCombo10.7.3.dmg sha1:a8407b32eeaec220a8a43773182a22585fe396bd
    AirPort Utility 6.0 http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1483/en_US/AirPortUtility6.0.dmg sha1:ddd7ae11362bdeeb224a78276eb13abbbabd9c45
    iTunes 10.6.1 http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/041-4792.20120328.fRhny/iTunes10.6.1.dmg sha1:e9067bd7b8add8ef6bba0799df1e5a245c6c8187
    Java for OS X Lion 2012-003 http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1515/en_US/JavaForOSX.dmg sha1:6137f411978c1113ace6bb3bff783a168fa4f2fd
    Safari 5.1.5 http://appldnld.apple.com/Safari5/041-5149.20120326.CdPo8/Safari5.1.5LionManual.dmg sha1:c253c54faf399ef961a962425930e410cf3fe47e

    Third Party Software:
    CreateLionUser-souper /Volumes/LionTools/instadmg/InstallerFiles/InstaUp2DatePackages/CreateLionUser-souper.pkg sha1:8281fabe2cecda10ab690ca635b9c617e427490a
    CreateLionUser-teacher /Volumes/LionTools/instadmg/InstallerFiles/InstaUp2DatePackages/CreateLionUser-teacher.pkg sha1:b9963670a6b7e0e768ab507cf81969a992c57af3
    CreateLionUser-student /Volumes/LionTools/instadmg/InstallerFiles/InstaUp2DatePackages/CreateLionUser-student.pkg sha1:b23ba8d59e46759ec919d66182f2918c7d6ff7eb
    clearReg /Volumes/LionTools/instadmg/InstallerFiles/InstaUp2DatePackages/clearReg.pkg sha1:b0ba0f6bfd26956562e286bbcdfa8f78dd3722eb
    firstboot /Volumes/LionTools/instadmg/InstallerFiles/InstaUp2DatePackages/firstboot.pkg sha1:e0b8d0f29cf815e66d416696240295d6fad614e4
    [/code]

    And here is the userdata.plist file in one of my createLionUser packages (CreateLionUser-student.pkg):

    [code]

    IsAdmin
    0
    IsHidden
    0
    NFSHomeDirectory
    /Users/%u
    PrimaryGroupID
    20
    RealName
    Student User
    ShadowHashData


    YnBsaXN0MDDRAQJdU0FMVEVELVNIQTUxMk8QRF7zIOsl5DUJ0dtmcMU5w+Rj
    SbSeHpXjkKf01ly5czc6HhHkdjnd89myLI4A1H2UJNSfBmFnjn2p5
    7ONUhdHOCAsZAAAAAAAAAQEAAAAAAAAAAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGA=


    UniqueID
    502
    shortname
    student
    Picture
    /Library/User Pictures/Animals/Owl.tif
         [/code]
    Can anyone show me what I’m doing wrong?

    TIA…

    May 3, 2012 at 9:50 pm #381827
    chops
    Participant

    Well, duh… 😳
    I failed to consider the brute force method:

    1. Create custom packages containing the complete directories for the desired users (I used Iceberg for this);
    2. Place them in the catalog file before the other custom packages (which can then throw whatever you want into them);
    3. Set appropriate ownerships in the firstboot script.

    Beam me up, Scotty!

    May 4, 2012 at 4:41 pm #381831
    Greg Neagle
    Participant

    I wouldn’t call that a brute force method. I would call that the correct method.

    A package is an object that the installer uses to install files and directories with specific owners. groups, and permissions.

    That’s what you wanted to do…

    May 5, 2012 at 6:03 am #381832
    88gb525dxQK4gt6u
    Participant

    Assuming that you want the same content on all the user profiles you could create a package that copies the content to the default profile, and let Lion do the copying uppon login.

    This way you won’t end up with n copies of the same file until n users log in.

    May 9, 2012 at 9:06 pm #381847
    Anthony Reimer
    Participant

    The most common reason for folders to not fully populate upon user creation with the createUser package is that one of the other packages or scripts in your InstaDMG workflow installs something into the particular user account path before the user is created. When the system goes to populate the new user with files and folders from the user template, if it stumbles across a file in its path (often in the ~/Library folder if you are building your own packages), it will stop populating at that point in my experience.

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