Just clarifying that the rejection noted above happens at the InstaUp2Date stage, even if I add the appropriate build numbers (12B2100, 12C3104) to the 10.8_vanilla catalogue.
A solution/workaround that does seem to work (if you are using a standard 10.8.2 12C60 source) is to add the following two OS updates as the first to be installed:
I had the exact same problem, but just found the solution. The current 10.8_vanilla catalogue does not recognize the updated 10.8.2 build, 12C60. You’ll need to modify the catalogue file until a new one is released by adding “, 12C60” to the end of the first line and commenting out the 10.8.2 Supplemental Update, since it is already baked into 12C60. The Java release, should you choose to use it (see elsewhere for side effects), is now at 2012-006 but the path is the same as for -005, so the checksum needs to change to the one Apple notes on their download page. For convenience, here is my version of the 10.8_vanilla catalogue:
Installer Disc Builds: 12A269, 12B19, 12C54, 12C60
Output Volume Name: Macintosh HD
Output File Name: 10.8_vanilla
OS Updates:
# We're assuming you're using the newest 10.8.2 build 12C54 as your install 'media', otherwise uncomment (remove # from the beginning of) the next line; if using build 12C60, add a comment hash to the beginning of the last line as well
# OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.2 http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1581/en_US/OSXUpdCombo10.8.2.dmg sha1:b08f10233d362e39f20b69f91d1d73f5e7b68a2c
iTunes 10.7 http://appldnld.apple.com/iTunes10/041-7195.20120912.d3uzQ/iTunes10.7.dmg sha1:0ff7c404f87122f89d49ed6c411b3692f1016e0a
Java for OS X 2012-006 http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1572/en_US/JavaForOSX.dmg sha1:eff777cdc39b4e3336b3477f60e8ad769ded8532
# OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 Supplemental Update http://support.apple.com/downloads/DL1600/en_US/OSXUpd10.8.2Supp.dmg sha1:ccd53770fd5beff7c457594599907d8a36e40807
I stand corrected. The combo updater has indeed changed, but it does not obviate the need for the Supplementary Update. Apple is not yet offering it a separate download. Anyone know which systems require it?
clearReg is a payload-free package. That is, it runs a script (in this case, postflight) but does not install any files per se. You can recreate this package yourself using a packaging tool like Composer or PackageMaker. Here is the script:
I’m now betting it was a bad (custom) package, although Wacom Tablet drivers were looking like a candidate until I isolated them and could not replicate the problem. I’ll post again to this thread if it comes back and the source is one that might interest others.
The problem with replacing apps in the Finder is one that was common in Leopard if you were logged in to a standard account. It was fixed in Snow Leopard but reappeared/regressed in Lion. My guess is that items within the application bundle have different permissions than the bundle itself and that the OS trips up on those items.
You might want to consider the ESR series for Firefox (“Firefox for Organizations” or Extended Support Release), where you get the patches from the latest version but don’t have to deal with testing features every 6 weeks. Current release is 10.0.4esr (same patches as v.12). It might play better.
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.
[QUOTE][u]Quote by: n8felton[/u][p][i]With the release of 14.2.1, can we be be expecting an update to the patch to work with this new update?[/i][/p][/QUOTE]
Might not be necessary. To quote Microsoft’s web site:
“You can now deploy Office 2011 SP2 updates by using a command-line installation or by using tools that call the command line, such as Casper or Munki, on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) and on later versions of Mac OS X. ”
I think it would be worth a quick test without the patch.
How this would work was unclear at the onset, but it has turned out pretty simply:
[list][*]You can buy any quantity of Apple software in a volume purchase; price is 50% off when you hit 20 copies
[*]You set up a single Apple ID, get a single redemption code and download the installer
[*]Deploy as you wish (InstaDMG, Golden Master, one by one, etc.), as it is a normal dmg/pkg installer[/list]
Third party software is pretty simple too:
[list][*]If the vendor sells the software outside of the App Store, buy it that way
[*]If they don’t publicly state that they sell outside of the App Store, talk to the vendor directly — it probably won’t be the first time the question has come up[/list]
We have vendors, for example, who support KeyServer license management software but you will never see it mentioned on their web site; you have to ask. For companies who only sell on the App Store, KeyServer support would be a great option for volume licensing, since volume licensees would usually have a server — have them chat with the people at Sassafras if they don’t know about it.
[QUOTE][u]Quote by: Kim+Young[/u][p]
[i]I load a school constructed image on the machines so the students have the appropriate software and then I support them as needed through the school year. I want to make it as easy as possible for the families to manage their kids so I want to set up an admin account for the parents and then set up the student as managed so the parents can apply whatever controls they want as their own situations warrant. As much as I dread it, it looks like I have to learn dscl.[/i]
[/p][/QUOTE]
Now that you’ve described the situation more completely, you may not need any of the suggestions we’ve made so far. You just want three accounts on the machine: an admin account for school technical staff like yourself, an admin account for the parents, and a standard account for the student. You can do that all with CreateUser. A Standard account becomes Managed when any parental controls (or MCX settings) are applied. So you can still set it up simply (and with InstaDMG) if the managed settings will be created manually by an administrator. Of course, you’ll need to train the parents and insist that they change their password (otherwise it will leak out somewhere and compromise everything), but even if they never apply any managed controls, the students will only be able to run what you put on there for them (which would include unfiltered web browsing).
The only reason you would need to use the techniques described previously is if you (or your school) insist that there be certain controls already implemented that are more managed than a Standard account if the parents never change the settings.
As stated previously in this thread, you have to manage something in order for the account to become managed. I use Local MCX settings, established using the Workgroup Manager app (from the Server Admin Tools). Search this forum for “Local MCX” or poke around the Internet for Greg Neagle’s essential work on this topic. (The second post in this thread by Allister gives a link to what appears to be the culmination of that work.)
In short, take a test machine, run Workgroup Manager but connect to the local machine (localhost) as the Server. Select the account you want to manage, click on the Preferences tab and you will see all sorts of things you can lock down. (Note that if you use this method, you don’t usually use Parental Controls settings unless you want time-based restrictions.) Once you have the restrictions working the way you want, capture the following file and put it in a package:
[code]/private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/USERNAME.plist[/code]
where USERNAME is the short name of the managed user. (Greg’s instructions vary from these, as he uses a more robust solution that sets up a group of restricted users; mine only works for a single, predictable user.)
In my workflow, we generally need to tweak a couple of small things manually in the restricted account after deployment, so we make those tweaks, log out (but stay booted) and install the MCX package using ARD.
Similar to your experience, I had a situation where createUser would not fully populate the folders in the user accounts. I eventually deduced that one or more packages (usually ones that I made) were installing files in the user’s home directory. The presence of these files prevented createUser from working properly. Mount the generated disk image and see if there are any files in /Users/[i]username[/i] — if there is, then that is probably the issue. Track down the problem package(s) and find another way to deploy those files if they are required at all.
Thanks for those who have shared their experiences so far. Will definitely go with a dual RAID 0 setup, whether on my own Mac Pro or on the Mac mini server with FW800 external.
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