sabinscabin

Q: parental controls settings won't save

I just installed El Capitan. In Parental Controls / Web, there are three radio buttons: 1) Allow unrestricted access to websites 2) Try to limit access to adult websites 3) Allow access to only these websites. Right now, the second option is selected (I selected it previously). However, I'm trying to change to 3). I click radio button 3), then exit out of the parental controls, but when I come back, radio button 2) is still selected. I tried many combinations of clicking the "lock icon", restarting the computer, using different user accounts to do this, but for some reason every time I come back it is always radio button 2) that is selected.

 

I am successfully entering my administrator password multiple times the entire time, and not getting any error messages saying that I don't have permissions or anything like that. The radio button is just quietly always moving back to 2), whether I select 1) or 3), whether I "click the lock to prevent further changes", whether I restart the computer, whether I'm standing on my head wearing a chicken suit when I'm doing all these things, etc. etc.

 

Anyone know how to fix this problem?

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 10, 2015 9:42 AM

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Q: parental controls settings won't save

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  • by sabinscabin,Helpful

    sabinscabin sabinscabin Oct 11, 2015 1:27 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Oct 11, 2015 1:27 PM in response to sabinscabin

    Okay, I found a way to get the setting to stick. I have to click the lock icons in the right order. There are two lock icons, one from the Users and Accounts window, and the other in the Parental controls window. I had to set the radio button to 1) or 3), then click the "back" button at the top and then "forward" button to make sure my setting "sticks", then I had to lock the icon of the Parental controls, window, then finally I had to lock the icon of the Users and Accounts window. If I didn't do these steps in that order, then my settings did not stick.

     

    The fact that I have to perform this set of actions to get my settings to stick, without any kind of error message warning my that my settings are not sticking is a pretty substantial bug in El Capitan that I don't remember getting in previous versions of OSX. Hopefully it gets fixed in a future patch.

  • by WernerYue1004,

    WernerYue1004 WernerYue1004 Dec 1, 2015 1:04 AM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 1, 2015 1:04 AM in response to sabinscabin

    Hi sabinscabin,

     

    I have tried your suggestion, however the parental control setting cannot be saved.

     

    Even I unlock parental control->config the setting->lock the panel, then when I unlock it again to check, all setting are refresh to default.

     

    Both Yosemite and El Capitan are not work for me. I have tested AD user account and local account on the iMac, but no luck.

     

    Is anyone have this experience and solution?

  • by macvinod,

    macvinod macvinod Dec 5, 2015 7:29 AM in response to WernerYue1004
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 5, 2015 7:29 AM in response to WernerYue1004

    I've been facing exactly the same issue. It ***** because it's such a simple functionality and it's not working the way it's supposed to . Apple didn't even bother to test this before the release ? really disappointed .

  • by iachelini,

    iachelini iachelini Dec 5, 2015 11:27 PM in response to macvinod
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 5, 2015 11:27 PM in response to macvinod

    Same here. I am really really surprised that they released a major update without even bothering to check this functionality. I mean, isnt it used at schools, many homes and so forth? Will try the suggestion from the original post. But I doubt it.

    Any infos about a patch would be appreciated, because until then my kids cant really use the computer because all settings are simply at default stage, which is pretty much no control at all.

  • by tony200910041,

    tony200910041 tony200910041 Dec 7, 2015 8:59 AM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 7, 2015 8:59 AM in response to sabinscabin

    Same problem here. It's not only the parental control that's not working. Guest user settings are not saved either. Even if I disable the parental control, close the system preferences window and re-open it, the parental control (under Guest user tab) is automatically enabled (and indeed all the settings under parental control are lost).

    Worse still, when I was in El Capitan before, all settings were saved. But the problem was found soon after I erased my drive and reinstalled my Mac yesterday. No Time Machine backup...

     

    MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

  • by johnnyfrombarcelona,

    johnnyfrombarcelona johnnyfrombarcelona Dec 11, 2015 2:00 AM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 11, 2015 2:00 AM in response to sabinscabin

    I have the exact same problem.

    Get your act together Apple

  • by ojpcoach,

    ojpcoach ojpcoach Dec 12, 2015 2:55 AM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iOS Apps
    Dec 12, 2015 2:55 AM in response to sabinscabin

    Same here, can't get any alteration to parental controls preferences to stick. That's especially annoying if you want to add or remove authorized sites...

  • by Smalls06,

    Smalls06 Smalls06 Dec 13, 2015 9:38 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 13, 2015 9:38 PM in response to sabinscabin

    Same here. Mid December 2015 and still no improvement. Can't save changes to Parental Control. Not good at all. Anyone seen a response from Apple?

  • by KiwiMex,

    KiwiMex KiwiMex Dec 16, 2015 5:41 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 16, 2015 5:41 PM in response to sabinscabin

    sabin,

     

    just tried your solution about 5/6 time, but afraid it didn't work for me either.  Still looking for a solution...

     

    I agree with everyone that this is an integral feature of OSX, I don't get why they have yet to properly fix the error.  I'm downloading OSX 10.11.2.  If it fixes the concern I will post my findings.

  • by KiwiMex,

    KiwiMex KiwiMex Dec 16, 2015 7:28 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 16, 2015 7:28 PM in response to sabinscabin

    Just updated to the latest OS X (10.11.2) on 17 Dec '15, and parental controls is still not working. Ugh!

  • by superdriveme,

    superdriveme superdriveme Dec 20, 2015 9:21 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2015 9:21 PM in response to sabinscabin

    Spent 6 hours on an online chat with Apple support on this issue - tried may things - reset a bunch of things in terminal.  Set-up different account in root menu administrator accounts, etc.   Everything tried didn't resolve the issue.   Last recommendation was to transfer all files and create a different admin account and use that as the primary account. 

  • by iachelini,

    iachelini iachelini Dec 20, 2015 9:40 PM in response to superdriveme
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 20, 2015 9:40 PM in response to superdriveme

    6 hours? Omg. Did you get paid for that?

    But thanks for the effort. It makes clear that it's not just wrong usage, it rather confirms that it's broken. Hopefully. The support can escalate the fact and finally opens a Bug/Defect or whatever it's called at Apple. Not sure they even have a word for it. At least regression testing might not be in their vocabulary.

  • by ojpcoach,

    ojpcoach ojpcoach Dec 21, 2015 12:12 AM in response to superdriveme
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iOS Apps
    Dec 21, 2015 12:12 AM in response to superdriveme

    Same here, can't get any alteration to parental controls preferences to stick. That's especially annoying if you want to add or remove authorized sites... Doesn't work either if you try to modify that from a remote computer.

  • by charleshampshire,

    charleshampshire charleshampshire Dec 29, 2015 6:57 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 29, 2015 6:57 PM in response to sabinscabin

    Easy to overlook, but if you don't 1st add the checkmark for "Limit Applications on the Mac" the will not stick. Without that "CHECKMARK", you can change the allowed application in the lower section all day long and they will not stick.

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