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STOP network home folder auto-mount

Hi there,


I'm currently testing Lion for implementation in our company.

So far so good, love the DFS support, it's the main reason we are migrating to 10.7.


BUT:


The problem is, Lion has issue's mounting AD home folder.

The home folder is mounted in "the background", by which I mean the mount point is found in /Volumes/"username"

But the link on the Dock is a big question mark and doesn't work.


What I would like to do is stop Lion from auto-mounting the home folder at login and script it afterwards.

I read about de-selecting "Derive network home path from AD UNC path", which I tried but to no avail.


I even tried the Terminal equivalent: dsconfigad -useuncpath disable


But once again, no effect.


Could anyone please help me stop the home folder from being mounted automagically?

This quirk of Lion is the final issue holding me back from implementing it in the enterprise....




Thanks in advance!!!


[PS: I have a case for this with apple-support, but they don't seem to know what I'm talking about... ("OS X doesn't have a AD plugin sir...") hmmmmz I think it's under the account preference pane, but I could be imagining things for the last 3 versions of OS X...]

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1), 5,1

Posted on Sep 2, 2011 5:21 AM

Reply
11 replies

Sep 6, 2011 4:05 PM in response to Madmin

I'm looking at correcting this also. I've already got a method to make dock icons for our network home and other shares, and they'll mount up as soon as they're clicked. I don't like having any non-working ?'s in the dock. And like you I can't get Lion to stop fail-mounting the network home. It mounts.... it just doesn't go far enough into the full path, and the folder it does mount, most users don't have access to the subfolders to get to what they need.


So likely culrpits are maybe /etc/fstab or an rc script I think.... On the other hand this may be confined to AD logins. I just find it odd that disabling "Derive network home path from AD UNC path" doesn't do it.

Sep 7, 2011 11:56 AM in response to arkaine23

Tried changing the /etc/autofs_master and autofs_home, but no luck. Its not in /etc/fstab.hd either- and looking at that file shows its deprecated and not being used. It sticks the smb mount into my network users' loginitems, but its greyed out and can't be removed... and looking for /Users/{username}/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist reveals that it doesn't exist and this loginitem is coming from somewhere else.


I was able to disable it using:


dsconfigad -localhome enable



However, that broke most of my localhost MCX settings. After installing workgroup manager to take a look at why my disabled preferences panes were enabled, I was unable to pull up the localhost computer and WGM gave me a message that the OD plugin wasn't initialized. Some settings did seem to take, like desktop background and dock configuration, but others weren't being applied.


So the choice with this method is between having a broken dock icon and mis-mounted network home vs losing an unknown number of managed preferences.


I've read that changing the user's network home in AD to have the correct case-sensitivity may help it mount the full path and then the icon would, ya know, work the way its supposed to. I've also read that deleting the network home info from AD will get rid of it. Ultimately, neither of those is an option for me since managing 20k+ users in AD is not part of my job description. I shouldn't have to adapt my environment to fit the macs, they should be configurable enough to fit into it the way I need them to. I just want auto-mounting the network home to be turned off. Is that so hard?

Sep 8, 2011 12:27 AM in response to Madmin

Hi there,


I bring good tidings 🙂.

After some tweeking I've gotten this to work.


Replace [YOURDOMAIN] with the first part of the FQDN, e.g. my.domain.net will make MY.plist


Step 1:

copy /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/Active Directory/[YOUDORMAIN].plist to your Desktop

Change the permissions so you can edit the plist file (I use Plist Editor pro to edit.)


Step 2:


Find the key:


MCXDockSpecialFolders-Raw


Step 3:


Delete the string under it:


0 AddDockMCXOriginalNetworkHomeFolder


Step 4:


sudo cp [YOURDOMAIN].plist /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/Active Directory/[YOURDOMAIN].plist


Reboot and watch the magic happen!!


I have been fiddling about with some other settings in this plist, it seems to be very powerfull.

I don't know why apple doesn't make options in the AD Plugin to manage these settings, but then again power = the power to break things.


I still mount the network home drive, but I do it with a login hook so that I have the power.


Hope to have made some people happy, but I bet I have.


It's a pity I don't get points for resolving issues myself, this one would be word many points. 🙂

Sep 13, 2011 5:31 AM in response to arkaine23

Hi again,


Just noticed that in Snow Leopard the same issue exists!!!


Not the fail-loading of home folders, but the inabillity to stop mounting AD homefolder through the GUI or even dsconfigad. I'm trying the same fix as for lion.


The plist file is called differently, is in another location and has another "layout" ***SIGH***


Common Apple, I've found a KB article on this very problem talking about friggin OS X 10.3


Fix it please, if you can write a KB article, you can fix it... (especially after 5th version of the OS with the same known issue)...


Don't get me wrong, I really want Apple to succeed in the Enterprise, but they will have to stop dropping the ball on basic things like this!


*end of rant*

Nov 8, 2011 2:18 AM in response to EddW

Hey Eddw,


What configuration are you using? (macs only bound to AD or the triangle of despair, aka the magic triangle?)


If your macs are only bound to AD you should use local login/-out hooks, if your using the triangle you can specify login/-out hooks in WGM. I'll have a look at my script and get back to you. If you answer the above question I can tell you how to add the scripts.


(btw what version of mac os are you using?)


Grtz

Nov 8, 2011 2:21 AM in response to Madmin

Madmin wrote:


[...]


[PS: I have a case for this with apple-support, but they don't seem to know what I'm talking about... ("OS X doesn't have a AD plugin sir...") hmmmmz I think it's under the account preference pane, but I could be imagining things for the last 3 versions of OS X...]

Just FYI,


Apple support contacted me, and asked to send them my solution 😕

STOP network home folder auto-mount

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