I can't get the Custom Client Installer I created to create local accounts ion Lion. I'm using ARD 3.5.1 on the adminisration console. Client is running OS X 10.7.2 Lion. Any ideas?
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
what is the script your using in your custom installer?
This is a custom installer created inside of Apple Remote Desktop administrator. I told it to create a local user for use in managing the clients and everything installs fine but no user is created. No errors, just doesn't create the user.
have you tried running the installer manually on a client computer? If so, when you did so, did the installer work? if no, did look at the installer log to see what error messages popped up? (there a log option in the installer, under the window menu)
Yes, I have run it manually on the client computer and it does not create the account although there are no error messages on the screen or in the Installer Log.
I've got the same problem.
It seems to be caused by the makeuser binary tool used by the installer not working on 10.7.
If you look at the installer log in the all messages section you can see lines like:
ERROR: Unable to determine OS version: 10.7.2.
usage: which [-as] program ...
ERROR: "" not found.
ERROR: --longname not provided.
ERROR: Flag --shortname not provided.
Looks like we'll have to wait for Apple to fix that. 😟
Is Apple aware of the problem? I assume someone at Apple montors these forums??? I'm getting 65 new MacMinis on Friday and really need to be able to use ARD to configure them. I may have to create the admin account first and then install the client. Really inconvenient and much more time consuming.
I've heard that there are also problems joining Lion machines to Active Directory. Another BIG problem here. I haven't seen this many bugs in an Apple product in years.
Apple are you listening???
Is Apple aware of the problem?
We're all just fellow users here, so unless someone has contacted Apple tech support on the issue and been told that Apple is aware of the issue, we don't know.
I assume someone at Apple montors these forums???
That would be an incorrect, or at least risky, assumption. The Communities Hosts try to scan for problem trends, but with thousands of posts to have to sift through, they usually can spot only a fraction. So no, Apple is not listening, at least not here in these forums in any way you can depend. The best way to comment to Apple is via their feedback pages:
or by their bug reporter if you have an Apple developer account.
ARD is clearly very low in Apple's priority list, so it's probably not a tool on which to depend for enterprise-quality management.
Regards.
I've done a bit more digging, and the error is caused by there not being a case for 10.7 in the makeuser file. I have reported it to Apple on the feedback page, but in the meantime I managed to fix it for myself.
It's a little tricky to correct this because the package is a flat package so you can't right-click and choose show package contents to edit it, you have to use pkgutil to expand the package, edit the makeuser file and then flatten it again.
Copy the Custom Remote Desktop Installer.pkg to your Desktop.
Use pkgutil to expand the package, open Terminal and enter:
pkgutil --expand ~/Desktop/Custom\ Remote\ Desktop\ Installer.pkg ~/Desktop/Custom\ Remote\ Desktop\ Installer
Open the Custom Remote Desktop Installer folder that has been created on the Desktop, and right-click on RemoteDesktopClient.pkg and choose Show Package Contents. Then open Scripts and then Tools. Then open makeuser with a text editor.
Find the section in makeuser where the cases for the different OS versions are set. Add a condition for 10.7, the section in question should look something like this after you have changed it:
10.6*)
os_version="6"
ucmd="dscl"
ucmd_users="Users"
ucmd_groups="Groups"
;;
10.7*)
os_version="7"
ucmd="dscl"
ucmd_users="Users"
ucmd_groups="Groups"
;;
Save makeuser (making sure that the name and permissions are preserved).
Now flatten the package:
pkgutil --flatten ~/Desktop/Custom\ Remote\ Desktop\ Installer ~/Desktop/Custom\ Remote\ Desktop\ Installer\ 2.pkg
You will have a new package on your Desktop, Custom Remote Desktop Installer 2.pkg which you can test on your client Macs.
This worked for me, as always, YMMV. Good luck.
Sounds like you've figured it out. I found the pkgutil utility on the web. How do I install the utility on OS X, or do I just put the package in a folder with the pkgutil and run it that way? I'm anxious to try this. It will be a life saver.
pkgutil seems to be already installed on Lion in /usr/sbin. Open a Terminal and type pkgutil and you should see the help options for that tool.
Never mind my previous question. I just ran it from the folder where I unzipped the pkgutil files. Worked fine. Now to test the patched installer. Will let you know if it works. Thanks for your help!
Your solution seems to work here as well. Is there a way to have the Custom Installer to give the created account administrative permissions on the computer?
From what I recall, the account created does not have local administrator rights when examined in the accounts preference pane even if you specify it to have all privileges when created with the custom installer creator.
You can perform administrator level actions through ARD when authorised as that user though, such as running UNIX commands as root.
You could script the user to be a local admin using something like:
dscl . -append /Groups/admin GroupMembership usernameGlad I could help you to get your installer working on Lion. If you think I have answered your question please set it as the answer so I can get some points. Thanks.
I'm new to these discussions. How do I set it as the answer?
I was experiencing a similar issue where I could make a custom client installer on Lion but it would not add the user account when installed on any machine. I did your fix and it seems to be working fine on a Lion machine, but I will test 10.6 machines that previously failled. thanks for the tip.
I can't get Custom Installer to create accounts on Lion. I'm using ARD 3.5.1