PaullieG

Q: Can't enable Dictation (Greyed out)

System Preferences -> Dictation & Speech -> Dictation tab

 

All the settings are greyed out:

 

On/Off, Shortcut, Language, About Dictation and Privacy...

 

...so I can't enable dictation.

 

Anyone else have this?

 

Input is set to Internal microphone -- the mic is working fine as the icon indicates the input level changing when there's noise.

 

Odd...

Posted on Jul 26, 2012 1:32 PM

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Q: Can't enable Dictation (Greyed out)

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  • by koolkarmaguy,

    koolkarmaguy koolkarmaguy Jul 27, 2012 5:33 PM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 27, 2012 5:33 PM in response to PaullieG

    PaullieG.. Thanks! It worked for me..I logged off instead of rebooting between steps and it worked as well.

  • by bobbydmarriott,

    bobbydmarriott bobbydmarriott Jul 28, 2012 1:43 AM in response to koolkarmaguy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2012 1:43 AM in response to koolkarmaguy

    I will add that this worked for me to.  Thanks for figuring this out and posting it.  That is a wierd bug, but now that I know how parental controls work, its a great tool for a house with kids.

  • by Tony Martin,

    Tony Martin Tony Martin Jul 28, 2012 11:06 AM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Jul 28, 2012 11:06 AM in response to PaullieG

    I too was having this issue and you pointed me to the right direction. Thanks.

    My problem was easier to fix, with less steps involved.

     

    I always operate my iMac from a non-admin account. All I had to do was:

     

    1) Open System Preferences and locate Parental Controls

    2) After unlocking padlock, I selected the account I was in.

    3) Click on the 'other' tab, and unselect "Disable use of Dictation"

     

     

    cheers,

     

     

    tony

  • by spiderinabox,

    spiderinabox spiderinabox Jul 28, 2012 11:28 AM in response to Tony Martin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 28, 2012 11:28 AM in response to Tony Martin

    Thanks that helped a lot.

     

    P. S I am writing this with the Siri dictation.

  • by PaullieG,

    PaullieG PaullieG Jul 28, 2012 12:26 PM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 28, 2012 12:26 PM in response to PaullieG

    Glad this info could be of use to others.  I've just got a quick followup regarding the root-cause.

     

    The problem returned as soon as I added my Macbook back as a managed device into a Mountain Lion Server Profile Manager -- deployed the payloads and rebooted.. (Reboot is important here for those using management profiles).

     

    To be clear, I do not deploy the 'Parental Control' payload, it's left completely disabled, but despite this the Macbook still enabled Parental Controls for my admin account.

     

    I'm sure Apple will fix this in an upcoming update - let's see..

     

    Also, and like I previously mentioned, the default in Parental Controls is to disable Dictation. This seems an odd choice to me seeing as all other defaults are not restrictive in nature. Maybe this is not intentional too.

     

    Apple should also update Parental Control preferences in Profile Manager. Currently there is no way to override Dictation settings (and also some new Game Centre related defaults).

     

    Phew -- Glad I got that off my chest.  Really enjoying Mountain Lion otherwise. A nice update really polishing Lion.

     

    Paul

  • by twist16,

    twist16 twist16 Aug 23, 2012 12:10 PM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 23, 2012 12:10 PM in response to PaullieG

    Yes i'm expericing this too, I was hoping it would be fixed in this update 10.8.1 today but it's not!

     

    Out of interest I noticed in profile manager theres the ability to add a "custom settings" payload, can anyone one figure out a custom setting that might override the dictation being disabled by default rather than having to disable the account as an admin from another user then disable the parental controls everytime you want to use the dictation? There's quite a few speech related preference files in the ~library but I can't work out which one manages what.

  • by PaullieG,

    PaullieG PaullieG Aug 23, 2012 1:16 PM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 23, 2012 1:16 PM in response to PaullieG

    10.8.1 update resolved the 'enabling parental controls using default settings' for managed devices issue for me.

     

    10.8.1 did not enhance Profile Manager Parental Controls with Dictation or Game Center options.

     

    10.8.1 did not change the default Parental Control options -- Disabled dictation is still the default. I guess that is intended then.

  • by twist16,

    twist16 twist16 Aug 26, 2012 4:50 AM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 26, 2012 4:50 AM in response to PaullieG

    hmm nothing has changed for me, if i disable parental controls for a user as soon as I reboot the machine they are re-enabled and dictation disabled.

  • by Wet Jimmy,

    Wet Jimmy Wet Jimmy Aug 26, 2012 7:23 PM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 26, 2012 7:23 PM in response to PaullieG

    I'd just like to chime in and confirm that I'm experiencing the same problem under 10.8.1 - I can use an Admin account to remove Parental Controls (and therefore reenable Dictiation) - but as soon as I re-install the certificates/profiles required for my work Wi-Fi, parental controls are once again enabled and Dictation is enabled.

     

    Easily tested and repeatable - and very annoying.

  • by Wet Jimmy,

    Wet Jimmy Wet Jimmy Aug 26, 2012 7:55 PM in response to Wet Jimmy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 26, 2012 7:55 PM in response to Wet Jimmy

    Quick update - The problem seems to be when using a combination of Administrator Account and a managed Profile.

     

    If I demote my Admin account to a standard user, I can use the Parental controls to modify the dictation settings.

     

    The problem is, an Admin account can't be Parental settings controlled, so you lose access to this control panel.

     

    Are there any Terminal level hacks that might get around this, I wonder?

  • by PaullieG,

    PaullieG PaullieG Aug 27, 2012 12:17 PM in response to Wet Jimmy
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 27, 2012 12:17 PM in response to Wet Jimmy

    Hi twist16 and Wet Jimmy -- Odd that you still have the issue and I don't.

     

    FYI - I have a Device Profile containing the payloads listed below. I had previously removed my MacBook from it due the original issues. I didn't need to change anything in it -- I just redeployed it after updating to 10.8.1 using Mac App store standard OS upgrade process.

     

    VPN Service

    Wi-Fi Network (x2)

    Mobile Account and Home Sync Settings

    Passcode Policy

    Printer Settings

    Directory Binding Account

    Loginwindow Preferences

  • by oli_chambers,

    oli_chambers oli_chambers Aug 27, 2012 1:21 PM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 27, 2012 1:21 PM in response to PaullieG

    Umm I have many of the payloads that you have and few others too (ironically not the parental controls payload though). I have tried removing the profiles and unenrolling all the client machines, disabling the parental controls but eventually the accounts become "managed" again

  • by billyy,

    billyy billyy Aug 31, 2012 7:43 AM in response to twist16
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 31, 2012 7:43 AM in response to twist16

    Hi,

     

    I have the same experience as twist16, - if i disable parental controls for a user as soon as I reboot the machine they are re-enabled and dictation disabled.

     

    I asked an Apple Genius in San Fran and he couldn't recommend a solution.

  • by twist16,

    twist16 twist16 Aug 31, 2012 12:04 PM in response to billyy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 31, 2012 12:04 PM in response to billyy

    This isn't going to be something that a genius will be able to influence as its a bug or a oversight in the programming. Apple either need to change the way managed accounts disable dictation by default or add the ability to enable or disable/enable dictation from a payload in profilemanager. I would suggest everyone experiencing the issue submit at bug report at http://apple.com/feedback.

     

    Someone in the meantime may be clever enough to workout the location of the plist disabling dictation and then it would allow us to create a custom payload for profile manger that overrides the default settings as a temporary fix

  • by twist16,

    twist16 twist16 Sep 21, 2012 8:53 AM in response to PaullieG
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 21, 2012 8:53 AM in response to PaullieG

    dictation still disabled in 10.8.2 and still reverts back if you try and demanage the account, works after one reboot but reboot again and we're back to being managed (not necessairly the issue just a pain dictation is disabled by default and theres no way to overide it). the only change theyve made is yellow triangle on the dictation preference pane explaining "dictation is disabled by parental controls"

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