Script/Automator App in Profile Manager Login Settings

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Level 1

29 points

Script/Automator App in Profile Manager Login Settings

I don't know if I am going the wrong direction, but what I am looking to do is set workstation settings via an Apple Script. Everything seems to work Ok the way I want it to when run from the machine itself, but when I try to have the script or Automator app set as a Login Item in Profile Manager, things don't work. I don't know if I am typing in something wrong or what. I would like the script or Automator app to live on the server and run when the user logs in.

What I am wanting to do is set the default wallpaper to our company background, mount network shares on a Yosemite server, and eventually set printers via Apple Script or Automator app.

What I have done so far to try is have the Automator app called login.app located on a file share on my Yosemite server in a directory that has everyone read permissions on it.

In Profile Manager I have tried both Authenticated Network and regular Network mounts to the share where login.app is located. This seems to work 50% of the time and the share gets mounted.

I then tried to set the login.app application as a login item (giving it a full smb path and also a /Volumes/share path as well. Neither of these seem to work.

I don't know if I am going about this the wrong way, but I have been trying to solve this for the past 4 days without luck. Also as a side note I have tried doing this through a script, but I don't know if I am doing that correctly as I never really have written a login script for Mac before and it seems resources on how to do this seem slim.

Any help is appreciated.

Posted on May 18, 2015 11:50 AM

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Answer 1

cdhw

Level 4

3,594 points

May 18, 2015 2:11 PM in response to Foxtrot79

Is there some reason you are not using Profile Manager to do the necessary configuration stuff directly? That is what it is designed for...

Some useful documentation here:

https://www.apple.com/support/osxserver/

C.

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Answer 2

Foxtrot79 Author

Level 1

29 points

May 18, 2015 7:47 PM in response to cdhw

IS there a place in profile manager to set the desktop image? We want to use our corporate image. I did see where I can set network mounts, but not things like wallpaper. Again, this is the first time I have done this

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Answer 3

cdhw

Level 4

3,594 points

May 19, 2015 2:09 AM in response to Foxtrot79

In Profile Manager it's in the somewhat non-obvious:

Devices > Settings > General > Edit > OS X / Restrictions > Desktop

C.

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Answer 4

May 19, 2015 2:14 AM in response to Foxtrot79

Mavericks and later no longer use the preference file ~/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist instead the setting is stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db which is not a plist file but instead a SQLite database.

Also while in theory it might be possible to use a native AppleScript it is far more typical to use a Shell Script in things like Profiles, you can execute an AppleScript command inside a Shell Script and the following is an example that does set the Desktop Picture.

#!/bin/bash
osascript -e "tell application \"System Events\" to set picture of every desktop to \"/Library/Desktop Pictures/Earth Horizon.jpg\""
exit

It would be far easier if Apple had left things as a plist, one could then simply define a Custom payload which would set a value in the plist. In this case either you will need to add this as a LaunchAgent in each users home directory, or in the /Library/LaunchAgents folder so that it applies to all users on that machine.

(LaunchAgents involve two files, one is a plist defining what and how to run, the other is the actual script, read up on launchd/launchctl)

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