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 olmj,

    olmj olmj Dec 31, 2015 8:15 AM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2015 8:15 AM in response to sabinscabin

    I was having this same issue until I realized there was a different type of user called "Managed With Parental Controls." When I created an account with that type of user selected rather than with "Standard" selected, all my Parental Controls settings stuck. After clicking the "+" icon to add a new user, select "Managed With Parental Controls" from the "New User:" dropdown, and this should fix the problem. Unfortunately, this setting cannot be changed once the user has been created.

  • by macvinod,

    macvinod macvinod Jan 1, 2016 3:32 AM in response to charleshampshire
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 3:32 AM in response to charleshampshire

    I think you are talking about "Apps" tab. Here, people are talking about the issue with "Web" tab. In "Web" tab, no matter which one of the 3 options you select, radio button selection always defaults back to the middle one (see below screenshot).

    Screen Shot 2016-01-01 at 4.57.26 PM.png

  • by macvinod,

    macvinod macvinod Jan 1, 2016 3:43 AM in response to olmj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 3:43 AM in response to olmj

    I can't find any such option to select a type of user (standard/"managed with parental controls"). This is how "create new user" wizard looks like. Also, I couldn't delete my existing/primary account.

    create new account.png

  • by olmj,

    olmj olmj Jan 1, 2016 6:10 AM in response to macvinod
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 6:10 AM in response to macvinod

    No, I was having the exact same issue on the Web tab

  • by olmj,

    olmj olmj Jan 1, 2016 6:14 AM in response to macvinod
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 6:14 AM in response to macvinod

    That looks like you're already creating that type of user, meaning you clicked the "+" from the Parental Controls screen rather than from the Users & Groups screen. Sorry my fix won't be your fix

  • by macvinod,

    macvinod macvinod Jan 1, 2016 6:23 AM in response to olmj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2016 6:23 AM in response to olmj

    I tried from User & Groups. There is an option to select User Type. I will try this out. Thanks.

     

    Screen Shot 2016-01-01 at 7.48.08 PM.png

  • by hazmatcdn,

    hazmatcdn hazmatcdn Jan 2, 2016 7:51 PM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 7:51 PM in response to sabinscabin

    I am also unable to save changes to Parental Controls for the Managed Account I setup for my kids.  I tried the methods suggested by the OP but with no success.  I tried deleting the account and trashing the Managed Prefs folder and then recreating the account.  Then I tried deleting the account with the Directory Editor Utility and trashing the Managed Prefs folder and then recreating the account. 

     

    I have a similar problem on my other MBP with Yosemite where many changes to Parental Control settings fail to save. 

     

    Nothing has worked and it is super frustrating.

  • by hazmatcdn,

    hazmatcdn hazmatcdn Jan 2, 2016 8:49 PM in response to hazmatcdn
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2016 8:49 PM in response to hazmatcdn

    I have spent the last hour or more performing a number of various steps and found the following to be the most predictable:

    • Unlock the Users and Groups pane, then back out of the pane
    • Enter and Unlock the Parental Controls pane
    • Select the Managed User
    • Select the Managed User.  Make 1 or 2 Parental Control settings at a time, back out of the pane with the left arrow, then re-enter the Parental Controls pane, select the Managed User, and check to see if my change was saved.  Then I would repeat precisely the same steps for 2 more changes.  Usually my changes would save, but sometimes they would not (see below for the events that occurred when the changes would not save)
    • Finally after all my settings were completed I backed out and locked the Parental Control pane.
    • I re-entered the Parental Control pane and selected the Managed User to ensure the settings were saved.
    • Finally I entered the Users and Groups pane and locked it.

    This is what I discovered during the various steps I took:

    • Intermittently, when making 1 or 2 changes, backing out and re-entering Parental Controls, I discovered that Parental Controls would suddenly be turned on for the Guest User with settings that matched the last changes made to the Managed User I was attempting to modify.  When this occurred the settings I had just made to the Managed User were not saved.  I then had to turn off Parental Controls for the Guest User, and re-enter Parental Controls for the Managed User and repeat the most recent 1 or 2 settings I had made.
    • This is peculiar because I have always had Parental Controls turned off for the Guest User.  If it had happened only once I would have thought it was me that made the mistake.  However, it happened repeatedly during the above steps, which would indicate it is a OS X problem.
    • Also, I learned that if I entered the Parental Controls pane via the Users and Groups pane that the settings I made were much less likely to be saved.  I had to follow the steps above for the most predictable outcome.
    • Interestingly, I found that when I turned on System Preferences for the Managed User in the Parental Controls pane that the results were highly unpredictable.  It either wouldn't stay turned on, or the Guest User would suddenly have Parental Controls turned on.  But most interesting of all was that when the System Preferences selection did finally save, the dock layout for the Managed User would be highly erratic.  Twice, when I had selected Use Simple Finder selected, there appeared multiple copies of the App Shortcuts in the Applications Folder.  Finally I unselected System Preferences for the Managed User.

    I am hopeful that someone reads this that can assist in finding a patch for this problem with Parental Controls.

     

    Regards

  • by PlanckLimit,

    PlanckLimit PlanckLimit Jan 3, 2016 10:41 AM in response to hazmatcdn
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 3, 2016 10:41 AM in response to hazmatcdn

    Many many people are reporting that the parental controls won't remember custom settings in El Capitan.  I am fairly certain that the issue is that the default settings provided by the system are overwriting the settings that we are saving.  Apple provides a default set of settings based on the age group one selects when setting up the user account.  It seems to be these default settings that periodically replace the custom settings that were previously saved.

     

    Since this has been going on for a while, I have to assume that it's not all that important to Apple.  (hopefully the issue will be fixed in the next system update, but for parents that depend on parental controls, the inability to save custom settings makes the computer nearly unusable)  Someone with a bit of programming skill might try to find the default settings in the system and edit the file (I assume there is a plist file out there somewhere with the default settings in it) so that the default settings would be the settings that one wants.  That way, even if the system replaced the custom settings with the default ones, the default ones would be what one wanted.

     

    I will see what I can find and test this out if indeed there is a default settings file on the system somewhere.

  • by hazmatcdn,

    hazmatcdn hazmatcdn Jan 3, 2016 7:20 PM in response to PlanckLimit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2016 7:20 PM in response to PlanckLimit

    That would be great!  Thanks for looking into it further.

  • by kimberly254,

    kimberly254 kimberly254 Jan 9, 2016 11:52 AM in response to hazmatcdn
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Jan 9, 2016 11:52 AM in response to hazmatcdn

    I went through all these same things and noticed the same issues with saving and the dock, etc.  Computer cant be used by my son until this gets fixed.  come on APPLE

  • by augustusgloop,

    augustusgloop augustusgloop Jan 9, 2016 7:01 PM in response to kimberly254
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 9, 2016 7:01 PM in response to kimberly254

    I gave up and installed NetNanny for Mac.  Gives me the functionality I need, plus it works better so far with Google Drive than the Mac parental controls did.  With NetNanny, it's possible to configure it to block all websites except for a whitelist, which is how I'm using it.  14-day free trial and so far, so good.

  • by Daniel Beaulieu,

    Daniel Beaulieu Daniel Beaulieu Jan 11, 2016 7:51 AM in response to augustusgloop
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jan 11, 2016 7:51 AM in response to augustusgloop

    Same here.  Bought a new Mac, will call tech support about that.

     

    :-(

  • by kimberly254,

    kimberly254 kimberly254 Jan 19, 2016 8:05 AM in response to sabinscabin
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 8:05 AM in response to sabinscabin

    So I have had these same issues with settings not saving, apps not working despite being allowed.  I was on the apple support for 6 hours one day, 4 the next.  reinstalling OS and eventually erased whole hard drive and manually brought back files.  This fixed a lot of the saving setting issues and got the apps that weren't working despite being enabled to work.  I was having to enter my admin password every time my son tried to open the already enabled apps.  Well now there is another issue: websites I have repeatedly allowed come up as not allowed by parental controls.  So much time and effort on this mess.  I am dealing with a senior advisor who sends to engineering and gets back with me to keep working on it.  They say they have no record of this being an issue.  Please call in to support and get help as it may help you.  If after some simple trouble shooting and plist file deletions don't work, ask for a senior advisor straight away.  Apple needs to hear us and get this fixed

  • by PlanckLimit,

    PlanckLimit PlanckLimit Jan 19, 2016 8:37 AM in response to kimberly254
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 19, 2016 8:37 AM in response to kimberly254

    My how things have changed.  I also use a PC for work, running Windows 10.  Just the other day an update caused a problem.  Numbers of users reported the problem in the Windows 10 community forum and a Microsoft techie was monitoring the forum.  He jumped in and within a few days the problem was fixed and included in the next Windows update.

     

    I remember the days when Microsoft was the behemoth that never listened to users.  Now it seems Apple has taken that crown.

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